How to Make Money as a Freelance Designer
So you want to be a freelancer, now what?
Despite the glamorous reputation, freelance design is no walk in the park. It takes an incredible work ethic, significant entrepreneurial prowess, and a little bit of insanity to pull it off effectively. This article will discuss how to effectively make a living as a freelancer (designer or otherwise). Since we are in fact a design blog, I’ll scatter in some well-designed freelancer sites along the way for inspiration.
David Jonsson
It Takes One to Know One
Before launching into my thoughts on being a freelancer, I should tell you that I am in fact a freelance designer. I’ve made my living for the past six years solely as a freelancer and plan on continuing to do so for years to come. This by no means makes me any sort of guru on the subject, but it does mean that I’ve experienced many of the joys and disasters that come with the territory. Therefore, today I’ll be speaking not as a supreme authority, but merely as someone who is eager to share what I’ve learned along the way.
Robert Ablan
Reality Check
If you’re thinking about getting into freelancing, let me burst your bubble a bit. When I talk to people about what I do, I often get the feeling that they imagine that I have the easiest job on Earth. Surely I must sleep in, sit in my boxers all day, work whenever I want, go on three hour lunches, take 15 sick days a month and still somehow manage to rake in exorbitant amounts of money. Unfortunately, all of these things couldn’t be further from the truth.
The key consideration that these assumptions leave out? Clients. You might work for yourself in a sense, but in reality, you work for your clients, which can be like having several competing bosses instead of just one. Being a freelancer means initiating and answering endless calls and emails, managing several projects simultaneously, and working all night to meet impossible deadlines that didn’t exist that morning. Most freelancers I know, strike that, all of the freelancers I know long ago gave up notions of working normal hours (forget 9-5, Monday through Friday).
Deciding what you want to do for a living is the biggest vocational decision you can make, the second is deciding how you’ll do it. Becoming a freelancer is a serious lifestyle decision that should not be made lightly. Think about all the perks of a “real job” such as a steady pay check, health insurance benefits, tax breaks, and paid vacations and kiss them goodbye. Suddenly you’ll be paying nearly double the taxes you used to, health insurance will cost a fortune, your paychecks will be uncertain from one month to the next, your yearly income will fluctuate immensely, and your vacations will be spent income-free.
Still want to be a freelancer? Excellent. Despite all the scary stuff above, I still think it’s one of the best jobs ever. Let’s dive into how to go about becoming a freelancer.
Rejected Robot
Getting Started: Tread Carefully
My best advice: go slow. Don’t go quitting your day job just yet (unless you don’t have one, then by all means jump in with both feet). Before telling your boss you can’t stand the site of his face, you need to get a feel for how much work you’ll be able to drum up on your own. To accomplish this, start a few side projects that you work on after hours. It’ll be stressful to search for extra work while working a full-time job but it’ll provide you with a much-needed glimpse into the freelancing lifestyle. The question then becomes, “Where Do I Get Freelance Work?” We’ll address that next.
Where to Find Work
Mega job sites like Monster and Hot Jobs are great places to begin, but I’ve had a pretty poor experience with them overall. Definitely give them a shot, but don’t put too much stock into them as a consistent source of income. Here are a few more sources that I’ve had some personal success with or know to yield good results. Remember, don’t think in either/or terms. Use these tools in conjunction with each other to ensure success.
Craigslist
This one is a bit obvious for some, but I want to stress that it’s among the best sources I’ve come across for finding and contacting potential employers. Most job boards will charge you or at the very least make you register, Craigslist just puts it all out there for anyone to see. If you’re interested in a job, just shoot an email to the provided email address. No hoops to jump through whatsoever.
I recommend creating a standard reply email that you can send out to all of the listings you’re interested in. Be sure to include your resume and a link to your online portfolio. Remember that each employer that puts a job out there will literally receive hundreds of replies. Try to stand out in any way that you can!
