Using A Career Portfolio For Freelance Opportunities

Earlier this month, I posted that I was looking for some freelance writers for a project... and I was, frankly, overwhelmed with the response. (Im still getting back to folks!) As a result, I've spent a few days looking through applications and portfolio sites. It's been fun! But I took notes on things that tripped me up or made it difficult to advance folks. In case it's helpful for your own process: 1 - Give me links to work that matches what I said I was looking for. I asked people for evidence they did a certain kind of writing. Many times they would reply with a link to their entire portfolio. I need you to curate for me! I have 100 folks in my inbox, help me say yes to you! 2 - Organize your portfolio by _type_ of writing rather than where it appeared. Example: "Q and A with industry leader" vs "Here's my article in Fast Company" The publication only tells me about the audience you wrote for and not the kind of work you did. 3 - Show me that you can write for niches and audiences that you are not a member of. I know we all like to write content about content or do marketing about marketing. Show me the detailed blog post you did for middle school teachers, or RevOps leaders, or retirees. 4 - Not all portfolio links are equal. I found myself docking people who shared links that appear in what can only be described as a content mill. We all start somewhere, but remove those links ASAP once you've "graduated". Let's be real, I know that many freelance writers apply to dozens of opportunities each month and this can get tiring. But this doesn't have to be a volume game. You can instantly be in the top 10% by curating the best, most relevant work for each opportunity.

I've gone to the dark side: over the last few weeks, I've been helping a few clients find and hire additional freelancers. Usually, I'm on the other side of the equation. But after walking a mile in a hiring manager's shoes, I have a few tips for my fellow freelancers: 1) When asked for relevant samples, don't just share your entire portfolio. Send direct links to 2-3 of your best and most relevant samples. These folks need to hire support because they're busy; they don't have time to dig through dozens of samples to find what actually matters to them. 2) Share your email. Don't make them hunt for it on your portfolio site (see above). 3) Respond promptly to messages, ideally within 24 hours. Even if you don't typically support next-day turnarounds (I don't), when you're talking to a prospective client, it's a good idea to email back immediately. A quick "Got your message, I'll send you my contract this week" tells them you're organized and on top of things. 4) Follow up! Again, these folks are busy. Unless they've told you they aren't interested, if you haven't heard from them for a week, check in. They will likely appreciate the nudge, and you'll be seen as proactive. Or they'll tell you they've moved on, and you can stop wasting your time and energy. 5) If you take on a trial project, set extremely clear expectations about when you'll turn work in. "I'll have this for you next week" is not clear. They will start to wonder where the work is on Monday. "I'll have this for you Wednesday" is crystal clear — and then you'll delight them when you turn it in Tuesday. Bottom line: be proactive. Communicate clearly. Make their lives easier. And, oh yeah, do good work.

I figured this out about portfolios pretty early in my freelance career and it’s led to me closing way more sales than many of my peers. Not that it’s a competition... The portfolio that sells is the one that demonstrates the exact end result that an individual client is looking for, not the one that shows how good you are at a variety of things. Let me explain: When I send a portfolio to a potential client, I want them using as little imagination as possible curating which identifying which elements of my body of work are relevant to their project. So for each client, I craft a tailored portfolio that only features pertinent examples of my work. Put yourself in a client’s shoes, let’s say you’re looking for a new logo and you put out a call for portfolios. 5 freelancers respond with their graphic design portfolios that include everything they’ve done (web design, logo design, social media ads, brochures, product mockups, etc) and 1 freelancer sends you a smaller portfolio that’s nothing but logo designs. Which portfolio is going to present more strongly? How many portfolios have you made over your career? Let me know in the comments what portfolio strategies you’ve implemented (and if you’ve been at this for a while, help the newbies by detailing what’s worked and what hasn’t).