How to Be a Freelance Designer

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Table of Contents Why We Wrote This Book

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Is Freelancing For You?

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+LÄUPUN@V\Y:RPSS:L[Z

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Setting Your Rates

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Writing Quotes

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Getting Design Clients

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:[H`PUN(ÅVH[

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Resources

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Why We Wrote This Book

There’s no reason to be delicate about this: starting a freelance design business is hard. You’ve worked hard to develop your skills as a designer, and now you need to be a salesperson, a marketer, a bookkeeper, a businessperson, and more! To make it worse, by KLÄUP[PVU`V\»YLPUP[HSVULHS[OV\NOOVWLM\SS``V\H[SLHZ[OH]L supportive friends and family). We wrote this book to try to make it a little easier. This book is intended to help new freelancers struggle less and avoid pitfalls, and to help more experienced freelancers take their freelancing [V[OLUL_[SL]LSTHRPUNP[TVYLWYVÄ[HISLTVYLZ[HISLHUKTVYL fun. We have written this book for graphic designers, but most of the information and ideas in here will be equally useful to anyone who freelances, including photographers, writers, web developers, consultants, and more. 0M`V\ÄUK[OPZMYLLIVVR]HS\HISL[OLILZ[^H`Z[V[OHUR\ZHYL[VWHZZ it on, and to follow our blog at http://somedesignblog.com. Happy freelancing! -the Some Design Blog team

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2

Is Freelancing For You?

Many people get into freelance design with the simple, logical idea that what they want is to do graphic design for a living. Makes sense, right? Sure, but we need to be honest with ourselves that being a freelance designer doesn’t just involve designing things. As we touched on in the introduction, being a freelancer involves wearing many hats, and developing some new skill sets. Starting off can be tough work, but the rewards are also great. Like many things in life, we need to look at the advantages and KPZHK]HU[HNLZVMKPMMLYLU[WH[OZPM^L^HU[[VÄUK[OLVUL[OH[»ZILZ[MVY us. Before we get into how to start freelancing, let’s take a quick look H[^O`[VZ[HY[MYLLSHUJPUNHUKL]LU^O`UV[[V/LYLHYLZVTLVM[OL differences between freelancing and working as an employee.

Advantages Of Being a Freelancer  Be your own boss  Work from home  >VYRPU`V\YWHQHTHZPM`V\^HU[[V  Flexible schedule  More control over your work environment  Greater potential income-to-work ratio  Opportunities to do a wide variety of work

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Advantages Of Being An Employee  Reliable income  4LKPJHSKLU[HSWLUZPVUPUZ\YHUJLILULÄ[Z  :VJPHSHZWLJ[ZVM^VYRPUNPUHUVMÄJL  3V^LYÄUHUJPHSYPZR  6US`YLZWVUZPISLMVYVULHYLHVM[OLI\ZPULZZKLZPNU  +LÄULKIV\UKHYPLZIL[^LLU^VYRHUKWLYZVUHSSPML  *VUZPZ[LU[^VYROV\YZ\Z\HSS`

Disadvantages Of Being a Freelancer  Self-employment can be lonely  >VYR\Z\HSS`JVTLZPU¸MLHZ[VYMHTPUL¹J`JSLZHSV[H[VUJL[OLU

little or none)  7LYZVUHSÄUHUJPHSYPZR  9LZWVUZPIPSP[`VMÄUKPUNUL^^VYRPZLU[PYLS``V\YZ

Disadvantages Of Being An Employee  Workplace politics  Growth potential can be limited  Lower potential income  Less control

Hopefully, looking at these comparisons has given you a clear view of what is entailed in being a freelance designer. I have heard it said that when you work for yourself you “trade the illusion of security for the illusion of freedom”, and I have to say, I agree. Changes in the economy, VYPU[OLUH[\YLVM[OLPUK\Z[Y`P[ZLSMZ\JOHZOV^KPNP[HSJVU[LU[OHZ drastically changed the music and publishing industries) can change the nature of an employee’s job security rather quickly, and at the same time a freelancer only has as much “freedom” as her workload, and her

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responsibilities to her clients, allows. Some designers choose to freelance as a means of gaining experience HUK[VI\PSKHWVY[MVSPV\U[PS[OL`JHUNL[OPYLKH[HSHYNLÄYT^OPSL others choose to make freelancing their entire career. Many designers RLLWWHY[[PTLVYL]LUM\SS[PTLQVIZ^OLU[OL`ÄYZ[Z[HY[MYLLSHUJPUN[V provide some steady income while they build up their client base. You OH]LHSV[VMÅL_PIPSP[`PUOV^HUK^O``V\MYLLSHUJLZV`V\JHUTHRLP[ Ä[`V\YV^UULLKZHUKNVHSZ Ultimately, the choice between employee or freelance comes down to what you are more comfortable with and how you feel about the riskreward trade-off that comes with either role. If you are undecided at this point, here are a few questions that you may want to ask yourself:  What is more valuable to you: stability or potential reward?  Are you entrepreneurially-minded, or do you prefer letting others

deal with the business end of things?  Would you rather work out your own way of doing things, or do you

WYLMLYILPUNNP]LUZWLJPÄJKPYLJ[PVUZ&  Can you keep yourself motivated when working on your own?  Are you disciplined enough to put money aside on your own for

things like taxes, retirement plan, slow periods, etc.?  (YL`V\JVTMVY[HISL^P[OHNNYLZZP]LS`NVPUNV\[HUKÄUKPUN^VYR

when you need it?

