What I learned from losing my dribbble account.

July 12, 2017

Let me start with introducing myself. My name is Deividas. I am a father, a husband and a passionate designer obsessed with logo design. I have almost a decade of design experience.

A portfolio is fundamental for a freelance designer. There is an endless amount of social platforms and professional communities out there that will help you to get something up and running with very little hassle. In this article, I would like to share my personal experience how online platforms such as Dribbble changed my career and helped me in establishing my name in this tough industry. I have been freelancing for 8 years and Dribbble is one of the best platforms that actually got me real clients over the years; however, I managed to screw up and accidentally deleted my account with almost 11,000 of followers and a huge portfolio.

My first steps into self-promotion.
One of the scariest things about becoming a freelance designer is that you always start with nothing. Logopond was the first platform I’ve used. At that time (around 2009) it was the most popular and active logo design community out there. It brought me my first real client experience. Also, it was sort of a school for me, where I really found myself and my own style in the area of logo design. By now, a major part of that community has moved to Dribbble though. But I still believe it’s a great platform with its advantages.

I have started using Dribbble in 2011. During the years I’ve noticed its advantages compared to the other platforms, like Logopond, Behance or Logomoose. I was having a steady stream of job inquiries. So, I slowly stopped using the other platforms. However, not long ago, as mentioned previously, a situation occurred where I have accidentally deleted my Dribbble account and I was left with no Plan B because all of my other portfolios/showcases, as well as my website, were abandoned for quite a while, which was a huge mistake by me. Consequently, my stream of inquiries has shrunk by 90%, because I’ve placed all of my eggs in one basket. Do not rely on a single platform.

What next?
It’s already been 3 weeks since the incident. And I’ve started using Dribbble and building my follower base all over again. I am making daily uploads, here’s the link, in case you would like to follow me. https://dribbble.com/contrast8. I have almost 500 folowers, compared to the 11,000 before. On the bright side, I am discovering and following more talented designers than ever before. I am also slowly updating and improving my other profiles on Logopond, Behance, Instagram and also my website. The time that was allocated to work on tens of projects I am now using to further expand my design skill set and learn new things.

There will always be new potential clients around, however, the issue is that the increasing amount of designers on a daily basis is enormous and the competition is fierce! And even if you’re a talented designer, it’s hard to get noticed and acknowledged due to the sheer number of competitors of different skill levels. It’s a good thing I have got years of experience and a rich portfolio so I won’t need to start completely from scratch.

Getting punched hurts, but in our line of work, you need to get used to rolling with punches once in a while.