Freelance Tips | Freelance Advice | All About Freelance

So, there I was, sitting in one of my favorite coffee shop/grocery stores, eating my date rolls and bananas, listening to The Jesus Lizard and drinking coffee. I thought to myself “Self, it’s a pretty typical Wednesday.” The location may change, but the modus operandi is pretty consistent. A few phone calls, some doodling, a bunch of work and a bunch of daydreaming. Daydreaming can get me into trouble, but as I mentioned earlier – it has to be done, and by God – I’m going to give it my all.

As I sat there basking in the glow of my wonderful little freelance life, I looked out the window for an hour or three – I don’t remember – and I found myself to be yearning to be set free from the shackles of my desk (booth.) And oddly, I was shackled there. Granted, the view was great, the coffee was pretty good and I didn’t have anyone telling me I HAD to sit there. I could pack up my Moleskines and my mouse and laptop and stand up and go somewhere else (another coffee shop, home, etc.,) but I also have these clients that expect me to actually get their work done. In the words of Cheech “Responsibility’s a heavy responsibility.”

But there’s a freedom that can’t be ignored. If I wanted to get up and spend a couple of hours out in the beautiful mountain air – I can. That’s terrific. But I also know that with that freedom comes a big responsibility. It’s not even that I have to answer to clients – I have to answer to myself. I have to end the day knowing that I put in a good effort. If I go to sleep knowing that I’ve not done a square day’s work, I have a hard time looking at myself. My cubicle isn’t in an office somewhere. My boss doesn’t have to come out and holler at me. My cubicle, my boss – all that yelling, is in my head. And it goes on 24/7.

The person with the “job” gets to shut it down at 5 and leave. It’s finite. The freelancer is a freelancer all day every day. It never rests – and that can be a serious shackle. You have to find ways to shut it down and regain a bit of life outside your freelance “job.”

And so – I give to you 10 ways to shut it down and escape the office. These are really some serious perks – but you have to be serious about taking them. Your down time is important for your sanity. Leave your “cubicle” and enjoy these:

The Top 100 Perks of Freelancing 51-60:

#60 – Kongregate.com – Shut off the email, turn off the phone and spend 10 minutes playing absurd games. Zombies, castles, guns, towers – you name it, they’ve got a game for it. Let’s see you play Abobo’s Big Adventure while you’re workin’ for the man.

#59 – Nature – it’s all around us, yet it can be ignored. I happen to live and work in one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I’ll bet you do, too. Get out and stretch your legs, get some fresh air. It’s the ultimate in analog.

#58 – Take Your Shoes Off and Wiggle Your Toes – Sounds crazy, but give it a try. Take your shoes off and stretch your feet out and wiggle your toes. Get some blood circulating in your feet. You’d be surprised how invigorating that can be. You don’t have a cube buddy to complain about the smell. Just don’t do it in a coffee shop or restaurant. Or, at least don’t get caught doing it.

#57 – Change Your Shirt – tired? Stymied on a project? Hop up (if you’re at home) and change your shirt. Again, sounds weird – but a fresh shirt feels great, smells great and can kick-start your brain. The idea is to break the routine, take a few minutes off and “reboot.”

#56 – 3 Day Weekend – Oh, yes. You know what I’m talking about. If you can do this – do it. Take 3 whole days and don’t work. On anything. It really clears the brain, and you’d be surprised how many great ideas you can have when you’re not pressing yourself for ideas.

#55 – 4 Day Weekend – Really. If 3 is awesome, 4 is awesomer.

#54 – Tense Up Every Muscle in Your Body – take 2 minutes. Spend 10 seconds tensing every muscle, then 10 seconds relaxing every muscle. This gets the blood flowing and can relieve a lot of tension, which can help the ideas and the motivation flow. You can’t really do this in the traditional office setting, as you look rather odd doing it. You can do this in a coffee shop or in public if you don’t mind people looking at you and wondering what’s up. I don’t mind that look. I get that look anyway – no matter what I’m doing.

#53 – Blog – Start a personal blog that has nothing (or very little) to do with your job. Complain, review movies, post dumb lists – whatever. Just take some time to do something that has very little to do with your “job.” It helps restore sanity.

#52 – Clean the House – again, it’s about getting out of your routine and away from your “desk.” If you’re at home, a bit of cleaning can really help clear the cobwebs. It also helps you keep the place clean. Double prizes. If you’re working mobile, clean out your backpack or satchel or car. Just stop and clean and organize. Good for the soul, good for the psyche, good for the environment. Having tunafish rotting behind the speaker is NEVER a good thing.

