How To Get Work As A Freelancer
One of the biggest questions I get is “how do you get work?” or some variation of that question. The fact is, knowing how to find work is a huge part (and sometimes a difficult part) of being a freelance artist. Today I’ll be sharing a few methods that I use in real life to find work and some stories to go along with them.
COLD CALL
This by far my favorite way to find work and the way I recommend to most people. I built my freelance business on cold calling clients I wanted to work with.
I got my first freelance job for a client when I was 18 and only about a month out of high school. It was for a business called Pop n’ Sweets. They had a huge empty blue wall in their store, so I emailed them and basically said “Hey you have a big wall that needs something on it, and I do lettering. Do you want to hire me?” The next day I got an email back from them saying that not only did they want to hire me to paint on a big blue wall, but they also wanted me to do all the chalkboard menus for their new location opening in Cedar City that weekend!
I used this method in the beginning and I still use it now when I find a potential client I want to work with! Remember 80% of people will say “no” or won’t even email you back, but all you need to build your client base is a couple to say yes. Don’t be afraid to get out there and do some leg work, and don’t be afraid of rejection, it’s all part of the job. Many of my favorite jobs have come from sending an email, including the mural at Mozz pictured below.
This was my very first client job when I was just a few months out of high school!
SHOW UP
This might seem like a no-brainer, but SHOWING UP to things is a great way to get work. I’m amazed at how many jobs I’ve landed by meeting someone at an event and telling them about what I do.
One of my favorite recurring clients is Nicole Macaron in Florida. We met at a conference in California and only talked for a few minutes, but it was enough time to figure out that we valued similar things in our business and that I had skills she could use. Because of that short conversion, I’ve had the opportunity to design several specialty packaging containers and other lettering brand graphics for nicole.
Networking and showing up at events is also how I got work with the Might Baker, started my online class, and how I landed my biggest licensing job ever. Remember that people don’t know what you do unless you TELL THEM. Everyone you meet should know what you do for work by the end of the conversation.
BE RECOMMENDABLE
About 40% of my jobs from last year came from referrals. That’s HUGE! When you’re working for a client, be the type of person that those clients are going to want to refer to their friends and business colleagues. Some of my best jobs and favorite clients have been the results of referrals. All of the projects pictured below were the result of a referral from a past client.
BE OBVIOUS
In my post about sharing your work on instagram I talk a lot about sharing the type of work you want to do. This is SUPER IMPORTANT! People have bad imaginations, so if you want to get hired to do more packaging work, then post examples of packaging work! If you want to paint more murals, then post about murals! People are going to associate you with the things you do. Be super obvious about the work you want to do, and also be obvious about being open for business and open for new client projects. Below are a few examples of client projects I’ve got directly from Instagram.
MAKE THE JOB YOU WANT
I’m a big believer in this. I got my first internship with Melissa Esplin when I was 19 because I made up the job. She wasn’t looking for an assistant, but I emailed her and asked her if she had ever thought of hiring one and that I would be a great person to pick. From that, I had so many amazing experiences working and learning from Melissa that helped me so much!
Making up work is also how I got my first Mural job. I wanted to start painting murals, but I had never done one, so I decided to do a “Win A Wall” contest on instagram. Businesses were able to apply for a chance to have me come to their business and paint a mural for free. I had SO MANY people apply and I wasn able to pick the business that was the best fit for me and to have a lot of control over the design and the process. Never do work for free unless it was on your own terms. In this case, I was able to get experience painting a mural and was able to be in control of the situation and have the businesses come to me. From this job, I got tons of mural jobs and am now the go-to mural person in my area.
PASSION PROJECTS
This goes right along with sharing your work online and making up work. Passion projects are a great way to 1. Get your work out there, 2. Establish your brand identity and 3. Give you the opportunity to create a cohesive body of work.
I love Provo, and for almost a year I had been trying to figure out a good way to do a project that celebrated the awesome things people were doing here in my community that would also involve lettering. Finally I came up with the idea for People of Provo and asked photographer Justin Hackworth to be a part of it with me. We chose 10 people to feature, Justin photographed them and I added lettering. By the end we had an awesome series of work that we were both very proud of.
Not only was this project fun, but it got me my biggest client job of my career so far designing the entire 2020 marketing campaign for Utah Valley University.
At the end of the day, the amount of work you have and whether you enjoy the work you’re doing comes down to you. Be creative, work hard, and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and go get it!