Freelance Dilemma of Putting Your Eggs in One Basket

When you first start freelancing, it will be tempting to put all of your proverbial freelance eggs into one basket. The temptation to find a client that will consistently feed you work is what we all want as freelance graphic designers, web developers and writers. I encourage this wholeheartedly but don’t rely on just one client as your main source of income, no matter how tasty the deal. This will set you up for failure every time, just take it from Michelle Goodman, the successful freelance writer and writer of the fantastic book My So-Called Freelance Life. In this book she explains how she worked for one company for an extended period of time when all of the sudden, that company folded, leaving her high and dry with no clients or income. She saw this as an opportunity and only excelled from there, finding new clients and building her business the smart way. Having a handful of clients to rely on for your income is a safe way to run your business.

I’ll be honest, this happened to me recently. At first I was afraid. This client wasn’t the only one I had but they did provide me with consistent income and I’d gotten comfortable, too comfortable. Since I lost this client, I’ve really been hustling and have more leads now than ever before. I do believe that this happening was a blessing in disguise.

In Conclusion:

Always have a backup plan. Having a handful of clients is always better than having just one so if one client falls off the face of the planet, you’re not totally screwed (for lack of a better word). I also suggest keeping your name in various temp agency databases. Aquent and Artisan are good places to start but they are two of the larger job placement agencies that cater to creative professionals, meaning lots and lots of competition. There may be smaller, more local job placement agencies in your city that could be more beneficial in getting you work quickly. Bottom line, always have many alternatives available when business is slow or dwindling, this is the safest way to go!

The New Freelance Client High

Finding clients is crucial to our success as freelance graphic designers, especially those first few clients. Having a strong portfolio, savvy marketing skills and providing great customer service is the way to snag your first client. Presenting these qualities to potential clients will ensure a few bites about your graphic design services. After negotiating cost with a potential client and getting a signed contract in your hands, finally it’s time to celebrate! You just acquired a new client! Here’s where I experience what I like to call, the new client high. Even-though I have been freelancing for nearly a year now, I still experience this feeling. There are pros and cons that come along with this new sense of euphoria.

The best pro is that once you have  snagged that new client, the future seems so bright and is a real confidence booster. This boost of confidence is important when you’re first starting out as a freelance designer. This is the time when I find myself to be the most productive. I’m quick to get things in order to and start working on the new project asap. Here’s where the largest con of the new client high emerges, becoming a pushover.

When you first begin working with a new client, it will be tempting to bend over backwards and wait on them hand and foot. If you stick within the parameters of your estimate and contract then this is no problem. However if your client starts piling on more work than discussed and being much more demanding than you planned for, this is unacceptable. Great customer service is one thing, but being taken advantage of due to your eagerness is another. Don’t be so easy to please that you stray from your contracts guidelines and in the end make yourself miserable.

In Conclusion:

The new freelance client high is something all freelance graphic designers experience. Finding new clients and becoming a successful freelancer is exhilarating, no doubt about it, but don’t let that feeling make you lose your business head.

Ways to Get Swindled Right Out of Graphic Design School

In design school (or even high school for those of you talented enough not to need additional education) the future is bright and you’re certain that you’ll be an instant success right out of school! Right?! Wrong. Way wrong. There are people in the world looking for fresh, naive graphic design talent to take advantage of, especially in the freelance arena. Just log on to your local Craiglist.org design listing page and look for those ads looking for a logo for $50, or for businesses looking for free graphic design that will only enhance your portfolio and give your creativity the exposure it deserves! Whatever, these people just want your creative ideas for nothing. You need a finely tuned BS-detector to weed out these types of clients, which you won’t have entering the graphic design field right out of design school.

If you hear these phrases from potential clients, you’re probably going to get swindled:

“I feel uncomfortable signing your contract.”

Red flag numero uno. A contract is a non-negotiable. A contract or design agreement, lays out the ground work for the project and lets your client know up front about payment schedules, how you accept payment, the number of revisions you’ll do before additional payment is required, etc… If a potential client is giving you the run around about signing your contract or down right refuses, run for the hills. Chances are they won’t pay on time (or at all) and will be extremely difficult to work with. The temptation to go forward with a project and work with a new client without a contract will be tempting for a freelance graphic designer right out of school, but resist the temptation! Save yourself the headache and use the time you’ll save stressing about this client to find better clients that will actually pay you.

For help understanding or crafting a design contract or agreement, check out these resources to get you started:

Outlaw Design Blog – Graphic Designer Contracts Agreements Forms and Web Designer Contracts

David Airey – Using Freelance Graphic Design Contracts

Freelance Folder – Do You Need a Contract for Freelance Work?

