Freelancing is a lifestyle. It involves a lot of personal legwork that would otherwise be done by the company you're employed with. Going solo is a challenge as you have no choice but to do all the work in order to succeed. And depending on what your goal is, that freedom can be more valuable than the money you make.
In my pursuit for more work, I've taken up additional resources in the form of creative agencies. These are companies that do the heavy lifting to find clients that are in need of my talents. When I signed up, I told them I was only interested in freelance or short-term contract work. Recently, one of the agents I work with contacted me with a job she thought I would be perfect for. She sent me the description and it was everything I was capable of doing. The catch: it was a full-time, permanent position. You know, a normal 9-5 job. She told me to look it over and take some time to think about it. But I already knew my answer was no. It's not that I couldn't do with the extra money, it was the sacrifices I would have to make for it. And I couldn't do that.
I might sound stuck-up for turning down a job that many people would be happy, if not grateful, to have. I used to have that mindset not too long ago. What changed for me was after years of being in that environment, I knew I wasn't suited for it. I did everything I was expected to do and I felt empty inside. The offices I worked in was sterile and the work itself was no better. My last full-time office job was terribly mundane. I only used a tiny fraction of my creative abilities and I wanted more. They didn't have more for me, or they had enough designers already, or they might have more in a year. I didn't want to wait for job satisfaction to come to me, so I went to it. I turned in my 30 day notice, took the plunge into full-time freelancing, and never looked back. I do miss the paychecks but money seemed less important than my happiness. It took many years for me to accept that fact about myself, but I felt free once I did.
What I wanted from my career was something I had more control of. I wanted to have the opportunity to doodle in a cafe in the middle of a weekday afternoon. I wanted to pick the projects, and the people, I worked on rather than be assigned to them. I wanted the chance to take the dog for a walk when I needed some time away. I wanted the freedom that only a freelance career could give. There may be a creative agency or company that allows their employees to bring their dogs to work and move their laptop to wherever they want. Maybe I haven't found the one for me yet. Maybe I never will. Should I spend everyday searching for the elusive dream job? Who says that happiness only comes from working for someone else? Only I can decide what works best for me.
This lifestyle isn't for everyone. I'm still waiting to hear from one person telling me how foolish I am for leaving a secure job. Perhaps I'll have to go back to an office someday and all this would have been for naught. Thankfully, I've never actually met that person since going solo. I hear more breaths of awe and support from people I meet. This lifestyle isn't easy, but I couldn't be more happy.
It's finally June! That means school is out and the weather turns hot and humid within a matter of minutes. Kids can take a break from classes and turn off their brains for a few short weeks. How I miss those days when summer break was all I ever wanted after the last holiday break. Sadly those days are gone and I now find myself in the classroom more than ever before.
Freelancing means much more than working your own hours, in any location you'd like, and wearing your bath robe till noon while you work. It also means constantly learning. Non-stop learning. As much as you can get, any chance you get, you must always find new things to learn. With a more flexible schedule, I finally have a chance to attend all those meet-ups, learning lunches, seminars, visiting experts, and other events that will enrich my career.
Just this morning my local AIGA chapter posted an event for beginning freelancing. Of course I'm going to go! Even though I've been doing this for a while now I have still so many things I could learn from people who have been at it longer. Freelancing has made me more humble. The creative community is pretty tight and a bad reputation can get around quickly. It's better to be humble among your peers than a pompous ass that no one wants to work with or help out. I know I don't know everything and I could always use more advice. It's not so much a step backwards but a chance to see another perspective. An opportunity to see how others have approached the same thing I have and what their successes and failures were.
So even after twelve years of grade school and a total of seven years of college, I'm running back into a classroom mentality. Willingly. In high school I never wanted to go back to any type of school environment. Then college happened... twice. I was in my late 20's when I was done will all the schooling I could afford and realized I knew nothing. Experience is a great teacher too but it isn't always enough. Networking events and seminars given by others in the field are now my new classrooms. And I'm glad to get back to it.
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Freelancers are the adrenaline junkies of the working world. They constantly have to put themselves out into the eye of their potential clients, pitch what they do in a memorable and efficient way, and then hope someone will hire them. It's the same jump each time but no promise the parachute will open before they hit the bottom. The big difference is, the risk of death isn't present for the freelancer when they jump. Regardless of that fact, everything freelancers do carries a huge risk.
