The life of a freelance graphic designer offers the possibility of living freely from his passion, but the road to independence is a quest filled with obstacles.

Unfortunately, the pattern is often the same which is repeated: you quit your job to become your own boss, you get one or two assignments via your personal network, you are happy to have your own clients, your own hours and especially to earn 300 euros per day. Then we discover the wait …

The graphic designer is waiting to be called. The graphic designer waits for us to visit his site. The graphic designer waits for an email to be sent to him. The graphic designer waits and waits again.

If this situation speaks to you, you’ve come to the right place. This article is intended to help you develop a solid customer base that regularly uses your services.

1. Building a specialist image

As said above, there are many obstacles to the life of a graphic designer, one in particular: the lack of specialization .

The majority of web designers tend to take on any assignment when they start out, even cutting back on their price and doing things by default. However, having 10, 15 or 20 specializations is too much! Know how to select your skills because the selection, the specialization is a guarantee of excellence and confidence.

Let’s take a simple example. Tonight you want to eat sushi. You have two types of restaurant in front of you: On the left, a generalist who sells pizzas, burgers, kebabs, sushi… and on the right, a sushi specialist who does just that. Who are you going to see?

A company reasons in the same way. She identifies a problem on a specific subject that she wants to settle with a person specializing in THAT specific subject. If a business is tackling a new area, it will naturally go to someone who is fully conversant with that area and has mastered it. But if you do too many things at once, you are much less likely to stand out. It is very difficult to build a solid reputation if you do not develop specific skills.

There is no single recipe for finding out who you really are. But the best advice we can give in this area is to start by choosing an area that you are passionate about. Once you have found this area, simply associate it with a skill you have mastered and voila!

In general, a good specialization follows 2  main axes :

A specialization by profession : Motion Designer, Webdesigner, UX Designer …

Specialization by type of client : for startups, in the catering industry, in fashion, for animals …

As you will have understood, by remaining a generalist you take the risk of not developing the credibility necessary to inspire the confidence of your target and bring real added value to your profile.

1.2 Develop your Personal Branding

Once you have found the field that excites you, in which you have become an expert, you must now succeed in creating the desire to use your services. You have to make yourself unique in the eyes of your prospects and that means building your personal brand.

It is essential to promote its image and its skills to become a recognized brand, as a company would. Let’s see together several ways to do it: