Well – I’ve finally cut ties with Elance. I got kind of tired of paying monthly for something that was an afterthought and really not bringing in any sincere income. It’s not that it isn’t a good service, and there is certainly a place for it – but at this point in my career, I feel like my energies are best spent elsewhere.
Elance is a good place to find work, if you’re willing to work über-cheap. Being an American with 4 children and a wife to support, I can’t afford to give away logo design for $25 a pop. I’m a huge believer in ‘you get what you pay for’, and I think that Elance kind of bore that out. I would bid, get rejected, and have to move on to the next thing. And usually, the folks would go with the guy that has 45,000 “gigs” landed, and he’s made just slightly over $30,000 for those finished gigs. His stuff would be clipart, bad fonts, and strange effects.
That’s just not what I’m about, and I would wager that’s really just not what most freelance designers are about. Or, at least, not what they WANT to do.
So – I’m going to take that $20 a month, buy extra coffee, and work on polishing my illustration skills late into the night. I’m going to take that few hours a week I’d spend perusing the “want ads” on Elance and use it to further my business, cultivate leads and take care of the paying clients I already have.
I think it’s a better investment.
Now – for you, intrepid reader: Are you spending money and time trying to land semi-paying gigs? Would that time and money be better spent doing something – anything – better? Examine your workflow and billables and compare those to what your dream freelance business is.
Does it match? Are you just spinning wheels, wasting time? Are you generating a legitimate return on investment from Elance, iFreelance, Guru, Odesk, etc? Or – are you just wasting time – hoping that you’ll land a great gig?
Sure, those great gigs might be out there, hidden in the weeds, on job bid sites, but from my (and other designers’) experience, 95%+ of the gigs that are out there on those sites are there for one reason: PEOPLE WANT CHEAP. They don’t necessarily want great design, and they sure as hell don’t want to pay for a real professional. They just want cheap.
I don’t want to work cheap. I want to work, mind you – and if you NEED one of these job sites to keep afloat, I certainly understand. But – unless used judiciously, such sites and projects accomplish only cheapening your work, making your time less than valuable, and makes your work and your career less than it should be.
Ask yourself if the return is worth the investment, and if that return is really a “return.” It might not be.
The other issue is that you can become associated with the cheap guy. They clipart guy. Is that what you want to be known for? Cheap work? I’d doubt it. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’d say that most freelance designers, illustrators and creative types didn’t step out of the 40-hour-a-week world to pursue sub-par, cheap stuff.
I wanted to produce better design for EVERYONE. I didn’t want cheap. I don’t want cheap – and my clients don’t either.
So – examine where you’re at, whether these job sites are worth it – and possibly most importantly – is it the type of work you want?
I want bigger and better. I’d wager you do too.
So long, Elance, it’s been real…
Sort of.
sent to me by a good friend.
please watch it. if you’re a freelancer, you’ve been given a blank page.
make it a masterpiece…
i’ve been remiss in writing. i’m sorry. i’ll do better.
really.
Stumbled upon this gal’s photostream. From what I can gather, she’s a retired graphics and photography teacher somewhere in the Northwest US. Very cool stuff to see – a lot of “antique” design stuff. Amazing how good design stands up over time.
Check it out!
I’m a freelance graphic artist, and so many times, I find myself falling back into being freelance graphic production, or something else I don’t wanna be…
Now – that certainly beats the pants off being a freelance ditch digger or a full-time burger flipper. But damn it – that’s not why I started this gig. I wanted to spend my days doing things that don’t suck.
I’ve taken hiatuses before – from work, from t.v., from personal grooming – but this week, I’m taking a hiatus from doing work that sucks and that goes against what I want to do with my time. I’m worth more than that, and you are too.
I’m not saying that I’m the second coming of the design messiah – what I’m saying is that my time is better spent actually advancing my art and my career. I’ve done enough boring design work, enough production-level stuff in my life and I’m purposing myself to find more interesting, more fulfilling, more important work to fill my week.
If we all had our druthers, we’d be working on high design every moment of every business day. No more “Yeah, I can do that” type stuff that we know will pay the electric bill. No more stuff that we can bang out quick, make a buck or two.
So – I’m declaring a “No Suck” week.
I’ve got lots of projects and clients that need my attention – and I’m sure you do, too. Inevitably, we all wind up taking some projects that are beneath us or that just plain suck.
There are a few ways of looking at sucky projects:
- The work doesn’t really suck, our attitude towards it or our concepts suck. I’ve found that a lot of projects that I think suck don’t really suck – it’s just the way I’m looking at it. I want to be more of an illustrator and artiste – and the projects that to me suck the worst are the ones that don’t allow me to pick up paper and pencil. Truth is that I CAN pick up paper and pencil on damned near any project. So – I do. If you have a project that you’re certain blows – try looking at it from another perspective. Try to inject your perfect working scenario into it. Try to make that project into a dream project. You might take a little more time doing it than you originally expected, but heck – you might just have some fun, and you will probably end up with a killer end product. That never sucks.
