My Story of Being A Successful Freelance Designer

I’ve been thinking since so many days what new will I write! In my leisure time, I read creative success stories from different professions on the internet. Recently, I have finished reading a story of an unknown person about his journey to a successful professional life, where he described, how he started and how he got his dream position. I know from my life no man in this world can be successful without hard work. Maybe I should use “Toil” cause Hard Work is so common, but the creative professionals have to achieve it by the ceaseless dedication and hard work.

Anyway, I was so inspired by that story. Then I thought if I write my journey to design life how will it be! Maybe I am not a top successful person in my profession, but any newbie or same professional soul may learn something from my struggle life and fault I did. Even someone may show any other example which can add value in my next life.

So, if you prefer like me to learn from another person’s life, can stay with me till the finishing point. Hope you will inspire me sharing your opinion from the comment section.

My Childhood, My Hero

Maybe It was 1999 to 2002, my amazing childhood started. My whole day used to pass by painting and playing with Paint Brush, Color Pencil, and Wax Colors. Except for the study time, I was drawing different childhood characters and hero including Kane, Rock, Rikishi, and other funny WWE characters.

This picture was taken at 1996–1997 by my father.

Who knows, one day this canvas will spread all over the world! I never thought it will be my loving profession, life, career, and only one favorite livelihood.

It’s true everyone misses his childhood, and really my childhood was so attractive and the best time in my whole life. I wish If I can go back again to my childhood!

Unfortunately, painting doesn’t last for a long time in my life. When I was growing up, I had to be more responsible. In a middle-class family, the hobby goes away without any alert. We have to be accustomed to real-life so quickly. Thus one day Paint Brush, Color Pencil, and Wax Colors had left from my life.

Largest Heartache, Best Motivation In My Life

It was 2010 and I had passed the hardest time in my life. I will never forget those days. My father faced a huge loss in his business. For this reason, our family was unable to pass the days. We were nearly hand to mouth.

In the meantime, I have to sit for the SSC (Secondary School Certificate) exam and then it was the most valuable exam in our country in the whole student life. My mother faced a lot of problem in paying my registration fees and tuition cost. She has to take loans from our relatives and neighbors. On the other hand, we had the problem of arranging daily food. At that time, I thought to leave my school for the financial crisis and desired to help my family with anyhow. One day, I told my mother, but she has rebuked me a lot. Especially, I wanted to do it only to support my family.

And I realize money is everything

In those times, I had realized the truth, if you have the financial crisis, no one will stay at your side. Our dream family of my mother was nearly ruined only for money. There were no ways of getting released from this condition without managing money. I had realized that I have to earn money for overcoming the situation and I have to become successful as early as possible. Of course, it would be in an honest way. I started to plan for arranging my daily cost.

I managed tuition and it helped me to get the daily pocket money. Then I had also done some odd jobs. Thus I finished my SSC exam.

In this time, our financial crisis was out of control. How will we overcome the situation? There was only one option, selling the house. Can you imagine? It was our childhood, the house of my parents. We will lose each of our memory. At last, we had to sign on the deed paper for selling our house. I could not forget the days and the weeping of my mother. We were all crying and it continued for a lot of days.

I felt like I was drowning

The dedication of my mother on those days was the best motivation in my life. On that time, I didn’t know why, but I thought I need a computer. I told my mother about my dream. She did not agree for the first time. But for an unknown reason (I had known the reason later. Especially my elder brother loved me a lot. He was the best friend in my life. He insisted my mother on providing me with a computer. How will I forget the debt/love of my brother? He is no more in the world. Please all of you pray for my loving brother.) from the money of the sold house, my mother gave me the amount for buying a computer. Maybe, it was the will of God and a mother can realize a lot of things for her children. I believe it is natural. At last, I got my first computer in my hand and I will never forget the day.

I believe the worst days in our life are the most blessing for us. I could not explain it, but I do realize.

