Freelance Tips | Freelance Advice | All About Freelance

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:

1. 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.
2. 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…
3. “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.
4. 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…
5. 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:

1. 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?
2. Is it ethical?
3. Is it something I can believe in?
4. Does it pay enough? (Yes – this is a legitimate concern. You have to get paid properly for your time)
5. Is the client a decent enough person?
6. Will I want to put it in my portfolio once completed?
7. Will it take too long to see completion?
8. 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…)

My wife and I sat down a while back and added up our bills, dreams and goals for our family – from a financial standpoint. We added up the figures, including EVERYTHING that goes out monthly – hosting expenses, gym fees, the kid’s classes, insurance, gasoline, coffee, shoes, etc – and came up with a total amount that I must grab monthly. Then, we tacked on what we’d like to have for savings and extra money. Then, we took that total, divided it by 20 days (the work days in every month), then divided that by my hourly rate.

The cool thing – I only need 4 hours a day to live comfortably, put money in the bank, and have extra each and every month.

4 hours.

240 minutes.

Listening to Dark Side of the Moon 5.1 times.

Watching Spinal Tap twice.

Not bad, huh?

The uncool thing – I need 4 hours a day that I can bill.

Doesn’t sound like much, but I’ve found it kind of difficult to truly bill out 4 hours a day at my full rate. I won’t tell you what I charge per hour, but I can tell you that I’m neither the most expensive guy, nor the least.

There are a number of things that kill my time – and things that I need to start charging for:

• Answering emails
• Answering the phone
• Sitting around and “ideaing” projects while not actually working on them physically
• Instant messaging
• Twittering
• Blogging
• Superfluous meetings
• Minor tinkerings
• Pulling stuff out of archives to send to clients (reprints or what-not)
• Piddling around*
• “Researching”*
• Playing video games*
• Watching movies*
• Organizing my iTunes library*
• Playing guitar*

*These are things I just need to eliminate during the work day. But – they help my sanity (or what’s left of it.)

Billable hours are the lifeblood of a freelancer, as well as the large agency. If you find yourself not making enough money, you need to examine a few things. They’re hard questions – but you MUST answer them in order to make your business liquid and profitable.

1. Am I charging enough?
2. Am I wasting too much time?
3. Am I giving my time away?
4. Where is my time going?
5. Am I genuinely productive in my work day?
6. Am I spending too much time doing stuff that I want to do and not enough time doing billable projects?
7. Am I BILLING enough of my day?

For me, it’s Yes, Yes, Sometimes, Too Many Places,  Sometimes Yes – Sometimes No, Yes and No.

What are your answers?

Figure out your time – figure out how much you need to bill out EVERY SINGLE DAY. I suspect that a lot of you are like me, and you have plenty of projects – but you don’t spend enough time daily on BILLABLE work. If you know how much you need to bill out every day, that gives you an easily viewable finish line every day.

If you come up short, consider restructuring your day to meet your hourly billable need.

Doing the math was a real eye-opener for me. It made me realize that I didn’t need to raise my rates or drum up bigger and more projects – it made me see that I need buckle down and get a certain amount done every day – from an hours standpoint. It made me examine where the roadblocks were, where my productivity was going, and what I needed to change in order to meet my nut.

The formula: MONTHLY EXPENSES/20/HOURLY RATE = Hours Per Day Needed.

Now – if I can just figure out how to double my rate and halve my time, I’ll finally have all the time I need in order to actually learn to play the entire Jesus Lizard catalog on my acoustic guitar…

I’ve never been one to be totally truthful. I veil the majority of what I do in a little bit of secrecy. Smoke and mirrors, man behind the curtain – all that crap.

Very few people know who I really am (I can count them all on one hand) and I prefer it that way. I’m guarded and I feel out-of-place in crowds. Heck, I feel out of place in small groups of my friends.

So, over the years, I’ve built this online persona to keep myself comfortable in the business, art and professional world. I suspect a lot of you have. Mine is “Independent Studios.” I portray a corporate place. A studio where people work. I’ve done a lot of work (most of it for very little money,) and I’ve done it under a thin anonymity. And honestly, it’s attracted a clientele and work load that I’m not precisely comfortable with.

I’ve done a good job of keeping my client base small, working with a bunch of really nice people and decent organizations – but I’ve done it at the cost of doing what I really love to do – which is draw and dream and be weird and be funny and kind of out there.

If any of my clients read this – I’m NOT TALKING ABOUT YOU. I LOVE YOU.

I like what I do, but at my advanced age (38) I’ve come to the realization that I’m ready to move more towards doing what I love. I’ll keep doing the graphics thing in the corporate world – but I’ll be doing it to support my other habits. Rapidographs, paper, gouache, pencils, paintbrushes.

When you put out a corporate face, or you put out a portfolio of things that you’re not really all that fond of doing, that’s precisely what you’re going to get for future work.

Don’t get me wrong – designing another logo is not the worst thing in the world. Designing another brochure isn’t going to kill me. There are certainly a LOT worse things to do with 9 hours of my waking day – but there are also better things to do.

So: Show what you love and what you want to do. If you want to do logos, show logos. If you want to doodle and make art out of lists you find in shopping carts (yes, that’s one of my current projects,) SHOW IT. Don’t just show what you know will make money.

If you’re in the freelance game to make money, you’re in for a long haul. If you do what you love, show what you love, you’ll attract what you love. You can pay the bills, you can find clients, but you’ll also start building towards your ultimate goal of doing strictly what it is you decide is your “art.” And that makes all the difference in the world.

When you’re broke and worried about the power bill, at least you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that you did it on your terms, doing what you want to do.

So – what do you want to attract? What sort of work do you want to do? What are you passionate about?

Start showing that off.

All this also brings up few interesting questions:

• How honest do you want to be? Are you secure enough in yourself to clue people into the fact that you are just you and this is what you do?
• How available personally do you want to be? I don’t mean how often are you on i.m. – I mean how much of YOU are you willing to let out there?
• What do you want to do with your time?
• What do you want to do with your art?
• Are you ready to suffer the slings and arrows that might be tossed at you because folks don’t understand or dig what it is that you do?
• Are you confident that you’re good enough? (Personally, I don’t think this is an issue. You’re good enough to be you and you’re good enough to do what YOU do – not necessarily what I do, what the dude with the killer website does, what the artist next door does – but what YOU do.)
• What do YOU want to do? What excites you? Don’t you think that if you pursue those, you’ll be happier and that excitement will rub off on your work and eventually on your pocketbook?
• Do you want to wear a suit and tie to meetings?
• Do you want to be yourself and less of a business?

I’m certainly not saying that you don’t need to be professional. I’m not saying that there’s not value, both artistically and personally, in doing less-than-esoteric work. What I’m saying is doing what you do will always bring greater satisfaction than doing what people expect, what is safe or what is a known quantity.

To that end, I’ve decided that I’m going to be more myself. I’m going to pursue more of what I want. Independent Studios and AllAboutFreelance will continue, but they’ll be changed markedly. I want to do more of the things I feel I’ve been placed on Earth to do. Some days, it will be logos, other days it will be endlessly weird stuff with bits of paper and string and glue and Xacto knives.

So – it’s been real. Nice to have known you all.

Hey, I’m James…

My grandfather (Grandaddy) passed away last Tuesday. He was 90 years old and sharp as a tack up until the day he wandered off to go home. I admired him for a number of reasons – he was in a tank under Patton in World War 2, he was a strong man who raised a passel of good kids that turned into great people, he was a musician, he liked to cook beans and cabbage, and he liked to tell stories and laugh and carry on.

But I think the thing that sticks with me more than anything, and the thing I admired the most was that he was thankful. Always thankful.

He didn’t have money – he retired from being a mill worker.

He didn’t have a lot of possessions. He lived with family for the better part of the last 15 years. He had photos and memories and little things. But not much.

