
Deleted my portfolio, made $30k in my first six months - jdminhbg
http://robertwilliams.wpengine.com/deleted-my-portfolio-made-30k-in-my-first-six-months/
======
bdunn
What really impresses me most about what Robert's done is that he's realized
that by selling the outcome that most clients want to hear (higher conversion
rates, more leads) instead of what designers tend to emphasize (clean design,
HTML5 compliance, etc.) he's pitching himself as an investment, not an
expense.

"Clean design" doesn't mean "I'll make more money in the long run than I'm
spending on this engagement." Sure, better design _can_ lead to that, but it's
a proxy.

Many designers and developers can learn a lot from what he's done. Focus on
those outcomes that position ourselves as investment vessels, _not_ expenses.
This means realizing that — no matter how passionate we are about our hard-
earned skills — it usually means diddly squat to our clients. They just want a
positive ROI at the end of the day.

So don't think of proposing to a potential client that you'll write "Ruby
code." Rather, figure out how writing Ruby code can get your client more
customers, more profit, decreased overhead, whatever and sell THAT.

~~~
kintamanimatt
This boils down to the very old sales axiom, "sell benefits, not features". It
would stand to reason that the more successful designers are good salespeople
too.

~~~
fmavituna
This is not only "sell benefits, not features" thing. There are tons of
designers out there who doesn't know what "conversion" means. Hence they don't
or care about the conversion.

Why would you get your website designed by someone like that, unless you know
conversion very well and design and micro manage the design process?

~~~
camus
Maybe because marketing is not the job of a designer ? should a system admin
know about typography and color theory ? that's plain stupid...

~~~
MaulingMonkey
Are you making the claim, then, that there's absolutely no overlap between the
fields of marketing and design, that conversion is solely the responsibility
of marketing, that conversion is completely uninfluenced by design, _and_ that
being able to fill multiple roles is a waste of time for everyone involved?
Otherwise I'm having difficulty following your train of thought here.

------
sgdesign
Ignoring the "delete your portfolio" and "making $30k is great" parts (which I
don't really agree with), for me the big takeaway here is having a more active
approach to finding work.

If you're struggling to find work as a freelance designer, you should
definitely be doing more to contact clients and meet their needs instead of
simply showing them pretty pictures.

Then again, if you're Kerem Suer (<http://kerem.co/>) you don't need to do any
of that because you've already established your reputation, and you can show
up at any startup and they'll hire you on the spot.

Disclaimer: I'm the guy behind Folyo (<http://folyo.me>), the design job board
mentioned in the article.

------
rabble
Am i the only one who thinks making $30k as a graphic designer freelancing in
California for 6 months is incredibly low? In fact less than making at $42k
annually as a salaried employee once you count in health care and self
employment taxes?

Since when did a blog post about being a barely surviving freelancer qualify
for the HN front page?

Sorry for being a bit of a jerk on this, but i don't get it. Maybe he got
clients by being good at gaming HN?

~~~
paulsutter
This was his _first six months_ as a freelancer. Making the switch isn't easy.
Clearly he's a smart and determined fellow who has a mindset for optimizing
his business. Based on this, I expect to see his income grow substantially
quarter over quarter.

It's pretty easy to find a token side point in any post and make a dismissive
comment, as you have done. On the other hand, his central point was a useful
revelation to me, despite my 20+ years of startup business experience.

His post is excellent, and exactly what HN is about.

~~~
petercooper
Totally. I didn't even make $30k a year for the first few _years_ of being a
freelancer, although it was just after the dot com boom. Thankfully those days
are over and lessons learnt, etc.. :)

------
programminggeek
The best lesson to take away here is not to delete your portfolio, but to
delete all the things you do that aren't moving the needle in a meaningful way
towards whatever goal you have, monetary or otherwise.

~~~
mindcrime
_delete all the things you do that aren't moving the needle in a meaningful
way towards whatever goal you have, monetary or otherwise_

Crap, guess it's time to delete my HN profile. :-(

~~~
jmduke
I know this was comedic, but I honestly think commenting (and reading) on HN
has improved my employability more than anything besides actual employment.
It's open my eyes to technologies I'd never learn about otherwise, it's gotten
me contacts, and -- most importantly -- commenting is an exercise of writing,
and clear communication is arguably the most important skill one can have
regardless of discipline.

