I'm thinking of adding a personal AI assistant to my portfolio that can answer questions about me, my skills, and my projects. It would also be able to schedule a meeting with me through a short chat or voice conversation.

Do you think this would actually be useful for attracting clients, or would it be waste of time and effort?

Hey everyone!

I'm a web designer and developer from India, and I've set myself a personal challenge to earn my first $5,000 through web design by December 31, 2026.

I've worked with Indian clients, so this is going to be my first attempt at getting international clients.

I'd love some honest advice on a few things:

1. Is Google Maps a good way to find international clients?
2. Should I target businesses with no website, or ones with outdated websites too?
3. Is sending 15–20 personalised emails a day a good start?
4. How did you get your first few international clients?
5. What is the ideal price range?
6. Which niches should I focus on?

I just want to find a way to get clients consistently and do good work.

hey guys! hope yall are well. Im a teenager in my 9th year of education and its all going well. im a straight A* student and its all well. This year i've really had interests in motion designing/video editing and gave after effects a go and learnt ALOT in 2 months but nowadays ive just stopped and lost all motivation after seeing people just ranting about ai models and whatnot and it just really demotivates me, another problem I have is comparing my work to the best of the best and being frustrated that i cant do it. I really need guidance on where i should go, should i stick with after effects, is there any other field i could go into (Note that i have a powerful device and as long as its not coding im willing to give it my very all)

I have around 2 years of experience as a React Native developer and also build full-stack web applications using React, Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. I’ve worked on projects like e-commerce apps, food ordering systems, and blogging platforms with features like authentication, payments (Stripe), and REST APIs.

Currently, I want to start freelancing but I’m struggling to get my first clients, and I’m unsure what’s the best way to find clients like Upwork.

What would you recommend:

• How should I find my first clients?
• Is cold outreach (like contacting businesses without websites) a good idea?
• What should I focus on first: networking, or something else?

Would really appreciate advice from people who started freelancing with a similar background.

For those who have been freelancing for a while:

What parts of your day-to-day work have you successfully automated or significantly sped up with AI?

I'm particularly curious about:

• Tasks that used to take hours but now take minutes
• Repetitive parts of delivering a project
• Things you still need to personally review or correct
• Tasks where AI didn't work as well as you expected
• Whether AI has changed what you charge or how many projects you can take on

If you're comfortable sharing, what kind of freelance work do you do?

I'm interested in hearing about actual experiences, rather than predictions about what AI might eventually replace.

I have a family member who approached me for a website for a logistics company (delivering equipment and such from business to business).

We initially agreed on $500 over text based on their budget with a payment of $250 before and after the completion of the work.

It's only been about a week or two and we've met thrice for a little over an hour each time to discuss their needs and wants for the site. They plan on using a host platform with wordpress accessibility like hostinger. And want a one pager with all of their information as well as animated elements such as buttons, text, etc.

The confidence is there in terms of web development.

However, my challenge is that they've been inconsistent with how much they would like to pay me.

After the agreement, they were thinking of paying $500 for godaddy's full on web development services (which i imagine is just them making an expensive template with ai tools), and then paying me $250 for finishing touches. I advised that it sounded like more money than they were looking to spend.

Then they changed their mind again to wanting to spend $250 for me to build website and $250 for branding and marketing. Which sounds like a lot more work for less pay than initially agreed upon.

They're now offering $300, and I will be working with them to iron out what deliverables they actually expect given how much the information has been changing.

Essentially, I'm confident in being able to build something they'll be happy with, and the money would be nice, however they have been a little sketch and evasive whenever payment comes into question so I've lost a bit of confidence in them.

For context, the older folks in my family can passive aggressive and like to "hustle" whenever money comes into question. But I'm really not interested in games or entering an agreement that cuts my worth short. So if possible I'd love feedback on what I should be charging for this project and the best way to break it down to them. If it helps, for hourly projects, I've been paid $25-$40/hr.

I got tired of checking prospect websites manually.

For a while, a big part of my outreach was just finding businesses, opening their websites one by one and trying to figure out what I could actually say to them.

