Contract Worker - Freelancing Experiences

Why Freelancers Need to Reach Out and be Active

by Rico on January 23rd, 2008

A few days ago, Vyoma left me an email asking for my help:

I have been practicing digital painting for a while, and am at a stage, where I am confident to take on commissioned artwork. As a start, I have put together a page at: http://vyoma.deviantart.com/journal/16489925/

Could you suggest any other way I can explore this avenue? Any suggestions, general or specific would be helpful. :)

My suggestion would be to use another website other than deviantArt to promote your portfolio. As a designer friend says: “Prospective employers don’t hang out on deviantArt, and the site isn’t a showcase of client work, [but] of personal work.”

In other words, the best way to promote your work is to publicize it on forums frequently patronized by prospective clients. There’s nothing wrong with sharing your personal work with like-minded people (in fact this will also help you, as I’ll explain later), but I think you’ll be more effective in attracting inquiries if you advertise your services on other websites.

May I suggest setting up a dedicated page of your work (creating a sub-section on your blog will do nicely), and be more active in pursuing clients? Take the time to surf around for anyone who seems to be interested in paying for the kind of work you do, and approach them using you dedicated site as a selling tool. I think that using your own personal site leaves a better impression than a deviantArt account/

I also suggest that you sign up for the numerous job sites I’ve featured over the past few months, such as oDesk or eLance. These forums are better designed to connect you with prospective clients, with features that facilitate proposal-sharing and payment.

Last but not least, interact with other freelancers and see what they have to say. The more you know the more opportunities become available. My opinion is hardly final, and other contract workers have their own opinion on what I’ve suggested here. The point here is to participate in communities and build up your network, so that you’ll benefit from as many perspectives, opinions, and insights as possible. Word-of-mouth is still a great source of referrals, better techniques, and new opportunities.

If there’s a common theme among my three suggestions, it would be that effective marketing of one’s freelance skills requires a willingness to reach out (to the right people) and be active. Through your email, it’s obvious that you already have this. Good luck!

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POSTED IN: Marketing Your Skills