A lot of scorn can be placed on HN for its echo-chamber qualities -- most of
it fair -- but at the end of the day, arguing too much about JS frameworks is
still a better use of one's time than animated cat pictures.

~~~
mindcrime
_I know this was comedic, but I honestly think commenting (and reading) on HN
has improved my employability more than anything besides actual employment.
It's open my eyes to technologies I'd never learn about otherwise, it's gotten
me contacts, and -- most importantly -- commenting is an exercise of writing,
and clear communication is arguably the most important skill one can have
regardless of discipline._

Yeah, I kid, of course. I do learn a lot from my time on HN, both from reading
the articles and from the ensuing discussions. I have days when I spend too
much time on here though. Sometimes it doesn't matter, because I'm stuck on a
client site for my $DAYJOB and they don't have anything for me to do, and
there's little I could be doing to advance my goals while sitting there, so I
wind up goofing around on HN.

Other days, I spend time where when I _should_ be working (like right now!)
but nobody can just work, work, work all the time, so I don't mind the
occasional "goof off on HN" day here and there. And, like you said, the
discourse here is writing practice, and learning to write well is always a
good investment.

 _but at the end of the day, arguing too much about JS frameworks is still a
better use of one's time than animated cat pictures._

Very true.

------
Felix21
The 5 Why's

Prospect: I need a designer

... Why?

Prospect: Because my website is ugly and I want it to look beautiful.

... Why?

Prospect: Because a beautiful website give me more credibility with my
customers/audience

... Why? Why do you want credibility?

Prospect: With more credibility, I can close more customers and charge each
client more.

... Why? Why would you want to charge your clients more?

Prospect: Duhh, so I can make more money.

...There it is!

The saying goes that after you ask 5 why's you'll get to the root or the core
reason why your client wants what you're offering.

If you can show that what you're selling will satisfy this often unspoken
desire, then you'll make the sale.

The 5 why's is a good way to find out what this desire is.

Bob already knows what his clients desire... Can the same be said of you?

~~~
ronaldx
I'm sure I don't want to stop on "make more money" as the fundamental answer
to "why" - surely there are healthier, more basic motivations than that.

Go on, ask one more "why"...

~~~
Felix21
Why?

...

All jokes aside I'll ask 5 or 6 why's so I can get to the core motivations,
but I wont go deeper than the 3rd or 4th why in my marketing otherwise you'll
risk making your prospect sceptical and weary of your motivations.

------
alexholehouse
Ugh. I _hate_ to be that guy, but after clicking on the get-started buttom
(<http://robertwilliams.wpengine.com/get-started/>) the copy at the start is

 _"Lets bullet-proof your project in 7 days or less. Get started for free
right now."_

 _"Lets"_ should be _"Let's"_ (it's a contraction).

I find that really off putting. I guess I shouldn't, but I do.

Super-impressed that it's been fixed so fast. I hate it when people nitpick,
but occasionally I feel like it's relevant/worth it. That said, I still feel a
bit dirty now.

~~~
erehweb
You're not being unreasonable. It's an indicator of lacking attention to
detail.

------
A1kmm
It is depressing that 'the solution' to finding clients was basically to send
spam (highly targeted spam, but nevertheless it was commercial e-mail sent to
large numbers of people without prior consent of the recipient - where I live,
that would be illegal, and I understand it is also illegal in California where
the author of the article is based).

The other options for finding freelancing clients are not very good - I've
tried advertising on Google, and found that I pay a high CPC, get a low click-
through rate, and despite my ad being clearly worded about providing services,
most of the people come through on searches looking for jobs themselves, so it
hasn't proved profitable (i.e. my cost to acquire a customer seems to be
extremely high through that method).