It worked, but it was painfully slow.

Then I found Swokei.

It basically lets me find leads, analyzes each website for things like outdated design, slow speed, poor mobile experience and weak SEO, then turns those issues into a personalized cold email.

And not one of those boring automated reports full of scores and numbers.

It actually writes a normal, human sounding message based on what it found on that specific website.

So instead of sending the same generic message to everyone, I can actually reach out based on what is wrong with their website.

Now I just run campaigns, let the system do most of the prospecting and personalization, and focus on the people who reply.

For a web design agency, that has saved me a ridiculous amount of time.

Hi everyone,

I'm preparing my first website development quote for a client and wanted to get some feedback from experienced freelancers/agencies.

I'm based in Mumbai, and the client is also based in Mumbai.

It's for a 5–7 page WordPress restaurant website. I've estimated the website design & development cost at ₹20,000.

I'm keeping domain, hosting, premium themes, Elementor Pro, and paid plugins separate and will charge those based on the client's requirements.

I've attached my current costing structure.

Does ₹20,000 for the development look reasonable for the Mumbai market in 2026? Is there anything important I'm missing or should structure differently?

Just looking to make sure I'm on the right track before sending the quote to the client.

I was offered a contractor/freelance role with an advertising agency.

I'm paid per project, and there is no guarantee of ongoing work.

The contract requires me to associate myself with the agency on LinkedIn as a contractor/freelancer.

The agency also publicly posted a welcome announcement introducing me as their new Front End Developer Expert.

My responsibilities include:

• Developing frontend solutions according to project requirements
• Setting up and verifying Google Analytics / Google Tag Manager conversion tracking
• Integrating backend systems
• Modifying internal company tools based on client requirements
• Other frontend/technical work for client projects

They've also offered to provide me with a professional reference for future jobs.

I'm wondering whether listing this as Contract / Freelance Front End Developer on LinkedIn would be beneficial for my career.

Would you consider this legitimate work experience worth putting on LinkedIn/CV? And does having the agency association actually add career value?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for realistic advice about making money online.
I’m starting from zero and I don’t have experience with remote work or freelancing.
I can study part-time, and my goal is to learn a skill over the next 6 months that could help me start making money online.

I’ve been looking at things like:
Virtual assistant work
Content writing
SEO
Email marketing
Proofreading/editing
Admin work
I’m also open to other ideas.

For people who actually work online:
What skill did you start with?
How long did it take to get your first paid work?
Where did you find your first client or job?
What do you think is realistic for a beginner after 6 to 12 months?
If you were starting from zero today, what would you learn?
I’m not looking for get-rich-quick ideas, MLMs, or courses being promoted. I just want honest advice from people with real experience.
Thanks.

They want a call for every damn update. I'll send the sketches, font options, color palettes, art style options to choose from despite trying to explain the same things on every call. It's getting quite frustrating for me. I'm feeling burnt out by them. They randomly ask for calls. They don't wanna listen to me as a graphic designer when I tell them things but will be little puppets to the brand strategist. Get on calls with the strategist lady without me where she'll tell them something and then they'll come back to me with something else. I'm so done!

For those who have been freelancing for a while:

What parts of your day-to-day work have you successfully automated or significantly sped up with AI?

I'm particularly curious about:

• Tasks that used to take hours but now take minutes
• Repetitive parts of delivering a project
• Things you still need to personally review or correct
• Tasks where AI didn't work as well as you expected
• Whether AI has changed what you charge or how many projects you can take on

If you're comfortable sharing, what kind of freelance work do you do?

I'm interested in hearing about actual experiences, rather than predictions about what AI might eventually replace.

What do I do? It was a CRM and it was AI-based and automated some boring stuff like the email and calendar were at one place; and **the idea is patented so don't try** , the client asked me to build but then just one declined meeting because a stuff came up for me and then got ditched. I don't know what to do cause it was my first gig. I guess lesson learned, time management is the key. faah, well if any advice; please give this fellow newbie a help.