Your portfolio matters

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Your portfolio matters 〰️

So you just started your business. You’re a designer, a videographer, a website creator or a content creator. You’re on the hunt to get new clients but all you’re hearing is ‘show me examples of your work’. Creating a collection of work or a portfolio of clients is your lifeline in a business and something you definitely need to consider when you’re pitching for new clients.

To gain trust from new clients, it’s only natural that you have a number of clients you’ve worked with previously or an indication that you have the talent, experience and know-how to make things happen for the prospective client you’re speaking with. This can go into circles over and over again and can be frustrating! Trust me, I’ve been there and I know how it can feel. The trust is that not many people will hire you if they’re not certain about your capacity to help them and also, they’d need to see examples of your work to feel confident about hiring you! (Naturally!)

Creating this is hard and a bit of an uphill climb, but with a bit of effort and some brave moves, you’ll be on your way!

Here are a few ways to create a portfolio when you don’t have any clients:

1. Use what you have

When I first started my business in Sydney 3 years ago, I was lucky to have my boss at my last full-time job offer me the chance to work at the agency as a freelancer digital media and content strategist. I contributed by creating strategy, starting a blog, writing articles and using Instagram as a tool for the business to market and brand itself as one of the best design and branding agencies in Sydney. You can check out their website here.

After the success of this project, I pitched myself to some businesses and some of them, at the start were initiating free consultations and generously sharing information about content marketing. This led to recommendations, google reviews and soon I had a few clients that helped me get my business off the ground. Were those first few months challenging? They were. Was it worth it testing out my service to a potential audience? Absolutely! Those early months helped me shape my offering, my pitch and also how I researched and learned more about the project and client before diving in.

From that point forward, it was a bit easier to talk about the work I’d done, increase my prices, show social proof and examples of things I’d created.

2. Create for yourself

If you don’t know how to cold call and find yourself stuck, create for yourself!

This is the best way to showcase your work without the stress of producing for an actual brand. Most people will be satisfied looking at your graphic design, photography or videography skills when you’ve created for yourself, not necessarily for commercial clients. If you feel less confident because it’s not a ‘real’ brand you’re creating for, don’t worry! Be transparent and open - what really matters is showing you care about the quality of your work.

3. Get out there and connect!

The next thing you do? Put on some brave pants and get out there to get some clients! You’ll have a better portfolio and get some much-needed mojo and confidence when it comes to communication and onboarding new clients. Along with getting clients, every business needs to shape their financial systems, admin included and these initial experiences taught me so much. Of course, it’s also easier to get testimonials after this too.

And…that will be a start, if anything! Attempting to go for the first 4-5 steps of starting a creative business can be hard, but after doing this for a few months, you’ll have more than a great portfolio starting to take shape.