Freelancing, iPods and Zunes

So, this article is actually about my freelancing experiences, but I wanted to rant a little bit about my mp3 player troubles first. If you don’t care about mp3 players, but care about the freelancing stuff, down the page with you!

iPods

I would like to confess that I, a devout PC user (though not an Apple hater) have invested in an 8GB iPod touch. Several other mp3 players have repeatedly failed me for various reasons including being too confusing or just growing too senile, and I decided to take this opportunity to take the plunge and see what all the fuss is about. (Last time I did this was with Twitter… it took a bit, but it grew on me.)

I used mp3 players almost exclusively in an on-the-go fashion (while working out or walking around), and less for browsing internets and catching up on my Facebook — but the ones I’ve had so far that at first glance looked like they were designed for that sort of “lightweight” lifestyle ended up being more cumbersome than streamlined. So, we’ll see, maybe something a bit more luxury would work after all! I’m excited to receive the iPod and find out if I will actually like it or not, though I expect I will.

Zunes

Would anybody be interested in a fully-functional 80GB Zune player with a dead battery for $50-60? You can replace the battery for $25 and have a beautiful good-as-new $300-value mp3 player. (No, seriously, check out how much they go for )

If you don’t need one for music-ing, you can fix the battery for $25 anyway and sell to a gullible person on internets for $9000 and be $8975 richer. Or it can be great to strap to an operating table and carry out, uh, experiments on. Either way, endless fun awaits you!

And of course, I’d love to ship it out to you. Love, Natalie.

P.S. 80GB IS A LOT AND THE SCREEN IS BEAUTIFUL AND I HAVE TAKEN EPIC CARE OF IT 8D

Okay, now to the meat of the post.

Freelancing

Just wanted to sound off a little bit on this, since I’m coming up on right around my fourth month in the “business,” slowly learning the unspoken rules of the game, the dos and the don’ts. So far I have no horror stories befitting Clients from Hell, and so far I’ve yet to regret anything major I did. Which I think is a good thing.

This is not an exhaustive list on the topic (and I wasn’t aiming for that), but I wanted to jot down a things that I learned that blew my mind on some level:

Make sketches and “rough work” anything BUT rough.

No matter how much the client says “I don’t care if it’s rough napkin work,” build it out and make it look nice. Rough work is not the same thing as sloppy work — you need to sell them the idea. Often the guy that will be looking at it will have a harder time seeing through sketches to their potential, and a more built out sketch that, even if still broad, shows confidence in the idea will be the deciding factor between a “this could work” and a “no,” especially if the client is under stress as well (which often times will be).

An anecdote: Some while ago, I was one of two designers hired to work on concepting mockups for a project — we were working separately (in competition). When judgment day came, it turned out that the design concept itself was more of a toss-up between us, and I expected that perhaps pieces from both our designs would be used (and hoped mine still might get picked). However, it turned out that the other designer provided a more built-out mockup than I did. Guess whose got picked? (I was sad for about 5 seconds, but then I realized I better out-mockup the other guy next time! )

Obviously, this won’t be the deciding factor all the time, but it can be. And it was frustrating.

Be early with deadlines.

Organizations who run on a schedule not unlike your own appreciate this much more than individuals, but it’s never a bad idea. It can be hard to realize that the client on the other end has to play the time-estimate game and maneuver it around his/her schedule as much as you, but often times that’s the case. They want it in by Friday? Make it Thursday. They’ll be happy, first of all (which is brownie points for you), and they might even have time to send a few initial thoughts your way which can only help you.

Do your stuff not for money, but for fun sometimes.

What you do when you procrastinate is probably what you should be doing for the rest of your life. –Someone genius

Trying to make money as a creative is one of those things that’s really hard to do unless you really love it. It. That thing that you do. Making websites or coding or drawing or event-planning or fashion design consultation, whatever it is you do. And assuming you love it, chances are, you probably started out doing it for fun first before you realized people are willing to (or can be coerced into ) paying for it. And you should continue to do so!

