Freelancing

Reds-on-Sea

Hi all,

lurking on this forum for a while, thought you might be able to help me.

I'm currently unhappy at work, and am looking for a new job. I'm not having much luck as of yet, and was toying with the idea of doing some freelance work to get some varied experience (I'm a creative artworker/graphic designer). I'm slightly nervous at the prospect of not having a guaranteed, regular income, although I'm told that this is something I can do in my spare time as well. I was under the impression that this kind of job usually involved actually going to work at a company (during the day) and working there.... If I could do it as a 2nd job, so to speak, this would be great, as it would earn me potentially loads of extra cashI just don't know enough about it.

Anyone got any experience in this field? Thanks

briona

Hello :hello:

I'm a graphic designer who quit my 9-5 job at the end of June to go freelance. Within 1 week I had landed a lucrative freelance position (2 weeks' work to cover someone's holiday) and then I was called back for another week as well. So far, so good. HOWEVER, the company pay on 30 days (NOT something I was counting on) meaning that I will finally see some money early next week. Until now my savings have been taking the hit. Through existing contacts I have pretty much secured another 4 weeks' work or so which, if I'm careful, will see me not having to work again till January.

To maximise my chances of landing contracts I registered with virtually every specialist agency going, and despite their "we review every CV and get back to you within 24hrs" promises, I've never heard back from any of them. So far, so NOT good. I chased a few up and managed to arrange a meeting with one agency who practically fell over themselves telling me they could place me immediately... only I never heard from them again. Word to the wise: DON'T rely on agencies to bring in the work.

I'm a mid-senior graphic designer with over 9 years' experience, able to use both Quark and InDesign, have worked for some very high profile clients, got experience in brochures, reports, DM, corporate identity, branding... you name it! I've also got good repro knowledge, estimating and print buying experience and the agencies are STILL telling me there's nothing out there for me.

Despite all of this I am happy I left my 9-5 job. And no one said freelancing was going to be easy! My advice: set yourself up first. I have a website with a downloadable portfolio, a 'designy' CV, and (fortunately!) a cushion of a few months' savings. I live with my best friend so when things are tight financially I know I'm not going to starve. I don't have a mortgage or dependents – if I did, there is no way I would do this.

Hope that helps

Briona


PS: Beware of doing it as a 'second job' – yes, you may earn 'loads' but it would more than likely put you in breach of your contract.

RichOneday_2

Instead of waiting for someone to offer you the right role for your circumstances, you can always advertise what you're looking for, eg Working from home, flexible hours, and increase/decrease your chances of getting work by adjusting the hourly rate you are prepared to take.

There are 2 sites I've found so far which have a decent number of companies looking for freelancers: setyourrate.com and peopleperhour.com. It seems to be boom time because there are plenty professionals needing a bit more income.

OrangeProse

I was a freelancer for a while, a year or so ago. I'm a copywriter, and work in marketing.

I found that it's all very much about who you know. If you've got contacts all over the place in the industry who will sort you out with work then you'll probably be fine - I know a handful of designers, art directors and copywriters who make a successful living doing this and they are all very well connected. Briona's right - the specialist agencies are, 99% of the time, full of hot air. Worth registering with them for permanent vacancies, however - get your face known, especially if you're trying out a new area.

What you do have to be is the kind of person who takes advantage of any opportunity to push your professional proposition - at parties, lunches, anywhere else for that matter! So I guess it's not just about knowing the right people, it's about being a bit brazen and cheeky with it.

The other thing is location. If you're based in, or can get to, London (or to a lesser extent, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow or Cardiff) then there are a lot of opportunities and although competition is fierce, you should at least be able to get your foot in the door. Outside of these areas agencies start getting a bit thin on the ground.

With regards to doing it on the side, lots of agency staff do 'dark projects' (as a colleague of mine puts it) freelance, but as Briona said, you'd be in breach of contract and if you got caught, you could lose your day job.

