Used to ignore online portfolios, now I check them first

I always thought past work samples were just fluff, so I'd skip them and go straight to the intro call. Then last month a designer in Austin sent me a portfolio link with a case study about a HVAC booking app, and it showed exactly how they solved a problem I'm facing. That one 15 minute review told me more than our whole 40 minute chat did. Has anyone else started filtering freelancers by their portfolio instead of their pitch?

2 comments

2 Comments

piper_kim1mo ago

honestly same here, i used to think portfolios were just people showing off pretty pictures. then i got burned twice by folks who talked a big game in the pitch but couldnt deliver on the actual work. now i flip to their case studies before i even reply to their intro message. its like reading the recipe before you order the meal, you know? way better sense of how they think and if theyve dealt with real messy problems before. feels way more honest than a smooth pitch.

the_wendy1mo ago

My neighbor got ghosted after two great intro calls with someone who promised the moon. Then she found the guy's portfolio had one project and it was a template site he clearly copied. Now she won't even book a call without seeing real work first. Lesson learned the hard way I guess.