If you are a web designer, there is one piece of advice that you must have heard at least once – always try to book bigger clients. Everyone seems to agree that a web designer should focus on getting high-paying clients and take on larger projects. You can see that no web design agency New York would make efforts to get their hands on smaller projects. On the surface level, this is a valid suggestion. However, does that mean that you should totally ignore the small-scale projects?
Like every other business, the main objective of a web designer is to make a good amount of money. Even though web designing is an industry where people are more passionate about their work, the baseline concept behind the business remains the same. This means that there is a high chance for you to get burnt out with the workload if you continue to take on big projects. Especially if you are a freelancer, taking on complex projects is not always a good idea.
The solution to this problem is to not have unrealistic expectations and from time to time, take on smaller projects in order to keep your sanity. Following are some important reasons why you should never put aside a web design project for being too small.
Self Assessment
Before you decide to dive into larger projects, you need to have a thorough evaluation of yourself. Every web designer does not work in the same way. People have certain niches where they feel more comfortable. The best way to perform this assessment for yourself is to finish as many projects as you can. You need to find these preferences that suit your working style so that when you take on bigger, more demanding projects, you will have an idea whether you can fulfill the requirements or not.
Self-discovery is an important key to making your workflow comfortable for yourself. Figure out what kind of waters you can take on before heading out into the ocean. You will ultimately set yourself up for success later on.
Improving your Skills
Small scaled projects often mean smaller levels of expectations. This means that doing these projects will provide you with an opportunity to learn and experiment with new things. You can get the feels of a project from start to finish, and learn a lot of new techniques along the way. Think of it as your ‘playground’ to polish your skills for future purposes.
Experience is the best way to learn something. Even though web designers can find a lot of places on the internet where they can acquire new expertise, it is still no match for the hands-on experience that you can get from finishing small projects.
A Chance to Build Client Relationships
Freelancers can generally all agree on the fact that no two clients are the same. People have different expectations from web designers and they all deal in different manners. Thus, small projects allow you an opportunity to get the valuable experience you need in order to learn how to deal with certain kinds of clients. Even though the pay might be small as compared to others, these projects will present to you a way to learn and adapt to client expectations. The interaction with them is priceless, especially for the newcomers in the field.
Moreover, taking on these projects and completing them efficiently will help you build a good profile with those clients. Then, in the future, an opportunity may arise where they can contact you for a well, high-paying job.
You can learn how to communicate with clients in a concise and user-friendly manner. Even if you receive criticism for your work, you will learn how to avoid it in the future and incorporate the clients’ expectations in a more efficient way. This priceless experience with clients is the key to your pathway to success in terms of both, personality and professionalism.
Final Verdict
Small web design projects are definitely not somewhere where your career will finish at. Instead, take them for what they are. Use these projects to help you develop your skills and profile, find yourself returning clients, learn how to deal in the market, and assess yourself for where your affinity lies. Consider these small projects as stepping stones towards your graphic designing career. The same goes for SEO projects. If you offer SEO Services, do not think of smaller projects as useless ones. As a matter of fact, they are more useful as bigger ones as they help to build your portfolio and assist in gaining the experience required for you to fetch bigger projects.
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