Freelance pros and cons

Back in my day, a full-time job was a full-time job. The security of a regular wage and four weeks holiday each year with the odd chance of a boss paying overtime for additional hours worked was the ultimate.

Jobs were found by trawling through the local paper and you applied by sending a letter with your precious CV enclosed hoping to all hope that Australia Post was running effectively that week. Either that or you were lucky enough to know someone who knew someone that needed someone. Good times.

Cut to present day. Businesses need to remain fluid to accommodate for the ebbs and flows of client demand and the primary priority is the survival of the business. Since I’ve been teaching a younger generation of designers, I have a distinct feeling that the employment landscape for emerging creative professionals has shifted with the times and jobs generally aren’t as secure as they once were.

Some things haven’t changed. There have never been enough full time jobs for all design graduates that spill out and once you're in, it seems to take forever to move up the ranks from junior to mid-weight to senior designer. Not to mention the very grey area of when the actual moment that next level is reached. As a junior designer with a permanent job, I thought I had made it. And I had made it, I just didn’t know how many years, no, decades there were in front of me constantly adapting to technology and to fully understanding the process of visual communication. For me, time and experience took care of any advancements, I slugged it out at the bottom of the ranks and slowly I became a mid-weight designer, and then a senior designer.

From my perspective, the biggest difference in today’s emerging designers is that some don’t seem to want a one-day-a-week unpaid internship that never turns into a job. I say that with tongue fully in cheek, I know some studios that have great internship programs and really nurture budding designers but I have also heard some monstrous horror stories where employers have managed to muddy the definitions of ‘experience’ and ‘exploitation’. After hearing these stories it’s no wonder to me that young designers just want the opportunity to create their own workplace security.

At this point, it’s probably good to state that I don’t necessarily encourage graduate designers to become full time freelancers.

I recommend gaining experience working closely with other creatives before or while freelancing. Any designer should be able to produce great creative work but there are non-creative skills that are just as important which can only be matured through practice. I’m talking about interpersonal things like negotiating, collaborating effectively for the benefit of a better solution to the problem, justifying creative work to senior colleagues, accepting alterations through gritted teeth with grace and even contributing to lunch room banter. The right permanent job is good training ground for these necessary skills.

There are always going to be some graduates who have fiery entrepreneurial spirits and want to forge their own path, it's a truly inspiring thing to watch. They want different things than I did after graduation and that’s cool, different strokes for different folks. But even more than that, they understand the reality that full-time employment isn’t what it used to be.

Just to be clear, I’m never going to have a ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do that’ conversation when it comes to graduate’s careers, but I can surely provide some tools as a safety net to help along the way because it’s going to be a tough journey. So, now that I’ve taken the big plunge myself, here’s a list of pros and cons for those considering full-time freelance design. 

Pros

1. Variety of work

When freelancing, it’s a nice advantage to possess other skills that might boost income or help a design business get on its feet. Personally, I share my time between design clients and teaching which provides nice variation within my week and I can walk into a classroom with current industry insights. A student I had the pleasure of teaching was a hairdresser prior to studying design. Amy Crow was really interested in the topic of this blog post so I’ve included her contribution to the conversation in some of the following points. At this point in her career she combines her creative brilliance in hair colouring and styling with freelance design work and also exhibits her fine artwork regularly.

Blending different skills within your working week may not be an option for everyone, variation of work within your client base can be as much of an advantage, you have the freedom to chase the work you want.

2. Control of workload and working hours

When freelancing, it’s no secret the responsibility is all yours to schedule time which has its own set of pros and cons. You have control over the hours you work and have the flexibility to incorporate personal tasks into your day including family and health demands.

I asked Amy for her perspective and she said, ‘I think freelance really suits the driven individual that can be disciplined and create their own deadlines. The upsides are flexible working hours and flexible income, work more and earn more.’

3. Specialisation

I asked Amy about specialisation and we agree that freelance lends itself to being able to create a niche and potentially even being able to work in an area that reflects personal interests.

Amy said ‘design is weird these days, you're expected to know a lot about marketing and strategy, web design, long form layout, custom type face design - it's a lot. I think freelance design makes a lot of sense if you have a very distinct love for something, I recently met a young designer in Melbourne who exclusively designs apparel and posters for bands. He's amazing at it! But if asked to do a corporate rebrand, it wouldn't suit him.’

Cons

1. When is enough, enough?

You have enough work to see you through for a month, two months? the next 6 months? Well done if you have. In the mind of any business owner six months is kinda close, two months is too close and having enough work for one month, forget about it (said in my best New York accent). Saying no to work just doesn’t happen which probably in turn will lead to working around the clock and on weekends. Permanent roles are rarely nine to five but there is usually a start and finish time to your day. When you work for yourself, there is always more work you could be doing, more ways to promote yourself.

2. Admin

Accept it, you are the wearer of many hats until you have more work than you can manage and need to employ an admin assistant, until then – you’re it. Sometimes it can seem so busy that you haven’t got a minute to pick up the phone and talk to your client about the details of a project. When freelancing, you are the last port of call and need to consider things like what you are going to charge for your time, how to know the appropriate amount to charge your client and scheduling of work. In a full-time role, you may have client service and accounts colleagues to look after most of the admin.

In response to this topic, Amy’s said ‘being savvy about business and money is hard when trying to strike a balance for what your creative is worth, an age-old problem I'm sure. After asking my client about a budget, I could tailor what I thought would be worth that amount. I wrote it into my estimate, knowing I would give them more than speculated, but it really helped to ground things. I have trialed asking for 50% up front and not only do clients trust me because they've already put faith in me with their cash but they will stay until the end because they see me as an investment, not a one off scenario.’

3. Collaboration

Collaborating with other creative professionals requires a lot more dedication when freelancing. In a studio environment, there is usually someone close by and hopefully a mentor of some kind to oversee your professional progress. Alternatively, collaborating while freelancing requires more proactive dedication, is less instant and project specifics may need to be explained in greater detail. In either capacity, you need to actively seek out and maintain collaborative relationships and be prepared to give as much as you take.

Amy’s experience in a full-time role was interesting, ‘I thought I was lucky in my first job to hold the reigns and do it all myself, but quickly found that I wasn't sure if what I was doing was the best outcome. Finding mentors or seeking people out that know more than you who are willing to help is a resource that is truly valuable.’

If I had to choose one single thing that is sure to advance any design career, it’s going to be collaboration every time. Being willing to take one on the chin from someone you trust which when translated means you can’t be precious about receiving honest feedback about your work. Whatever role you’re in you should seek this out, this is 'the' thing that will always take you to that next level. 

Lyrics within illustration: Alan Thicke. Illustration: © Julia Nielson 2017. First published Feb 5, 2017