This one seems incredibly obvious, but I want to be sure you know how to take full advantage of Google as a way to find work. Obviously, a great place to begin is to run a basic search looking for freelance jobs either in your area or that have a flexible location requirement. Something you might not have thought of though is using Google Maps. This technique occurred to me recently and has actually turned up some legitimate work.
Using Google Maps, search for businesses in your area that could possibly use your services. I searched for marketing agencies, printers, design firms, etc. When you click on a business, go to their website and locate their contact information. Then send them a brief but friendly email that introduces yourself and your work. Tell them you’re looking for freelance work and would be thrilled to work with their company. As with Craigslist, I encourage you to make a standard email that you can just send to all the businesses you find. Spend an afternoon doing this and you could be surprised how many leads you’ll snag. Don’t expect them to pour in all at once. The goal is to make a connection. It could literally be months before they need a freelancer, but your email might put you at the top of their list of potentials. Don’t necessarily stop at emails either, if you’re the personable sort, pick up the phone and make some calls. People are much more likely to hire a “real person” that they’ve actually spoken to than a mystery email man (or woman).
Before you roll your eyes, hear me out. There is a thriving and remarkably active design community on Twitter. Making lasting connections on Twitter can open up a lot of opportunities down the road. But even better than connecting to all those designers, at least for our purposes, is the simple, built-in Twitter search feature. There are millions of people tweeting every day. Naturally, several of these people are mentioning that they are in the market for a freelancer. You need only find them and make contact. It’s a really personal way to connect with potential clients that actually works. Give it shot and you could be pleasantly surprised.
Smaller Job Boards
Small job boards may have fewer listings than the mega sites, but that can actually work to your advantage. Smaller sites will attract less traffic, meaning competition is likely to be greatly reduced. Here’s a few to check out:
Anton Peck
Be Prepared
The steps outlined above already assume that you’ve taken significant steps towards preparing to be a freelancer. In case you haven’t let’s discuss those now.
Update Your Resume
Before heading out into the no man’s land of freelancing, update your resume to reflect that you’re not so much looking for a job as looking for more work (there’s a difference). You should come across as a confident professional actively seeking to increase your client base on a per job or long-term basis. Check out The Graphic Design Resume Guide for more information on how to stand out to potential clients.
Get Your Portfolio Out There
This comes in two forms. First, build yourself a custom website similar to those you see scattered throughout this article. A website is an unbeatably easy way to tell potential clients about who you are and what kind of work you do. It provides a convenient place to send people you meet as well as an easy way for clients to find you on their own. Before you start, check out our article on 10 Expert Tips for Designing a One Page Portfolio.
The second way of getting your portfolio out for the world to see is to sign up for all the free portfolio sites you can find. The more content on the web about you the better and these sites can provide a great way to boost your search-ability online. I have accounts on Coroflot, Krop, Sortfolio, Carbonmade and several more that I can’t even remember!
Work Out Billing and Invoicing
Before you take a single job you should know how you will be billing that client. Setup an invoicing system through Curdbee, Ballpark, Freshbooks, PayPal or any number of online alternatives. These tools take the pain out of the paperwork and are either free or very affordable.
Billy Tamplin
Form a Co-Op
If you know other freelancers, there’s no need to go it alone. Form a small alliance to share clients, contacts and resources with. The nature of freelancing is such that there will probably be times that you have more work than you can handle and other times when you’re playing on Facebook all day for lack of anything better to do. Working with a few other freelancers can create a mutually beneficial system where the involved parties help each other through these times.
Another thing that’s great about working with other people is… working with other people. Sitting in an office all day alone can get insanely boring after a few years. I drive 15 minutes every day just to work with another freelancer I know. Sometimes we work on the same project, sometimes not. Either way, it’s nice to have someone to complain to about that annoying client who keeps asking if you know how to use “Adobe.”
