I think one of the most frightening and exciting times of my career was when I decided to go freelance, it was one of the thing had wanted to do for several years but never quite had the guts to.
About five years ago I used to work for a company in Cambridgeshire, I got on well with one of the business partners who wasn’t happy there and we talked about setting up on our own. We were both a little scared and ended up taking an easy option whereby a backer, who had a repro and print company, set us up with us both having a minority share. This was the worst decision we could have made and after 2 years when my friend decided he wanted to move abroad. Whereas I should have got a hefty bonus as we had made a very good profit, I got practically nothing. I could have stayed there working under the Managing directors terms but this was the kick I needed to finally go it alone.
I was scared to death I wouldn’t get any work, but luckily my boyfriend who’s amazingly supportive said not too worry and we would manage on his wage for a while if we needed too. Fortunately we didn’t have to. I contacted a company I had produced designs for, while employed several years ago, I knew they were not using that company any more. The company produce electrical sockets, cable reels and switches etc, and they had told me previously they liked my work, they agreed to see me and gave me their catalogue and some packaging to design.
I contacted a couple of other design agencies I had worked for in the past and they gave me work too. I remember going in to see one of them for a chat (one of the best places I have worked) but it was quite weird seeing them after several years. We had a bit of a chat but one of the partners was too busy to talk for long and they said I don’t suppose you could help us out with these exhibition panels while your here, so I had some impromptu freelance work on the spot so to speak. In fact the first page of my job book is nearly entirely filled up with companies I had worked for in the past.
If you want to go freelance, stop thinking about it and do it, you won’t find many people that say they regret it and remember to look up your old contacts as well as search for new ones.
If you are a freelancer, do you remember your first time?
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27 Comments
Hi Tara, just found your blog. I’m new to blogging and am gaining an interest in design and my creative side. I’ve subscribed to your RSS (any chance of switching to a full feed?) so keep the good posts coming
I work in IT and made the leap from full time to contract work, was the best thing I did. Someone once said to me “Not many leaps of faith turn foul”.
Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your message.
On the RSS feed, yes, If I can work out how to do it, I’ll take a look, thanks for subscribing.
Hmmm…. can anyone advise me how to do this please? Thanks
Just out of curiosity; would you have done the same being single?
I have but it was a nightmare at times. I know it sounds lame but if you have a partner who would support you when the assignments don’t come in then there’s less to worry about, isn’t it?
I’ve always worked a parttime job [2 days a week, which would pay the bills] and freelance. First time freelance was for a major advertising agency in Amsterdam, I had left them after working there for four years and like your situation, they needed a freelancer at some point, years later.
My first freelance job as a designer was ten months ago while I was still studying. A friend of mine was visiting from another city on business and I showed her some of my work. A week or so later she contacted me and offered me the design job for a brochure for an annual national young performers’ awards event.
It was a big job (especially for a rookie like me) and they wanted it print-ready in a week – quite a challenge when I had full-time study with assignments piling up at that stage, and I also had my hands full with my (then) 15 month old son.
Not only was it important to me to get my first paid design job right in order to start on the right foot … it was also important to me that I do the right thing by my friend, who had placed a lot of faith in me by giving me the job, and she had her bosses to please, too. On top of that, I was liaising with a client more than one thousand kilometres away.
It all went well – my friend was very professional and an absolute pleasure to work with, even when she went through my contract with a fine-tooth comb! (she’s a former lawyer). The work was done on time and both she and her bosses were very happy.
I’m now working on a seven-month contract with an animation company, and can only fit in the occasional freelance job on the side, but expect to return to freelancing at the end of the year so it continues to be an area of great interest (and trepidation) for me.
Hi Tess
“Just out of curiosity; would you have done the same being single?”
To be honest I am not sure. I think I would have still have done it but would have been saving like a madman to make sure I could support myself for a few months while I go started. It would definitely been harder. Although saying that I have always made as much or more than I did full time (but hindsight is a wonderful thing). Working partime and freelance like you do is probably a nice way to ease yourself into freelancing.
Hi Tracey
Your first job sounds like it went really well congratulations. Did you have any luck with the possible freelance work you pitched which you emailed me about?
The animation sounds cool what sort of thing do you do?
I’ve done a few small freelance jobs but to be honest most of these have been for friends and have been done at “mates rates”, really just to beef up my portfolio.
However, I’ve still treated these jobs as “proper” jobs and been very professional about it to create the right impression.
Later this year I’ll be aiming for some more serious freelance work.
