Freelancing Portfolio: Tips For Freelancers Starting From Scratch

All freelancers must create their own portfolios that would stand out to the clients so you and your service get noticeable. Whether you are an inexperienced or an experienced freelancer, you must still create one and show them that you have the skills to carry out their deliverables. I am a freelance writer by profession but my full-time career revolved around the corporate world which means, I’ve never had any experience in writing until I started working as a freelance writer. I started my freelance writing career from zero. I am going to share in this article the things that I did to have something to show in my writing portfolio without having the need to lie about it.

1. Writing Style/Talent

My very first gig was writing an interactive game story. An interactive game story was a story game written in the second person point of view and it was written in script format. At that time, I never had any experience in writing an interactive game and the client was aware of that so I told them that even though I lack experience, I can write. I started writing a script story and then send it over to them. I also told them that I wrote a couple of traditional novels when I was younger. Thankfully, I passed and that’s how I landed my very first Upwork gig.

You can do that whether you’d like to be a freelance copywriter, content writer, or article writer and even if your freelancing niche isn’t writing, you could also do that. Just make sure you can showcase on your portfolio the things you said that you can do on your freelancing proposal. Show, don’t tell.

2. Write For Others

Since you don’t have any previous experience in freelancing, it’s better if you do it for a friend for free. If you want to be a content writer, for example, you can take the initiative to approach a friend who needed content and tell them that you’ll write for them for free. Just do not forget to draft the content and have your friends check them before publishing it on social media. You also make sure that you’re writing relevant and accurate information because the world will see it, not selected people.

After posting, you can put that link to your portfolio and tell your client that you also wrote for a friend. If you have your own blog, you can also include it too. Personally, if I were the client, I’d look for someone who has the skills and can show them off really well even though you don’t have any experience yet.

3. Client Reviews

Congrats! You landed a couple of gigs and received feedback from your former clients! Now, you better social media accounts. In my personal experience, I added it here on my official website. You probably have seen it already on the tabs above but if not yet, you can find my portfolio, links, and even resume back then. We all know that client reviews can give a big impact on your portfolio so you better not forget to add it once you received it.

4. Professional Resume

If you have a LinkedIn profile, it is recommended that you include your link in your portfolio. It is also recommended that you include the link to your Upwork account so that the clients can browse more about you, and your former experiences and have their own references to help them decide if they want to work with you or not.

5. Experiences

Awesome! Now that you have freelancing experience, you can now add the links to your gigs. You can add the link to the article posted on the official website that you have written for them, or link to the YouTube short film, animated story, or recap that you wrote for them, or the link to the interactive game story that you created for them. But just a reminder that before including the links on your freelancing portfolio, you better make sure that you got your clients’ permission. Some clients might not be okay with that, some might be okay with that. I experienced both that’s why I’m telling you now.

You’re all set and now have an idea of what you can do to start your freelancing portfolio from scratch. But don’t forget that freelancing is not always rainbows and sunshine, where you can consistently gain lots of money like bloggers and vloggers, says. I’m not demotivating you, I’m just setting the right expectations that’s why I wrote an article about the downside of freelancing based on my personal experiences. Downsides won’t stop me from taking gigs as now my sideline.