Someone asked me last week how I'd start freelancing if I had to do it again from zero. I gave a short answer in a video, but the honest version needed more room. So here it is, 7 things instead of 4. And I'm not going to sugarcoat it. Freelancing is hard. It can also be worth it, if you're determined to build it your way.

Tip 01

Freelancing as a designer is not becoming a boss from day one and spending your days on sales calls and operational work. You do everything until you start collaborating with other freelancers or open your agency. It's still service work, and you end up with multiple bosses instead of one.

When I started my first freelance projects I was still working as a full-time designer, taking client work every evening and on weekends. I was a junior at work, a junior in my freelance gigs, and a person literally trying to pay her bills.

Tip 02

Start with what you already have. This is where I'd run my PPF framework: past, present, future.

The niche sits in the overlap of all 3, not in any one of them. Pick from past alone and you repeat a career you already left. Pick from future alone and you're selling something you can't deliver yet.

Be honest about your visual level while you're here. Design freelancing is heavily visual, especially when you’re just starting out.

Level 03

Grab my Framer template, fill it, move on. The portfolio's job here is to communicate fit, not to impress.

A clear portfolio pointed at one type of client beats a portfolio full of mixed signals. Purely because the communication is clearer, so you're understood faster, and you come across as more credible.

Tip 04

Nobody hires a freelancer they don't know exists. The whole point of this step is building relationships, not sending pitches.

That last one is the fastest way I know to get a reply, if you lack referals. You've done the work before asking for anything and that’s what builds trust.

Tip 05

On early projects, optimise for relationships, skills and experience, not for the highest number. What you need is one clear number you can defend.

Same monthly rate, applied to ongoing work, and day to day you're doing roughly what you'd do in a full-time role, but as an external designer. You can also get embedded into a team, depending on who’s your client and how they’d like to work with you.

After you've done some work you'll get familiar with the typical problems in a niche. That's when you raise your prices, and you'll be able to justify it.

Tip 06

The difference between freelancing and full-time employment is that you're fully responsible for your relationship with a client. There's no team, no manager who's there for you. You lead, you decide, you make it work or you call it and walk away.

I have fucked up many client relationships and I was super stressed about it. Now I know it's part of the process, so I try not to overthink it and learn as much as I can instead. On calls I turn on Granola, then afterwards I ask it for feedback on my communication and negotiation. It's been eye-opening.

When you outgrow solo work, start collaborating with other freelancers before you consider an agency. And don't be hard on yourself if you decide to go back to a full-time position. Your career has to work for you, and everyone is different.

Tip 07

Mindset is everything. I've worked on mine more in the last few years than I ever did as a full-time employee.

I've been going to therapy and putting real work into my mindset. Not because freelancing broke something, but because when you remove the structure of a job, it's just you and your mind, and the two of you fight often. If you're an overthinker, emotional and ambitious, like me, that fight takes up more room than you'd expect.

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