Freelancer Focus 31st August 2007

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Freelancer Focus is a regular feature, where freelance designers are invited to answer a series of questions about themselves and freelancing. This week Verne Ho (pictured left) is the freelance designer in question. If you would like to take part please read my previous post. Any designer or illustrator can also take part in Design Case Studies.

1.Your name?
Verne Ho

2.Where are you are based (Country/Area)?
Toronto, Canada

3.What type of work do you do? (design for print, web, multimedia etc)
My expertise is in web and interactive design, but as a creative director of my agency I deal with all mediums of design.

4.How many years had you been working in the design industry before you went freelance?
0. What started as a personal hobby turned into a passion and has since turned into a career (how cliché, I know).

5.How long have you been freelancing?
4 years.

6.Why did you decide to go freelance?
I needed a creative outlet and I somehow knew a desk job wouldn’t cut it.

7.How did you market yourself (find design work/new clients) in the beginning – (online portfolio/brochure/direct mail/email/phone etc)?
I did a lot of pro-bono work for friends and colleagues. Eventually someone threw out the crazy idea of paying me.

8.How do you market yourself (find design work) now?
Viral marketing is my business’ best friend. I’ve (thankfully) never had to make an active effort to find new clients.

9.How did you decide what to charge? What was the process?
My first attempt to form a pricelist was based off of the advice of another young freelancer. From there, I continued to refine my business model, capabilities, and offerings over the years, and have adjusted my pricing appropriately along the way.

10.Do you work from home/have an office/work inhouse at design agencies?
I work at home as part of a creative marketing agency.

11.How do you organise your workload, do you work long hours?
Balancing a heavy workload like mine is definitely an art. Of the many things I do to keep myself in-check and on-time, using task lists is probably one of the most important. I make sure to keep a running tally of everything I need to accomplish on a day-to-day basis, and break each project down even further into mini tasks. Having these task lists synced with my BlackBerry helps to ensure that I’m on the ball even when I’m on the go.

When you run your own business, working the long hours is a must. The good thing is that you’re doing something you love, so long hours don’t really seem all that long.

12.How much holiday do you give yourself?
None. I consider my time away from a desk job doing something I love to be enough of a vacation! I do try to claim at least one or two days a week as being my own, but sometimes time away from work can be just as stressful as being buried in it.

13.How do you keep up to date with what is happening in the industry?
I subscribe to a healthy dose of blogs and news from about 25 different sources, which is actually less than some of my business partners. The themes of my subscriptions range between marketing, entrepreneurship, freelancing, design, and technology. To stay productive and keep my feeds organized, I’ve recently made the move to Netvibes as my collection outgrew my iGoogle page.

14.What about the business side of things, accounting, invoicing, bookkeeping, how do you manage it?
My trusty business partners are my saviours. A few of us stick to the creative work, while the others stick to the numbers. It’s a loving relationship.

15.What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone starting out freelancing?
Do it for the passion, and not for the money. If you stay focused on the former, the latter will follow.

16.Would you ever go back to fulltime work?
I never say “never”, so I’d say that it really depends on a lot of factors. Where I am in my life, what my business has grown to be, and the nature of the opportunity all play a role in my decision. If you were to ask me to go back today, I wouldn’t hesitate to answer “no”. Ask me again in 5 years though – I’d be interested in hearing my perspective then.

17.Any thing else you would like to add?
I have a lot of respect for individuals who have an eye for design and the business sense to apply it effectively in the context of marketing. It’s a rare breed, but a powerful one.

18.Where can we see some of your work (URL)?
You can read my antics over at http://www.creativebriefing.com, where you’ll also find links to my creative marketing agency. Leave me a note if you’re passing by!