Making decisions can be the hardest part of any freelancer’s day-to-day work. But I’ve found that finding the right methods and strategies to make decisions is key to staying on track and making progress in my business.
If you need help, here are tips for making better decisions as a freelancer (or any entrepreneur). I hope they’ll help you make smart choices so that you can grow your business even more!
| Takeaways |
|---|
| Effective decision-making is crucial for success in freelance graphic design. |
| Consider both creative and practical factors when making design choices. |
| Prioritize clear communication with clients to align on design decisions. |
| Embrace iterative design processes to refine and enhance your work. |
| Trust your instincts and experience while staying open to feedback. |
Do Not Act Out Of Fear
Fear is a natural human emotion. It’s also one of the easiest emotions to let get in the way of our personal and professional goals.
Fear can prevent us from taking action, which can make it difficult to achieve our goals. If we don’t take action, we won’t be able to move forward toward what we want in life or business. Fear can stop you from doing things that will help you get closer to achieving your goals, but fear doesn’t have to stop you completely!
Making informed decisions is a cornerstone of success in the world of freelance graphic design. Learn how to harness the power of marketing research to make good decisions that shape your design career effectively.
Be Clear On Your Values
Values are an important part of your decision-making journey as a graphic designer. They help you define who you are, what you do, and how you do it. You can use them to make decisions about everything from working with clients to setting price points for your services.
Why are values so important? Well, if they’re not clear and defined, then they’re not going to help much when it comes time for making decisions. And if we don’t know what our values are we won’t be able to figure out where even to begin when making decisions!
What Type of Person Are You?
The Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator is a test that evaluates your personality based on four basic preferences.
Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Do you prefer to think about things in details, or are you more interested in seeing the bigger picture? Are your decisions influenced by how people will feel about them, or do they come from inside of yourself? These four preferences form 16 different personality types.
Knowing your type can help guide you in making better decisions because it helps you understand where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
For example, if someone has an ISTJ personality type (the inspector), they’re going to be very detail-oriented when making decisions because their dominant function is introverted sensing (Si). Someone with a dominant function of extraverted feeling (Fe) would be better at reading other people’s emotions and needs so that their first instinct wouldn’t be what’s best for themselves it would be what’s best for others!
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Keep Open Minds
As a graphic designer, it is important to keep an open mind. This allows you to be receptive to new ideas, influences, and trends that are happening in your industry. It also allows you to learn from other designers’ successes and failures, giving you the ability to improve your work.
If you’re willing to learn from others, then this means admitting when they were right or wrong when discussing their work with them. And if they were wrong (which happens more often than not), then also being humble enough not only admit it but also ask questions so that you can understand how they would approach the situation differently next time around!
Remember Your Work Is Never Finished
If you’re a freelancer, your work is never done. That might sound like a downer, but it’s liberating. You can always improve the way you work and what you do. It doesn’t matter if this is your first freelance gig or if you’ve been working online for decades: There’s always something new to learn, always something better to do.
When I started my design career in 2010 I had no idea that I’d end up doing what I’m doing now creating websites like this one and coaching other creatives who want to start their own business but here we are! And while my job has changed dramatically over time, there are still things that continue to surprise me about how much there is left for me to learn.
Commit To Your Decision
Okay, so you’ve made a decision. Great! But you still have to commit to it, or else you might as well not have decided at all.
If you don’t commit, then:
- You’ll feel like your time is being wasted because you’re not getting any work done.
- You’ll feel like your money is being wasted because it’s only going towards making more decisions instead of getting something done.
- And finally, committing will mean that any energy and resources that were used on making the decision are now being used on moving forward in a positive way with implementing it.
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Know Who You Are As A Designer
Knowing who you are as a designer is the most important thing. You need to know:
- Your strengths and weaknesses, what you’re good at, and what needs work.
- Your audience is the kind of people that will buy from you or hire you for work. If it’s just going to be friends or family, that’s fine! But if it’s people in the industry who might be hiring you for freelance jobs, then knowing what they need is key!
- Your niche, whether it’s illustration or branding, or web design. Maybe give yourself a few categories so that when someone asks “what do you do?”, they’ll get an answer instead of having no idea where to start looking because everything sounds cool!