I’m a firm believer in that your portfolio doesn’t need to have ONLY your professor-approved school work, or ONLY your professional work that you did with your face in a creative brief. Many clients WILL look for personality and passion in your work, regardless of whether it was made for a previous client or not, and it often comes through much easier in things you make for yourself. As many strict rules as there are for what “should” or “should not” be in your portfolio (and of course these rules change when you need to present a sample of your work to a specific interviewer), I am of the belief that creating personal projects in your free time that inspire you can really benefit you professionally. What better way to show off what you do and where your skills are than by including work that you’re passionate about and done while laboring in freedom (as long as it’s good quality)?

Important note: Having a portfolio that shows you can work on things you’re NOT necessarily passionate about and make them look good anyway is a very strong sign. In fact, ultimately, your goal as a creative-for-hire WILL be to execute a vision that is not your own. However, working on your craft on your own builds up skill and adds to your range of material — and the more of what you can do you have to show off, the more chance you have of someone seeing it and going “Omg! I’ve been looking for someone with a talent for drawing steampunk camels ALL MY LIFE!!!!1″ …And the projects that come out of that will probably be right up your alley.

Case in point. I often think my spending days and days drawing stuff is wasting time, but so far I actually got more gigs as a result of this half-baked thing than any of my “official portfolio projects.” I mean, I dunno… if anything, it should tell you what you shine at!

Respect yourself.

This is usually a problem with softie people, and I’m a softie person. I’m very trusting (naive, you could say), and I’m most prone to accepting jobs for less pay than I think is fair to me. I’m very prone to letting the client pay me 30% up front and not 50% if they complain they “don’t have the money” right now. Sometimes I even talk myself into thinking, I’m just starting out, I don’t deserve a professional’s rate. So what if it’s less than half of what I’ve wanted…? I’ll… live… I’m just starting out… I’ll charge more next time, as I get better…

There’s “starting out” and then there’s “bending over.” Don’t bend over. If you’re just starting out, you may be a beginner in the freelancing business, but chances are, you’re no beginner in your field, which is what you’re selling. If the client is hiring you, they like and want your work, so don’t sell yourself short.

Personal story: once I received a commission request for a poster (which would have involved extensive preliminary sketching and then hours and hours of vectoring). He asked how much I would charge for something like that. Given the information he provided, I estimated the time and gave the price window as between $250 and $400. The person said it was way more than he expected and offered $30 instead.

Hm.

Usually, it is just that they don’t realize that a good design is “a luxury item”, and not that they’re trying to de-value you or your work. Companies and more “up-scale” clients that do understand this will be trickier to deal with, because they are usually quite ready to give you the money and are more relying on you to tell them how much you need. And that’s a lot of pressure! You don’t want to overcharge them, and you certainly don’t want to end up working twice the amount you estimated. And the newer you are to this business, the tougher it can be to estimate — and yes, often times you’ll finish the job and say to yourself, “that was much harder than I thought.” That’s okay. Perfectly healthy learning experience. Note it down.

Sometimes, thinking of an hourly rate and then estimating time can be a good way to go in such situations (excellent in-depth discussion of this here and here ), and small adjustments in project scope, I believe, are the way to go if the client cannot afford the sum you request (rather than compromising yourself and lowering your rates). Follow your gut, though — it could just be that you really love their project (or having it in your portfolio is worth that much to you) that it might be worth it to drop your prices a bit?

Related articles on this topic I enjoyed (written by people that know what they’re doing ):

Why Design Can’t Be Billed By The Hour
I Wish I Would Have Known (Answers From 11 Top Freelancers)
Drawing the Line: 6 Things You Shouldn’t Tolerate In Projects

So yeah. That’s what I sez. Probably will post more rants once I run into more life-changing experiences. Thanks for reading.