#51 – Facebook – GASP! I said it. It can be a good way to get your head out of the cyclical thinking thing, get you away from working and it can kickstart ideas. It’s not JUST for time-wasting…

Lately, I’ve seen an awful lot of these “What My Mom Thinks I Do, What Society Thinks I do, What I Really Do.” The majority of them are a bunch of unfunny, horribly obvious puns. Some make me giggle, most just make me roll my eyes. The truth is that everyone thinks they’re a rock star – but the concept of what these different jobs are is usually miles away from reality. They’re getting to be all over the place. I haven’t seen one for a sewerage worker, but I’m pretty sure everyone knows, understands and accepts the reality of that job.

In the interest of following trends, sheeplike – I made my own. It’s unfunny and horribly obvious. But – this is my blog, so I do precisely whatever I want.

I might joke about it and piss and moan about it – but this really IS a fabulous job. A lot of the myths about freelancing are based in truth – because when it works, it’s a beautiful thing and a marvelous career and everyone should be jealous. When it doesn’t work – it sucks, but that goes for anything. When it’s good, it’s good – when it’s bad, it’s bad. Weird how that works, huh?

And without further prevaricating about the bush, I present to you the truths based on the myths…

The Top 100 Perks of Freelancing 61-70:

#70 – You Can Work Any Time You Want. Sounds great – and it’s TRUE! As a friend of mine once said “You get to pick any 80 hours of the week.” That’s the truth, folks – but you really are flexible. You can’t just slack 24/7, but you have the luxury of picking your hours.

#69 – You Don’t Have Anyone to Answer To. Yeah, right. Ever had 30 clients all at once demanding that something be done on Friday, and it’s 4:30 Thursday afternoon?

#68 – You Get Paid Tons Per Hour. Yes – I get paid a lot per hour to do what I actually do. Unfortunately, for every hour I can bill, I normally have about 2 hours that I can’t bill – administrative stuff, sales, promotions, etc. So, divide my hourly into thirds and you’ll start to get the picture. If I could BILL 40 hours a week, I’d be a very happy man. Well – even happier than I am now.

#67 – You Get to Pick What You Work On. To an extent, that’s true. But when you’re first starting or when things get lean, you lose a lot of that ability to choose. Needing to pay an electric bill will surely make you think long and hard about taking that crappy menu redesign. Know what I’m saying?

#66 – You Get Paid to Be Creative All the Time. See #68. I don’t consider billing and sales as being creative. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not a huge fan of paperwork.

#65 – You Get Lots of Respect, Professionally. Yeah, sure. I get just enough respect from 10% of people who understand and value my skill to keep my psyche stoked enough that I don’t become suicidal when the other 90% of the people I come in contact with in the professional realm disrespect or belittle what I do. “Oh, you’re a graphic designer? Yeah – my nephew is, too. He’s got a fast computer and a copy of CS5!” I’ve actually had people say that to me. Tres Respectful!

#64 – You Can Work from Anywhere. Yes. This is true. But this can also be a drag. Ever tried to discuss sensitive business information or schmooze a client over the phone from a coffee shop? It’s louder than you think and the chairs aren’t always comfortable. Also – have you any idea how many graphic designers there are sitting in a coffee shop at any given time? I don’t want to give away my business secrets to “competition.” Working mobile is cool – but it’s really got a lot of downsides, too. And it can get expensive. But, I’m rolling in the dough, right?

#63 – You Don’t Have to Dress Up to Go to Work. No, I don’t. And it’s great. I can wear Black Flag tees and Chuck Taylors all day, every day. Chili stain on my shirt? BIG DEAL! Oh – until you run into a client who you’re trying to appear professional to. You might not have to wear a suit and a tie – but you can’t look like a complete bum. I know this from personal experience.

#62 – You Don’t Have to Deal with Co-Workers. You’re right. I don’t have to deal with the 10 other people in the office – I just have to deal with the hundreds of people that I’ve met and who have employed me. You might have to put up with some schmucks in your office, but at least you have a relatively finite number of people (and the problems attached to them) to deal with. I have hundreds of personalities to maneuver around. There’s something to be said about the regularity and predictability of the insanity you have to put up with, too.

#61 – No Boss. Wrong again. I’ve got a hundred bosses, plus I’m my own boss. And as a boss, I’m a complete jackass, too. Worse than your boss.