Diversify Your Skill Set
I found out the hard way that being a print-only freelancer doesn’t make it easy to pay the bills. As a result I’ve invested significant amounts of time expanding my skill set to include web design, 3D modeling, photography and writing. Even with that broad range I’m not finished. I try to set time aside every single week to work on improving a current skill or learning a new one. As your body of work expands to new areas, your potential client base will increase exponentially as you search for jobs in multiple related fields.
Like College, Only Free
If you can make the time, learning new creative skills is both easy and free. The internet presents you with an unending stream of quality tutorials for every skill you can dream up. Here’s a few sites (of hundreds) to get you on the path to becoming a bona-fide Renaissance man of freelance services.
- TutsPlus: Unmatched Photoshop, Web Design, Illustration, Photography, CG, Flash, After-Effects, and Audio Tutorials
- Fuel Brand Network: Articles and tutorials on branding, creativity, interface design, coding, blogging, writing, photography, motionography and more.
- Tutorialzine: Excellent web design tutorials
- Computer Arts: Tutorials on all things digital
If you want serious professional training, head over to Lynda and purchase a membership. It’ll cost you a few bucks but trust me it’s completely worth it. Their video tutorials will take you step-by-step through learning entire applications and disciplines inside and out (Photoshop, AfterEffects, LightRoom, DreamWeaver, Flash, etc).
Brian Hoff
Work Your Butt Off
My final piece of advice for making money as a freelancer is to work like you’ve never worked before on all of the above. If you don’t have any clients, don’t spend your days complaining about it. It drives me nuts to hear freelancers talk about being out of work and reaching new heights of awesomeness on Halo 3 in the same conversation. If this is you, your friends are too afraid to say it so I will: stop being lazy. You won’t find an ounce of work on your Xbox (unless you’re browsing job sites, but let’s face it, you aren’t). If you desperately need more income, spend every waking moment trying to get it. Take a break to battle your friends on remote planets when you’ve earned it.
If you land a few clients, the same advice applies. Work your tail off to convince them that you’re the best freelancer on the planet. Make it your mission to be so good that they tell all their friends about you and actively seek projects on your behalf (satisfied clients will do this!). One of the things my clients repeatedly tell me is that they can’t believe how “available” I am. What they mean by this is that when they call, I answer. When they email, I reply. Even if only to tell them that I’m swamped and will get back to them in a few days. Make it your primary goal to please the people who can provide you with a decent living. Draw stern boundaries and never take abuse, but bend over backwards when the situation calls for it.
The worst part about working like a maniac is figuring out how to manage all of this and still have a life. Can you be a good freelancer and still be a good husband/wife/mother/father/friend? Absolutely, but that’s another article.
Conclusion
I could fill a book with the things I’ve learned about freelancing in the past few years. However, the above information is at the heart of it all. It all boils down to a profound juggling act where you split your time between finding new work and managing current work. The perfect balance is different for everyone. Use the comments to let me know how you stay afloat as a freelancer. As I said before, I’m no authority on the subject and am as eager to learn from you as you are from me. Feel free to ask any specific questions you might have as well. I’ll try to help out in any way I can.
This is a very true standing point for a freelancer. It is true that people often nag about not having any clients as a freelacer, but in fact, they don’t work on themselves to improve their skills, and don’t have a unique portfolio or som work wich will stand them out of the crowd! You need to keep rolling in the business, and connecting as much as possible! The money, and work is out there, you just have to be more active! He who dares wins as Delboy would say LOL :)
I’m a fairly new freelancer, but I like it, cause I like comunnicating with new people and clients. Also it keeps me informed and active about new things in the design world!
Some excellent points you’ve outlined. I’m fairly new to this industry, and have already learned some of these points the hard way. I do a bit of freelancing, but having a steady job makes life a lot less stressful. With that said, freelancing does keep things fresh and exciting for me :)
I waited a few years before making the switch, and it’s scary. There are cats, rats and dogs, in terms of the kinds of clients. Dogs are loyal, and will come back even when you treat them badly. Cats will be there if you give them what they need, and they will move on when you don’t. Rats will destroy your life, no matter how hard you try to get rid of them.