If you do go freelance full-time, getting people to pay you can be an uphill struggle. Some agencies are very, very good and will pay freelancers pretty quickly (I always used to insist on 14 days, and usually got paid on 30, which was fine as I'd budgeted for it) but some are naughty and hold off paying freelancers, as they tend to be creative types not comfortable with credit control! Last year I was owed over £2000 by an agency and it took almost three months to get any money out of them.

Final point - get your proposition clear. To most creative directors, graphic designer and creative artworker are two different things. You could market yourself as both, but you need a clear definition - and I'd avoid putting a combined proposition to any one target, as you run the risk of looking poorly defined. And when you're wanting £300 a day, you need to look like you're at the top of your game.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

Reds-on-Sea

Wow, thanks guys you've been really helpful.

I've got about 5 years experience as a Creative Artworker for a large sign company, many, many high profile clients etc, lots of branding, corporate identity stuff in many sectors, and good repro/print knowledge, I've got great technical skills (CS3 etc), and am sure I could do many of the jobs I apply to with ease, but as I haven't specifically got agency experience, I seem to be having trouble getting noticed, or is it just ultra competetive? I think my portfolio demonstrates all this for the most part, but as I haven't seen anyone elses, I just don't know what's expected. I don't want to rule out Design jobs, as I'm fully capable in that area and don't want to narrow my horizons too much, although I would be happier Artworking. I know what you mean about sounding like a "jack of all trades, master of none" kinda thing though. I'm in Essex, so happy to commute to East/Central London, & ideally I want to land myself a permanent position, but it just doesn't seem to be happening right now, so was thinking of way to both improve my chances and earn some extra cash. There isn't anything (as far as I'm aware) in my contract about moonlighting, as it's not agency.

I'm just soo unhappy in my present job too.... I feel like I'm gonna be stuck here forever!

I'd like to dip my finger in the freelancing pie, just wanted to know if it's possible whilst still keeping down a full time job. Also, I'll give the networking thing a go tonight, I'm going to a swanky london party full of arty/creative types

briona

Reds-on-Sea wrote: »

I'm just soo unhappy in my present job too.... I feel like I'm gonna be stuck here forever!

I know exactly where you’re coming from! After 5 years in my last job I was SO damn miserable, I could hardly get up for work in the morning. So I quit. But freelancing is pretty competitive at the moment – everyone seems to have the same idea!

One of the biggest problems is convincing a recruitment agency that you CAN do the job. My CV consists of employment initially in high street print shops, a brief stint in a design studio and the majority of my experience being in the design studio of a non-profit organisation. But, it doesn’t say “worked in top 10 design agency”, it’s being rejected outright.

Also I’m finding that a lack of specialisation appears to be the stumbling block for many jobs. Take DM, for example, I have experience in doing it but haven’t specialised in it, hence instant rejection! You may find that working in signwriting provides you with specialisation...

With regards to your portfolio, if you can get an appointment with a recruitment agency, they will give you feedback on it. Some of the agencies’ websites have a downloadable portfolio tips file – interesting stuff but all to be taken with a pinch of salt as they are usually in direct contradiction with the next agency!

Marketing yourself primarily as an artworker wouldn’t be a bad thing since (according to the adverts I’ve seen) there are currently a huge amount of artworking positions available. Note though that graphic designers command a substantially higher rate than artworkers – approx. £25-35ph for designers compared with £16-22ph for artworkers.

Hope that helps

Briona

Reds-on-Sea

Thanks Briona.

I didn't know about the difference in rate, it doesn't seem to be reflected in salaries I've been looking at. Still, it's more than I'm earning now I'll have to look into somehow finding somewhere to give me feedback on my portfolio.

if it wasn't for my mortgage commitments, I'd leave today and put all my efforts into finding something new or creating my own business. I've got a real drive to get on with it now. It's a bit of a pain for me at the moment, as due to home improvements, I'm off the web at home & I got told off for looking @ jobs at work *hehe*

thanks, I'll keep at it.