Every project you work on, every character and image on your Twitter or Facebook account, everything you do both online and offline will be judged. Some days, it's very difficult to hold back bad-mouthing a client that drove you up a wall. But you have to watch your step everywhere. Once you post it online, it's there forever. Even if you delete it, it's on a server somewhere. Google can find it, trust me. Everything you do carries a risk. And that's a lot of pressure to put on someone who now wears all the hats of their career. It is both terrifying and exciting at the same time.
I recently completed several small projects this past month. With those clients, I have the possibility of additional work later down the line, but I can't rely on that currently. I need to put myself out there and look for more work. What does that entail? Cold calls, or in the current era cold emails. Sending an unsolicited email can seem just as invasive as walking into someone's place of business and pitching your services like an old fashioned door-to-door sales rep. The big mystery is who ends up reading your email. If you send a message through a company's website, it could be read by the office intern or even the CEO, depending on the size of the company. It might never get to whom it needs to be sent to. The entire process is a huge risk and you might never get a response. But nothing will happen if you fail to try in the first place.
Another route for cold emails is doing some research and trying to target your email to a specific person. For my line of work, I target an Art Director or a Creative Director. Some companies have multiple directors, so there's a risk my email is going to the lowest one on the power totem pole. Which might not be a bad thing. They may see my work and forward my message to the person whom makes the big decisions. But if they are busy or simply forget, then I hit another dead end. It's not a fun way to go but emails are free, unlike other options.
I've never been a fan of junk mail. Like actual post office style mail. But if you want to get your name out there, it might be a good way to go. Granted, it's a more expensive route but you can make a longer lasting impression. Several years ago, I made a short story book and sent out limited copies of it in hand made paper boxes. The story was about my socks and as an added feature, I included a single sock with the book. I only yielded two emails from the list of twenty or so recipients, and even those didn't lead to any new work. It was costly and a labor of love, and in the end didn't get me anything. The process made me much wiser though. Eventually, I forgot about it.
A few years later after I sent out my mailer, I was hanging out with a college friend at a new dive bar. There was a gentleman sitting next the wall near us who had probably had one too many. He decided to join the conversation, which we were cool with. He and I started chatting and I told him I was a designer. One thing I loved to do was tell stories and I told him about my sock story. His eyes lit up and he said that HE was one of the people I sent my mailer to. He happened to be the, soon to be ex, executive creative director of a huge agency in town. He told me that he would bring MY book into creative meetings and brainstorming sessions as an example of how to engage your audience. It was a glorious moment for me that I almost started crying. I was able to keep my composure, thankfully, and we exchanged business cards. Even though he still hasn't responded to my emails I sent just one week after our chance encounter, that evening gave me hope.
The wise words of Yoda ring true for freelancers. If you don't put forth the effort to be known for your craft, no one will know you exist. That involves putting your neck out there, repeatedly, and hoping someone will hire you for what you love to do. The courage, or insanity, to keep doing it is the real challenge. Much like putting your head into the guillotine willingly and hoping your words resonate with someone in the audience that you're worth it. And even if you lose your head, there's always tomorrow to put your neck out and try again. It's all about risks.
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Happy 2015!
Not only is today New Year's Day, it is also the seventh anniversary of FireMane Studio! Yes, this little dog & pony show has been around since 2008. Time certainly flies by, but it hasn't been the smoothest path. Of course, if it wasn't rough I would think I was doing something wrong.
A few years back, while I was still working for someone else, I received an email from a design student and he asked me how I got into freelancing. It took me a while to think of my real reasons why. It was actually by accident. I was working a typical office job and did a few projects for people on the side. I wasn't making a lot of money, but there was something about making different work all the time that really appealed to my creative side. The thrill of a deadline, the challenge of being the only creative working on it, taking the information provided to me and translating it into a product that the customer could use; I felt a surge of electricity while I worked! I hadn't felt that exhilaration since art college when I was making illustrations. But the upside to the new work was I was getting paid for it. So after a few years of freelancing on the side, I decided to make it an official source of income and not just a hobby.
After that point in time, I tried to find more create jobs to satisfy my urge to design when freelancing clients were thin. I worked with placement agencies and found jobs on my own. It was by no means simple or easy. A lot of writing emails to job postings (over 50 in one week with 0 replies), cold call emails, spending money on self-promotional items to mail out to potential clients; it was more work than actual design work was in an office. I went back to college for additional training in graphic design and made even more contacts. It has been a slow climb establishing myself as a freelancer and aiming to be taken seriously as a designer.