The best clients, are Dogs. Cat’s if you’re broke.
Rats aren’t worth the money, see http://clientsfromhell.tumblr.com/ to see what Rat’s look like.
Excellent comment Andrew.
Freelance designing is much more difficult than freelance developing I’ve found. When a design is finished you and your client will generally part ways, bar the occassional update or annual re-design. If you know a scripting language it allows you to drive yourself extra income from previous clients much more easily as you can approach them with your own ideas to improve their site further.
First one with the child is very nice and the earth tone they used there are perfect for the whole site’s pages.
Thanks for your informative post. :)
Thanks for sharing! Very informative article
Good article and with lots of useful advice to be a better freelance designer.
Thanks very much for this post.
Very nice and informative article, I just enjoyed to read it as I will try to becemo a freelancer designer soon …
Excellent. A great article for advice on freelancing. I started in spring 2009 when my maternity leave ended and I didn’t go back to my standard job (and the fact it was a good job was even scarier)!
Great article. Although it just shows how one freelance graphic designer can differ so much for another. There’s so much in this article that I would never do. For example, CV/resumés, physical portfolio, Craig’s List, etc., and I’ve never used portfolio sites as I think general social sites have a far better reach. Personally I have never found it useful to use Google and Google maps to look for work only to create a well-connected website so people can find you to look for work.
I’m not saying one way’s better than the other but I would look at it from a different direction. And, yes, it’s hard work, but it’s not that bad, sometimes, I would say it’s fantastic fun! :)
yes this all sure thing for growing…
Another great post.
One thing i always find with clients, is they feel that your there to do everything for them.
I really benefited from your post…
nice article. thanks for the job hunting ideas. I hadn’t thought about some of those.
I found that the whole email/snail mail a client to introduce yourself works fantastically.
When I launched http://www.fatmoosedesign.com a few months ago with a friend, we custom printed some envelopes and letters to market ourselves to clients in our local area.
We did that in November and have been totally inundated since.
Prior to that, I set out as a freelance to look after a small base of clients to generate a more passive income, rather than relying on bringing in new meat each month.
So far, it’s really worked. I get great referrals, clients come to me for monthly updates, new adds, new products, gallery updates and functionality changes.
Clients love it as it increases the control they have over their site (though I do try and step in to prevent bastardization) and I always have something to invoice for each month.
If you find a good client, definitely do everything to make yourself as useful as possible, especially starting out as a freelancer, where work is always irregular.
Good article but I would suggest that if you are paying more taxes as a freelancer you should find a good accountant or advisor. I overpaid taxes for years until I found an accountant that found deductions I didn’t even know existed. It’s all about how much you keep!
Wow, that was fantastic. I hope to see your next article soon! And a book maybe :) Guess I’m going to invest on my freelance carreer (maybe ‘try hard’ would be better to say) along with my 2 jobs as a trainee xD
This is a great article. I made an actual note and stored it in my Evernote application for future reference. As a semi-freelancer who is attempting to go freelance full-time this year, it is nice to see some solid advice and a short list of resources on how I can reach my goals. Thanks.
Very informative article. Thanks for your invaluable advice. I have recently started freelancing and am a graphic designer. Your inputs are highly appreciated.
This is so great! I’m fairly new to freelancing and can really benefit from your tips!
Coming across this article today was really refreshing. After a couple of months I was starting to get a little disappointed.
I do have an online portfolio that I advertise on craigslist, twitter, facebook, and many other channels. I have also created an email campaign using MailChimp. In addition, I’m always working on improving my skills, I have a Lynda membership and love their tutorials.
But I guess it takes some time… and, as you said, a LOT of work… Maybe I just have to work harder!
My first potential client found me on Creative Hotlist. He was very impressed with my skills and really wanted to hire me, but he had a Creative Director… who apparently did not trust my skills and asked me for a “sample”. NOTE: the sample would pretty much consist of the main part of the job!
