Freelancing sounds like a dream job to many people, because you can make a living by doing something you like to do, and you can have flexible working hours, work remotely, address your own opportunities, have more variety in work, earn your own rewards, and you will be treated with respect. Above all, you can get away from numerous office policies. But is freelancing really for you?
When It Comes To Business
Creative talent is like a unique gift. However, in reality, creating pure art is not always good enough to earn a living. If you want to secure a stable income, you will most likely have to produce commercial art that fits the market. When you are producing art for commercial purposes, you will need to keep abreast with the market trends and new technologies, know how to market yourself, learn to communicate with noncreative clients, create arts under limited conditions, accept criticisms, and make compromises.
Some people choose to be a fine art artist in order to keep their creativity fresh. Some people go for commercial art for a stable income. I manage to have a good balance of both.
What Does It Take To Be A Freelance Designer?
Business Skills - It’s sad to say that having both talent and creativity is not enough to be a freelance designer. Freelancing is pretty much a one-man show. Therefore, you will not only be a designer, but also a business development director, a project manager, an account representative, a marketing coordinator, an accountant, and a filing clerk. You will be amazed at how much you will learn by freelancing!
Initiative - Freelancing is like running your own business. It’s nice that you can be your own boss, but on the other hand, you have to take the initiative to create a business plan, market your business, manage your budget, follow up on projects with clients and vendors, and maintain a long-term relationship with your clients.
Conquering – “Graphic design is to conquer, conquer, and conquer!” – My instructor at design school.
Freelancing is all about conquering. You will need to conquer technical problems with hours of research, unrealistic deadlines with days of sleeplessness, financial pressures with marketing to increase business, technological gaps with continuous upgrades to computer programs and continuing education to keep your skill set up to date, etc.
Planning
If you decide that freelancing is for you after weighing out the opportunities and risks, sit down and write a business and marketing plan. Freelancing is like running a business. The more you plan and prepare for your business, the easier your freelancing business will reach success.
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