He knew that what he had was much better than being rich or being famous. He had a family that cared for and loved him. He had his faith (I won’t get into that here, but that was the most important thing to him,) and he had the joy of waking up every day and being happy and full of life. Each day, each moment was a gift.

He certainly wasn’t perfect – but he had an understanding that each and every day was a gift. He lived that, and he showed that, and he professed that. If things weren’t perfect around him, you’d never know it to talk to him. Life was wonderful, and it was wonderful all the time.

I hope to find and live in that thankfulness. Some days, I do. Many days I find myself sluggish and unhappy and unsatisfied. That can be a fuel – but I hope to one day be able to fuel myself on thankfulness.

I’m thankful that I have a wife who loves me and puts up with my dreaming. I’m thankful for my 14 year old, video-game obsessed, wise-cracking and soft-hearted son. I’m thankful for my second boy, with his swords and bugs and books and giant imagination. I’m thankful for my daughter, and her backpacks full of stuffed animals and shoes and books and her little brown shoulders peeking out of her sundress. I have wonderful parents who bend over backwards for me, time and again. Great friends, great colleagues. Heck, I even have a terrific dog. The cat – well, she’s a cat – but I guess I’m thankful for her, too.

I’m thankful that I get to sit and draw and dream and design and tell stories through my art and my work.

I am thankful that I knew Grandaddy, or “Shug,” as he was known in his band.

Today, I will just be thankful.

Thanks, Shug. You’ll be missed…

I’m a father of 3, a husband of 1, master to one German Shepherd and servant to one cat. I run a business, tend a garden and I generally cook dinner 7 nights a week. I like to hike, I like to draw and I like to spend time drinking coffee on my deck, watching the world go by. I like to noodle on my guitars. I like to read magazines and books about sociology and World War 2. I lose track of all that from time to time.

We’ve got several computers (4, at last count) and many televisions (3, I think) a whole gang of cell phones, video games and electronic doo-dads. DVDs and little televisions for the minivan. iPods, headsets, Skype, Facebook, IM, blogs, radios, CD players, on and on and on…

Sometimes, I’ll find that the house is very quiet. I’m pecking away at a project, my wife is blogging, my son is texting, my other son is watching t.v., my daughter is listening to music and dancing around, waiting for her turn at the t.v. We’re all plugged in. We’re all in the same general vicinity, but we’re miles apart.

So, my wife and I decided that we’d try a little experiment. We’d unplug the family for 14 days. No TV. No computer. No videos or video games. Off the grid.

And you know what – it SUCKED. But it sucked for just a day.

I still had to work, so I had email and web stuff to do – but I didn’t blog, I didn’t Facebook, and I didn’t get to watch my beloved hockey or baseball or reruns of Seinfeld. I read. A LOT. I drew. A LOT. I hung out with the kids – a LOT. And suddenly, it became really, really cool. I found that I missed media, but it wasn’t a sharp pain – it was just a dull throb that got better every day.

The kids started reading and drawing more than usual. My oldest son (13) would actually hang out and we would laugh and carry on. We played board games and worked outside more. It was cool! I missed some good hockey games, I guess, and I didn’t keep up with the blogosphere, but I gained an awful lot:

• More time to think
• More time to draw
• More time to dream and scheme
• More time with the kids
• An acute understanding of just how much time we wasted on electronic gadgetry
• A renewed knowledge of how much I hate television commercials
• More and better sleep
• A reconnection with things that don’t have mice, plugs and full-color screens
• A renewed knowledge of precisely why I work the way I work – my family. My freedom. My art.

We’re through with our 14 days, and we’ve corporately decided that we’re still going to do some things differently. 3 days a week, we’re going to do a 24 hour media fast. And we’re all actually EXCITED about doing that.

We started this solely as a family thing – but it’s turned into something that I think will have lasting effects.

It’s also something you might want to try. As I wrote before, there’s a lot of noise. And it can be totally silent – but there’s just so much going on…

Try unplugging the electronics and reconnecting with your thoughts. If you have a family, hang out with them a bit. If you’re a loner, unplug and get back to your roots. You might not be as “productive” in the traditional sense – but you’ll kick-start your brain.

