Comments on: Freelance Focus 11th January 2008

By: BUTTER

BUTTER — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 18:45:27 +0000

grat interview ad with ur expereience — learnt a lot.

By: Markus

Markus — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:00:17 +0000

Hehe, nice interview.
I was glad to read this. Thanks.

By: Louisa Nicholson

Louisa Nicholson — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:20:05 +0000

haha! Nice to see you in the freelancer focus mix!

By: inspirationbit

inspirationbit — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 07:31:41 +0000

those design resources of yours are great – somehow I’ve missed them before. I’m downloading your PDFs now, to see how you deal with all this time-eating paperwork

By: inspirationbit

inspirationbit — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 07:30:12 +0000

wow, it’s great to read more about your freelancing. Thanks for reading my blog too
I’m freelancing only part-time (like Lauren), but already having difficulties with finding time for billing. I usually do all the billing myself and at the end of the tax year, I hire an accountant to do my tax return for me. It’s definitely worth the money. I’m good with math, but I hate all those tax forms – I think the governments tries to confuse people with those forms on purpose.

By: Mark Anastasi

Mark Anastasi — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:17:53 +0000

Thanks for sharing with your thoughts about freelance. What’s good with freelance is that you can manage your time.

By: David Airey

David Airey — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:38:07 +0000

Nice to read this insight into your working practices, and I can certainly empathise about those VAT returns.

One thing on my to do list is to hire an accountant. At present I’m doing my own accounts, and I’m pretty sure I could be saving some more money.

By: LaurenMarie - Creative Curio

LaurenMarie - Creative Curio — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:34:10 +0000

Well if you stole the Amazon idea from me, I stole it from someone else, so no worries!

By: Tara: Freelance Designer

Tara: Freelance Designer — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:57:19 +0000

Hi Lauren

6. Yes it was a design company I was the designer. A guy I used to work with at another company and I were set up by an MD of a repro and print company. Problem with a minority share is no control.

8. Yep I have had a few jobs through my blog, very good to work for too.

9. Some design companies were great to work for, some I didn’t like so much. The problem with working inhouse is you get paid for exactly what you do and its less flexible than working at home and managing your own time.

10. I used to get booked for odd days or holiday cover – to a max of 2 weeks at a time.

Of course I read your blog, just in quiet mode sometimes I read via google reader (makes it feel your snooping though)

Most clients are pretty good – get paid on time is not easy though with some.

I am afraid I stole your idea with the Amazon recommendations No sales yet I don’t think. I have had some previously when I have mentioned books in posts.

By: LaurenMarie - Creative Curio

LaurenMarie - Creative Curio — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:37:00 +0000

Ha! You’re right, Tara, you haven’t done this before! I didn’t even think about it but I’m glad you did

#6 – was that a design company you had a share in? What was your job there?

#8 – that’s awesome that you’ve gained new work from this site!

#9 – I’m glad you pointed out the management time. I had never thought of that before. I’ve also only heard from (and possibly Randa, I can’t remember) about getting work from design agencies. I guess it makes sense, though. Sometimes they need extra help but it’s not worth it to them to hire another full time designer. Do you find they pay a reasonable rate and are easy to work with?

#10 – it sounds like you were a temp designer. Is that about right? You actually went to the agency office and worked there for a set period of time?

Hooray! I’m glad you read my blog You should come comment more! I miss ya!

So you wouldn’t go back to full time work. That seems to be the general consensus among freelancers. Do you have to deal with delinquent clients a lot? That has been my experience more often than not, but then all my clients are referred and my husband and I only freelance part time (we both have full time jobs in house for corporations, as opposed to design agencies/firms). It’s frustrating to deal with clients that don’t know what they’re doing, can’t get their act together and drag out the projects for 6 months. We are learning to set deadlines in our contracts, i.e. “this contract expires six months from the date of signature.”

The Amazon recommendations is new since I last visited. How are you doing on sales? I recently added it to my blog too and I got nada I know it’s not magic and I need to promote it, but I would hope at least a few people would see it and buy things!