How to land my first design client?

Call businesses and pitch them. You can have your first client before the end of the day.

You field of expertise is a very difficult place to be because there has to be a ton of competition. That being said, have you ever thought about YOU being your first client?

To find a base of local business that might need your services just go to your local businesses and collect their business cards. If asked why? You explain that you are new to the area and were looking to find businesses that might need your services. Offer your biz card and ask for theirs. If not asked why then just collect the biz card.

Now you have 25 or 30 local business cards and with each card you have specific information that would help you land your next clients. Remember, the business card can give you a ton of information about each specific business.

Things like do they use a Hotmail account for their business email, do they have a business website and if so is it mobile friendly, do they have a business logo, can you leave a customer testimonial …etc. The opportunities are unlimited once you know what’s on the biz card.

What is printed on the back of the card? If nothing then there is an opportunity for a promotional biz card design and print job. If so then it means this business card is used as a marketing tool and you have another opportunity as a biz card designer.

Back to hiring yourself as a web designer and create a simple directory website using those business cards. The website is local in nature and has specific benefits by adding each business card’s content.

Next you create an 8.5 by 11 flyer that advertises the local directory website and highlights one business at a time. You are creating these custom flyers on your inkjet printer and adding the information from one business per biz card collected.

Then back to the businesses to show and explain that you have a new opportunity for them and with the opportunity you would like to feature their business. If they like your design you ask to post the flyer in their store window. If not it is off to the next business.

To the businesses that like your flyer you can offer to help fix what’s missing on the biz card. Because now you know what each biz card has shown you and with that you customize each pitch to include what was missing on the biz card.

Things like the Hotmail email needs a custom email address, or the website that looks ugly on your phone…etc. After they like your flyer and in the first meeting you offer to help fix the biz card problem as a bonus.

You are not there as a salesperson you are someone who is interested in working together and help them make money. Your relationship with the business owner is most important and the custom flyer showcases your talents.

Good Luck, RR

OP, your offer is so vague so far that it makes it tough to give specific advice.

WHO will you be offering these services to?

Whoever comes along?

Joe the Goatherder?

NASA?

Who's the happy medium for you?

Niche down and pick a target market. What size, industry, location, tech level, solution type will you provide these services for? What are the executives like who you want to deal with?

We generally get what we expect, so if your target is, "I'll take anybody," you're most likely to get nobody.

Niche down, come back with a description, and I can give you more actionable expertise.

In the meantime, I can only say in general:

- begin conversations with members of your target market

- qualify them for need, budget and personality fit for your offer

- close some who are a fit to become clients

- fulfill their orders expertly.

If you don't start conversations, you won't make any sales. And (more general advice) hiding behind your computer screen won't start conversations.

Four words come to mind used to qualify Ryan's position, "Getting Started" and "First Clients".

Ryan it is my understanding that you are just starting out, right? You need to get your feet wet on the low lying fruit, which is a Level 1 or 2 client...not to start with Level 10 clients like Walmart or McDonald's.

So Jason how would you start if it was ground zero and you had a great talent for design but was missing the much needed sales skills...Why are the sales skills missing? Because Ryan asked "How do I get my first clients?"

Just wondering, RR

Thank for all the great ideas. I'm going to focus on churches and see how it goes. Already started sending cold emails.

I've been involved in churches most of my life including now. I can't remember ever seeing a church brochure.

Here is the thing with churches. If they do anything like this there is almost always someone either willing to do it for free within the church or someone in association with the church. If not free then very affordable.

I know a guy that made money with church websites in the 90's. His dad was a pastor and he had standing among a lot of pastors in his own right. But that was when having the sermon on a website was a big deal. I'm not sure what he is doing now maybe he is living off all the residuals?

If you want to be involved in the Christian niche I would look at book authors. There are a lot of books written by pastors, theologians, etc. Most of them need serious help with everything from cover design to marketing and editing.

You could go on Amazon and find their information and contact them that way. A lot of people write more than one book, especially professors, so that might be a better market for you.

Not my first choice but maybe a fundraiser program would work. I call this the Church niche with a fundraiser twist. Of course all printing for flyers, biz cards and game sheets done by you Ryan.

Maybe you could set up a church fundraiser in the form of an act of kindness scavenger hunt. Most acts of kindness cost very little, and many cost nothing at all. While it is impossible to put a price tag on another person's happiness, you will feel good about yourself when you make a difference in someone's life.

