Flexible Working Life

At just sixteen, Phil Johns is enjoying a successful freelance career as a graphic and website designer.
He tells us how he got started and gives advice for anyone else who wants to start up a freelance career.

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“I first got started in the creative side of graphic and website design when I got into photography - I wanted a website to show off my work. I started in Microsoft Publisher, and then moved to Dreamweaver and I now code websites by hand in a program as simple as Microsoft’s Notepad - the program I actually use is called Taco HTML Edit.

I was asked to design a logo and banner for a family friend which I did.
When it was finished, I put the banner on my website. A visitor to my site asked me to design a banner for their site, and work gradually grew until the main part of my website was dedicated to my graphic design work.

I then developed my website to display my web design skills.
Once people realised that I could also design websites, I was asked to design and code sites for clients and I’m currently being sub-contracted by a photographer to build and design websites for his clients, which is great.

Most of my new clients come through my website - I don’t have business cards and don’t hand out flyers! I did a lot of work with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and new clients tend to contact me through my form on the website.
There are also customers who come to me because of a recommendation.
The rest of my traffic comes mostly from forums where I post a short description of what I do and what I can offer.”

“My advice for anyone who is looking at starting a freelance career would be to firstly tell friends and family. Join a few forums and post a bit about yourself and what you do, and what services you can offer and try to stay active.

Having your own website is also really important. It’s an easy way to show prospective clients your work; you should be showing a variety of your skills.

And if you’re young like me don’t feel that you have to charge less than everyone else or that you have to tell them your age. Obviously there are some circumstances where you need to, but most of the time I never tell the client my age - I mean, why should I?”

http://www.philjohnsimaging.co.uk

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