Unfortunately, I had to say no for that! I told him that a “sample” would be what freelance designers consider a “spec work” and that was against my work ethics.
He still insisted that he wanted me to do the job, but at the end, she (the Creative Director) had the final word.
The excitement of getting my first “real” client quickly became a huge disappointment, and that was the first lesson I learned as a freelancer: Beware of people that doubt your skills/expertise, they will try to use that to get the work for free!
I had to learn the hard way as well how many people there are out there who want me to work for them for absolutely free. They always promise that if you just do this one job it will lead to lots of work. NEVER trust this statement as it’s is nearly always the result of an over confident and very broke entrepreneur.
Hang in there Ana, it really is a rough ball game. I recently received an email from someone who found my resume on http://www.krop.com (a free portfolio site) so I recommend that you check them out simply because it seems to be working for me. Also try http://www.coroflot.com, a similar site. Both sites have tons of job listings as well that you might want to sift through.
Let me know if I can do answer any questions you might have!
Only thing about this article, and the comments, that seems odd to me – the tax stuff. No freelancer I know offline pays taxes. Sounds shady, yeah, but none of them pull it more than maybe 30-35k a year anyway. If they paid taxes as even an LLC they’d be lucky to be pulling it 60% of that. If you just build a client base and get money from them through Pay Pal, personal checks, cash, or under the table, kinda not worth it to pay taxes. You’d be poor to boot.
Always helpful to read new hints & new links. Thank you.
The biggest difference to me since I quit my medical field job over a year ago (I weaned off slowly – those health benefits were difficult to lose!) is that I MUST produce. The end of every month is very stressful to me… am I covered? Got all the bills paid? Whew, did it again… then it starts all over.
I believe that it’s the timing of projects. If they’re staggered nicely, you get the deposits, then some balances with finished jobs, and so on and so forth.
Just the ups and downs of the biz I guess. But I do so enjoy not having to dress presentably for work. ;)
Thanks again Joshua.
if you have a good accountant you can practically break even on the taxes legally. Why break the law?
actually you don’t even need an accontant. Just be smart about write offs.
@kyl3: Most tax advisors and accountants I’ve spoken with said very explicitly that, if self-employed, paying taxes in my state if you make 20k or less a year is pointless. They won’t even care if they find out, because that’s really not squat.
Nice article. I am new to freelance world.
if your making that little you’re doing it wrong. My first year out of school I made 30+K and offset all of my family’s tax liability with write offs. Huge return that year. FTW.
Great article. Tough Job it seems. Glad I enjoy it!
Excellent tips for freelancers. I am now going to design a site and then post it in a contest running by grafikguru.com
Thanks Joshua! :)
I just created a profile on Krop.com (http://www.krop.com/anafxfz); I also updated my Coroflot profile.
I’ll keep following your posts, your blog is really inspiring! :)
Love the article. I’ve got 2 years in the full-time camp, and another 3 before that moonlighting while I worked at a big corporation. My business has been growing rapidly recently, and it’s been hard to keep sane and level while accommodating the growth. It was nice to be reminded of why I do this, what the realities are, and how to break that dry spell when it hits (and it will).
@kyl3: no offense, but that doesn’t sound like the typical freelance scenario. Especially starting out. Most freelancers I know IRL have university degrees and most of them produce very good work. I don’t think any of them, even the ones who are “flooded” with projects make more than maybe 35k before taxes (except one I know who has her head up her ass and thinks as a newbie she can charge like she’s a fortune 500 company). Bear in mind most freelancers will ultimately fail and get regular jobs. It really is a cutthroat business.
Great article – but the ‘paying double the tax’ thing seemed off to me also. I’m in Australia, but comments suggest it’s much the same elsewhere – if you’re self employed you’re able to claim quite a lot of costs as tax deductions. The amount of tax you pay in the end is way, way less than you would pay on a regular salary.