- The project sucks. Just plain sucks. We’ve all had ‘em, and we’ve all actively pursued them. You can do some adjustment to suckitude with your approach and work ethic, but there are projects that just suck. Not much you can do about it other than avoid, turn down or return the project to the sender. That takes a lot of fortitude, especially if you’re in need of dough. But – how much is our integrity worth? How much is our sanity worth? Certainly a lot more that $15 an hour…
- “Thrill of the hunt” type projects. The “Hey – I landed 14 new projects today – and it’s not even noon!” type projects. Never mind that they’re designing lousy projects for lousy clients at a lousy rate of pay. WE LANDED ‘EM! Those usually really do suck, as you have a tendency to go outside what you’re comfortable with – either monetarily or scope-wise. RUN! RUN FAR AWAY! Quantity does not substitute for quality. Work-or-other-wise.
- Unethical projects. Don’t do them. Define your code and stick to it. If you’re ashamed of something you’re doing, you really shouldn’t be doing it. Thursday Bram wrote an excellent article on that here. I don’t need to say more…
- Projects that are beneath you. I’ve been doing the design thing for many, many years. I don’t need to take entry level junk projects. It only leads to frustration and distracts me (or you) from the ultimate goal, which is to grow a killer design career. Don’t do it. Times can be tough, but again – what’s your integrity and sanity worth?
So – how do you avoid these sucky projects? Test each project with this list before you take it:
- Does it have the room (in the budget or in the scope) for me to have some fun and inject my own work into it?
- Is it ethical?
- Is it something I can believe in?
- Does it pay enough? (Yes – this is a legitimate concern. You have to get paid properly for your time)
- Is the client a decent enough person?
- Will I want to put it in my portfolio once completed?
- Will it take too long to see completion?
- Does it help further my goals or my career?
If you can’t answer in the affirmative on each question, you’re running into the distinct possibility of suckitude. If you’ve already taken the project, you can still test it. If it doesn’t pass muster, give it back to the client if you haven’t wasted too much of their time.
If you can’t answer each question with a “Yes,” examine your motives for considering the project. If it’s still worth it, take the project. If, after all the questions and the examination, you still take the project – you have no reason to complain. It’ll either be a good project, or you just need to be quiet and do it…
Of course, there are projects that look sucky to begin with and turn out to be fun. Likewise, there are projects that sound great and wind up killing a good time. But – if you do your homework to begin with, you can usually expect a lot more and a have a better time.
Try it for a week. You might just have a great week. You might just turn out some great work. If nothing else, it’ll give you a little better understanding of what you do and why you do it.
Now, back to non-sucky work.
(Oh – and the image isn’t mine. It’s just one of the best record covers ever…)
A little outdated on the logo, but the work is fresh, and my wonderful wifey has been busy sewing shoes for wee little ones…
Check out lilygiggle.com to see/buy/drool more.
(yes, I am shameless about promoting my lovely beady b’s shoes)
One of my logos with “The Great One.” Not really an example of my best work, but heck – fame is fame. And if it happens to be associated with hockey – all the better!
If you’re like me, you get disks full of videos that folks want placed on websites – and they’re never in the right format.
Them: “You mean you can’t make those videos in RealVideo stream and look like a million bucks?”
Me: “Um, I, uh, well – no…”
Enter Zamzar. While it’s not perfect, it is free (again, my favorite price) and it’s easy to use, with pretty good results.
You simply browse to the files you want to convert (in my case, a lot of mp4′s that needed to be made into flv,) pull down a menu to what your end needs are, enter your email address, click convert and wait until they send you an email with the download links. Sweet.
They don’t accept every file type (although I have yet to find one they don’t) and the free version only allows 100mb per upload, but you can get a lot done with this little goodie. Plus, it’s free. Did I mention free? I like that!
There is a paid option, but I have yet to really need it.
It’s online and it does it’s thang in the background, which is good for multitasking.
Check it out at zamzar.com.
It’s back! FREE DOCUMENT FRIDAY! I know you’ve missed it…
Anyhoo – today’s installment, a lovely little PSD that gives you a little more muscle and protection against the dreaded “my cousin can knock that logo off for $3″ attack. It’s my standard proof sheet for logos, web designs, etc. It’s got plenty of disclaimers, and the “official” nature of the language should help discourage knock-offs. If you’ve never had it happen to you, you’re lucky. Keep working this job long enough, and I’m sure copyright infringement (or intellectual property theft) will rear it’s ugly head.
Simply place in your logo, the name of your business, and you’re ready to show off the roughs without getting roughed up.
Enjoy! Have a great weekend!
