How to get international clients, Fisheye’s thoughts.

Hiya Friends of the fish,

As we steamroll through Feb, we hope you are all keeping afloat and settling into the new year with a healthy dose of ease and challenge.

So today’s heading is mostly clickbait... If you are a freelancer or creative reading this hoping for the life hack that is scoring jobs in Euros and Dollars, well it’s not quite the magic potion you were looking for, buuuut. We are here to offer you as much solid advice as possible.

Here at Fisheye, we have a big focus on supporting the small business and big dreamers, creating a space for start up’s and entrepreneurs to be able to get kick-ass design at a rate their new budding business bank accounts can afford. We absolutely love this kind of work, but to stay afloat and grow into the big fish we know we can be, we need some bigger budget clients too. Hence our drive to the international market.

Here are some truthful lessons/tips we have learned so far that we would love to share.

Tip one: There are some great freelancer platforms out there. We did a lot of research and found that the top pickings are Fiver and Upwork. I am sure you are all pretty familiar with them by now. Our fav?

Probably Upwork. Depending on your package, you get a certain amount of connects per month which you use to apply for jobs that people post on the platform. They list what the job is, how quickly they need it and what they will pay you. You can pick and choose your preferred job and apply. Easy as that?

Here is where the lesson comes in: It is really hard to land your first gig. You basically look like a bot with no Upwork client or job histories for reference and John wanting to hire a top-notch freelancer is probably going to pick Patrick who has 54 successful job completions over you.

Don't give up hope though. Patrick was once standing where you were now, there is hope. Keep trying and you’ll land it, the ball gets rolling from there.

Tip two: Find the tourists and make friends.

This seems like a funny one, we are suggesting that you must use and abuse people just to land gigs because they are from France, buttt with travel opening up there are young ambitious tourists everywhere and opportunities always arise. If you happen to make friends with some foreigners, hang out, show them your work and shameless let them know if they know friends needing work done that you are their go-to. Networking is seriously everything in this industry.

Lesson: When these convocations start and your new friends have ideas of gigs you could fit into, don’t let it slip. Despite the fact you are chatting over a beer on a Friday night, follow up, connect on Linked In, and pursue the contact. Sometimes you need to chase things down a little.

Lastly, stay open. Everyone you meet daily is a potential contact and connection. Start chats with strangers, tell your parents friends what you are up to, approach companies through Dm’s that are based overseas that you totally love. Send them your work and give it a shot. The more open we stay to opportunities the more potential for a ‘yes, let's do it!!’

So yeah, we are trying out best just as you are. We will use our own advice and see how far we get. The ball is starting to roll through and we cant wait to see how far it travels.

Good luck out there Friends of the Fish,

Thanks for keeping an eye on us.