126 Studios Blog

In the freelance world of work, you may have to find your future clients.  Even the more successful freelancers have to go hunting every now and then.  This is not a bad thing, as you get the chance to possibly chose who you develop for.  I am nowhere near being considered a experienced freelancer, I am still very young and new to the sport.

Find The Client

So how does one find a client?  I will speak of my experiences, and if you have any stories to share-please comment!  The more the merrier.  For the most part, I am very bold with how I handle meeting potential clients.  I tend to look at storefronts and imagery and see if a URL is listed or not.  If not, I will dig further into talking to that potential store.  This method doesn’t always work, but a good majority of the time it should.  If you don’t want to jump in to soon-you can always do a Google Search and see what comes up.  Google does well in situations like this!

What’s next?  Well, it’s time to contact that potential client.  This is a very difficult, as it most likely will be a first time meeting of this nature.  Be prepared, know your information and know how to present yourself.  I will explain this, as it deserves to be.

Meeting Up

Like I have said, the first meeting is the most difficult.  A lot of questions linger in the air: “Will I land the job?”, “Will I be turned down?”, etc. etc.  When you meet I suggest that you know the details the you are going to present.  What does this mean?

Knowing your information means knowing your personal image.  What do you represent?  How do you represent yourself?  What is your history?  Thoughts like this go a long way.  Next is knowing your offerings.  Will you offer an e-commerce solution/static solution/both?  Be prepared to list of what you can do for the potential client.  Potential clients will have many questions for you.  Cost, time, benefits, hidden costs, and all these similar ideas may become questions that your future client will have.  Another major question that comes up is “What have you done?” and “How will this benefit me?”  Be prepared to answer these questions.  I have also attached a “Web Designer Questions” to help you with this part of the meeting.  The more prepared your are, the better.  Finally, be confident in your ability!  This goes a long way.  Even if your not skilled, your confidence shows that you are willing to learn and go the extra mile.

Got The Job?

At this point, if you have landed the job, you are ready to start negotiating the specifics of the project.  If you didn’t land the job-start over.  Don’t be discouraged!  There are many businesses that don’t have sites!  Keep looking!!!

I would have a contract ready at all times!  A contract secures your job, your time and your money.  This is key at all times.  You have to secure your client and your self in an agreement. Individual contracts vary, depending on what you offer and how you view each job.  I have attached the current Contract that I use for your benefit!  Please modify it to your needs!

After this, it is time to begin your journey!  You can refer to my posts on starting a company, choosing software or a many others!

At this point, I suggest staying in contact with your client as much as necessary.  Once a week is a good starting point, but some clients may be more or less responsive.  You will have to figure this out as time goes on.  As your client has to follow your contract, you do to.  Make sure you follow the rules that you have set forth you the partnership that you have created.  Personally, I find physical contact with clients much more informal and to the point that through phone or e-mail-but that’s personal choice.

Once you finish the job, meet with the client again and seal the deal.  You have finished the job!  Make sure you have an invoice/order ready for them.  Keeping track of funds and work is very important.

After this, it’s time to start over again!  Though I bet round two will be much better than round one!

Attachments:

Web Designer Questions

Work Contract

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 4:56 PM and is filed under Inside Look, Projects, Web Design & Development.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.