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Defining Your Skill Sets

OK... you’re a graphic designer, but that’s a pretty broad descriptor. Within the realm of graphic design there are many skill sets that come into play, and there are a lot of non-design-related skills that can make you a better, more employable designer.

Your Skill Inventory It’s time to take stock of what you have to offer your clients, so get out HWPLJLVMWHWLYVYZ[HY[HUL^KVJ\TLU[PU`V\Y^VYKWYVJLZZVYHUK start making a list. On your page, make two headings: Primary Skills, HUK:LJVUKHY`:RPSSZ5V^ILMVYL^LZ[HY[THRPUN[OPZSPZ[SL[»ZKLÄUL these two categories. Primary skills are things you are a professional at. They’re skills where your abilities are strong enough to win clients by their own virtue. Secondary skills are skills that you could potentially offer VU[OLZPKL"[OL`^VU»[Ä[PU[V`V\YQVI[P[SLI\[`V\JHUKVHYLHZVUHISL job of them when you need to. If this is confusing, look at it this way: say you’re trying to decide if user interface design should go under your primary or secondary skill list. If you saw an ad on a job board looking to hire a freelancer to do user interface design, would you apply? If yes, put it under the Primary category. If you wouldn’t apply for the job, would you say “yes” if a client asked you to do as part of a bigger project? If so, put it in the Secondary category. If you answered no to both, leave it off the list completely. SomeDesignBlog.com: Resources, advice and ideas to build your graphic design business

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62ZVUV^[OH[^L»]LJSLHYLK[OH[\WZ[HY[ÄSSPUNV\[`V\YSPZ[)L honest with yourself about your skill level in each of these because you’re not doing yourself a favor if you pitch clients on skills you’re a bit shaky with. Here are a few sample skills that may, or may not, be on your list:  Logo design  Brand management  User interface design  Usability testing  Copywriting  Marketing  Advertising design  Desktop publishing  Packaging design  Website template design  >LITHYR\W/;43*::L[J  Photography  Strategic planning  Social media marketing  Project management  Illustration

Now, take look at your primary skills. These are skills you can, and should, promote. Explicitly list these on your business card, website, brochures, email signature, etc. to open yourself up to receiving that kind of business. It may sound a little silly, but it works. You’d be surprised by how many clients never stop to think that the designer who did their business cards could also do their advertisements. We made the secondary skills list for a reason, too. For starters, now

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that you’ve made this list, you can start using it to up-sell. If copywriting is a secondary skill for you, and a client hires you to design a brochure for them, this list will help you remember to ask if they will supply the copy, or if they would like you to quote on writing the brochure as well. @V\TH`Q\Z[NL[TVYL^VYRV\[VMP[[OHU`V\L_WLJ[LKHUKWYLZ\TPUN your writing skills are better than the client’s are) they will end up with a better product because of it. The other reason we made the secondary skills list is because you can use it to add clout to your primary skills by promoting how your secondary skills strengthen your primary skills. For example, if marketing is one of your secondary skills, you can tell clients that you “approach design with marketing strategy in mind”. It sounds impressive and gives the client a reason to hire you over someone else.

Specialist Vs. Generalist Freelance graphic designers fall into one of two categories: generalists, who take on all types of graphic design work; and specialists, meaning [OL`MVJ\ZVUVULZWLJPÄJUPJOLVMNYHWOPJKLZPNUZ\JOHZIYHUK development, advertising, e-commerce websites, etc.). The path that is right for you will depend on what interests you, the size of market you’re offering your services in, and your own skills and strengths. Below are a few of the factors you may want to consider when choosing which method you feel will work best for you.

)LULÄ[ZVM)LPUNH:WLJPHSPZ[  6WWVY[\UP[`[VÄULS`OVUL`V\YZRPSSZPUVULHYLH  Possibility of building a reputation as an expert  Ability to take a larger percentage of a smaller market

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)LULÄ[ZVM)LPUNH.LULYHSPZ[  Larger available target market  More variety in the projects you take on  Potentially more work per client

If you choose to be a generalist, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a specialty, or even that you won’t end up with a reputation of competence for a particular type of work, merely that you’re promoting yourself as available for a wide variety of projects. Similarly, if you promote yourself as as specialist, it doesn’t mean that you can’t take on projects outside that scope, but clients are unlikely to seek out a “logo design specialist” to design a brochure for them.

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4

Setting Your Rates

/V^[VÄN\YLV\[^OH[[VJOHYNLPZHOLH]PS`KPZJ\ZZLKHUKKLIH[LK topic for freelancers, and for good reason, because it can dramatically affect your income and your workload. In this section we’ll take a look at the process of determining a rate that works for your design business.

Understanding Your Rates Before we look at the process, we should get some facts out in the open and dispel some of the myths that can lead freelancers to set rates that don’t work for them.

Your Hourly Rate Is Not Your Hourly Wage Many freelancers start out with the idea that if they charge $X per hour, [OL`THRL?WLYOV\Y