The ‘work your butt off’ bit is so true!
A few comments about the discussions above. My goal as a freelancer has always been to procure a full-time amount of work on a weekly basis. Sometimes it happens sometimes it doesn’t. However, as an experienced designer, you should be able to charge between $30-$75 per hour (in the US) depending on skills and number of years on the job. Obviously, if you get anywhere near full-time this will be a significant source of income.
That said, I’m not sure about tax systems in other countries, but if you are operating inside the US you need to be reporting this income to the government. Tax evasion is a serious crime (just ask Wesley Snipes) that Uncle Sam does not look kindly upon. I report every cent I make and accept that the financial consequences are greatly preferable to the legal implications of the alternative.
Again, I’m only speaking from a limited US perspective, but here sole proprietors are subject to some serious extra taxation vs. a standard employee. I admittedly suck with tax stuff and would absolutely love to hear about any “completely legal” deductions and/or tricks you have for reducing the amount of taxes freelancers must pay. By all means, if you know the secret, share it with the rest of us!
I just wanted to say thank you for the article. I appreciate you tacking the time to help others out.
Really thorough guide to freelancing. My advice, even after 12 years designing, is to keep on learning. You will never know enough.
Also, get yourself some real solid business skills as well.
Been in the freelancing game for a while now and what I found difficult is the whole introduction phase. Knowing what to say to introduce yourself. Any help is well apreciated.
Gerald, your introduction would definitely depend on the situation. If you’re reaching out to someone in an email for the very first time, simply say hello and explain who you are:
“Hi there, my name is Gerald Lastname. I’m a freelance designer from X and I just wanted to introduce myself in case you ever have need of a designer. I take on projects of all kinds and would be thrilled to work with you. Below you’ll find links to my portfolio and resume. Thanks for your time!”
This is roughly the format that I use and it has proven to yield actual results. Hope this helps!
@joshuajohnson: Thank you for the advice.
Thanks for a great and eye-opening article!
in these blog post comments: People who failed at maths in class yet want to SOMEHOW earn lots of money
What’s the best way to go about forming an alliance with other web designers? Should I just browse designers whom I think is talented? And if so what do I say without sounding so lame?
This has been a very informative post. I totally agree with you. As a freelance designer myself, I can tell you, it takes A LOT of hard work.
I also thought your readers might be interested in a similar article I wrote called:
“How to make MORE money as a freelance designer”
http://graphicdesignblender.com/how-to-make-more-money-as-a-freelance-designer
It’s just a few tips I have found that help bring in a little more money for the work we put out. Best Regards!
I have sort of these feelings at my early year being a freelancer. Yeah it sounds fun at first. But today, more bigger our career, it’s just kinda back to the “work cubicle”.
We couldn’t leave the business for weekend vacation like 1-2 years ago because now we have to manage hundreds of clients everyday, their invoices, phone calls, pay rent, taxes, health insurance, and even our co-workers’ fees that you can’t handle by yourself.
Freelance is just another language of starting a new garage business.
Very helpful post, I go to school with Preston Lee up there on the earlier post and I am majoring in graphic design. I graduate soon and I seriously considering being a freelance designer. I will definitely be using the information in this post very soon. Thank you and good luck with everything.
this article is very interesting.. im doing freelance and im getting it through offline marketing
i dont know how online marketing profits me.. but let us c
How nice of this gentleman to help those of us looking to change our lives. I am even more hopeful that I can do it.
Thank you!!
Great article. For Malaysian designers out there, please try to find your job from mydesigners.my
Great Post, you’ve done a very nice article, thanks a lot.
I’ve been trying to get into the freelance design industry but things been hard. I’ve made my own website and updated my portfolio and still seems to have no luck. Maybe because of the job boards i’ve been using. Either your against giant companies that can outman you or there’s people selling logos for 5 bucks with examples of “their” work just copy and pasted from someone else.
waiting for “another article” ;)
Nice post. I’ve just started freelancing with a developer friend of mine. We both work at the same web design agency during the day which keeps the money steady.
