00:00 Xavier Kelly: In today's tutorial, I'm gonna walk you through how to get your first
design client.
So make sure you stay tuned to learn more about it.
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00:11 XK: Like always, guys, I'm gonna leave all the links down in the description.
Why don't you check those out at the end of the video.
If you haven't already, go and subscribe to the channel and I would love to have you.
Let's get straight into it.
Number one, create five to 10 profile samples basically of whatever genre you're going to.
If you're going into graphic design, and you're going into logos, then do five to 10 logos.
If you're going into web design, do five to 10 layouts for web design.
If you're going into brochures, do five to 10 brochures.
And this is how I will break it down to you right here.
I will do five of my own, just pick up five random companies, build five things for yourself
and put them out there.
And then go to step two, which will be next.
And if you don't make any customers at step two, come back to step one and then take your
five and show those to five other people, and then get five people to reach out to businesses'
owners and just ask to get five people to do free work for them.
And then on top of that, you have 10 samples, and you have five referrals.
And if you can, do all 10 referrals.
And then go to step two, and then, that's where you can go and get to the point where
you can start selling more.
The real big reason for this point right here is to get you to the position that now you're
going through and you actually have the credibility, the samples, the back work, so you are able
to show that you are able to do this work.
01:28 XK: Step two, start bidding.
You need to go set up profiles for these accounts right here.
For Upwork, 99 Design, freelancer.com, and these right here is gonna be where you can
get a lot of work from.
And we take your samples that you have and your referrals, if you have those from step
one, and you put them to your proposal bids so that you can bid on different things.
I'm gonna link all these different sites down below, but basically, you go through, you
set up profiles.
Some sites like ND, if you type in "freelancer" or "graphic designer", you can find work on
there too as well.
If you look into...
Also, as well, going through and actually looking on Craigslist and doing these right
here in different cities.
And a lot of the places allow you to work remote and you'll be able to get a lot more
clients doing this right here.
So I want you guys to stay tuned and you really, really try to go through and build out your
authority on these websites.
02:18 XK: And fill out your profile, put a professional photograph together of yourself,
of a head shot, and also make sure you've got proposals that are actually solving the
problem and expressing what you to do.
And if you don't have a portfolio from the first one we said at first, put everything
on Instagram, link to your portfolio inside your proposal when you're bidding on these
projects as well.
Have your referrals ready so you can give to these people as well, and just start off
just bidding as much as possible.
The more you bid, the more clients you can possibly get.
So make sure you guys go ahead and use these tips.
02:52 XK: Three, start branding yourself.
You need to start putting yourself out there as a graphic designer and showing what you
can do.
There's a couple of ways you can do this on different platforms.
You can use Instagram, you can go through and you can use Dribble or Behance or YouTube
or all of them if you have the time to do it.
And one thing that I would really go through and do on these platforms right here, especially
specifically YouTube, I would show what I'm able to do.
So I'd show and to give tutorials out of those right there.
So that's kinda what I do on my Mondays videos, I give tutorials out, and then I will go through
and I will show people the process of me going through and doing it.
And then on Instagram, I will go through and show them the actual work that I have created
on the PSDs or the illustrated files that I have created.
03:38 XK: It's something you can really look into doing, you can get a lot of clients doing
this right here, but you really gotta get to this state right here and you've gotta
be marketing yourself, putting content out.
I'll start with trying to put one new piece of content out every single week, and this
right here will help you build your portfolio at the very beginning...
And that we talked about in step one.
So this right here will kinda work with that one, but this right here will help you get
a lot of content out there and basically put you as an expert and then in return when people
are looking for you, they'll see you out there and they'll see you have a better chance of
actually being able to hire you.
The more work you put out there for people to see, the more likely for those people to
actually hire you.
So this is something that you guys need to do and it's a very valuable step.
Step four, this is something that a lot of people forget about.
You can't stop learning.
Once you get your first client, you gotta spend a couple of hours a week, just keep
learning and keep progressing yourself.
Learning new skills, trying new stuff out, trying new techniques out.
Never stop learning.
And when you get complacent, that's when people pass you.
04:35 XK: If you want to be able to get higher wages and actually be able to charge in higher
amounts of 60 to a 100 or 135 a hour, then you need to be consistently driving out there,
grinding every single day and getting...
To get more clients, you have to be learning more.
Couple of sites that I said you guys should go learn on, little bit of stuff on there.
YouTube as well is a good community or place where you can find different ways how to do
stuff.
Adobe has Academy.
Skillshare, really help you, show you how to do a lot of these little things that people
will need you to do.
And as I go into my videos, when I go into my videographer, how to get jobs as a videographer
later on, I'm gonna walk you through that.
I've been working with a couple of clients on helping them with that and I help them
too as well.
But Skillshare will really help you enhance and show and kinda expand out what you're
possible and able to do.
Make sure you go through there and sign up for one of these things, sign up for Things,
use the LinkedIn skills that they have right here.
Use Skillcrush or any of these popular services or YouTube or get some books and just keep
learning.
As I always say, "Always stay bidding, always stay learning as well."
05:36 XK: And guys, thank you so much for watching this right now.
I really appreciate you making it to the end of the video.
I hope these four tips really...
And four tips and stuff really help you get to the point where you are able to actually
get your first client.
Please let me know down in the comment section below if you have any problems, if you need
some help.
I do some coaching as well, I can help you out and mentor you through the process.
I really want you guys to succeed.
It's really not much in the way, it's just really...
It's just practice, and time, and it's doing it over and over.
All it is is getting to the point where you're putting out good work, putting out bids, and
then putting out content over and over on a continuous cycle and always learning.
06:13 XK: Hey, guys, thank you guys for watching.
I'm Xavier Kelly, and I'll see you in the next one.
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