For most of us, that’s a good thing. For me, kick-starting my brain is akin to starting an old Harley with no gasoline and a thousand pounds of rust. But – it feels good to get it going…

Well, Charter Communications comes through again…

Just when I am humming along, having a nice life and getting a lot done, Charter decides that it’s in my best interest to hose my internet connection and make things – um – interesting.

May 12, they told me. Just 8 days away! Sweet! I can take some time off, tend the garden a little, catch up on my reading and sleeping, hang out with the kids and wife – you know, all the little things I don’t get to do as much as I’d like.

Nevermind that I had deadlines, people depending on me and blog posts to write. Nevermind that I need to make money. I should just RELAX.

It came back on, no thanks to Charter. At least it came back on. While I was sitting in a café, feverishly typing away on an Ipod touch, it occurred to me – I need a better backup plan.

I’m not a laptop guy. I’m a desktop guy. I like to get in and swap out drives and blow out dust and add RAM and play around with the guts of my machine. I also like lots of big monitors and since I don’t leave the office all that much, I buy desktops. SO – not having a laptop, I have to figure out what to do when things go South, office-wise.

Thankfully, I have other colleagues that I can lean on when my connection goes kaput, when the electricity is out or when ice storms hose everything and squirrels chew through the cable – and this kind of thing happens at least a few times a year.

So – I ask you – what’s your backup plan? Where do you go when you’re out?

The moral of this story – make a plan. BEFORE something bad happens. And make a couple of plans…

• Do you have some way to get work done when the bad strikes?
• Do you have a way to communicate when it goes down (Skype – not an answer!)
• Do you have a place to work when your place is out of the question?
• Do you have a back up to the backup?
• Do you backup your info?
• Do you have an ANALOG contact list?
• Do you have the ability to live on Pork n’ Beans?
• Do you have a back up machine to work on in case your main unit goes down?

Backing up your data is smart and important – but backing up the ability to work is crucial. If you go down, how far down do you go?

I’ve gone on and on about why I’m a freelancer. The freedom, the creativity, the hunt, the kill, the good coffee, the ability to avoid razors for weeks on end, the shoes-optional office, etc. But – at the bottom of it all, I’m a freelancer because it’s the best way to serve my family, see them often and have the freedom to hang out around the house and pester everyone. The flexibility helps the family run smoothly.

So – I have come to rely on the way my family runs. We’ve got a bit of a double-whammy in that we also homeschool. 3 kids. We homeschool 3 kids. THREE. We have three kids that we are responsible for teaching. Every day. 3. THREE. III. (Sorry – I just had to say it a bunch of times, just to be able to wrap my brain around it. That, and for comedic effect.) And admittedly, my wife takes responsibility for 99.9% of all of it. And she keeps the house clean and the kids, well – somewhat clean. She’s awesome. And – she does it for FREE.

Sunday night, she started feeling horribly ill. Fever, aches, chills – flu. (and NO – NOT SWINE FLU.) She passed out early, but it was after the kids were situated for the night, so my load was minimal. I got to watch a hockey game in complete silence. Sweet.

Monday comes and she’s worse. She starts the day off normally, but midway through the morning, she essentially collapses. In bed – out. The kids were a mess, the house was a mess, I was a mess, and I had to WORK. “You can’t be sick – I’m Working.”

But thanks to the wonders of freelance, I was able to knock off a bit early, clean some stuff up, shuttle the kids around and even hit the grocery store. We went out for pizza, blew some bubbles and made it to bed on time. A good night – for everyone! My wife got to sleep and relax, and I got to hang out with the kids. A little work late at night when everyone was passed out, and I toddled off to bed.

Today, she’s feeling a bit better, so I get to do a little blogging and a little work. I’m still helping out, but it’s incredible how much my wife at 50% gets done compared to me at 100%.

