I guess there are many newbie web designers, just like me, who aspire to become one among the top. To be successful as a freelance web designer, it is very important that you avoid some of the most commonly made mistakes. In this article, being a newbie web designer myself, I’ve just shared my knowledge about the mistakes committed by a freelancer while you may share your opinions about the same via comments.
1. Just Being Good At Design
It is very important that you be a jack of all trades as a freelancer. You’ll not be able to survive if you are just good at designing alone. You need to realize that there are plenty of freelancers out there. Apart from the knowledge you gain to work platform independent, to stand unique from the rest, it is important that you equip yourself with several other skills like time management, project management, etc… You need not be an expert at these skills, just a little knowledge about them should suffice.
2. Improper Pricing Of Design Services
One of the most commonly made mistakes by freelancers is to overvalued their budding design service. They set the prices by looking at the niche sites which are well established. So, it’s pretty obvious that no one will choose your brand new web design service. Another common mistake is to work as a freelance for peanuts. They set very low prices or in other words, undervalue their design service just to engage themselves in a design contract which might back fire in few cases. Set your price neither too high nor too low for a fair chance of success as a freelancer.
3. Not Giving Your Clients What They Want
Apart from improper pricing, freelancers fail to give what the client actually wants. I’ve usually encountered this problem when designing blogger templates. I’ve seen few stunning hacks that work on WP blogs whereas on blogger, they don’t. So, you need to think twice before you engage yourself with a design contract.
Moreover, time is very precious for freelancers. So, don’t try to waste your time by working excessive to impress your client. For example, if your client asks for a logo, design only a logo. Don’t overload yourself by working on a logo and a banner just to impress your client.
4. Monotonous Work
Most of the freelancers approach the method of working 24/7 which I feel shall lead to a complete burnout – both mentally and physically. It’s obvious that certain design projects need extra attention and time. However, when you don’t schedule your time of work, it becomes hectic and you get mentally tired which simply means that you’re not working to your full potential. So, you’ll probably end up with a bad design – not satisfying what the client actually wanted.
5. Lack Of Focus
Well, it becomes important that you focus on your design – the requirements posted by your client. Most of the freelancers pursue their design career from home or office which makes it difficult to concentrate on their design. So, make sure you work on an environment that lets your imagination run wild to pull out the best from you.
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A proper routine and a solid schedule with quality design service is very essential to become successful as a freelance web designer. Just keep in mind that, you’re a freelancer always – one who cannot afford to waste time. I would be happy to receive your suggestions and opinions, probably add more points to the above article, via comments.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
lol.. It seems in past you had made yourself overload just to impress your clients .
Very true mukund. I also faced such problem when i started my carrier as a freelancer. Quote less and give more must be the motto of any wanna be freelancer.
I think the main thing is pricing the project correctly, this will come with the full understating of the project. Take time out to fully understand the requirement, as if you price the project correctly, you will not lose focus, and be determined to the project. Many of the times, due to lack of understand, the freelancer will end up doing more work than originally planned, and this can result to most of the points above.
Low priced high quality service is what consumers look for. For freelancers it can be a guru mantra…