YujiItadori
Newbie
- May 30, 2026
- 5
- 2
I want to get design clients, but most clients ask for a portfolio. How can I make a good portfolio if I have never worked with a real client before?
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No Clients, No Portfolio. How Can I Start?
- Thread starter YujiItadori
- Start date
Eskubi Dubi
Newbie
- May 12, 2026
- 16
- 14
First choose the niche you want to work in. Then create 10 strong sample projects based on your skills before starting freelancing.
When clients come to you they will usually want to see samples related to their niche. The 10 samples you have already created can be shown as examples of your work. Clients mainly want to evaluate the quality of your work so having solid samples makes it much easier to gain their trust and win projects.
When clients come to you they will usually want to see samples related to their niche. The 10 samples you have already created can be shown as examples of your work. Clients mainly want to evaluate the quality of your work so having solid samples makes it much easier to gain their trust and win projects.
YujiItadori
Newbie
- May 30, 2026
- 5
- 2
Will try that.
CheapAndBest
Junior Member
- Jan 4, 2012
- 150
- 29
To get started, you should try with Fiverr / Freelancer dot com
You can easily get projects there as a newbie.
Create an account and watch projects, bid with low quote, increase your reviews and start finding New clients and money
You can easily get projects there as a newbie.
Create an account and watch projects, bid with low quote, increase your reviews and start finding New clients and money
Canada oliver
Newbie
- Jun 3, 2026
- 2
- 0
Start with Fiverr after your portfolio build then go further
- Oct 29, 2021
- 8,048
- 3,504
If you are good at design then you must have something to showcase to your clients. Initially it might be tough but not impossible. Keep your work in dribble or other design platfrom and send the clients some of the recent designs. You are good to go.
Have some patience.
Have some patience.
XSMMDoctor
Newbie
- Jun 7, 2026
- 49
- 9
doing free work is usually a trap imo. those clients are always the most demanding and they rarely give good testimonials. i did this a few years back and it just wasted my time.
instead of fake clients, find real local businesses with awful branding and redesign their stuff. put it in your portfolio as a concept redesign. looks way more realistic than imaginary brands. @YujiItadori you can even email those businesses afterward and show them what you did... sometimes they actually buy it from you.
instead of fake clients, find real local businesses with awful branding and redesign their stuff. put it in your portfolio as a concept redesign. looks way more realistic than imaginary brands. @YujiItadori you can even email those businesses afterward and show them what you did... sometimes they actually buy it from you.
The WP Nerd
Newbie
- Jun 7, 2026
- 44
- 9
the local business redesign angle is solid but i'd add one thing... dont just redesign random places, pick ones in the niche you actually want clients in. if you wanna do restaurants, redo 3 restaurant sites. that way your portfolio reads as specialist not generalist and people pay more for that.
free work i'm mixed on. it works but only if you set boundaries first, like one revision round, clear scope. otherwise yeah it turns into the nightmare clients everyone warns about. the testimonial isnt worth a month of unpaid edits.
also dribbble is fine for showing work but it wont get you clients on its own, nobody hires off a dribbble shot alone. you still need an actual page where the work tells a story... problem, what you did, result. even if the result is made up for the concept ones just frame it as "concept" honestly.
free work i'm mixed on. it works but only if you set boundaries first, like one revision round, clear scope. otherwise yeah it turns into the nightmare clients everyone warns about. the testimonial isnt worth a month of unpaid edits.
also dribbble is fine for showing work but it wont get you clients on its own, nobody hires off a dribbble shot alone. you still need an actual page where the work tells a story... problem, what you did, result. even if the result is made up for the concept ones just frame it as "concept" honestly.