- Your brand who are those perfect clients? What do they want? How can we appeal specifically to their needs without losing sight of our own goals?
Be Excited About What You Do
If you’re going to freelance, you need to be passionate about the work. You need to want to do the work. The fact that this isn’t always required in a 9-5 job is one of the reasons why so many people get burned out and quit their jobs.
However, when it comes down to it, if you don’t love what you do for a living then why are you doing it? If your heart isn’t in to something then how can anyone expect anything of quality from your work? And how can anyone tell if something is good or not if they don’t care enough about what they’re doing?
You can only give so much of yourself before eventually running out completely—and then where will that leave everyone involved?
Have A Vision For Your Work
One of the most important parts of designing for yourself is being able to visualize what you want your result to look like. If you have a clear vision of what you want, then it’s easier to make decisions along the way that will help you get there.
This doesn’t mean that you need total clarity from the beginning; sometimes things change as we go along and it helps if we have flexibility in our process so that we can adapt easily when necessary. But having some sort of idea about where we are headed is essential.
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Always Ask, “What’s Next?”
I’ve been a graphic designer for several years now, and the one thing that gets me through the tough days is asking myself, “What’s next?”
I think about what I want to do next in terms of personal growth and career development. This helps me get out of my headspace and look at my work from a different perspective. It also helps me keep moving forward with my freelance business and not just sit around wishing things would improve.
When I ask this question, I often find myself thinking about what new skills or techniques I need to learn to take on bigger projects or land better jobs. Then I make a list: what am I learning right now? What can help me get where I want to go? What do potential clients need from graphic designers like us? If you’re feeling stuck, start by looking at these questions as opportunities rather than roadblocks!
Justify Every Decision
Be able to justify every decision you make. Whether it’s a small or big decision, being able to explain why you made your final choice will help you feel confident in the decisions you’re making. While this isn’t always possible, here are some examples:
You’re designing an ad campaign for a client and they want something more modern than what they’ve seen from other companies in the industry. Their reasons include that they don’t want their ads to look outdated next year when their competitors start using brighter colors and new fonts, but they also don’t want them too edgy because their customers aren’t ready for that yet.
Based on these reasons, it makes sense for this client to go with a more traditional look rather than try something new with brighter colors or funky fonts right now.
Your friend wants her website redesign done in neon green because she thinks it will stand out better than using black or grey text on white backgrounds (which is what most websites use).
However, after talking about it further with her and hearing about how much time she spends helping customers find what they need on their current site (because of its lack of organization).
As well as thinking through how many people would be put off by neon green instead of something more calming or neutral like blue or purple text over white backgrounds (because most people still associate bright colors such as yellow/orange/red, etc… with warnings).
We decided against neon green because our reasoning was sounder in terms of customer experience AND branding which ultimately lead us towards choosing black text over a white background which both looked simpler yet professional at the same time!
When In Doubt, Research
Research is important because it’s an essential part of the creative process. You can’t make good decisions without knowing what you’re talking about, and there are so many ways to do this – from searching Google to asking experts on social media. Researching helps us find inspiration, come up with ideas and solve problems (and we all have those).
A Good Outline Is Essential
A good outline is essential. This is a plan of what you’re going to do, as well as an organizational tool that helps ensure you don’t forget anything. It’s also a record of your thoughts throughout each stage of the project, which can be helpful when you need to refer back later on.
For example, You’ll most likely want one section for the logo itself and then another section for how it will be used in different applications (for example, on business cards and websites). There might also be sections dedicated to other elements like social media graphics or branded presentations.
And if multiple designers are working together on a team project, they should outline their tasks so that everyone knows what part they’re responsible for and who else they’re collaborating with on each piece.
Excelling as a freelance graphic designer hinges on building strong client relationships. Explore the proven strategies laid out in the definitive guide to freelance graphic design clients’ success to elevate your design business to new heights of achievement.
Don’t Lose Sight Of Your Goal
If your dream is to be a full-time graphic designer, you have to stay true to that goal. It’s so easy to get distracted by other things and lose sight of the end goal.
Don’t let other people dissuade you from pursuing what you want in life. Don’t let fear hold you back. Don’t allow the naysayers or haters to drag you down for no reason at all! You deserve happiness and success just as much as anyone else does!