I find that our local job boards (gumtree) just seem to attract people looking for websites for £50! But you do get the occasional person who is worth meeting.
Anyways, cheers for the info. Its always nice to read up on peoples knowledge.
:)
Thanks for the info. Some I knew and some I didn’t and it’s a tough road to take. Glad to see you’ve been successful.
I finished college a couple of years ago and my daughter is just starting college this year for design as well (she saw my personal hell (too many simultaneous projects) and hopped in too and is loving it! haha).
I was hoping to start now get a little jump on things for her and I for the future. We’re not in a rush (I work full time), but I figure if we start now, in 10 years we’ll have something good going. I’d like her to experience some other companies first before being completely entrepreneurial as well so we’re doing our research and starting slowly.
Your advice is good and I’ve sent this to her to look at.
As the guy above said, I find a lot of jobs posted where clients are looking to have things made for ridiculously small sums of money. I hope they stop bringing down the value of my actual skills, really. If you value yourself as a designer… know your worth and charge what you should be paid in hours (within reason and according to experience)!
Okay, I didn’t come here to rant. I just wanted to say “Thanks Joshua”. I appreciate this write up very much.
Take care of you.
Awsome article!!!! appreciate it man!! a great help, keep up the good work!
A business can profit from using a freelance web designer. Such a designer does not have set working hours.
been a freelancer for about 10 years and you are right, point by point…….as far as updating one’s skillset, there is so much out there that it makes one dizzy sometimes but if you dont do it you are as good as dead in the water………
Concentrate on your strengths and you will make much more than full time jobs !!
I’ve just seen this post of yours and it has helped me with a blog post of my own. Your article will no doubt be very useful to me in the future and its raised some very valid points on the world of freelance designing. Thank you very much!
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You presented some terrific suggestions there. I did a hunt on the subject and discovered a lot of people could consent along with your blog.
Great article for someone like me just venturing out into the world of freelance web design.
Just wanted to say thanks for sharing the information. I’m always looking to better myself, so this is invaluable!
I have just read most of the comments and I have decided to share my experiences.
I am an aspiring freelance web designer/developer/graphic designer. What made me to decide to go freelance is purely necessity. But I am optimistic and believe in myself, my skills and I truly hope that I can be successful and make it in this business.
What I want to share with you is a new, very scary phenomenon. I live in southern California and I have been looking for a full time job in design field for a long time. Lately the interviewers (business owners, not freelance clients!!) make you feel like they are interested in hiring you. You get home send a thank you note and they’ll send you request for a test project to “evaluate” your skills. You work on the “test project” for many hours, turn it in on time, and of course there is no job offer (forget about thanks for your efforts), but they steal that “test” or at least elements, color scheme, idea and use it as their own and of course sell it to their client. And there is nothing you can do. I already had three “potential” employers attempting to rip me off this way (one of them successfully).
It’s a really really scary world out there, I just thought this is a very serious issue that should be addressed. The outlook on finding a job in this industry is hopeless…that in my opinion freelancing is the only way how to keep doing what you love to do. At least you can get client to sign a contract and say no to specks.
What do you think of this? Let me know, thanks.
If you really want get your work out there, then you need to join up with surfatown.com .Does all your marketing for you and they are doing free video commercials with their promotional offer at the moment. That will give you the chance to really show your glamour! It is definetly worth giving a try and definetly worth the money because they are the cheapest around according to my neice.
Great article…I miss my days as a freelancer and working in my pijamas :))
Almost nothing to add…except good SEO when the site is alreay out there.
I love that this article was so detailed and well thought out. You addressed a lot of information for freelancers to consider and a great list of resources that not all of us have used before. Thanks for a great post.
