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October 4th, 2010 in Articles by Aaron

So You Want To Be A Freelancer?

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So you want to be a freelancer? To be a freelancer requires a level of dedication that is rarely seen from someone in a job or career. There are so many aspects to being a freelance designer that you will always be trying to catch up no matter what you do, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not fun. Being a freelance designer has multiple perks, not the least of which is making your own hours and doing what you love. Below are a few key points to being a freelance designer.

Be Willing to Meet Your Client’s Needs

A problem that most designers run into is that they are not willing to meet the client’s needs. Every designer has their own idea of what looks good, of what the perfect website will look like, but that doesn’t mean that is what your client wants. Your client will tell you what they want, what websites in their fields that they like, and you have to be willing to meet those needs. True, you do not want to be completely client driver, else why are you there? You want to add in your ideas and use your creativity, but if the client says they just want something very basic that’s what they want.

Designers, myself included, have a tendency to go overboard on what we think will make the best design and forget what the client asked for. You need to be able to take the examples your clients give you and what the client says and fit that into your vision for their website.

What if you don’t feel like you can bring yourself down to the level the client wants? Then be honest with yourself and the client and don’t do it. Your client will respect you even more if you tell them that you don’t feel like you can work with their design vision. Nine times out of ten if a professional designer is telling them that they don’t want to work on such a basic design they will sit with you and rethink how strict they want to be with their guidelines.

As a freelancer you are both hindered and set free by your ability to do things yourself. The work you put your name on is what is going to define you. That means that you get to choose what clients you take on and which clients you don’t. So, can you make that choice?

Be Firm on Your Pricing

Being a freelancer means that, unfortunately, people are going to try and take advantage of you. Until you are a well known name throughout the design industry people are going to be trying to bully you out of money. As a freelancer people know that you set your own prices and can make whatever price you give them lower. I am not saying that you can never offer deals or discounts but they must be done on the grounds of mutual respect, especially if you want to keep the client and continue to work with them.

For many freelancers their work is the only income that they have and your clients will know this. This is why you must be firm on your pricing and not seem too eager to get clients. Even in a town like New York City or Dallas word spreads fast from small business to small business and if you are too eager or too flexible with your pricing they will know. Pretty soon you will be fighting with people just to get the base rates you charge and will be forced to dip lower and start taking in too many clients at one time. Being firm on your pricing will stop you from going into a downward spiral towards ultimately having to give up your dream.

Build Your Client Base Slowly and Surely

What I am about to tell you may be the craziest thing you have ever heard, but moving and growing too fast is possible, and it happens more often than you would think. You will start to take on too much work and either not deliver the projects on time, not deliver them at all, or start delivering sub-standard work. Unless you are ready to move from a freelancer to full time business owner with employees you need to take it slow.

40% of freelances fail within their first year because they overestimate themselves and start taking on too many projects at one time. As a new designer you will need to be selective about the projects you take on within that first year. I would even recommend that you take no more than two a month for the first two or three months. You need to be able to bring high quality work to your new clients each time you go and you also need to figure out a time line to deliver to your clients as well. If you already have a portfolio, which you should, you can use those designs to bring to clients but you want to weed them out until all you have is a portfolio of your freelance work since you started.

You will find that building a steady client base slower will help you in the long run as well. When it comes time that your business starts slowing down, or your needs grow rapidly, the first place you will want to visit is your old clients. As long as you have taken care of them they will be ready to work with you again whenever you are ready, or even before you are ready. Build slowly and it will pay off one hundred fold in the long run.

Give a Reasonable Estimated Delivery Date

When you tell the client the date it will be delivered be reasonable about it. Many designers fall into the trap of agreeing to whatever deadline the client sets. You are the expert on how long it will take you to finish a project, so you need to be the one to tell the client what deadlines you can work with.

There will always be those clients that do have a deadline that they need to meet and if you can meet it then tell them you can, but if you can’t then tell them you can’t but let them know how close you can get to that deadline. Many times I will let a client know that if they need their website before the estimated deadline that I give them it will cost them more.

When explaining to the client why it will cost more I give them the simple truthful answer: because that means I will have to push another client’s project back which will cost me money. It’s simple, to the point, and, most of all, honest. So far I have not come across a client that is unwilling to pay more to meet a deadline.

Clarify and Listen

If your client says that they want the newest trendiest Web 2.0 design that means that’s what they want, right? Wrong

Just because that is what your client says, or more specifically what you hear the client say, does not mean that is what they want. You have to listen 100% to your client, otherwise, no matter what, you will miss things. I know that it sounds simple, but so does driving a car and you don’t just get to jump in to that either.

A notebook or notepad is essential every time that you meet with your client. It doesn’t matter what the meeting is about or what it is for you need to bring a notepad or notebook. Your client may also want something but they don’t know how to phrase it so listening to understand is the most important thing.

While listening is one of the most aspects of working with a client unless you clarify what you heard you will never know if it is correct. After taking notes just reiterate what you heard the client say to make sure you are both on the same page. Nothing is worse than getting out of the meeting thinking you know what they want and turning over a design they completely blast down.

Social Networking

You must must must use Social Networking as a freelancer. Even large businesses now have to use some form of social networking of their competition will always stay one step ahead of them. No matter how much faster you run than your competition; if you run in place you will always be passed. Social networks are free advertising right at your fingertips and a great way to view your web presence. You can directly incorporate the growth of your business with the growth of your social network presence.

A blog is another great tool that is right there at your fingertips and easy to set-up and use. You don’t have to post every day, you don’t have to write tutorials, you don’t have to give anything away. You can just keep the blog updated on what you are doing with your business, when a new client is up, things like that. Plus, as a designer you know how often you just throw a design together when you are bored or have a design lying around the client didn’t like, so why not put all that extra disk space to use and give it away, spread your name out there. Nothing spreads faster than free stuff, and you want your name to go viral.

You need to use the network of designers as well. There are plenty of web design, Photoshop, graphic design, and Dreamweaver blogs out there. Use the information that they have on them to improve your skills. This game is always changing and you always have to be learning and why not learn from other people in your own field rather than from a book? The people that run 90% of these tutorial blogs are more than willing to give you advice and give you a shot to spread your name around. Use the tools at your disposal to become just as fast as your competition and then eventually surpass them.

Conclusion

If you can do all that, have quality work, and really want to make it then there is no reason that you cannot make it as a freelancer. Use the tools at your disposal and our friends to read more about how to start out. This post is the first post in a nine part series being written here on HV-Designs which will detail the Beginning to the End of creating a website for a freelancer.

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