How To Get Your First Design Client

to me if you're if you're after your first client uh you know don't worry about pricing uh don't worry about like having a perfect process making a beautiful proposal like worry about getting the work um and then like that will put you in a process where you'll start to think about all those other things as as they come up [Music] how do i get my first client this is a question we get all the time i just got a school or i've transitioned from doing engineering or i was a scientist or something like that and i found that my true calling is in design i don't have any clients so is this catch-22 how do i get my first client yeah i mean this is a problem with a lot of different effective ways to approach it um you can approach it from a networking perspective where it's about meeting a bunch of people who potentially need the thing that you're trying to offer um you could approach it from a putting the work out there that you want to do uh you know type of approach where you know you do um you're your own client and you make the type of work that you want to be doing for other people um and you know and showcase that and share it with people and put it in front of people who might actually need it you can do the community approach where you look around in your local community for businesses who you legitimately think you could help and approach them and say hey like here's how i think i can help you what do you think um so you know i think a lot of it's just about getting out there and trying things um as opposed to the perfect approach like don't let the great be the enemy of the good here um to me if you're if you're after your first client uh you know don't worry about pricing uh don't worry about like having a perfect process making a beautiful proposal like worry about getting the work um and then like that will put you in a process where you'll start to think about all those other things as as they come up um so i find that like a lot of times when people have the you know find themselves in that position the question's like really more about getting started than it is about specifically like who that first client is or what they're doing you know you're staying like first client but say you were working at a design studio for four years and then you decided to go out on your own right and and start your own studio okay like the process for finding your first client in that scenario to me is vastly different from i just graduated from school and looking for my first client right if you're leaving a studio you should be building relationships that whole time okay um you know you should uh think about the clients that you really like to work with the people who you like as people think people you want to spend time with the projects that you really enjoyed like the work that you really like doing um and that should answer a lot of those things for you um if you're out of school it's much more about like switching from hypothetical to real you know i think one thing that sort of makes me feel better thinking about that situation is that like this is work that you will never stop doing um you will you will do that for the rest of your career for like as long as you want to do it and so it's really just about like working out that muscle um about communicating with people about sharing your work about being passionate about like the work that you want to be doing as opposed to this kind of uh rain catcher approach where it's like well i'll take whatever comes my way um right which is fine but like we'll kind of get into the problems with that approach a little later i imagine when you're working for somebody planning your escape like you're in alcatraz or something a norcal reference there you're in alcatraz you want to get out of the big house so you should be building relationships with clients with people at the office you should be sitting on on those very important new business meetings so you get a first-hand education as to how new businesses won and subsequently lost and you should be setting up your side game planning the escape you get the the life vest ready you're getting the tools you need to dig your way out of prison and you're figuring out what day the weather conditions are favorable tides and and sharks or whatever and you're preparing for that moment to get out of the big house and so that's what you should do because to jump without a plan it's just like trying to escape out of prison without a plan you might get out but you're not going to last very long so it's kind of really important okay the other thing that you can do is if you're a student and you got out of school and you're ready to start on your own without any experience one of my tips for you is call up one of your professors call up all of them and say look i got a school and i'm looking to set up shop are there clients or people that you can recommend that i can talk to and if you did a good job in class there's a good chance of referring to somebody people forget a lot of times especially in a design school your professors are working professionals or they are well connected because guess who calls them for referrals all these big companies like google and apple and microsoft so they have clout so i would definitely do that the other thing that i would ask you to do is when when you go and talk to somebody when you build a relationship when you start that conversation don't do this with the intent of asking for something right away it's a brand new relationship start the conversation before you actually need something because i get hammered with this all over the internet hey chris love the show by the way here's what i do can you hire me and i just feel like everything else they said above that like love your show i'm a big fan it just isn't it doesn't mean anything you're trying to flatter me which won't get you anywhere and then you're asking for something right away build a relationship it takes time to do that during the live stream i'm not always able to get to everybody's questions and comments and if you want to make sure that we get to yours just tune in live and submit your question dan nad asks how do you find a mentor i don't think you need a mentor what you need are heroes and heroes or plentiful whereas mentors have a limited supply this is an idea that i got from south golden so dan before you go look for a mentor do everything you can to learn as much as you can from the available resources that are out there michael beirut has an excellent response it is too he's like you can hijack your mentor they don't even need to know that you exist this comment comes from milika chris and eli are like older brothers full of knowledge and value this is gold thank you so much well thank you so much for saying that we do really appreciate these kinds of comments

Channel: The Futur

Views: 60,574

Keywords: the futur, how to, graphic design, strategy, pricing, design, entrepreneurship, business of design, business, mindset, how to get work, how to get first design client, get first job, client, freelance, freelancer, Eli altman, run studio run

Id: mdWKRhSH4jQ

Length: 6min 45sec (405 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 03 2020