So, ready to try your hand at being a freelance designer?Although you'll incur some new challenges you wouldn’t face behind a 9 to 5 desk, the freedom of setting your own hours and prices makes it well worth it.And you don't necessarily have to give up that day job to do a little design moonlighting.

You basically need two things to be a freelancer; a way to get customers, and a way to serve those customers.

Getting the Customers

Bottom line here: talk to EVERYBODY.You’ll find customers in some unexpected places – your pet store, favorite restaurants, dry cleaners, etc.So tell everyone you run into that you’d be happy to help them with design work.

If you’re going to try and solicit business locally, you would do well to design your own business cards to hand out as you’re talking to people.We recommend getting them printed through an online gang run printer such as www.vistaprint.com or www.bestprintingonline.com.It helps keep your startup costs super low, and in the meantime you’re getting used to working with a potentially valuable vendor.

It’s wise to have at least part of your portfolio online.You can use portfolio sites such as www.FigDig.com, but to really show that you’re serious about your business, we recommend you build your own site.It’s easy enough to get inexpensive hosting and your own domain through companies like www.godaddy.com.

By the way, you can pick up some really valuable tools over at www.sitepoint.com.We highly recommend their Web Design Business Kit.It’s not cheap, but well worth the lessons inside.At least check out the free chapters; you can even download and take them with you.

Next, take advantage of as many networking opportunities as possible.Check on sites like www.meetup.com to see what kind of networking and referral groups exist in your area.Referrals are one of the best ways of doing business; someone once said that if you talk about your business, it’s bragging, but if someone else does it, it’s proof.

Next, put out your shingle on places like www.gofreelance.com – describe your services and how your work is different than that of other companies.Pick some selling points – do you work locally and nationally?What’s your range of services?Will you beat anyone’s price?And don’t be afraid to put link in some graphics within the ad.

Also, keep an eye out for “gigs” posted by people needing design work.Respond to those IMMEDIATELY, as you are likely to face stiff competition and need to get under their noses as soon as possible.

Overall, your best bet is to ALWAYS carry cards around with you, and pass them out to everyone; especially people you know.If you always use the same mechanic, tell her what you do and hand her a card.You never know if she or someone she knows will need a website. You can get high quality business cards printed cheaply at www.vistaprint.com or www.bestprintingonline.com. For more info, check out the article on online/gang-run printers.

Serving the Customer

Okay, so you’ve gotten the customer.Now, you have to make sure you’re watching out for your interests.How?Use a contract!Even if you trust your client and they trust you, it still helps to have all the terms spelled out so there’s no confusion as to what has been promised to whom and when, and who owns what.You can find some inexpensive, templated contract forms at www.proposalkit.com that offer you great general protection and agreements for you and your clients for a lot of different types of design jobs.

Because you will be working with a lot of different clients and potential clients, it’s a good idea to put systems in place in advance to keep track of them all. www.basecamphq.com is a great way to track (and share) projects, while systems like www.highrise.com helps you keep track of solicitations and building your business.

Another great tool is Microsoft Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager.Microsoft has integrated the customer relationship management attributes and combined them with e-mail and project management tools.It’s really a great all-in-one package.You can even use the free version of Microsoft Accounting that’s included and invoice your clients once the job is finished, all tracking under the same project.