>had a steady stream of freelance work inquiries for the last 10 years
>4-5 inquiries a week, 4-5 of which got converted to clients per month
>this February/March they just fucking disappeared forever
>I'm not talking about a drop I'm talking about a permanent stop, zero inquiries total in the last 3 months

Any other freelancers have a similar experience? I'm not seeing anyone else complain about a drop in jobs but I don't see what could be affecting only me

You're just hearing about it now? Use your saved up money and learn a blue color trade. Designers won't be missed.

>>460402
If that were the case I'd expect a slow dropoff over time in the last 2 years as AI began picking up steam publicly, not a binary off switch after a steady 10 year trend

>>460401 (OP)
Post some work, also you are the one who is supposed to be cold emailing and calling people or just using chatgpt for lead generation in your niche, I have more work than ever and I have to reject people every week, on top of that thanks to ai you can speed up your production, for example I run 4 brands on instagram, 3 youtube channels and I'm making a few more.
>>460402
lol 2030? article author seems clueless https://x.com/craighale_/status/1754835729182527639

>>460404
>also you are the one who is supposed to be cold emailing and calling people
I spent two years cold contacting potential clients, alongside passively advertising my services, cold contacting resulted in ZERO projects or responses ay all after ~200 inquiries, while passive advertising resulted in what I described in the OP, who were high quality clients most of the time at that, which led me to believe letting the clients come to you is the superior option of getting work

>>460405
>~200 inquiries
That's pretty low nowdays I've seen people sending thousands of job applications per month or even in a week using ai, you can also automate lead generation using stuff like n8n, i lost the video but I copied a method using chatgpt to basically get a list of say flower business in your area then chatgpt scrapes their email addresses and makes variations of emails to target them individually, it works great if you also offer website design and have stats on sales.

>>460407
This was 10 years ago when AI automation was nowhere near as advanced, and I mostly targeted businesses who were actually looking for design work in my wheelhouse and style, with genuine custom messages, the consistent failure of which was enough for me to write off the concept as a whole

If I'm going to have to change my process that dramatically just to get back to the standard, I'll rather just switch to another field that's not as volatile

>>460405
>passive advertising
Where did you posted?

>>460409
Instagram

>>460405
>cold contacting resulted in ZERO projects or responses at all after ~200 inquiries

This illustrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the value of advertising that ironically also accounts for a lot of situations where businesses cut out advertising spending because it didn't get exactly the results they *wanted* exactly when they wanted it ...

The value of unsolicited direct contacts can't really be determined solely on how many people sign up at the moment of contact- if that happens, great- but it's an ongoing process that isn't just a simple numbers game or a magic spell you just need to figure out and then profit.

Advertising successfully requires long haul dedication and exploiting any and all value the contact creates even if it takes time to see it- that could be improved market visibility, referrals, people whose needs are currently met being more willing to fire their current designer if he drops the ball a year from now because they have an attractive alternative in you...

Ignoring that potential just because your marketing didn't pay off immediately as revenue is short sighted and one of the most common mistakes people in business make...it's only a waste of time/money if you throw away that deeper potential by getting mad and quitting early.

If you did a direct mail marketing appeal for a client and they complained the same way you wouldn't just say "you're right, it won't help so let's give up"...

It's sales; if it's not working sell better.

>>460413
NTA but not even warm calling works anymore. I've measured it by placing trackers on all links. Guess what, I barely got a few clicks. I'm too tired of it all. And before someone questions my quality, it's not it. I'm absolutely certain of it after looking at what trash portfolios others have.