One year ago I never thought I’d be working as a freelance website designer. I didn’t even know what a “freelancer” was.
Now, my main goal in 2022 is to grow in this industry.
Rewind to March of 2021. My dad came to me with the idea of learning how to work for myself and create websites for businesses. My first thought: “Nope.” Dismissing the idea as “It’s too hard” and “I have no idea how to do that,” I continued on with my life. A month later, I came back around to this idea.
The idea sparked when I was out of work from my plain old customer service job because of COVID. After a mini panic of realizing I now have no way of making money, I looked into website design.
A ton of youtube tutorials and long talks with my dad later, I started to gain confidence that I could do this. I decided to set my mind to it and run with it - even though I had no idea of how I was going to do this.
Wix’s free plan was a lifesaver for me. I was able to create mockups for random fake businesses. I came up with brand kits and color palettes and business names all for the means of gaining experience on how to create a website.
I began to push forward and plan out what to do when I actually landed a client. How much would I charge? What would my process be? How do I even find people who need websites?
Hours were spent sending out cold emails to individuals and businesses who I felt could benefit from a website or whose websites I felt that I could improve upon. About one hundred emails later, with probably 2 or 3 responses, I finally found my first client.
It was a super low stakes website project. A simple 5 page basic website. Even though it was super easy and something I could probably complete in 2 hours now, it was a huge success for me. It gave me the confidence to continue on and reassured me that I truly can do what I put my mind to.
So, a few months later, I've worked on six website projects so far. Creds to you dad :)