“You’re quote is a little too high, how about you do it for this (insert measly dollar amount here).”

If your rates are reasonable and your quote is well thought out given the project, don’t budge on price. Do your best to explain how you came up with your quote. I never go into too much detail, but I explain what is included in the quote: research, sketching, designing and X number of revisions. These factors will vary depending on the project.

“I’d do this project myself, but I don’t have time.”

This type of prospective client may have taken a web design class at their local community college 8 years ago, clearly making them an expert on subject of graphic design (in their minds). Clients like this might request a copy of your source files during or after the project is done so they can “tweak” them or make changes down the road. You wouldn’t ask a painter to leave his tools behind after he paints your house so you can touch up spots a few months later. Don’t let clients “tweak” your work.

“Payment upfront? We’ll pay you once we’re satisfied…”

…Or not at all. Many designers require a 50% deposit on all projects upfront, and for good reason. If after rounds and rounds of changes and months of work a client decides they don’t like what you’ve done and goes off the grid, at least you made a little money for your hard work and time. Normally there’s not a lot you can do in this situation, but if the amount they owe is substantial, take legal action (only pursue this option after many e-mails and phone calls to the delinquent client). You’re running a business, not a charity. This is also an instance where having a signed contract in your hands is crucial.

“Do a spec of this project, then we’ll be able to know for sure if you’re the right designer for the job.”

No spec work EVER. There’s a huge movement happening in the graphic design community to eradicate spec work completely. When I first started freelancing, I got roped into doing spec work because I thought that was a standard practice. Veteran freelance designers will be quick to tell you otherwise. Spec work devalues our industry and makes it incredibly easy for potential clients to steal your work and use it for free, or hand it off to another designer willing to work for peanuts to rework what you’ve done and claim it as their own. Yes, unfortunately these type of low life clients and graphic designers exist.

“This project is easy and shouldn’t take you anytime at all!”

I’ve heard this more times than I can count and it makes me cringe each time. There are clients out there that believe you have a magical button on your keyboard that when pressed churns out the exact design your client wants in five seconds. This is an opportunity for you to educate your potential client about you creative process. When I send a potential client a quote, I always include a note that says something like “This quote includes all research, sketching and design work…” to dispel this myth that what we designers do is “easy”.

In Conclusion:

Always be cordial and quick to explain your processes if you ever hear these phrases from a potential client. We’re professionals and sometimes we have to explain what we do in order for our clients to get on the same page, but don’t spend too much time on a client if there’s clearly no way to get through to them. I look at it this way, if I take my car in to get it worked on and the quote on the repairs is too high, I’ll generally go ahead with it after a clear explanation of what’s being done to my car. Our potential clients deserve the same courtesy.

Tips on Choosing a Design Specialty

Being a jack of all trades isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Many creative types consider themselves a jack of all trades and are truly a master of none. Equipping yourself with knowledge is one thing, but spreading yourself too thin is another. Defining a specialty as a freelance graphic designer is an important first step when starting your freelance career. Being a generalist/jack of all trades might seem smart, but being very experienced and knowledgable about one area of design is much more attractive to clients.

Here are a few tips to help:

• Figure out your strengths and weaknesses: This is a crucial first step. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you pick and choose the projects you want to work on and will excel at.

• Figure out what you like to do: Pretty self explanatory, if you hate doing print design or have experience with PHP, that probably should not be your specialty.

• Don’t be afraid to dabble: Dabbling and doing different projects is a good way of finding a design specialty that suits you. Design school projects and taking on pro-bono work can provide opportunities to experiment and dabble in various design work. If you’re an aspiring web designer but are interested in print design, take a print production class. If you’re interested in Wordpress (and have some basic knowledge), contact a non-profit about sprucing up their outdated Wordpress blog design. You get the idea.

In Conclusion:

Finding a design specialty and sticking with it will benefit your freelance design business imensly. By being able to define your specialty, you can focus on only the choice projects and clients, making for a much more lucrative and enjoyable freelance design career.

Freelance Tax Tips

Let’s start out with a little disclaimer right off the bat: I am in no way shape or form a tax expert. I’m just sharing my knowledge about freelancing and taxes.

Taxes are a fact of life that we all deal with, but especially as freelancers. Whether your a freelance graphic designer, web developer, dog walker, hair stylist or basket weaver, your tax obligations will be waiting for you. It’s easy for new freelancers to overlook this little gift from the government, but there are ways to keep on top your tax responsibilities and come out unscathed after April 15th.

Find an Accountant

Find one, now. Finding an accountant to prepare your taxes will put your mind at ease and help save you from being audited. Make sure to keep all business receipts and keep track of any business purchases (computers, printers, office furniture). An accountant will know how to utilize these expenses into deductions as well as your office dimensions, rent and utility costs. Yes, you can deduct all of this! Your accountant will be your new bff come tax time.

