Judging by some of the responses to other blogs, we have a fair amount of writers who visit our hallowed halls. Writers, artists, graphic designers, and other freelancers and consultants are often called upon to share samples of their work with prospective clients. However, assembling a portfolio can be a bit daunting–especially if you haven’t done it before. What is a portfolio, what should be in it and how is it best maintained?
In general, a portfolio is a collection of samples of your work. For freelance journalist-style writers, we’re often asked to “submit clips” — which are really copies of published pieces we’ve written. But if you are doing a variety of writing jobs for various clients–press releases, annual reports, brochures, web content, etc.–it can be beneficial to put together a nice “packet” of these pieces to submit and share when you are trying to get other work. With the new age of the internet and more and more freelancers doing web related work, prospective clients will often ask for “links” or the “url” to our online published work. This information can be included in a portfolio as well.
I know consultants who have a standard portfolio kept in organized colored pocket folders and kept handy so they can share or send out at a moment’s notice. I tend to keep a file full of copies, brochures samples, press releases, marketing campaigns, articles, etc. and then put together a packet of information tailored for each prospective client. Some people aren’t the slightest bit interested in the marketing and communications work I’ve done and only want the journalism, while others want the articles or web content and nothing “market-y.”
I know a woman who has a home business making hand-painted tiles and she keeps an album of digital photos of her work to show prospective buyers and clients. I’ve seen this done with other individuals who do work as diverse as landscape architecture, tailoring, and special events. Back when I was doing a great many special events, I kept a photo album of some of my more successful events to show the various sizes, styles and locations I could work comfortably with.
My advice for those assembling a portfolio is to be creative and original, but make sure that it is simple and accessible. Prospective clients don’t want to “hunt” for information and samples and I’ve found that they really want to see samples of something similar (if not identical) to the type of work they need to hire you to do. Once you’ve created a portfolio, it’s also important to keep it up-to-date, adding new pieces, replacing some of your earlier, less-experienced work with recent work, etc. Many clients want to see the “most recent” work anyway. Keep in mind whether you’ll be mailing your portfolio or sharing with someone in person as this will also affect the style and size of your work sample collection.