If your passion is graphic design, then go for it! I’ve been there before; I know how hard it can be when everyone around us tells us that our dreams are too expensive or unattainable or unrealistic for some reason or another. But don’t listen you’re capable of anything if only because you believe in yourself and your ability to succeed in this world!!!
Keep Your Personal Life Away From Your Business Life
As a freelancer, you should be able to separate your personal life from your business life. If you’re having trouble keeping things separate, it might help to think of them as two different people one is your business self, who lives in the office and works on projects; the other is your self, who lives outside of work and enjoys activities like family time and exercise.
Keep these two personalities in mind when making decisions about how to handle money and time management. For example: if an important client calls during dinner with friends or family, it’s okay to put them off until later (but not until after breakfast). As long as you don’t let one personality completely take over for another (and vice versa), this will keep things running smoothly both at home and in the office!
Final Thoughts
If you’re struggling with freelance graphic design work, I hope this post has given you some helpful tips. Stay positive, keep the faith in yourself and your abilities, always stay creative—and most importantly, don’t give up!
Further Reading
How to Get Clients as a Freelance Graphic Designer: Real Services to Offer Short Description: Discover effective strategies for attracting clients and offering real services as a freelance graphic designer in this insightful article.
How to Become a Freelance Graphic Designer Short Description: Dive into the steps and insights on transitioning into a successful freelance graphic designer career with this comprehensive guide.
How to Start as a Freelance Graphic Designer Short Description: Learn the fundamental steps to kickstart your journey as a freelance graphic designer, from building a portfolio to securing your first clients.
And here’s the “FAQs” section based on semantic of the TITLE:
FAQs
How to Get Clients as a Freelance Graphic Designer?
Attracting clients as a freelance graphic designer involves showcasing your skills through a strong portfolio, networking within your industry, utilizing social media platforms, and offering real and valuable services that address client needs.
How Do I Become a Freelance Graphic Designer?
To become a freelance graphic designer, start by honing your design skills, creating a compelling portfolio, setting your pricing, establishing an online presence, networking, and consistently delivering high-quality work to clients.
What Are the Steps to Start as a Freelance Graphic Designer?
Starting as a freelance graphic designer begins with building a portfolio that showcases your best work, defining your niche, setting up a professional online presence, and identifying potential clients through networking and online platforms.
What Services Can I Offer as a Freelance Graphic Designer?
Freelance graphic designers can offer a range of services, including logo design, branding, web design, social media graphics, print materials, illustration, and more, tailored to the specific needs of their clients.
How Can I Transition from a Full-Time Graphic Designer to Freelance?
Transitioning from a full-time graphic designer to a freelancer involves careful planning, building a strong client base, setting your rates, maintaining a consistent workflow, and gradually transitioning your responsibilities from your full-time job to freelancing.
How Do You Handle Client Meetings?
I find that initial meetings help establish what exactly the client is looking for in their new design project. It’s important to know who your clients are and how much experience they have with graphic design projects before jumping into a meeting with them this can help you give them realistic expectations about how long your work is going to take, as well as what sort of costs will be involved.
How Can I Get More Clients?
First, take a look at your social media presence. Are you posting anything regularly, and is it interesting to people outside of your immediate circle of friends? If not, start by posting once or twice a week on each platform (more if you have the time). As far as what to post content about design and related topics interests clients much more than pictures of cute animals or memes.
You can also send out monthly newsletters with links to your recent projects and articles on design topics like typography or color theory that may interest potential clients. Just be sure not to send too many emails! You don’t want inboxes clogged with spammy newsletters from designers they don’t know asking them for work.
By putting together an email every month that contains relevant information they’d find useful (and sending it once), you’ll establish yourself as an expert in the field while also giving them something useful every time they open their inboxes!
Do You Take Payment Plans?
Yes! I offer payment plans for all clients who have agreed to an hourly or flat fee project with me. Payment plans are only available if we have already agreed upon a price and scope of work.
Once all terms are set, payments can be made in installments over months or years depending on what works best for both parties; however, if there are any changes to scope after signing an agreement then they will not be eligible for the payment plan options (this includes adding additional pages/design elements).
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.