Day three – and if you’re still with me, I applaud you. I’m not real sure I’m with me these days. I’ve been absolutely covered in work (yippee!!) and blogging has been a bit of an afterthought. I really do enjoy it, and the written word fascinates me to no end. There’s a power to words that can’t be understated. It’s one of the reasons that typography can be so powerful. But, I digress. (You expected me NOT to digress?)

Since I’m so slammed, I’ll try to focus these “perks” on ways to procrastinate. There’s really a lot of ways, and – let’s face it – we all procrastinate. I’ve found, though, that the ways in which you procrastinate determine the sustainability of the period of procrastination. See – if you’re doing something that actually benefits you, it’s not really procrastination, and you can keep it up longer and folks will leave you alone. This does not include playing the Xbox. Sorry.

When you’re a Freelancer, you can use your time to procrastinate in ways that ultimately can benefit your business/career. Thus, that procrastination is a perk. If you’re stuck behind a desk doing “The Man’s” work, your procrastination might benefit you, but you’re robbing time from “The Man.” And, well – theft isn’t cool.

So, here are a few procrastinational* perks for freelancers. (Complete and utter time wasting tomorrow. *Yes, I make up words.)

The Top 100 Perks of Freelancing 71-80:

#80 – Pinterest. This is actually pretty damned cool. If you subscribe to some like-minded folks, you can sit back and watch inspiration and reference material scroll by at the speed of broadband. Check mine, see some of my repins, and you’ll find some really cool folks. This can be a HUGE time suck – but it can also be a great place to find reference.

#79 – Sketchbooks. Ok, I know I keep on harping on this one. But – get yourself a sketchbook and start doodling. You don’t have to be an illustrator to have a sketchbook. But, I can get lost for hours on this. I can open up my sketchbook and start drawing the strange monsters in my imagination and the stranger monsters in the coffee shop around me and be lost for the better part of a day. The plus in this is that it clears out my brain and I’ve come up with the best ideas while doodling. Try it. It’s refreshing.

#78 – Twitter. Yeah – this is a perk available to everyone, but it’s a great outlet for Freelancers. You don’t have to do a bunch of selling or SEO/Search crap here. Just be yourself, connect to the like-minded and let it rip. You’ll attract folks by osmosis, and it’ll help you grow your business and brand. Plus, you stay up-to-date on what everyone’s up to, in to and what’s hot on the streets. Win!

#77 – FreelanceSwitch.com. In some ways, a competitor, but – credit where credit is due. A lot of great info and resources. Check ‘em out.

#76 – Daydreaming. Face it. This is a 100% must. If you’re not daydreaming, you’re in the wrong business. Just do it.

#75 – Blogging. This one is hard for a lot of folks – but if you do some sketchbooking and daydreaming, you’ll come up with ideas. You don’t have to be super eloquent – you just have to be consistent. This will benefit you in a bunch of ways: it’s a mind dump, it’s great search engine fodder, it gives clients a better view of who and what you are and it allows you to better articulate what makes you the right choice for the work you’re pursuing. Again, I know this is kind of “work” for a lot of folks – but it offers a huge return on your procrastination investment.

#74 – Facebook. No, I don’t mean chatting up old girlfriends or trying to find new ones. I’m talking about the business side of Facebook. You can approach prospective new clients in a more personal and less threatening way. Chat ‘em up and “consumer” their Facebook product. If you keep showing up, you’ll eventually be implanted in their psyche, and they’ll be that much more likely to hire you when the time comes for the services you offer. Name recognition, easier “cold calls,” and a lot more. Beneficial!

#73 – Googling Competition. See what they’re up to, see what you can “borrow” from them, and see where your strengths lie in comparison to theirs. You don’t want to rip them off, and I think there’s plenty of work to go ’round – but you can certainly learn from what they are – and what they’re not – doing well.

#72 – BoingBoing.net. This one can be a time-waster, too – but it has some wonderful info in a variety of areas. Good for a brain cleansing session, or for ideas and inspiration. My personal home page.

#71 – Taking a Shower Any Time of Day. This is one of the best perks. Lately, I mostly shower after hitting the gym, as I work largely mobile and I wind up a the gym at odd hours. This is exceedingly cathartic for me at any time of the day. Even if you’re already clean – there’s something about stepping away from all of the electronics and sketch books and phones and other nonsense that helps the ideas really flow. In the words of Perry Farrell “Water hits my neck, and I’m pissing on myself. Standing in the shower, thinking.” I don’t really recommend pissing on yourself – that’s just kind of gross. But, the rest of the sentiment is spot on. Get clean, get warm and get to thinking.