Designer For Hire

About a year ago I left my job as a graphic designer at a medium-sized Seattle ad agency to work for a church. Though maybe not the smartest career move, I did so to spend a season helping a church that I loved transition to a place of better design. One of the major accomplishments I did there was a massive re-design to their website, bringing them up to speed with other church websites of churches in their same class in regards to professionalism and ease of finding relevant content.

All that to say, about 2 months ago that season ended and I left to pursue new opportunities. Over the last couple months I’ve done mostly freelance and contract work as I face a daunting decision before me.

To freelance, or not to freelance

I am finally at a point in my career that I am completely happy with the work in my portfolio and am confident that the design I do is good, quality work. I have an idea of what my design time is worth and have been encouraged with my contract-work experience in the past couple months.

Now the problem is, where to start? I missed a tremendous networking opportunity as SXSW came and went and I did not attend. Trust me, I’m kicking myself now as I realize the potential some good connections could have been. But now I have to find a way to get my name (and new business cards) out there.

Physical Portfolio

One idea that I’ve been considering is to create a nice portfolio.

I know, I already have one… but I’m talking about creating an old school physical portfolio, that is, a portfolio that you can actual hold and look through.

I’ve come up with a cool idea for a cheap yet pretty sweet looking physical portfolio which I’m thinking of putting together and sending off (with a follow-up phone call, of course) to some of the smaller design agencies around here. I’d love for my work to be able to speak for itself a bit (as I am anything but a salesman) and maybe I can build some business relationships and pick up some contract work this way.

Any good advice for a designer who’s looking to make that first plunge?