Freelance creatives (My Experiences and Advice on Other Freelancing Occupations)

Name: voodoochilli

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Product:	My Experiences and Advice on Other Freelancing Occupations
Date:	17/06/02 (171 review reads)
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Advantages: Freedom!!!

Disadvantages: Not really freedom is it?

Working for yourself can be very rewarding, but it involves a lot more work, and sometimes a lot less pay. I have been a freelance illustrator for just over a year now which isn't particularly long considering it averages about 5-6 years before a freelance illustrator becomes established. I intend to do it a lot quicker than that however. And that is what it really takes to be a freelancer at anything: determination. Most of the time you spend will be looking for work, not actually being creative. Since I am relatively new to freelance work, my opinion must be quite modest as my experiences are limited, but what I can do is tell you where I have gone wrong.

Mistake number 1: Living in Hereford.

You would think in today's modern world of technology it is possible to work from anywhere via the internet. Sadly this is not the case as you have to spend a lot of time meeting people and attracting potential clients. With a visual medium such as digital art, your work is restricted by your clients and your own current bandwidth. If you have a 25mb File that has to be there that day you can't send it by e-mail unless both parties have broadband- a 56K modem just won't do. It would be foolish to assume that your client has one of these connections even if you do.

Mistake number 2: Living in London.

Now this is a controversial issue, and something I haven't done myself but many of my friends have moved to London. It seems to take a certain type of person to mix with the potential clients and beat the competition in London. You see, not only is London a massive place, but nearly all graduates that take their work seriously seem to move to the city. A good compromise between your local village and London would be a place like Bristol or Birmingham. These places have a relatively high amount of freelance work due to there sizes, but the competition is limited slightly because there is no band wagon to jump on here.
r><br><br>Mistake number 3: Being too creative

This one saddens me, but I have been told many times to dumb my work down. The thing is corporate clients don t want really mad stuff, they want an average common denominator that all can understand. If you can find this sort of work (and believe me you will have to) then you can continue working on your portfolio and reputation. Once you have built up your name and identity you are much more likely to be successful at more experimental stuff.


Things you should try and do:

Manage your time.

It cannot be stressed enough how important it is to manage your time. For example, before excepting a job work out if you can afford to do it. This sounds strange and you might think work is work, but you would be mistaken. Marginal profits are not an option. Since you will be spending about three quarters of your time trying to find work (especially as you are starting out) your one job that month has to pay for all your food, wage, studio rent, heating, phone etc.etc
Obviously try to fill your time with as much work as possible, and looking for work and promoting yourself counts.

Promote yourself

Don't feel embarrassed about dropping your name at every given opportunity. most clients find their freelancer through previous contact or recommendation of a friend. Build a website. Depending on the nature of your work, a website can not only get you work but help promote your image and identity.

Apparently the best way to find freelance work is the direct approach- mailshots are intrusive and only have a limited effect. Writing a letter, introducing yourself and your work, then following up with a phone call to arange an appointement rather than just turning up with your portfolio and asking for an interview can sometimes result in work.

Beat the completion.

Beat them on price, but not by much, beat them on quality by as much as possible
. Find out who they are. This is obvious but, your chances of finding work are directly disproportionate the the frequency of the competition- unless your work really shines, in which case its just a matter of letting the world know you are there.

Conclusion

Right I hope you found that useful, but I want you to remember something. I am a relative novice to the freelance world and there are a lot more experienced people out there who have lots of advice to tell you. It is also important to remember that they are your competition so don't believe every little thing they tell you. Earlier I said that it was a good idea to drop your name, well this is no exception. If any of you have any visual or music based ideas then you can submit them to my website at www.voodoochilli.net where we host sounds and images for free. We don t currently have a writing section but if enough people are interested then we may consider it.

If you are a visual artist then here are some addresses that you can submit work too-

http://livetopaint.org

http://www.artsforge.com

http://www.centralarray.com

http://www.iacgr.com

http://www.rhizome.org

http://dart.fine-art.com

http://happycockroach.com

http://members.aol.com/brownflowr

http://www.notthetate.co.uk

http://www.theartgallery.com.au

http://www.wwwgallery.com

http://digitalconsciousness.com

http://www.thedigitalartist.com

http://artchallenge.com

http://artcolony.org


I hope that's useful and good luck.