9 years of design. Here's where things stand.

Discovery score is now 141, up from 122 last time I posted. Still top 5% of creatives.

What's actually moved the needle: proposals. Not profile tweaks, not tags, not waiting to be discovered. I checked my traffic breakdown recently and only 3% of my portfolio views come from Contra's discovery. The rest is direct, mostly people clicking through from proposals I sent, and search.

So if your profile is complete and nothing's happening, the profile probably isn't the problem. The volume is.

The other thing I've learned this round: the proposal that gets a reply usually isn't the one listing credentials. It's the one that names a real risk in the client's project before they've thought of it. Clients get twenty messages saying "9 years experience, I'd love to help." They remember the one that said "your subscription app is going to fight your theme."

What I do: one-person studio. Brand identity, packaging with production-ready files and 3D mockups, and full website builds, handled end to end so nothing gets lost between design and execution.

Happy to give back here. If you're working on your Contra profile and want a second pair of eyes on case studies, services, or positioning, send it over and I'll help however I can.