The article is really an eye openner indeed I got to upskill myself more before I get out the on the market as a freelancer but I can surly can help in soursing out client in my area
Great article. I think this would apply to any type of freelance position. I’m close to making the jump from full-time job to freelance web developer. Have about 3 clients right now, one being a big corporation. Wish me luck.
Great set of tips, really haven’t found anything like this on the web, will be following up on this.
I mean I dabble in Server technical work myself (just the lacking security part), but I do have a bit of experience with application based security.
Been doing a bit too much actual developing and very little designing, it’s quite therapeutic shall I say to get back into designing I think.
It’s more like a mindset for me doing CSS and cross browser compatibility.
But the part where you get clients you don’t like or ones where you bend over backwards for, especially with the 9-5, I was working once on a DNS server in Linux (Bind 9 actually) for someone on a Saturday from 7am, about 3pm for them didn’t finish until 3am the Sunday morning.
Great set of tips, I work contracted as well as freelancing, it’s a great combination, expands my skill sets no end, now developing databases for people.
IЎ¦m now not positive the place you’re getting your information, but good topic. I needs to spend a while finding out much more or understanding more. Thank you for fantastic information I was in search of this info for my mission.
Hi. My husband and I have been involved with computers, online marketing, seo, web development for over 20 yrs now. I have always worked for myself and he works for a company at the moment. I have finally convinced him to get an agency up and going so he can quit the job he hates. Anyway, my point being I have a lot of experience in the “sales” of this type of service, and I have to tell you all when you are experienced and only charge $35 – $75 and hour not only are you doing yourself a disservice but you are also doing the rest of us in the industry a disservice. Our standard rate is $150 per hour no exceptions. If you have over 7yrs experience this is what you should be charging. If you can’t make a simple brochure site in 5-10 hours for the local pizza place up the road so they can actually afford your fees, you have no business in this business. I have been reading posts of don’t expect to make more than $35k a year. Are you all just not marketing yourselves properly? If you are not making 6 figures you are doing something wrong. Take some marketing and sales courses, and never ever sell yourself short. If someone wants a $500 dollar site and you can’t design it in 5 hours or less, tell them to seek out a student or one of the many non American workers that elance lets bid for 5 dollars an hr. (elance should be ashamed of themselves) People will pay if you behave like you are worth it and know what your doing. As for taxes being self employed gives you tremendous breaks and with all of our write offs we have yet to pay one penny. You can’t be meek in this business, and you can have a life too. All of our clients know that weekend is family time. Two days isn’t going to kill them to wait, it’s not the end of the world. Assert yourself but in a professional manner and your clients will respect you. Act like you are desperate, or beholden and they will take advantage of you, and never never do “sample” work or if you do charge them a mock up fee. What we do is charge this fee and tell them if they decided to use us that fee will get deducted from their total. Ok I’m done. Good luck and one more thing. Treat this like a business not a hobby.
Can I simply say what a aid to seek out someone who actually is aware of what theyre speaking about on the internet. You undoubtedly know how you can convey a difficulty to mild and make it important. More folks have to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant consider youre no more well-liked since you positively have the gift.
Thanks for all the great advice. I was thinking about becoming a freelancer, just that I had some doubts.
A wonderfull and educative article. I started freelancing about 6 months ago and I have managed to build a small income for now.
@LILI Those are some amazing words and I feel exactly the same and I follow it too :) thanks a lot :)
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright infringement? My blog has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either written myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my permission. Do you know any solutions to help prevent content from being stolen? I’d definitely appreciate it.
Awesome article. A great help for starters… Great work!
Very interesting article, especially as I am thinking of getting together with an experienced Spanish designer friend of mine who moved to London on account of the Spanish econ. mess! He had his own studio in Madrid and I work on ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING as regards to a company’s identity and marketing; paper or otherwise, in-the-post, on-line, on-foot, on-a-bike, in-house for my own travel and tours company in London, so I’m VERY aware of what it takes to start out on your own, and I like it…! We’ll be on the work path soon…