actually making money
Out of context: Reply #6
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- letters20
Lauren, you do have some solid work, and your site is neat and approachable, doing what it has to do – save the "About" section which has terribly justified typography and a kind of nieve tone with the "(aka me)." This has you situated in a good spot.
The first steps to bigger/better paying clients – and arguably most important – is contacts. Start by exploring your own network of people and see if there are any good names/organizations you can get in front of. This is always the best I think, as I feel we have a word-of-mouth industry. Ideally, you are looking for projects to pitch on.
Pitching on projects means being on someone's radar. Some self-promotion might work for you. Put some time and energy into developing something you can send out to get your name on people's radar. Emails in my experience are worthless – give them something then can touch/feel/taste... use their senses.
In addition to this, if you want to be pitching on projects a small/boutique firm would pitch on, you need to position yourself in a similar manner. Set up your site/image as a design studio. Sure, you are one person, but play that down. Dont use language like "I", use "we", or avoid that kind of language all together. Also, you can play up having a network of contacts allowing you to complete any size project – if need be. All of this should not scare away smaller clients, but should instill confidence in larger clients.
With this positioning yourself as a design studio – get your paperwork sorted out. proposals, estimates, contracts, invoices, business cards – putting on a professional face will instill more respect and confidence in your capabilities.
professionalism and talent. let your work speak to your talent, and let your business practice speak to your professionalism.