This is the sixth lesson of the online freelance guide, in which we will discuss the definition of a portfolio and how to set up a professional portfolio.
After you have identified the fields of freelance and determined what is the most appropriate field for you and knew the most important skills that must be available in every Freelancer and got to know the tools for freelance, it remains for you to prepare your distinctive business models “portfolio” and know how to present them to attract customers and start your journey in freelance.
What is a Portfolio?
A portfolio is a special file that serves as a summary that talks about your profession and what you have accomplished in it, and it also enables you to display your work on a number of different platforms.
Portfolio enables you to put your distinguished works in one place, and enables you to present it to business owners who are supposed to be looking forward to the services you provide.
The portfolio also ensures that you get feedback from your colleagues in the profession who can help you develop your business, and one of the companies may see your work as well and request a contract with you.
A good portfolio is a structured document that introduces you to people, explains your work, your degree and professional interests, and enables you to share your work with potential clients on the Internet.
A portfolio is a resume that you show when applying for certain jobs, but there is a difference between it and a regular resume, and that varies according to the nature of the profession you are applying to.
A portfolio is more comprehensive than a CV in that you will put all your professional and personal information in the portfolio, present your business models and talk a little about yourself in a professional and brief context, that is, you will explain the type of business you want to collaborate with and will mention the places or clients you have collaborated with.
A portfolio is a permanent and widespread display of your various work, unlike a resume that you do not show unless you apply for a specific job, and no one else will see it.
Thus, we can say that the idea of a portfolio is basically a business presentation file, so you will need somewhere to display your previous work or even volunteer business models for you in order to attract new clients and expand your professional circle, and with the spread of work on the Internet, the idea of portfolios has become faster, better and more practical.
Portfolios differ according to the job they are applied for. A graphic designer’s portfolio is different from the portfolio of a writer or translator, for example, and other professions.
Portfolio work steps
The idea of the portfolio differs from one profession to another and the means of displaying it as well. Basically, it does not matter where your work is presented more than the content of your work itself, meaning that quality is the most important and what you should look for in any work you offer, and every profession has a different content and nature, so the ways differ Presentation and handling.
The most important thing for the customer is that he sees that your work is suitable and attractive so that he can deal with you and trust you. There are several sites that help you create a Portfolio, on top of which are the same freelance platforms that have a place to display business in any field.
Here, in simple steps, how to make a professional Portfolio:
1. Prepare business models for you
This may be a confusing step for beginner freelancers. How can a rookie freelancer who hasn't done any work before prepare business models to put in their portfolio?
The answer is very simple, which is to make models specifically for the portfolio. Yes it is worth it. There is another way through which it is possible to obtain business models, which is the volunteer and training works that you can participate in and get out of with the business models that you have implemented.
My advice to you in this matter is to never make a botfolio by relying on business models that are not yours, this is in addition to being dishonest and taking things that you have no right to, it will also make you fail the Capri Lancer even before you start, because your real work will not be compatible with the models presented in the Portfolio.
2. Choose a platform or tool to use as your Portfolio.
This also represents a confusing step for some, and in order to resolve it, let us return to the concept of the Portfolio again... It is simply a file of your own... Through it you can view business models that you have implemented before, and through it you can also display some personal and practical information about you, and your personal photo as well. .
In this sense, there are unlimited options to do this, and also these options are related to your domain. Given the importance of this point, we will address it in a special part in our article shortly.
3. Publish your portfolio among your potential clients.
Marketing is a very important element for you like a Lancer, and you will not succeed in this field without making some smart marketing efforts, which will enable you to obtain clients and thus achieve the income you desire.
There are two paths you need to work on together in order to publish your botfolio:
The first track: Working to constantly improve the portfolio
This path is based on the nature of the platform or tool that you use as your portfolio, but in general you have to follow these points that apply in most cases:
Choose your best business models, and update your portfolio with the latest models that show your development and the growth of your skills.
Try to observe the professional portfolios in your field and apply the reasons that contribute to the excellence of their portfolios.
Delete old forms that do not reflect your current level of professionalism.