Paying Taxes Quarterly

Paying taxes quarterly (every 3 months) can help tremendously with keeping the taxes you owe in check. Instead of having one large lump sum, you can make payments through out the year, keeping your sanity and savings account in tact. Your new bff, the accountant, can help set this up as well.

1099 Tax Forms

If you’re working as an independent contractor for an extended period of time with one client, you can expect to receive a 1099 from said client come tax time. In a nutshell, a 1099 is a form/record of all the money you made working for that single client. There are no tax deductions included on a 1099 form (such as social security, federal and state taxes). Again, an accountant can explain this much better.

Save, Save, Save

Since I’d only been a full-time freelancer since June 2009, this year I opted to estimate and save enough money to cover my taxes. Some veteran freelancers set up an entirely separate savings account just for tax purposes. While this method might work for some freelancers, It’s not one I recommend, since it’s difficult to estimate just how much you’ll owe since it all depends on what you’ll make that year. I personally won’t be doing this again, however if your great and socking money away in an account you won’t touch and have a good idea of what you’re going to owe, more power to you.

In Conclusion:

Paying taxes suck, let’s be honest, but there are many avenues freelance graphic designers, like me and you, can take to make paying them suck less. This being my first year being on my own and dealing with my taxes all by my lonesome, I feel like I’ve learned a lot and definitely know that I’ll be seeking the help of an accountant the next time around. Getting help from the pros is never a bad thing, and isn’t that the motto that we graphic designers, web developers, dog walkers, hair stylists and basket weavers hinge our businesses on? Bottom line, if you’re in doubt about your taxes, talk to an accountant and leave this tax business to the professionals.

Design Instructors vs. Freelance Graphic Design

When I was in design school I always felt like the ultimate goal was to graduate and land a great job at an ad agency or newspaper. A few days ago I got to thinking about this and my initial thought was ‘why’? Why did I feel so pressured to jet out of school and immediately find a job where I’d have to dress up everyday (ew). Then it hit me, my instructors.

I always knew I wanted to freelance/run my own business. My mom and a few relatives had businesses of their own and I always admired them. After graduating from college (the first time around) with a degree in Advertising, I did what I thought I was supposed to and ran out and tried to find a great job in my field. I’m well educated, eager and highly motivated (I thought to myself) surely this won’t be hard! I was wrong, dead wrong. I quickly found out that “entry level” creative positions in an advertising agency require at least 3-5 years of experience. I wasn’t getting any interviews, no bites, nothing. I sent out hundreds of resumes to various agencies and businesses with in house advertising positions. Nothing. I had to start applying to any old job because I had to pay bills and I took a labor job watering plants in office buildings while I continued to look for work in my field. Eventually I knew I’d need more experience and knowledge in graphic design to get the jobs I wanted.

I went back to school for graphic design with high hopes. I loved my classes and even started freelancing a little in school, taking cheap projects creating flyers and whatnot. Here I started to realize that, while the freelance projects I was working on weren’t anything to write home about, I loved the whole freelancing process. I expressed this to some of my instructors, who were also freelance designers and teaching on the side. Some of their responses were very positive but some had many negative things to say. This was discouraging. They made it sound like working for yourself was just too hard and most people can’t hack it, especially young designers. I believed this and went back to gunning for more conventional graphic design positions.

Maybe these instructors were trying to stress the importance of getting more experience working for someone else right out of school. I agree that this is a good step in the freelance direction but I know many you designers that have successful freelance business never having worked for “the man.”

In Conclusion:

Having some industry experience is important, that’s why internships and making contacts in the graphic design field is so important, but should young designers be discouraged to freelance before working in the industry? Is getting that experience always best while you put your dreams on the back burner?

5 Tips for Staying Creatively Inspired

Being a freelance graphic designer affords you the opportunity to only work with the best clients, on the best projects and for the best money out there. That’s the idea anyway, but if you’re just starting out, chances are you’re going to take on some less than glamorous projects to make ends meet and to make yourself more well known as a freelance graphic designer.  Sure, designing a website for a local mold removal company might seem like a less than special task, but with the right mind set and inspiration, it’s possible.

Here are 5 tips to staying creatively inspired:

1. Take a break
Seems a little counter productive but getting up and away from the computer can sometimes lead to the most inspired designs. If you’re feeling frustrated with a project, get up and take a break. Do the dishes, take the dog for a short walk, play the guitar (this is a personal favorite). Taking a breather and revisiting a project a few minutes later makes all the difference in the world and helps give a fresh take on the the task at hand even if you’re only away for 10 minutes.

