Finding Work Without a Portfolio

When you're just starting out and you have nothing to show for, it can be quite daunting and disorienting to find work.

In this video, I discuss what I would do if I had to do it all over again.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
1:20 Fake client briefs
1:50 What I would do (Free work)

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#freelance #freelancedesign #freelanceportfolio

Thanks for watching the video!

[johnlemuelj]

When I was just starting out as a video editor, I created personal YouTube videos and eventually used that as a portfolio of my work. I got hired by a client from the US based on that channel. :)

[Nitro_Foundry]

This is actually perfect advice. I offered to make a page for a mental health company that I used to be a client at. After I spent the time and money, and really proved myself through my work, it generated enough trust for me to land other clients. It’s worth it!

[DocRobotKey]

Building relationships as you build portfolio sites is the added bonus...

[rachels]

The video I've been waiting for!!
Would love to see more content for people who are just starting in the design industry

[onepunchvegan]

Nice video and good tips for starters. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[yamzara]

I'm a fan and subscriber of Ran / Flux for almost 3 years now. I'm an early fan before it got 50k subscriber I think from NuSchool to Prospero. The setup and branding you did is relatable and kinda inspiring as a designer seeing you how you work, live your life, and taking care of your family. Also, I don't miss even one of your videos during those days, since it's very natural, it's relatable even though I'm not living in Israel and a lot of interesting things going on. I also once copied how the way you vlog on some of my presentations. But today its kinda boring to me, yeah the content is there but being in a studio and having this kind of setup is too cliche especially in creating content like this since a lot of creators tend to copy this kind of setup. Now I watch some of your contents maybe once a month. I don't know if It's just I got busy but I think because most of the people I follow nowadays had the same setup and almost the same content and I got bored because there is nothing new.

I hope you can still integrate those scenes. Super simple, no fancy mic's a simple camera for vlogging. even there is a lot of going on before, it still creates this approach that you always see something new, you are waiting for something to see about you that never seen before in your previous videos, but still, the content had a lot of cheese. By the way, I even learned in this channel how I will present an Identity / Logo project before I also learned it in Chris Do's The Futur. Maybe I'm only .01% of the people who notice it or like it but yeah I hope I can see a lot of interesting things again in this channel.

[caracces]

To work for free is risky. Because, today this word"free" for so many, means to take advantage. And I don't believe that is a good feeling for anyone.

[hossamabdulkareem]

I know what i will say is not related, but there is a situation where you have to put your portfolio into offline mode and use a PDF as your main portfolio. The main reason:

Some companies don’t like to reveal much of there style for competitive edge. I have a friend who requested his company to put some of their work he designed on behance, and the company only accepted that he uses small resolution pictures of the final result on a PDF and not online.

To this day he only uses PDFs and prefer to do Assessment test to prove that he can do the job. He rarely update them to avoid any problems of client calling him and telling him to put his work down.

[sergiominguez]

Do free work because you want it. - Okay.
Do free work for open sourced projects where they seek global improvements - THE CORRECT WAY.

Don't work for free, even if you are new. You exchange your time for currency, do your own work, be your own client, or help someone whose trying to help others and dont have the resources. But don't work for free, work for yourself.

If there are not any cause that you want to help, don't be stupid. Create your own. You face challenges and problems EVERYDAY, EVERY SINGLE DAY. You know people that needs help, and you need something to show off, do it for the right cause.

[supreetkumar]

Non profit / Local business
You should do free work where YOU decide to do it for free cuz you are passionate

[sonareclipse]

Should I design my own website (single page / landing-page style) before doing pro bono work? Obviously there wouldn't be any portfolio pieces on there but is it better to have a site to show I exist ... or just explain this to a few potential pro bono clients and design my site after i've built theirs?

[notlmpng]

Awesome video. Really great content in general.

I have a question though, is work experience becoming sort of an overrated way to see if someone can handle a role considering how differently today's companies might be running compared to how they used to?

[trevorfranks]

I would be really ashamed when I can only show my college assignments as my portofolios... But I do really don't have time to make personal projects thanks to a lot of work load each semesters, especially during tough times like this homeworks are increased by twofold...

[katya-suleymanova]

In Russia hr usually offers a very little salary requiring a prof portfolio... I hope it isnt same in Europe

[essaquadry]

Hey Ran, thanks for the video! Can you tell me, is it really important to have case studies when you are starting? Or can I start with just pictures and links?

[louwaars]

Sooo the answer to finding work without a portfolio is making the damn portfolio portfolio first 😂 the only right answer btw, but still haha

[mohammedshoaib]

I love you Flux Academy get to learn a lot I watch all your videos Can you actually make a video on Hosting how it's done on webflow please

[comeacross]

when you are saying to anyone that i am ready to work with you free then he are thinking that this man is fraudy he is going to froud with him. what to do in this situation

[simplysurfing]

LOL. Have you actually tried these things ? orphanages dont want a free corporate film done in mograph. I offered them the same quality of film like that ive charged 100-150 usd equivalent in my country to clients. Just to add more number to my portfolio of paid clients. They are like....let me think about it wonder how these people that too on donations... they dont deserve help and they are all well greased up with money.