I only took the plunge in November of 2014 and quit my office job to go into freelancing full-time. And oddly enough, it was an easy choice. Sure, the decision of quitting a job I felt creatively stunted in was easy, but actually doing it when I did took myself by surprise. I had reached a point where I just couldn't push myself through the work I was doing anymore. Almost without thinking of long term consequences, like the money downturn and the stress that would come because of that, I put in my 30 day notice. And that was that. Almost as if I wasn't in control of myself. I had shut down mentally and was just going through the motions and I couldn't do it anymore. I fulfilled my duties and left on good terms with the team I had been with for over a year and a half. I had tried to extend the job a little longer with some time and money changes, but in the end it didn't pan out the way I wanted. So I left. It's only been about a month and a half, but it was THE best decision I could have made for myself.
There was some backlash, but that's to be expected. My parents are non-stop supportive but are used to the mindset of working 40 hours a week and making steady money. They have never owned their own business or had that entrepreneurial spirit. I take their concerns to heart but know that I have to do this. Only a few jobs in my long work history are ones that I would jump at to do again (like 2 at most). The rest were stifling to my creative side. Even when I was doing something "creative," it wore down my enthusiasm for it when the subject never changed. There are only so many ways you can make car parts, party supplies, or outdoor furniture interesting.
Freelancing is not for everyone, but that's OK. This is a long term commitment and I would only recommend it to someone who understands just how challenging it will be. Eight years in, I'm still learning all I can as not only a designer but as a business owner. The journey won't get easier, I'll just be more prepared for it than before.
Here's to another year of design driven by passion! Happy 2015!
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I want to chat about something that is still something of a hands-off topic and causes a little bit of discomfort. The issue of money. The thing we work years of our lives for in order to get by in the world. I don't want to delve into the social complexities of what money means to individuals or what it represents, let's just keep this to the very basics in regards to freelancers.
While most clients have their own office jobs with steady income, freelancers do not have this luxury. In fact, there is so little security in working for yourself in any field that it can be quite stressful. Speaking only from the viewpoint of a graphic designer, I have to remember that most of the people I work for aren't creative in the same way as I am. Hence the reason they approach me and/or hire me in the first place. But in our modern world of bargain shopping and price matching, clients might forget that when working with a freelancer they are only working with one person (for the most part). There is little overhead and the rate a freelancer sets is based on several important factors: education, experience, and expertise.
When a freelancer gives you a quote for a job, there are so many hidden factors involved beyond the three big E's. You only see the sticker price and wince at how many zeros are on that number. But the end result is aimed to bring you and/or your company more money after its implementation. While that's another discussion altogether, freelancers that know their stuff don't price things lightly (at least I don't). Websites that offer cheap and quick logos are often created by a team of designers that get paid only if their design is chosen. Or they receive a bonus and are still paid a phenomenally low rate. And offering "free exposure" in exchange for work is a down right insult to established designers. Please don't do that. No really, don't do that.
I hate to have to say this, but I don't haggle my prices very often. I don't have a featured item menu for people to look over and pick the package they want for the job they need. That, in a word, is asinine. Would you consider your project to fit into a nice and neat little category where it's easily defined and sorted? No, of course not. Your needs are very specific and you want (and deserve) is to be treated as an individual. While your project might be similar to others, your end results will be worlds apart from any other client's. I prefer to work one-on-one with new clients, get a deeper understanding of their company, their current issues, their current and future needs. That way everything I create will benefit only you and your project.
Don't expect people to work for free or for favors. Freelancers work for themselves for many reasons, but like everyone else, they have bills to pay. It is 100% certain that the people they owe money to won't be so understanding when the freelancer tells them they worked for exposure or for favors. While I personally would love to help out people by doing work for free, I cannot. Period. I might take on a job at a negotiated rate to fit a budget, but not always. If the current work is paying well (and on time) I might do someone a quick job for free. But that is a rare occurrence.
To wrap this little tangent up, please don't expect people to work for free. Especially if you want an amazing product as the end result. If you spend a little bit more to do it right the first time, you won't spend a ton more to fix it later.
Trust me. I'm an expert.
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