2. Get Outside
It’s cold a dreary here right now, but one snowy day I decided to get out and take a few photos of the snow covered trees and out buildings in my backyard. It felt great to take advantage of what some would say is “crappy weather” and use it as a source of inspiration. If you’re feeling creatively stifled, take a walk, sit on your porch with a cup of coffee and draw in inspiration from nature.

3. Read Design Blogs
Draw inspiration from others by reading/subscribing to graphic design blogs. Actively read and comment on design blogs. Any serious blog has an RSS Feed, so there’s really no reason not to be up on what’s happening in the graphic design community. Seeing what other designers are up to can open up new doors to your creativity.

Here are a few blogs I love:

Cmd Shift Design
The Design O’Blog
Grace Smith
Spoon Graphics Blog
CSS-Tricks
Smashing Magazine

4. The Oatmeal

I recently came across this site and spent a good hour LOLing at just about everything on this site. Humor aside, The Oatmeal is very well designed and will spark your creativity whether your an illustrator or a web designer, all while giving you a good laugh.

5. Sketch Sketch Sketch

This really goes without saying but I’ve met some designers that rarely open a sketchbook so it’s worth bringing up. You should always sketch out ideas before starting a project but sketching as a leisure activity can put down ideas that you can use in the future. It’s also fun and can generate ideas for the projects you have coming up. So, grab that Moleskine and get sketching!

Speaking of Moleskines, this site showcases amazing Moleskine art that will get those creative juices flowing.

In Conclusion:

Inspiration really is everywhere. The tips above are what works for me and is a great start to getting the creative juices flowing and will reopen your creative mind.

My Workspace

Inspired by sites such as WorkstationSetups and posts like this one on WebDesignDev I’d like to share my humble workspace where I spend a majority of my waking hours.

The Specs (from left):

• Alvarez acoustic guitar (sometimes when I’m stuck on something, I’ll noodle on the guitar, it helps!)
• 15.4′ Apple MacBook Pro
• Apple iPhone 3G (sitting on a GoGoStand)
• Photo of my special someone
• White JBL Creature Speakers
• 360 GB External Hard Drive (A must for those Time Machine backups…I know it’s kind of ancient)
• 24′ Apple iMac
• Keyboard and Mighty Mouse
• Coffee (a necessity!)
• Tiki cup of pens and pencils
• My trusty lamp
• Space heater (under the desk, it’s freezing here)

I love my workspace, it’s not an office, just an area of my living room but it works for me. Want to share your workspace? I’d love to see it! Comment with a link or a photo of where you work.

Freelance Work Life Balance

Freelancing/working at home has many pros. Freelancing allows you to make your own schedule, work in the comfort of your own home, and select only the projects they want to work on. Sounds pretty great, but in reality sometimes the cons can out weight the pros. One major con that cannot be ignored is the fact that freelancers are always plugged in and on call, at least that’s what many clients think. This is a common thought and misconception among our clients, but it’s not hard to see where they are coming from. If you work at home, you’re just steps away from your office, meaning answering e-mails and calls at a moments notice shouldn’t be a big deal. Well, it is. Freelancers have to find a balance between their work lives and their personal lives. This isn’t easy. I know I’m guilty of answering e-mails via my iphone in the wee hours of the night.

Almost everyone has a cellphone, and a large percentage of these people have e-mail, Skype or some sort of instant messenger on their phone. When you’re always plugged in and accessible to client e-mails and messages it’s nearly impossible to enjoy time with your family, a moment alone with your spouse or dinner with friends. Turning off your phone and logging off of your e-mail can salvage many a friendships and even a relationship. Being committed to your work is one thing, but knowing when to unplug from your work life and to take a breather is so important. Set office hours, or hours when your clients know that they can reach you. I often times work a little on the weekend and might answer e-mails, but most of my time is spent working 9-5 Monday – Friday. I try to be available and work when my clients are at work.

Bottom line, don’t let your business get in the way of your relationships and find a happy medium between your work life and your personal life. Your friends and family will thank you for it.

Relax Riesling

Throughout my graphic design career, both as an in house designer and freelance designer, I’ve found that the simplest graphic design solutions are usually the best. I love this philosophy and when I design I always keep this in mind and get excited when I come across products that embody this concept.

I like to have a glass of wine from time to time with dinner or while hanging out with friends, but I absolutely do not consider myself a wine aficionado and am often swayed by the label design for what wine to purchase. Being a graphic designer, I think I’m more prone to folding to cool packaging and labels.

Relax Rieslings label and packaging embodies simple graphic design solutions and the design really conveys the tone of the brand. I love simple design such as this, and by the way, the wine is very tasty.