What should be a portfolio for a person without freelancing experience?

Question

Freelance

There is a desire, time and energy to freelance in your free time. But I came across the fact that for many customers it is very important to have a portfolio and its content, which, by the way, is logical. I have been working on various CRM projects and closed business projects for 3 and a half years. There is a situation that I have nothing to add to the portfolio, although I am confident in my skills.
Has anyone experienced the same? What is the best way to submit information to convince the customer that I really can do something? Would it be better to invest in the portfolio itself (an abundance of animations, various funny features)? Or look for some cheap / free projects and fill your portfolio with them?

Answer 1

Show your experience on your profile. You write that in general you are too cool for freelancing, and so there was enough serious work, but you want to try something new. Well, or something else that will make it clear that you are not just another gold digger who has mastered a couple of programming courses.
If the current contract allows - a couple of screenshots of the projects in which you participated, preferably the most fancy ones. No one will look at them for more than 5 seconds anyway.
In the application, write competently and to the point - you need this, I know this, I can do it for so much time / money. Clarify some important details right away to show that you are really in the subject.
If you are a professional, then this will not be a problem.
Without those, "I'm a super expert on what you need and would be happy to make it look awesome, ready to go right now."
Take a couple of medium-sized projects for a maximum of a week in the evenings. You can even short ones - then you need to carefully evaluate the adequacy of the customer.
You get a couple of reviews and take something more serious.
To begin with, you will need to closely monitor the feed in order to catch normal projects. What are normal - your instinct should tell you, if "urgently yesterday a Google clone for $ 100" then this is of course not.

Answer 2

Yes, I run into it all the time. If you do not have links to work that can be indicated in the portfolio, you can insert a couple of screenshots and describe what and in what part you did

Answer 3

And what prevents you from writing that you worked on such and such projects

Answer 4

Portfolio project. Ask for feedback from the customer.