The Biggest Fault At The Beginning Of My New Life

After getting my first computer, I started to operate it. After using it for some days, I could use it smoothly. After passing 6 to 8 months, I had heard about making money on the internet. Though I had no idea about this, I tried to know the details. Because my main wish was to keep contributing to my family.

The funniest matter was that I had no internet connection until then. I had no idea how to do work here and how to get money as well. But I had learned that it is possible. So, I tried to find out the way. Another key point, there was no familiar person of mine to get any reliable information. Moreover, I did not stop tutoring myself on the computer. Then I saved some money from 3 to 4 months' remuneration and I bought a Banglalink Internet Modem. I took 3–4 months for learning “How to Use The Internet.” It was really amazing. Thus I started to love the world of computers and the Internet.

In the meanwhile, I read the various blog (Bangla & English) for learning purposes. I got a blog post about freelancing from a senior techie brother. He was a freelancer and also a developer. In general, he was a successful freelancer then. By reading his story, I wished I would have been a developer and I would also earn like him. But it was the biggest fault in my life. Because I had little interest in developing or coding, but wanted to be a developer only for earning money. If I was a developer then, I can realize now I might not sustain for more days. (Recently, I have completed learning Basic HTML, CSS and Similar technologies for mastering web design sector).

Anyhow, I lost 4/5 months here for trying to become a developer. I did not explore more when starting to learn development which was necessary. Notably, you will make a full-time career and it will be a livelihood for a lifetime, yet would you not take time to know if you could do it or had any passion for it. In my life, I got the truth for building a successful career, if you had no passion for a thing, you would not give your full dedication and ultimately, it would be so tough to become successful. It is good to take time (1–2 month) for knowing the passionate and leading for the future thing before starting to learn.

I always narrate it, “I am a doctor, that’s why, will you be a doctor? No, you can do whatever you can do the best. Automatically, Success will come soon.”

Yes! It Was My Passion

In the meantime, I got some people who were successful in freelancing career. One day, I was with one of them. I shared my goal. I had told them about my passion of painting in my childhood. Then he suggested me to learn the graphic design. He explained, there are a lot of jobs/project in this sector. At the same time, it is a very creative profession. So, I redesigned my plan for becoming a designer and true to say, it was made me happy for getting back my old love.

But the situation was not in my favour. I had spent all my savings on learning development. So, I was unable to admit to any training institute. I can remind, I could not sleep a lot of night. After all, I took a decision for learning design concept myself and it was the best decision in my life. Likewise, I started to learn design from scratch from my home.

How do I prepare myself?

Sometimes I laughed myself remembering how fool I was! But it also reminds me I was dedicated to learning. There was a Photo Studio in my locality. They used Adobe Photoshop for editing the picture. I had learned some basic works on the Adobe Illustrator. They were using Adobe Photoshop, but I noticed that the outlook was nearly 90% the same. In Adobe Photoshop, they were just working with layers. I wanted to learn from them. But I had not told them about my curiosity. I thought if I wanted to learn they would ask for fees. As I had no money for learning then, they would not teach me.

So, I made a plan for learning from them. I had been coming every day in the studio and stood at the side of a window and watched what hey did. In general, I stood in the road and there was no roof upon me. For this reason, I would stand in the sun. Maybe you can’t believe it. But I did it. Not for minutes, I did it for 2 to 3 hours daily in regular. I saw how they worked and used a different tool. Then going back to my home, I tried it in the Adobe Illustrator. Thus I had passed another year for learning Adobe Illustrator. Then I knew the use of each tool in Illustrator. Must be remembered, I practiced Adobe Illustrator, as I thought I could earn money with this designing tools and Adobe Photoshop is for the studio only. Is it not so funny?

Till then I had no idea how to do professional work with the Adobe Illustrator. But I tried to work with the design I saw in the roadside including Business Card, Flyer, Book Cover, ETC. I tried to make similar things on my computer.

