How to get international clients for graphic design

Gone are the days when parents would advise their children to focus solely on academic activities in school so that they can graduate with good grades and get good jobs.

In those days, parents were able to provide full financial support to their children's education in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

But now, the harsh  economic realities are making it difficult for parents to provide what will be enough, not that they don't want to but how will they be able to do it when the prices of food items are increasing everyday while their salaries remain the same.

Even the students that have graduated with good grades, many of them are yet to get jobs let alone good jobs. 

Parents have great expectations that once their children graduate, they will get a good job and start taking care of them because most of their earnings throughout the active service life must have gone to the children's education. 

If you are still a student, you are left with just two options, you can cut all your expenses, trek to school, eat one or two meals daily, depend on friends, scot with friends and do many other uncomfortable things or you find a way to make some money to help your parents out by helping yourself.

Already, smart students are investing their time and little resources in learning high in demand skills that will enable them to make some income. Even without a laptop, there are to make money with your phone as a student.

One of the easiest ways to make money online in Nigeria is smartphone graphic design. If you have learnt how to make graphic designs with your android phone already but you are struggling to get clients and start making money, this post is for you because i will be showing you how to get international clients for graphic design business.

if you don't know how to make graphic design with android phone yet, learn more about the best smart phone graphic design with canva course.

There are 2 types of clients you can get for your graphic design business. 

Local and international clients. 

The reason I based this post on how to get international clients for graphic design is because you will be able to earn in dollars and earn higher rates than targeting local clients.

If you learn only how to make graphic design with your android phone without learning how to market your skill, you will not make any money. 

It's when clients give you orders to design certain graphics required to market their business and you deliver to their satisfaction that they will pay you.

• To start getting international clients for graphic design, you need to know the platforms where your ideal customers will be and the type of graphic design services they will require. Is it linkedin, instagram, fiverr, upwork etc.
• As for the services they will require, different types of small businesses require different kinds of graphics for marketing. 
• A freelancer for example might require you to design just about me flyer. 
• A book author on kindle might require you to design book cover, ecommerce vendors will require you to design social media post and products banners, digital course creators will require you to design digital products ecover and 3d mockups, social media managers will require you to design carousel and single page post for instagrams etc.
• A startup will require you to design logo, stationeries etc.
• Now ask yourself which of these services can do best and I will be getting consistent clients and you will know who your ideal audience will be.
• Once you know what you can do and who will need your services, work on your communication skills. You must be able to communicate in good and clear English if you intend to serve international clients. And you need to be able to understand the needs of your clients.
• The most challenging part of serving international clients is understanding the difference in time zone. You must know the time your intended international clients are at work. Even if it's 1:00 am in the middle of the night at your own local time, you must make yourself available and be able to respond and serve them.
• Now let's look at the platforms. For you to get international clients, you need to have an online presence. If you have a good budget you can ask a funnel designer to design a good single page funnel for your graphic design business so that internal clients can see you as a professional and you will be able to charge higher rates. If you don't have a good budget, you can learn funnel design through the funnel design made easy and design it by yourself.
• If you want to make use of social media platforms to create your online presence instead of a website, all you have to do is create an attractive profile as a graphic designer on facebook, instagram and linkedin. Search for your ideal customers and send them your offer through DM.
• However, if you want to use freelance websites like fiverr, upwork etc to create your online presence, you need to create a strong profile that will show you are an expert at what you say you can do. Also have a portfolio of previous graphic designs you have done for clients before to show that you can really do it.
• Above all, have a great attitude to work, always deliver on time, deliver to the expectation or above the expectation of your clients and charge a moderate rate that is not too low or too high.

If you start a smartphone graphic design business as a student, you might become self-reliant, self employed after graduation and need not look for non existent jobs after your NYSC. I will recommend you check out my post on how to make money as smartphone graphic designer in Nigeria, become successful and make millions monthly with just your smartphone.