Here are some examples:

1. Pay a compliment at every opportunity.
2. Offer to do shopping for an elderly neighbor.
3. Babysit for a new mom.
4. Put a love note in your spouse's lunch.
5. Give your mailman a cold drink in summer.
6. Give a homeless person one of your many sweaters.
7. Take flowers to nurses at your local hospital.
8. Send a thank you card to a soldier.
9. Write a letter of encouragement to someone.
10. Donate blood or bone marrow.
11. Register to become an organ donor.
12. When you get good service, say so.
13. Help someone with packing to relocate.
14. Walk a sick friend's dog.
15. Clean a sick friend's house.
16. Do shopping for an elderly neighbor.
17. Post positive notes on your child's computer.
18. Give a homeless person a blanket.
19. Make a cup of coffee for your office mate.
20. If someone looks lost, give them directions.
21. Offer to take tourist's photographs.
22. Water your neighbor's garden.
23. Return shopping carts for shoppers.
24. Bring in a neighbor's garbage bin.
25. Help an office colleague meet a deadline.
26. Clear a neighbor's walkway of snow.
27. Spend an hour picking up litter on the beach.
28. Go through your closet and donate unwanted clothes.
29. Invite a soldier to be your pen pal.
30. Let someone go ahead of you in a line.

Get businesses involved

For the businesses that support this type of game there are a lot of benefits to that business. This is a
win, win, and win for all parties that participate. This is a bonus for the community and the people in
the community through the random acts of kindness as given by the church fundraiser teams. Also the
positive karma created by such game play is considered a plus to the companies that support the church fundraiser teams.

Here is the pitch…

This is a fundraising idea that incorporates a scavenger hunt biz card, a help the community biz card and the local business/coupon biz card. It is called “Random Act of Kindness”. A random act of kindness scavenger hunt can start with one small act of kindness and grow into a habit. You can bring joy, surprise, or help into another person's day. It could even be what the person needs to develop a more positive outlook on life in general.

Just a thought, RR

Does the Christian niche cover funeral homes? Because, around here, funeral homes need help with better brochures and postcard-like things they have.

Adword and Fb Ads to target your potencial customer , and then it's belong your service. Sicerely !

Have you done any work experience or worked with another colleague as their sidekick to enhance your skill set and shadow them so you can get an idea of how they run their business and manage their BDM and clients? While it may not be ideal, I have always tried to work for free or cheap as chips to get started and make mistakes before really getting out there into the big bad world. It can be brutal at first and collaborating with a mentor or a designer with experience may be a great way to sink your teeth into the design world and get a better understanding of what to do and how to do it. I started building a network of colleagues including copywriters, web developers, designers and others who we all work together and share referrals and recommend each other when required, which offers a great pipeline of work. Short of that, get the word out what you're doing, friends, families and colleagues will usually want to help you out and give you a boost to get you started. Hopefully you have set up a website and social media so we people can see your work, plus a link for an online portfolio is a great way to showcase your skills as well. Good luck.

Further, let's talk about mindset. If you believe you can't get higher value clients, no selling skills in the world will help you--because you won't apply them.

If you "take what you can get," you'll end up with a bunch of lousy low-paying clients who give you dull work. And you'll start to believe that's all you can get.

Target better, to the highest level your self-concept, comfort zone, and limiting beliefs will allow you to, from the beginning to get better results. Get clients deliberately, not by default.

Planning marketing their products, advertise them in the channel pr as seo, adword, email..toi customers wishing to use your product.

craigstlist is always a good thing, and gumtree too.

Hello! I think you can find your first clients on labor markets such as Odesk or Freelancer. I know a lot of designers that make good money there. Start with cheap prices and work to get good feedback for some time. I think you will get a lot of good clients in some time. Additionally you can think about Graphicriver. You can make a design and earn good money there.

Ryan, haven’t had a chance to read through all comments, but I can’t see anyone mentioning freelance platforms, such as Freelancer or Upwork. Why don’t you give it a try? I think that freelance websites are perfect for newbies. Of course, you may find it difficult to get your first client at the beginning, but Freelancer, for instance, offers you an opportunity to participate in competitions. You can build your portfolio this way too. So, sign in on these platforms and don’t give up. Cheers! N