Starting Freelancing and Again Failure

At last, I wanted to earn from creative designing. I always read different types of blog. In a blog post, I got the name of oDesk (Now UpWork) as a freelancing marketplace. I made an account on the same day. I started bidding according to my skills. After bidding for 1–2 months, I got a job. It was designing a logo. After working hard 2 days, I finished the logo and submitted to my clients. My client was satisfied with my work. Are you thinking, it is the start of my success? No, I had to struggle a lot. Because he did not pay me. Actually, he did not hire me at all. I had done the work according to the instructions in the inbox. In particular, I did not know how to become hired and when to start working.

Thus the client made me a fool. Additionally, after some days, I tried to get other jobs, and I started to get some of the projects from the next month. Then I started to earn $30 to $40 and it increased after 2–3 months. But again I was frustrated. Yes! You can’t believe. With unknown reasons, my account was banned by the oDesk (upwork) authority after 7 months of my first earning. I had tried a lot and talked with their customer support. But they did not return back my account. I was hopeless then. I was not getting any idea about what should I do.

After passing days, I took inspiration myself, oDesk had turned off my account, but they were not able to steal my skills. So, I had to start again. Accordingly, I opened another account with care. I started to bid again. But I was so upset because no one was hiring me in this new account. It was a very frustrating time in my life. I started to be disappointed. I thought it was not possible to come back to my previous position. So, I quit for a lot of days.

The story can be finished here. But I have to become successful. So, I returned again. But How? Wait! I will tell you the story in full.

Coming Back in The Right Track

It was the beginning of 2012. I was nearly outside of my design. Though I have the passion, any good design attracts me. One day, when Facebooking on my PC, I saw an amazing business card design and it was really awesome. It drew my attention than before. I made a comment on the post. The designer replied to my comment. Then I shared my passion for designing with him. He was very helpful. I believe any real experts become helpful all the time. They get fascinated by sharing their knowledge.

He had talked with me personally. He taught me how to learn creative design, how to present yourself as a professional. Thus I got the clear concept and motivation to start again. Now I think, the words had helped me to come in this position now. I am really grateful to him. He is our great inspiration and guide, Mr. Eftikharul Alam Brother.

I should also mention the name of my friend and brother including Ahmed Firoz, Mamun Srizon, Rahat Hossain, Eftikharul Alam, Towkir Ahmed Bappy, Shahriyer Shuvo, Mohammad Nurunnabi. All of them helped me a lot in achieving this position.

When I would go to do professional work, I have to be more skillful and professional in every aspect of life. With this in mind, I started to practice again. I passed 8 to 10 hours daily for learning creative design. Are you astonished? Actually, I have to be successful and I started to take design as a full-time job. So, I passed my whole time for practicing newer things and knowing the deep concept of design.

Thus I had passed another year. True to say, I had no intention to open any other account for earning or doing freelancing. I wished I would be a professional designer first, then I will start working. But I was in need of daily pocket money, so I built an account in GraphicRiver and uploading the new design. I was going forward by learning newer things daily. An expert brother told me to build a quality profile, then come to the marketplace, you will not get scarcity of jobs.

My Workstation in 2013(maybe)

The Light of Success!

Now, I am prepared for taking the professional task. I opened my Behance account on 26 August 2013. Even I had taken more 4–5 months to make it more professional with hands-on project/portfolio. The hard work gave me a lot of things which I could not imagine. Likewise, I had not created an account in other marketplaces. I got my first job from Behance and still, I am working here with proud. It was 2014, I got my first project and the client was very happy with my work. He continued with me till 6 to 7 month. I got $420 in my first month from that client. In Bangladesh, it was nearly BDT 30,000+ which was enough as per my expectation then.

With the passage of time, I was getting sufficient project every month. It was so tough to find out time for anything. In this time, I took a decision for learning Web Design. With the struggle of my life, I learned a reality you have to learn daily if you want to sustain in the competitive market. So, I never stopped learning new things.

