Forum Moderators: phranque
I was curious how I can get into freelancing. I have seen people on here getting into that and I was curious where I could get started doing freelance work. I have a company that I do on the sidelines of my full time job so I wouldn't be charging a lot because web design is more of a hobby for me.
Can anyone let me know how to get started? :)
Thanks :)
Wes
If you're talking about web design, basically, you just need to get customers! Do you have some sort of portfolio already? If not, then you need to get one. My first sites were for a local charitable organization, done for nothing, and were squarely aimed at starting out with at least a couple of sites to show to future (paying) clients.
From there, I was able to launch a professional-looking business website advertizing my services: get yourself a good domain name and clear branding, and use proper hosting (nothing puts a customer off more than seeing an ad-ridden free hosting site). Bear in mind, though, that you will get relatively few (if any) customers directly via your website: it is by personal contacts that you will get most of your work.
One other thing: if you see it as just a hobby, and present it as such, then you're only going to get hobby sites, and you won't get paid what you're worth. Web design is a hard sector to work in, because there is a glut of guys who claim to be web designers because they've loaded up Front Page or Dreamweaver a few times. It is difficult for the customer to differentiate the good from the bad, as important aspects of professional web design are so esoteric to an unknowledgeable audience (information design, site structure, usability, etc.). There is always a risk that your professional offering looks less interesting than a graphic designer's Flash-frenzy, so you need to be a convincing salesman too.
I'll add this to what he said: even though you mentioned you consider web design more of a hobby, you definitely want to portray nothing but professionalism to clients and potential clients. Make up some stationery, business cards, a logo. Do what you can to ooze professionalism. Then you can have your pick of clients and do as much or as little work as you'd like.
