Am I ready to go freelance?
Let’s face it — the career of a designer is pretty great. For the creatively inclined there are so many ways to expand our minds and skills as well as enrich ourselves by creating beautiful things that have the power to influence and motivate others.
We have a wealth of opportunity to experience different areas of work. From working in different industries and in different fields of design to experiencing the variety of creative environments that boutique studios, big agencies or brands all offer.
The dream, basically.
There comes a time in every designer’s career when you begin to wonder about The Great Unknown — aka. freelance. That time may even be at the very beginning of a design career; fresh grads that are young, motivated and hungry for work that they feel connected to or that contributes something to the world. You may feel more than ready to go freelance. The standard 9-5 feels like shackles, you hate your boss or the inflexibility of your company, feel stagnant in your role or haven’t yet quite worked on the kind of work that makes you tick.
But sometimes it’s easy to see the world of freelance through rose-tinted glasses. We think it means easy mornings with coffee and the papers, traipsing around the city for client meetings, or working poolside between yoga sessions on a spontaneous holiday somewhere. It’s easy to feel like it will mean finally producing work that you truly love and saying no to anything that doesn’t float your boat.
Well I am here to crack the llid on the truth. It may sometimes mean all those things down the line, but not before some serious blood, sweat, tears and hard graft come into focus. So if you’re thinking about going freelance but not quite sure, we’ve put together a handy list of things to get to grips with before you take the leap. If you have any questions or would like any advice on how to tackle any of the below, feel free to ask in the comments. Read on!
Do you have a well developed network?
Connections are king in this industry. ‘It’s all about who you know’ isn’t an expression that exists for nothing. Whether it’s business cards swapped at creative events in your city, contacts who know your skills who would refer you in a hot second, or even a social media following you’re confident could contribute to the start of a client base — a well developed network is essential for any freelance designer. Ensure you’ve tapped into this network and have some work in the pipeline before you pull the plug on your current income stream.
Do you have enough experience in your field?
For all the reasons listed at the start of this post, design is a very saturated industry. It’s stiff competition out there and you need a way to stand out and to give clients a reason to hire you over other designers. They will be looking for relevant skills, a strong body of work that intrigues them and instills them with confidence in what you will produce for them.
New designers often think in lieu of experience that they can compete on price. I’d personally never recommend this. It will set the bar low in every single way from what clients expect for the project (and any future projects it could secure) to what you’re even motivated to produce.
This means you need great experience, confidence in your knowledge and a great portfolio to demonstrate your skills.
Can you organise and carry a project from start to completion?
Working solo means you’ll be doing it all. From searching for work, securing new clients, pricing and negotiating a project fee, invoicing, and structuring timelines. And all that is even before you begin designing anything. Can you research a project, audience and competitors and understand current brand positioning? Can you develop multiple concepts, artwork and organise printing? Have you written copy? Can you source and hire good external resource such as developers when required?
As a freelancer you wear ALL the hats - project manager, accountant, creative director, designer, artworker, copywriter, marketer, social media manager and the list goes on. This requires substantial organisation skills that not everyone has ingrained. Earned or learned, you will require them.
Do you have someone to bounce ideas off of?
The best part about working within a creative team is that you have other creative minds to learn from. As designers, we are never done learning.
A team of creatives with various backgrounds and skill levels helps to create fresh ideas, find unique solutions, keep you on the straight and narrow when you veer off piste and most importantly will help you out of your tunnel vision. When working alone, it’s very easy for ideas to go stale and without fresh eyes, mistakes can be made. Before going solo ensure you have some creative friends that won’t mind giving you feedback on your work.
Are you prepared to upskill yourself?
As a freelancer you have to create your own opportunities to learn new skills. They won’t always fall in your lap with a chance project nor will there be company training programs or seminars. There won’t even be a built-in community of other people to learn from. Be prepared both mentally and financially to keep your skills sharp and relevant.
Are you okay with blurred lines?
The flexibility of freelance life might mean those easy mornings and unplanned long weekends or trips. But it moreso means kissing the structure of the 40 hour work week goodbye and saying hello to unexpected all nighters, weekend work and slugging around a laptop absolutely everywhere you go. You are your business and to make any progress expect to be met with a lot of hard hustle hours.
At least in the beginning, the lines between work and life will be entirely blurred. Is your family supportive of what you will be doing? Will your friends be understanding of last minute bails and is your partner okay with at most thirty percent of your attention at any given moment in time?
You might be that Type-A person, ready to give it your everything. But remember, it will also be up to you to structure your own schedules and balance out your own time out for being social or even prioritising mental and physical health. Easier said than done.
Are you hungry for it?
Now this is perhaps the most important question of all. You might be ready for more satisfying work, for balancing your hard graft and schedule flexibility. You can learn the organisation skills and how to develop your network and structure your projects. But unless you’ve got it in you to be a self-starter, then freelance likely won’t be for you.
Will you get yourself up in the mornings without a boss watching the clock? Will you ignore the temptation of just one more blog post in bed with coffee? Are you lulled by the idea of working in your pyjamas and “oh, Netflix is just on in the background”?
If you’re freelance there won’t be anyone else there motivate you or to contribute to your success. It’s all you babe, the good with the bad.
You be the judge
Now if you’ve even made it to the bottom of this post and I haven’t lost you with all my seeming discouragement, I want to finish by saying that freelance life can be incredible. If you’re ready for it, then there is nothing more satisfying than working towards your own future and seeing the fruits of your labour going to you and you alone. You can produce work you truly love and begin to shape your career the way you want.
If you have said yes to more than half these questions then go for it. The timing will never feel absolutely right, you just have to take the leap. Good luck friends!