5 Biggest Lessons of Freelancing for two decades
15 years of working in marketing and my career resembles something like Madmen where you’ve seen it all; The departments with new management every 3 months. The burned out employees and glaze-eyed staff members looking to you to save their job with your fancy taglines; The insulting words from people who know nothing about design; Tuning out office gossip about how the marketing manager is sleeping with their manager and of course the days when you wonder why you ever went into the design field.
The perfect tagline for an email campaign, the most stimulating graphic, the campaign that makes the ceo jump with excitement. Late nights eating ramen. Scrambling to get files for a tradeshow booth submitted on a New York time zone when you’re a west coaster can make you turn grey early. There’s been enough intrigue in my career to fill two volumes of a George Elliot novel, and if you’ve ever read one, then you know what I’m talking about….
In my opinion, if you’re self driven and talented then the liberation from the office environment can produce a lot of success for your career. Freelancing can be extremely rewarding if you can manage your own workload efficiently, handle your finances responsibly, and you can self promote.
I’ll begin this article with the cringe-worthy topic of money. I don’t know why charging for our time is so hard to do for some creatives, but it never seems to get easier. Freelancers talk about money often, because it’s a hard topic. It could be the subjective value of creative work, the fact that some clients don’t pay, or that we struggle to value our own work. We end up reducing our time to money, rather than what it actually is — energy. When you realize payment is a transaction just like an NFT purchase that involves convincing someone to pay you for some service or product, then the payment system will be much easier.
The first freelancer lesson should be the following:
1. Always get paid.
Clients will sit on invoices. This happens when clients get busy and a project ends. People get busy. Offices have procedures that take time to fulfill. Red tape has to be cut for you to receive payment. In one of my positions, it took 5 people to get my invoice processed, so I could receive payment. Realizing this early will allow you to plan for these events.
Save money before transitioning to freelance, so the impact on your bank account will be softer. Set clear limits in your contracts, and bill early. I typically bill every two weeks on a project or once monthly. This makes it easier on the client to pay. They don’t have a HUGE bill to pay, so they are more likely to pay you.
2. Pay for an attorney or specialist to improve your contract.
Contracts are one of the most important things you can develop in your freelance career. Yes, I called freelancing a career. You can become a consultant who specializes in a particular thing. People still have a perception that working from home isn’t real work.
Contracts set expectations. They facilitate payment and provide the client with a clear idea of how to work with you and what they will get for their money. I’ve had clients ask me,
“What am I paying you for?”
If you know what your services are and your value, then you can formulate a response to this question easily. This question doesn’t offend me. It’s straight forward and natural. A client is paying you for something and they want to have a clear picture of what that transaction looks like. Your contract will clarify this. I always include a description of services based on the client’s budget, so they can refer to it.
3. Developing communication systems.
Evaluate your communication style and set clear boundaries with clients. When I refer to boundaries, I do not mean in a negative way. They should be positive boundaries such as knowing which hours of the day you have openings to speak. Usually, what this looks like for me is “I’m free on Monday’s for calls and Friday’s.” Or I’ll communicate “If I’m unavailable for a call, text messaging or email is quicker.” Something like this verbiage really reassures the client that you care about their project and you’re available, or that you will make yourself available. People want to know they’re getting value and the way in which they will receive that value.
Everything is a value transaction.
4. Establish yourself as a professional.
This tip might be the hardest. With the internet circulating guru’s for every niche under the sun, you might be wondering how to stand out. I think this is a combination of how you communicate with people (in a professional manner) and making sure your work is branded. I’m going to be releasing a course on branding in the upcoming months. If you’re interested in a course on how to brand yourself, sign up to my newsletter. This course will include 1 zoom workshop where you will have 1-on-1 coaching for your work. I think branding is incredibly important and sets someone apart from their competition.
Today, people use funnel pages, lifestyle images, and all kinds of video content to promote their work. Yet, I think beyond all of that brand messaging and visual content really improve the professionalism and presentation of a freelancer. I’ve had clients tell me that they really got an impression of who I am from my Youtube channel and it made them want to work with me. I have a very small channel, but they loved that they could get an idea of how I spoke or who I was from the visual content. This can be done with video introductions, pictures, and clear branding across all channels.
5. Don’t give more than a 30-minute consultation for free.
I once had a client invite me back to their office to consult a second time. They invited their husband into the room to evaluate my knowledge and ask questions. Then they invited both their daughters over to listen. The consultation quickly turned into a workshop with their whole family asking me to show them how to do the work, rather than establishing a workflow with the client. They were trying to get everything they could out of me for free. I left burned out and exhausted.
I sent them an invoice and they never paid me. Their family started doing all of the things I suggested in our meeting. Instead of paying me for my knowledge and time, this family got the value of a $500 social media course, all my knowledge of how to design graphics which cost me $20,000 at a private art school, and my precious energy. They didn’t get all of the information they needed, because the family called me again. If a client can do a task themselves for cheaper, why wouldn’t they? I cannot blame them for wanting to learn and delegate to save money. The fault is my own. I could have given that time and energy to a client who wanted to pay me for my expertise. It resulted in a learning experience for me as well.
The world is made up of different types of entrepreneurs. Some build businesses they want to run themselves and others employ people for their expertise. The real challenge with freelancing is to identify who needs your expertise (quickly) and show them how you can help them achieve their goals.
I hope you enjoyed this article about how to be a successful freelancer. After 15 years in the field, I enjoy sharing what I know with others in order to facilitate their success. I hope you find value in this article and share it with someone who might need this information.
Please join my mailing list if you’re interested in my NFT Crash Course and building wealth through your art, or if you’re interested in my upcoming Branding Course.