I have had success with ODesk but it is hard to get clients without spending a
lot of time first, even with the highest possible rating, and so effective
rates there are very low, and ODesk demands a 10% cut, with contractual terms
that mean that you can't do any work for the client without going through
ODesk unless you wait two years without doing any work.

It is unfortunate that it is so hard for non-spammy consultants to get in
touch with potential clients.

Perhaps cold calling companies might prove to be a more cost effective
strategy to acquire customers.

~~~
robwilliams88
I didn't spam, I replied to job postings.

------
rodriguezcommaj
There's a pretty interesting discussion of this going on over at Designer
News:

[https://news.layervault.com/stories/4266-deleted-my-
portfoli...](https://news.layervault.com/stories/4266-deleted-my-portfolio-
made-30k-in-my-first-six-months)

~~~
kellysutton
Creator of Designer News here. We hellbanned the author and submitter of the
story since this post is a thin veil for a get-rich-quick scheme.

~~~
robwilliams88
WTF... why? for sharing my story? how is this blog post in anyway a "thin veil
for a get-rich-quick scheme"? I'm not selling anything, I'm simply talking
about what my experience was, and that I decided to focus on other things
instead of a portfolio...

I will never again post on your site, no worries.

~~~
petercooper
I agree, but what I find odd is how a _submitter_ of a story can also be
implicated (ignoring the point the submitter is actually the author in this
case, I think?)

Why would anyone want to submit stuff to a site if there's a risk they could
get banned if people on the site don't like the item? That's what voting
and/or flagging are for. Banning should be for abusive behavior, not poor
submissions.

------
salimmadjd
_"They all had very minimal copy, and usually a short designery phrase like,
”Pixel perfection,” or whatever. You know, you’ve seen them. Basically, sites
like this:<http://kerem.co/> "_

Kerem is an amazing designer and in very high demand-I would know. He probably
makes 2-3X more than this guy. So not sure why he is dissing him.

To be honest 30K in six months is not that great. I'm guessing ultimately he
wants to make big money like Kerem one day.

~~~
leephillips
I didn't interpret this as dissing him, but just an example of a typical
approach to a designer's website. He just wanted to try to do something
different. 30K in six months long term would not be that great, but this is
his _first_ six months, which includes figuring out how to operate his
business - so it sounds pretty good to me.

~~~
rmrfrmrf
It's a pretty big insult to imply that a designer's work is run-of-the-mill,
as the author has done.

~~~
vacri
Looking at that website, what's not run-of-the-mill about it? He may do great
work for clients, but that particular website is yawnfully boring, and has
employed that terrible current trend of low-contrast text on grey background.

------
Aqueous
Honestly, this is not just something that works with design. Do you know how
many programming jobs you can get just by talking to people? One-person design
projects are like small, one-off web applications. You don't need a firm to
attract business if the jobs end up being done by single individuals anyway.

On the other hand there are good reasons to be a part of a company. The reason
I work for a company that gets contracted for web application projects is
because I don't like thinking about business, and I'm not good at selling. If
you have a head for those things, that's awesome for you - I wish I did. But
not having to think about those things too much lets me focus on what I can do
and still get a decent salary and benefits.

------
clubhi
Did anyone kind of feel bad that this guy is happy making $30k in 6 months? I
think I'm excellent at what I do and think I deserve every dollar I make.
However, I can't help but feel bad for people that are making so much less
than me just because I might have been a bit luckier in my career path.

~~~
turkeybone
Why don't you hire this designer for a project, then? If you really feel bad,
he could use your business rather than your pity.

~~~
clubhi
Maybe I will Charley. Maybe I will...

------
ommunist
Thank you, this reading was really very much inspirational. Anyone in the UK
tried that in a similar situation? I feel like it is very rare occasion when
people consciously jump from freelance pathway to corp full-time perm path and
vice versa.

------
benzesandbetter
I'm confused... is $60k/year above the poverty line in San Diego?