Anyway, I was learning Web Design and working also with my clients. At the same time, I did not stop to upload the new design on GraphicRiver and handling other clients also. You could not believe, I had learned for 8 to 9 hours daily and worked rest of the time for my clients.

On the negative side, I did not know Photoshop though I started to learn Web Design. It was a great challenge for me. Anyway, with 2.5 months of hard work and dedication, I had come to an efficient stage. Happy to say, I started to get Web-Based Project after 3 or 4 months. It inspired me a lot for learning and working.

I will not forget the days as I love designing. I think I did not feel I was working. It was really fun. It happens for all of my work. When you find the work you love, you feel you are not working actually. It will seem you are just passing your favourite time in your life. And it’s really a blessing and I got it maybe with the blessings of my mother and brother.

2015 (In my small bedroom)

2017 (my own office)

First Remote Job: I knew getting any remote job is a dream for the designers. I got my first remote job in September 2014 and luckily I got $1400-$2000 every month for my project. I never forget the days of my life. I can remind till today. When I gave my whole salary to my mother, she could not believe and was surprised also. I was smiling and it was the best smile in my life. I took all the responsibilities of my family and you could not feel before doing it yourself. It was blissful from the Jannat (Heaven).

Furthermore, have you forgotten we had to sell our home for the financial crisis when I sat for my SSC exam? But I didn’t. I wanted to fulfil this deficiency. Happy to say, I had bought my first land 2 years ago. It was really a great source of happiness for my mother and family.

In recent times, you may see my overall successful life, but it was not easier. I believe every successful person comes to their desired goal with the hard work of thousands of day and night. I may not be able to express all the hardship things in my life. But I have got my award and dream position in my life. I have finished hundreds of big projects. Similarly, I have worked with three remote jobs. I have got the chances to work with Wowoo.exchange, teameurope.eu, liftit, ApprenNet, TitleOne, Net-Ref, BordSoft, CryptoCreed, and various largest dram company in the world. I would not disclose all the projects because of the Non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Does anyone need to do more things in this short lifetime? By all means, I am the proud co-founder of a fancy startup named TrendyTheme.

Giving Back To The Society (!)

People don’t get success by accident. You need to be hard-working and without passion and knowledge, you will get drowned. I realized this truth from my experience. It had taken hard work and dedication for me to reach in this position, so I wanted to keep contributing to the newbies who want to make a career in this sector.

Now I’m self-dependent staying in a country where most of the youth are unemployed compare to the other countries of the world. So I wanted to keep contributing to help some other youth from Bangladesh. So I started to write the blog posts, worked for making the video tutorial for helping the newbies.

In 2014, we (Me, My Friend Bappy and a senior brother Ahmed Firoz) arranged an Adobe Behance official meetup. We invited the top class designer from Bangladesh to share their experience. It was just a knowledge sharing platform where all of us can gather new experience from others.

The newbies can also learn quickly from the fault of the experienced designers. We started to continue this event every year. I can remind, when we started there was only 20 to 25 professional designer in this community. But now it has spread all over Bangladesh. Now, we have thousands of designers in this community because of these groups (Behance Bangladesh and BeDesigner). We are helping each other every day. These groups are helping to connect all the designers from all over the country. Now, we do hang out every time and learn new things with each other.

Recently, I’m planning again to make an essential series tutorial with the latest technologies for helping the newcomers. Pray for me, as if I can stay healthy and can do more contributions to the society especially to the young generations.

— You can check out my recent work from Behance & Dribbble —

— Want a Custom Design? Say hello to sibluhasan@gmail.com

N.B: As I have told my life story, I may make faults in describing the exact time/year. But it is so similar which had happened in my life. On the other hand, please ignore writing typos, if you see anywhere of the writing. Have a great day and I will be happy if anyone gets inspirations to do hard work for a successful life. Thanks in advance.