Thread by @dieg0liv

Some people DM'ed me asking questions about how I get clients. I'm far from mastering the game, but I'm happy with my results so far. So I decided to talk about my journey as a @webflow freelancer.

Bear with me, LONG thread. 🧵

1. First of all, I'm into Webflow design / dev for around 7-8 months. But before that, I did a mix of things for the past 11 years - graphic design, branding, then jumped to dev work (frontend, backend, then "full-stack" dev doing WP stuff). So I got some previous experience.

2. As a full-stack dev doing WP stuff, I was not happy. Don't get me wrong, WP is awesome and empowers a lot of people out there. But my work was boring, focused on building software, limited by hourly rates. I was missing being creative, do more visual stuff, being free.

3. Then, I met @joaopaulots, former @webflow brand designer, and he helped me change my mind about how I do business. And also introduced Webflow to me. When I saw what you could do with it, I said "That's it! That's what I want to do." So I decided to change my career.

4. At that point, I had zero portfolio, nothing cool to show what I could do, and no experience with the tool. JP has a course in Brazil called Superskills, and there I learned a lot of things. One is that if you don't have projects, create fake ones. That's what I did.

5. I spent 2 months creating some free cloneables and published on my public profile. Tried to push the boundaries of what I could do creatively, and did the best I could to learn how to use interactions. Got lucky to have some cloneables featured. Then I got a "hire me" message!

6. It was my first Webflow customer! He - a designer from London - liked one of my projects and wanted to replicate what I did for a client. We worked together, everything worked well, and after that we started working in partnership for a couple projects. He designs, I build.

7. As the next two months went by, I got approached by more people because of my public profile on Webflow, and got two or three more projects. All of them just for dev work. Then I got approached by @BlakeMichael14, who needed help with a website for his new VC, @CreatorLed.

8. We did some great team work together, and on that project I was able to use my whole skillset. Helped with branding, design and development. THAT project was the turning point. I Delivered the best I could, got featured on the Webflow showcase, and my effort paid off big time.

9. After that, and until today, I get leads regularly coming to me asking for something similar to that project. I also got to work with a few agencies as a Webflow dev (shout out to @the1diegodiaz which was one of the first who approached me and we did some cool stuff together).

10. Since then I've launched more projects - some dev only, some design + dev - and published them on social media. This helps generating more leads, and I'm finally on a place that I have a good amount of work for the next few months. Going full-time #webflow next month!

11. PHEW! That was a lot. If you followed me through this journey, here's my take on it: you need to SHOW YOURSELF. Do your best work. Share to the world. Be noticed. If you don't have projects to show, create fake projects, do crazy stuff, show what you're capable of.

BONUS: Also, make sure that your public profile on @webflow is looking sharp. It's an underestimated channel to get leads. 80% of the leads I got came from there. Leverage that. Publish your work there, maybe you get featured and someone sees the cool stuff you're doing. 😉

BONUS²: Make sure your proposals also look sharp. Don't send a blunt PDF with just your price. Show why you worth your price first. Include some social proof, projects you did, etc. Make it look good!