I did my first freelance job back in 1984 during my final year at college. The job was to design a logo for a new pizzeria. I teamed up with a friend and fellow student, and I ended up doing everything from the client liaison to the design and artwork. We supplied the final piece of artwork and were payed some pathetic amount of money. Over the next few months I saw the logo on everything from menus to carpets – and all for next to nothing.
The moral of this tale? Make sure you get a full brief for every project, and charge realistically for everything you do!
I never made this mistake again, and now run a very successful freelance graphic design business.
Hi Tara,
The work which I pitched a few weeks ago has yet to proceed any further. I was asked to prepare some pricing options (the aspect which you and I talked about over email – thank you so much for your advice) which I did but I was much delayed because my husband and I were both hit hard with the flu very soon after my pitch meeting (my husband is still recovering). I submitted the pricing document this week.
That raises one of the traps for freelancers: getting sick can turn into a real problem for fulfilling time/project commitments.
Also, Dave, I couldn’t agree more about getting a full brief, and charging realistically. Prospective clients need to know they’re dealing with someone of a professional standard. If they turn you down because they expect a cut-rate price, then the job wasn’t worth your time anyway.
Tara, I’m working as an animator with a company called Blue Rocket, on a cartoon series for television. It’s 2D animation using Flash and I’m really enjoying it.
Tracey, good luck with the pitch. Wow, your animation project sounds great you will have to let us know when its finished so we can watch it on TV.
Being ill while freelancing is a worrying one, I am not sure how you can cover yourself on that one, I suppose you can get insurance, but that doesn’t help when you need to get a job done.
Hi Aaron,
Good luck with the freelancing, are you going to be fulltime freelance or still keep working too?
I’ll carry on working initially. I have quite a flexible employer so if things go well I could potentially cut down my days.
Ultimately I want to go full-time freelance though, but that may be years away.
I remember my first freelance job well! Given the title of this post, it’s ironic that my first client was Virgin!
I’d had my own website up for a few months, and I actually used a couple of photos from a Virgin brochure on it (the issue of copyright wasn’t such a big problem back then, because the rules hadn’t been laid down in court).
Some guy from Vigin calls me, and says he’s seen my website – and I thought he was going to ask me to remove their photos. Instead he asks if I’d like to do some work for them – and I went on to help create Virgin’s first major online presence, which (needless to say) was an awesome experience!
Not bad for a first job Paul!
Tara- there is a check box in the Feeds area in the Reading section under Options where you can choose to publish the full article in your feed. I have wished for full feeds from your site too, so it would be a great change!
Cheers Randa, its now done, hopefully it will work Ok, any problems please let me know.
It was an excellent start to freelancing, but there were far fewer people doing web design back then!
About the RSS feed thing… I’ve already got ‘full feeds’ enabled, but what I’d like to find is a way of stopping them being cut if I use the ‘more’ tag in a post! Anybody got any idea on that one?
Hi Paul
Kevin from Blogging tips has written about the more tag here,
@Paul: here’s a link to a plugin to help with that.
Thanks Tara and Randa! Now how come I haven’t been able to find anything about it for weeks, and yet both of you manage to point me to solutions in minutes?!
When you are looking for something you can never find it. I couldn’t find the box to click to get full feeds either, easy when someone else points it out
@Paul – this is no great mystery to me. Men can never find things.
My husband can’t find the nose on his own face sometimes! haha
Hi Tara,
I applaud you for your courage diving into the world of freelance. I am personally quite a few years away from that because there are too many things that I still do not know about the business (my background is UX, so I have not much knowledge of the marketing/brand side of things), or running a business. And Paul, wow, that is quite the first gig.
Just out of curiosity, how do you market and advertise yourself now? Do you still cold call? Or do they just flow in?
Siong
Hi Siong
I have been pretty lucky and have regular clients who keep me going with work, so I haven’t really marketed myself for a year or so, but I ought to. I had a quiet patch for a few weeks not long ago and had a minor panic, but things have picked up again now.
Did you see what Ronald wrote about the more tag on RA Project?
As to freelancing, I have my first real gig still in negotiations, but I’m excited to start it. It will be my first solidly standards compliant website. I’ve helped my husband on several freelance jobs before, though, usually offering 2 of the 4 comps he submits to his clients. It is very different being the one to interact with the clients directly!
Hi Lauren,
Good luck with the freelance job, let us know how you get on!
I was fortunate enough to start when web design was a niche, designers were thin on the ground and you could charge silly amounts for what was – in retrospect – not a terrific job. But that’s the beauty of web design for freelancers; as browsers and trends move forward, so too will forward-thinking clients want to keep their websites state of the art.