Why should you give away valid advice as a designer online? Doesn’t that create more knowledgeable designers who might take away the jobs you want to have? Aren’t you just creating unnecessary competition?
When you’re good at what you do, you’ll always find work. The pool of clients is not limited to a certain number. In my experience, there are many overlapping pools to tap into. It depends on your own skillset, which pool you can access, but overall: There is always a new client somewhere who needs your talent and knowhow.
And even if you analyse the market and come up with a set number of potential clients and money to make, this analysis is based on yesterday’s market. The moment you become better as a designer, you’ve got more value to offer, which will change the market, as it makes you more valuable to potential clients, who are now willing to spend more money.
The market is not a fixed construct, it is fluid. And it is not only the client that determines the market numbers, it is also the designer and his skillset.
Giving away free advice is an investment in my business. Articles like this one help to establish me and my business as an authority.
The more articles I write, the more people will find me, know about me, follow me. And the more people that do that, the more clients I can reach, while at the same time these clients will see me as an authority in my field: I mean, look at all the articles this guy wrote and all the readers he has, he must be an authority, right?
My primary target reader is still the starting designer who wants to be a successful freelancer or start his own business. Helping him on top of establishing authority status is another win-win.
Beginners I could help are willing to help me in the future. My articles will be collected and published as a book one day, and some of my readers will buy it, to give something back for what they’ve already received for free.
And even if they don’t buy the book, they help me sharing my work, liking it, following me, and even recommending me in real life to other designers and clients.
I can’t think of a single long-term downside to giving away free advice.
Maybe you could call trolling or negative critique a downside for putting yourself out there. But for every negative reaction, you get at least ten positive ones.
The network you’re building with clients, followers, and friends, will benefit your business in so many ways, that the time you have to invest is well worth it.
