Assalaamu Alaikum everyone, I hope you’re all doing well. I wanted to share some good news that I hope will motivate others, Inshallah. A little background about me: I was working as a Senior UX/UI Designer for a large corporate company, but earlier this year I was unexpectedly made redundant. As tough as that moment was, I can now say Alhamdulillah, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. After months of applying for jobs with no success, I came across this freelance course. I set myself a strict deadline to complete the videos and projects. Honestly, that was the easy part. (So if you’re at that stage, my advice is: just get through it as quickly as you can.) The real challenge came afterwards: finding clients. I applied for jobs on LinkedIn and Indeed, sent personalised messages to people looking for UX/UI or web designers, and joined several Slack and Discord communities dedicated to Muslims in tech. Along the way, I faced countless rejections, ignored applications, and calls that went nowhere. But Alhamdulillah, after months of persistence, I’ve just secured my very first freelance client for a short-term project! If you’re at a stage where you feel like giving up, please know I was in the exact same place. Don’t stop. Keep making dua, believe in your skills, and keep the reason why you chose this path at the forefront of your mind. That intention makes it so much easier to push through rejection after rejection. Think outside the box, opportunities aren’t only on LinkedIn or Indeed. Platforms like Slack and Discord can also connect you with amazing clients. Even beyond that, be open to creative ways of putting yourself out there, you never know where the next opportunity might come from. Another thing that helped me was shifting my focus. Instead of counting how many applications I sent or rejections I received, I just kept going without worrying about the numbers. Eventually, I even forgot about some of the places I had applied to months later, out of nowhere, potential clients started reaching out to me. Most of those didn’t lead anywhere, but Alhamdulillah, one did and that’s how I landed my first client.

Following on from Shuaybs call today i built this landing page on canva https://ardenlee1234.my.canva.site/bheuti for a local business whos original site looks like this: https://bhueti.com/ thinking to reach out to the business with this new and improved version.

Will you be joining us? Im dropping the sauce on sales and landing your first client with 3-4 weeks of experience at a digital skills! (only for those on The 6 Figure Freelancer)

After a bit of a hiatus, I'm returning the weekly workshops for the 6-week Freelancer program! I'm starting with this Saturday helping those who have joined the program last three months with a weekly workshop about sales: how to approach clients and how to close deals. This will also be a good chance for you to join as a Q&A and show me your projects you've been working on. If you haven't done at least two to three modules of the program, I wouldn't suggest you join us. It's a bit more advanced. The details are on the calendar. It's 4 pm UK time. See you guys on Saturday!

If so, which one would you recommend for building a personal portfolio? I’ve been experimenting with both. Right now, I have a UX/UI portfolio on Framer, but I’m considering whether it would be better to switch to Webflow. I’m just starting out, so I’d like the flexibility to build more practice websites while keeping monthly costs low, especially since I don’t have any clients yet. Would love to hear your thoughts!