Finding work – the cold e-mail campaign

So how do you go about getting a small base of paying clients? The way I started was by simply using my network of friends and associates. I heard it once said that philosophy is common sense dressed up in a 3-piece suite. And it is true even for a one-man-show freelance business. E-mail your friends, family, associates and acquaintances and tell them you are looking for freelance work. You will be surprised how fast e-mails can get passed around. Before you know it, you may have your first freelance project. For instance, I e-mailed a friend of mine who was looking for work. She interviewed at a large advertising agency in Detroit, Michigan. While on the interview she learned they needed to hire some interactive designers. Her e-mail gave me the scoop that this particular agency needed help. The lead got me a 3-month contract that I would have never learned about if I did not e-mail her.

One of the things I learned early on when I started doing freelance is how powerful e-mail can be as a tool to gain new business. We all use e-mail to communicate with friends, family and co-workers, but we really do not think of it as an advertising medium. E-mail is one of the best ways to find hot leads for new business. If someone is not interested in your e-mail they just delete it, and if they are interested they can reply to you within seconds. It is the best way to reach out to potential clients without bothering them on the phone or knocking on their door.

When I e-mail someone looking for work I keep my e-mails very short and to the point. Think about who your target audience is for your e-mail and what they would be most interested in knowing about what you have to offer. E-mails with long-winded “marketing” speak really do not work. Most of my clients have one thing in common ? “ lack of time! They are grazers when it comes to information, and they typically skim e-mails from people they do not know or delete them without reading them. You only have a few milliseconds to catch their attention before your e-mail ends up in the trash. So keep it short!

Other places to find work?
Another excellent way to get your feet wet with freelance is to volunteer your skills for a charity. If you are working full-time and do not know where to start looking for work, a recommendation is to start off with charity work. Volunteering to do a Web site for a charity will enable you to test out your project management skills, and more importantly your ability to deal with a client directly. The other excellent benefit to doing a project for free is you can typically dictate the design. This means you can add a really nice project to your portfolio, which can help you sell your services later. There are many charities out there who would benefit greatly from your talents.

My first big freelance project was a pro-bono interactive Flash timeline I did for Amnesty International. This piece landed me paying gigs with clients such as CBC News and General Motors. More importantly, Amnesty International enjoyed working with me, and actually hired me to do more interactive pieces.. However, doing freelance work for charities is not without its frustrations. Often charities have an intense bureaucratic structure, and you will need to be patient with committees and several layers of approval. Yet, working with charities can give you a great sense of accomplishment as you help build something for a worthwhile cause.

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