The second track: working on publishing the portfolio
This is also in some cases related to the platform or tool used, but in general you can use social media sites to market yourself and publish your own Portfolio link, and you can use Linkedin in particular in this matter. You can also search for potential clients and send them a portfolio link in an email.
Of course there are more advanced options Like doing paid advertising campaigns, but I think that the free options can be very enough to get clients and start spreading your portfolio.
How to Own a Portfolio to Showcase Your Business as a freelancer
Before we start showing the platforms and tools, let us categorize them, as they fall under three categories:
Types of tools with which a Portfolio can be made
1. Freelance platforms
Yes, freelance platforms are great platforms to showcase your business models, and they allow this to their members, and above all, they have an excellent evaluation system that enables business owners to know the opinions of those who have benefited from the services of each Freelancer.
Example: Fiverr website (which is an intermediary platform between freelancers and business owners, and it provides the freelancer with the ability to view business models for him, with accurate data about his practical skills.
2. Sites and platforms specialized in the work of the Portfolio
These platforms are platforms specifically created to showcase the business models of freelancers, and they represent very important tools for creating a professional portfolio in the classic concept of a portfolio in the freelance world.
Example: Behance (which is the most important and most popular platform ever in the work of portfolios for graphic and video designers)
3. Sites and platforms that provide certain services but can be used as a Portfolio
They are platforms that provide certain services, and they are not specialized in the work of Portfolios, but you can create an account on them and view business models.
Example: YouTube (which is the most famous and most important video site in the world, which any specialist in montage can create a channel on and display his work on this channel).
Now let's go over a list of the most popular tools for making a Portfolio.
List of the Most Important and Popular Portfolio Business Tools
It is one of the most famous sites specialized in writing content and everything related to writing and content marketing. Through it, you can find an opportunity to work as a content writer in one of the sites that request a book, and it also allows you to create a portfolio, display your business models on the platform, and give you a link that you can share with business owners.
If you are going to work as a translator or content writer, you can publish your translated work or articles on your blog, and publish its link in multiple places for more people to see.
To create a blog on WordPress, go back to the topic How to create a free WordPress blog, in which you will find a detailed explanation of how a WordPress blog works in easy steps and with illustrations.
If you work as a freelance photographer, it is indispensable for you to market yourself and create your own gallery of works by yourself, and one of the great platforms for displaying photos is the Flickr platform, which is an ancient and global social arena for photographers and others, and can attract different clients from all over the world.
YouTube is the most famous and most important platform for displaying videos, and if you specialize in designing and editing videos, this platform is excellent for you to create a portfolio that displays your work.
You can also use YouTube to display images of you as business models or projects that you have implemented before.
If you work as an independent audio commentator, you must have your own portfolio, and that will be through an audio platform, and the best in this field is SoundCloud, the most popular audio platform around the world.
Whoever works as a graphic designer can display his work on several sites dedicated to this, including Behance, which is one of the sites that presents your work in an organized and valuable manner.
7. Another Set of Portfolio Sites
Things to know before making a Portfolio
1- You should diversify the works you offer, so do not display models that are all one style unless you specialize in this sub-field only.
If you are a content writer, do not only put your work in the culinary field only, unless you write in it only, but you must diversify your writing so that the client sees your strengths in different areas.
2- It is not necessary to put all your work at once in your portfolio, but it is enough to put the most important and most important work you have, especially the most successful.
3- It is very preferable to have a logo on all your works, especially if you are a designer, because all business models are vulnerable to theft.
4- In each model, you should talk a little about how it works. Talk about the tools you used and the helpful resources so your target customer understands that you're not working arbitrarily.
5- It is also necessary to target a specific category, and your business models are suitable for this category. For example, dealing with foreigners does not require an oriental graphic design or symbolizes Arab culture, so always choose suitable models for whom you will deal with.
A portfolio is an important thing for any online freelancer, but it's even more important to know that if you're going to copy some of the business models of others, you'd better not do that because it will only do you harm.
Just create and make your own models so that you can find your potential customers as soon as possible, don't hesitate and start from now.
Here are the links to all the freelance guide tutorials:
