What does it mean to be a freelancer?
A freelancer is someone who works for themselves, they're not employed by anyone else but can sometimes be contracted by employers. In essence this means that while normally as an employee you would be expected to (typically) manage just your own workload and not consider things such as finances, marketing, and legal issues. However, as a freelancer these are vital things to consider as you need to manage these things, and as such can be a much more stressful option to choose but also one that requires a lot of other skills not normally needed by a standard employee.
What are the key skills required of a freelancer?
As a freelancer some of the typical skills that people within the creative industries do cross-over, however should you choose to go off on your own you need to consider whether this will be something viable for you. Looking back again to the research performed by Dr Gavin Baxter, in which participants were asked "to rate the importance of the following hard and soft skill sets within the context of their industry discipline.", we can see a few skills that have some crossover with what would be expected to be vital for freelancers.
Leaderships skills, self-management, time management – these 3 skills I wish to highlight immediately as these are essential to master should you wish to go freelancing as at the end of the day you are your own manager, you will manage the full project and it's timescales, and you will be speaking with clients directly to discuss any issues. If you are not confident with these skills, then freelancing may not be viable for you.
How would you promote yourself as a freelancer?
As a freelancer you must promote yourself starting the ways I would recommend an employee would - LinkedIn, personal website, networking. In addition to these, I would also consider things such as business cards, flyers, social media marketing (such as creators who make YouTube/TikTok videos showcasing current projects), as well as assuring that you capture any testimonials from clients to build reputation.
The importance of reputation and professionalism with clients
When it comes to freelancing it is vital to maintain a professional reputation as a sizeable amount of your clients will come through word of mouth and without this you will be cut off from a portion of potential clients. Not only this, but if you are known for being unprofessional and for going as far as having a poor reputation, this may also travel through word of mouth and can result in the loss of client's trust, and therefore business.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of freelancing within the creative industries?
If you are considering moving into freelancing, it is ideal to weigh up the pros and cons prior to starting. Some of these will apply to most positions within the creative industries, however I have added some that are specific to my own field, web and mobile development.
Pros of Freelancing:
You are your own boss – Quite a straightforward one but one that people don’t consider in detail. You can choose what type of business you want to run, who you want to deal with, what type of projects you take on.
Larger portion of profits – While working as an employee in a much larger business, you will most likely be in a small to medium-sized team of people around 10-20 – as such any profits (even assuming they will be split evenly) will be minimal. Should you work on your own, this will be far different as you will receive all the profits.
Skills earned – Again as I’ve mentioned before, working as a freelancer takes a different skillset as you will be expected to manage everything within a project. However, should you eventually choose to move into employment instead, this can make you a desirable candidate as you will have skills others may not.
Cons of Freelancing:
You are responsible for everything – As I briefly mentioned previously, as an employee you wouldn’t be expected to manage all parts of a project, but as a freelancer you will be, and it can be quite cumbersome and stressful at times.
External costs – Taking profits into consideration though, the finances that need to be managed by freelancers is very different though as you will inherit all costs for running your business. Hosting, software and hardware purchases, utilities (whether it be in an office or at home, you potentially are now working and living in the same place), and any sort of marketing material will now take a chunk out of your profits.
Stress and mental health – As someone who has worked in freelance under a different field (Graphic design), far too many people do not consider the amount of stress and affect this can have on your mental health. With everything I have mentioned, it is vital you are sure you can manage a business alone, not only technically but also mentally.
Client misunderstanding – Web designer, web developer, back-end developer, front-end developer, full-stack developer – I have heard some of these, even at the same time, being used to refer to someone who “builds a website”. As professionals within our field, we can differentiate the difference between these job titles – but in general clients cannot. This is something specific to my field when I was working as a graphic designer and mentioned I could in fact do web design. “Oh perfect, so you can build us a website?” – was a line I unfortunately heard one too many times, and having to explain this was difficult, especially should you lack confidence or full understanding on how to deal with clients.
Does freelancing appeal to me and what general advice would I give?
To summarise everything I have mentioned in this post – I personally do not think freelancing works for me. I have touched on a few cons which directly tie into my own experience with freelancing, stress, external costs, and being responsible for everything.
Unfortunately, I do not think I was capable enough to manage a business as I lacked confidence and technical capability. Although I was working in Graphic design, this often swayed into web design, in which clients were asking me to build them a website. Whilst I could design one, using WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editors, the more technical features were outside my scope of technical capability. My lack of confidence at the time, combined with my determination to make it work, meant I had taken on more than I could handle, and it eventually took a toll on my health. Now I am considering a move into a more technical field.
When I had originally moved into freelancing I was young and just finished college, full of determination to succeed in my field. In hindsight I wish I had considered the advice of others before making the jump.
If I had to offer any advice it would be the following;
- Make sure this is right for you, as it can drastically affect your life (as mentioned before it took a toll on my mental health). Maybe try it for a while and see how it works out for you, but don't jump straight in and leave a permanent job without being certain.
To make a slight point with this, a clip from Dragon's den (business investment show) shows someone who has their own business and is making profit but remains conscious enough that it can fall apart overnight and chooses to keep their permanent job. One of the "Dragons" (what the show calls the investors) criticizes this stating "You lack confidence in this idea" while another Dragon – who I agree with – stated "I don't agree..you've got a family..you've got two kids..and they come first". This is a vital part of moving into freelancing as you may not understand the ramifications should you not fully succeed.
Network with other freelancers as not only can they offer advice (technical or business related) but more often or not they will be approached by a client that is looking to work with a technology they do not offer and may in fact be able to pass the client onto you. Again this delves into the idea of "The importance of networking within the creative industries" – another post I have written.
Seek tips from advice providing companies, there are so many companies out there that offer network events or presentations that offer hints and tips to freelancers to succeed. They can sometimes also provide 1-on-1 meetings should you have specific questions or need advice on certain matters.
Whether you choose to be a freelancer or not, a lot of what is covered by a freelancer is still very good to know and understand as should you begin to move up within a business you may in fact become responsible for some of these things.
Given that I have done some freelancing before, I have also provided some links below to companies that can either assist with your freelancing, through advice or tips, or facilitate it by providing a platform.
- https://www.bgateway.com/events/ Business Gateway is a public service that facilitates and offers advice to those looking to start a new business. They have online materials and webinars that you can attend, as well as in person meetings.
- https://www.upwork.com/ Upwork is one of the two companies I would suggest should you wish to look into freelancing, as they offer tools and features on their site to help freelancers not only get work and adverstise themselves, but also to collect monies earned by using them as a middle man service.
- https://www.fiverr.com/ Fiverr is similar to Upwork in what it offers, so it would essentially just come down to preference.