And it made me think 2 things:

1. How absolutely incredible and beautiful and cool freelancing is. I get to do what I love, on my terms (for the most part,) when I want to and where I want to. And – when I need a half a day off, I get it. I think a lot of us take for granted the gift we’ve been given by being able to freelance. It’s pretty stressful, and you certainly can’t loaf around like some folks think – but it’s pretty awesome. Can’t think of a better way to make a living. If you’re making a good living, it’s downright wonderful. And if you’re just starting out and struggling – look at what you’re struggling for. It’s worth starving, struggling and working for…
2. My wife kicks ass, and if she gets sick too much, I’m BONED!

Get better, B – we need you!

I’m a reasonably calm person. I would say that I’m laid back and mellow. Sometimes, probably a little too laid back.

But – on occasion, I FREAK OUT.

It’s not a terribly common occurrence, thankfully. But, when I do, it’s for a reason.

Recently, I freaked out on a client who is using me as a subcontractor. I fussed and complained and whined. I felt that I was being treated unfairly (mostly by the end client, but that’s another story,) and I let the contractor know about it in no uncertain words.

When I calmed down and the vein in my forehead went back to it’s normal shape and color, it occurred to me: Freaking out is not a bad thing. It’s not a good thing, either. But freaking out BIG can be avoided by freaking out LITTLE to start with.

I had felt that I was being taken advantage of for a while – and instead of just speaking up to begin with, I waited too long and blew up. So – the advice in this column: small, preemptive freakouts.

At the first sign of trouble – say something. You don’t have to freak out, and it can be civil. I’ve found that most clients understand, and that they’re willing to work with you, especially if you’ve displayed a good value for their investment. Pick up the phone, shoot an email, fire off an I.M. – but say something. Let them know that there’s a problem. If it’s billing, work hours, expectations, poor communications, etc., SAY SO. Don’t let it fester into a giant meltdown, kicking-and-screaming, knockdown-drag-out fist fight. Cut it off at the pass.

This will do a few things:

1st, it will let the client know that you’re paying attention. Not just to their project, but to your business and their business. It’ll buy you some credibility and show that you care.

2nd, it will keep the client’s understanding of you in line. They’ll see that you’re not going to be taken advantage of, and they’ll either respect that (90% of them, anyway) or it will at the very least weed out the clients that are just there to take advantage of you (and you don’t want that kind of client anyway.)

3rd, it will show that you’re not a one-client firm. Once they see that they’re not the only client you have, it will buy you some time and space. More space = better work, less stress.

4th, it will keep client expectations in line. They’ll better understand what to expect, when to expect it, and how much to pay for it. They’ll feel better – and you’ll certainly do better.

If client expectations are managed properly, you’ll be able to build a better long-term working relationship, maintain your sanity, and do better work. Plus, it’ll keep you from needing to freak out.

Although freaking out can be kind of fun…

And do graphic designers dream of pixels and paper and pens when they finally hit the sheets?

If you answered yes (I did,) it might be time to back away from the unblinking electronic eye and pay a little bit of attention to your sleep.

Sleep is important – and we all know that, but the quality of that sleep is important, too. If you’re tossing and turning, waking up repeatedly or waking up tired, there’s a good chance that healthy sleep is eluding you. Lots of stuff can do that – caffeine, too much work, stress, the inability to wind down, kids, etc.

One of the things I’ve found for myself is that I have a tendency to hit the sack too soon after turning the Mac off. The kids are in bed, the wife has turned in, and I decide to get a little bit of work done. I hit shut down and immediately crawl in bed, close my eyes and drift off…

Studies show that doing that is really a bad idea. You need to give yourself AT LEAST 30 minutes of non-pixel, non-electronic time before you go to bed. Read a book, doodle in a sketchbook, take a shower, meditate, pray – whatever you can do to get unplugged.

Another one (and this is rough for a total caffeine fiend like me) is to not have caffeinated beverages at least 4 hours before bedtime. It makes you jittery, disrupts your sleep patterns and results in the need for even more caffeine in the morning.

Better sleep will make you more productive, more creative and possibly even a little less crabby. Sleep well, live well, work well…

*All About Freelance is in no way related to Ridley Scott or Bladerunner – although it is a killer movie.