I am a Graphic/Web Designer. I want some advice on how to get new clients. What is the best contact method and How do I find someone that I can work with (Partner) to develop the designs I create? I have 8 years experience and rarely get work.
You should visit places like 99designs.com or similar (there are tons, really) and see what other people are doing and what the trends are.
If you’re good, you’ll get exposure and even if you don’t win a contest, someone may like your style and contact you.
You could also target the business around your area and make a small flier (that you can either print at your own home with your own printer or use a cheap online printing service) with an offer they can’t resist: “I’ll design a flier like this for X USD or GBP or whatever”
Definately, you should yur own business card and carry with you everywhere… you never know where you can hand it and who you may give it too. And you need to spread the word around.
And network, network, network both online and offline. You can use places like linkedin.com, quora.com, stackoverflow.com to answer the questions of people that know less than yourself.
And, of course, you can think out of the box and do something like a live session of question and answers (be it online or offline) to a targeted group (it could be neighbours or more business like people). The thing is that they will comment on that with someone else and your name will be around. And if they like what they see, they may recommend you.
You can also contact advertising agencies and offer them your services. Many of them use freelancers.
Edit: To find a partner(s) (you may need more than one), visit flippa.com and advertise it, or craiglist.com or even in the local newspaper. Or be more proactive, find a coder(s) that are good and ask them what would they charge for coding your designs