Hello newcomers! Freelancing for many developers still seems to be something unusual and non-standard. Someone sees freedom in such work, another sees “a salvation” from the office routine and crazy boss, and someone thinks skeptical about freelancing, calling it works for lazy developers. People in the latter category will likely never work remotely. Meanwhile, the number of freelancers in the world is constantly growing, with many of them achieving success in their profession, and they also find time and money for their personal lives and travel, because they know how to properly organize their work.
In this article which is titled ‘How To Get Freelance Work As A Seasoned CSS Developer‘, you will find out how to become a successful freelancer, get Jobs in USA, collaborate with other developers, and get orders with a stable weekly income. Now, let’s start from the beginning.
Well, most persons start working remotely only when they realize they no longer enjoy the office lifestyle. Many will be disappointed with this approach because, with all the advantages of freelancing, it’s not all that easy here either. As with office work, it requires discipline, well-defined priorities, and a large customer base. Therefore, if you decide to switch to remote work, it is better to prepare for it in advance, even before dismissal.
Since you are planning to become a freelance CSS developer, you’d need to create a portfolio and start looking for orders so that by the time you leave the office you already have clients, cooperation with whom will allow you to make a profit.
So what do you need to do in order not to post ads like “Get a site for $100“? Well, hereunder are the tips you need to overcome this sorry phase.
Creating a quality portfolio is the best and first step to conquer in the ever-competitive freelancing space. Each customer will ask you what projects you have already done. They will also ask you to show them some examples and could go as far as asking about the feedback from other clients. So, to start freelance work as a CSS developer, you definitely need a portfolio of completed work.
Newbies often complain that they don’t have portfolio examples because no one gives them a job, but this is a completely wrong approach to work. Nothing prevents you from coming up with a topic of a project, completing it, and adding it to your portfolio. Yes, no one will pay you for this, but there will be something to show potential customers. The portfolio can be either a separate site or arranged on freelance platforms where you post your services.
Another of the top best ways to attract the attention of customers and get a job is to start a thematic CSS blog. In addition to sharing experience and just fun, you can make a bunch of useful contacts, not only potential clients but also potential partners for work. Over time, when there are more orders than you can do by yourself, these contacts will come in handy.
Although you are a freelancer – a person who is constantly on the Internet – and offline communication does not need to be deleted from your life. Therefore, make cool business cards. Firstly, it is simply more solid, and secondly, it will enable customers not to lose touch with you. Stand out from other developers and make a positive impression of professional work. A satisfied client will recommend you to his friends and partners or will apply for new projects steadily. A simple business card can be created with DesignCap or other business card creation software.
This issue is very important for you to be competitive in the IT market, and at the same time, to have enough money for a comfortable life. I recommend looking at a portfolio of people working in your specialization at your level and setting the same price as theirs. If it is difficult to find the exact price level, pretend to be a customer, come up with some kind of fictional order, and conduct research among other freelancers. Sometimes there may be such a situation when you are interested in some kind of order, but there are no works on this topic in the portfolio. You can do a couple of projects for free. In this case, you get new skills on a real project.
While there are many freelancers that have excelled by sticking to only Upwork, Ziprecruiter, or Fiverr most top freelancers started by working with several legit freelancing sites. So you actually need to look for customers in different ways.
Look for orders on the sites of freelancers, tell about your activities in social networks, tell your friends about what you do, create your own website on the topic of your services, print yourself some business cards and give them to those who may need your services. In general, “shoot the guns” in all directions, it brings success.
Always discuss all conditions (including hidden ones) before starting a job or task. Test task, deadlines, payment, who will accept the work, how the communication between the project participants will be built, how many improvements you will make, whether the completed work can be placed in a portfolio, etc. It is better to discuss all these things in advance because then there will be fewer “surprises”.
Now that you’ve known where to look for customers and how to take the first steps in freelancing, it is time to grab these rare tips for a successful freelancing journey as a seasoned CSS developer.
Firstly, you just need to sleep and relax. When you work for days, you will burn out very quickly because the quality of your work depends on constant fatigue. And as a result, you will work out more and earn less. Invest in yourself, that is, spend your time and earned money not only on beer but also on things that will bring you more income in the future: self-study, attendance at master classes and thematic conferences, a comfortable workplace.
In order to work most efficiently, identify your most productive period of the day. Minimize the impact of demotivators at this time: turn off Twitter and Facebook (this is difficult but possible), check your mail less often (if something urgent, they will call you back), transfer reading your favorite IT forums to your free time, and so on.
Over time, you will be able to open your own IT studio. It is interesting to share the gained experience and when there is a lot of such experience, then you can conduct master classes and conferences on the topic of CSS development. As you can see, there are many prospects.
Freelancing gives the developer ample opportunities for self-realization, but it also has a number of disadvantages, so a poorly organized person is more likely to stall in routine and low-budget projects. Freelance earnings are in most cases higher than in the office. But if you think you can make millions by lying on the beach and pressing the buttons on the keyboard with one finger, then this is unlikely.
The scale of freelance work is no less than in the office and almost the same amount of time is spent on it. The law of freelancing is simple – customers just wait for high-quality orders, for which they actually pay. Thanks for reading this piece on ‘How To Get Freelance Work As A Seasoned CSS Developer’. It is possible to be a successful freelancer, which is what I wish for you!