“Pretend you’re an Agency Owner instead of calling yourself a freelancer, that way people will respect and you’ll get paid more! “

I’ve spent a good chunk of my web design days trying to remember to say “we” instead of “I” in a sheepish attempt to look like I had a huge team behind me. Not only is this a bit manipulative, but it’s also likely to backfire on you. Since clients will assume you have a set team their expectations and your workload will be a lot to handle on your own. Your act will sooner or later be revealed and you’ll be left with clients who don’t find you trustworthy (yikes.)

Of course, you can try to fake it till you make it, and many designers have probably done that successfully. However, I think labelling yourself as something you’re not (such as a consultant or agency owner) may leave potential clients confused and make them conclude that you’re not actually what they’re looking for. There are so many advantages to hiring a freelance web designer and not everyone wants a huge team working on their project.

“You won’t get to work on big projects”

This is just…not true. People having this misconception makes sense, since a big project may sound like a lot for one person to handle. However, when freelancers are hired onto big projects it’s usually multiple of them, or the person is experienced enough to handle everything on their own. If you’re a newbie, it’s best to start with small businesses and work your way up from there. If you assert your authority and put yourself out there, you might just eventually stumble upon the opportunity to work on a big project!

“Freelance websites are useless, you’ll be underpaid and there’s too much competition”

Many will tell you Upwork, Fiverr, Bark etc don’t pay enough and can’t help you scale your business. Many success stories prove that this isn’t necessarily always the case. As expected, every platform has its advantages and disadvantages, and not everyone will strike gold on them.

But regardless there have been countless success stories of freelancers securing great deals and progressing in their careers with the help of these websites.

On top of this, lurking around on these types of websites will give you a lot of inspiration for your own business. Whether it’s taking a certain line from someone else’s sales script or presenting your portfolio in a similar fashion to a person in your industry, being on a platform filled with creatives like you will surely spark some “aha” moments.

Thank you for reading, I hope you gained some value from this. I post a new blog each week, most likely on a Wednesday, so stay tuned for more. Let’s stay connected in the meantime; shoot me an email or feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn 🙂