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Quote of the Week:

Why it's Awesome to be a freelancer

While I agree with many of the points Andy makes in 10 Reasons It Sucks to Be a Freelancer, I think (if you are a good fit for the job) it's a great thing to be. With Notchcode going into its tenth (!) year, and with me going at it full-time since 2002, here's my perspective on why being a freelancer rocks:

1. You are your own boss.

This is the excellent part everyone who strikes out on their own sees when they pull the trigger and start working for themselves. Now, by "boss", I mean "someone who sets the agenda, schedule, and priorities in your life". Your REAL boss is your clientele, but that's true whether you're working for yourself or for someone else, so we'll set that part of things aside. What I'm talking about here is the day-to-day aspects of having a job. Don't like working in the morning? Fine: No eight AM meetings, ever again. Like to go for a bike ride before work (as I do)? Go for it. Need to pick up the kids and mind them from three PM till dinnertime? No prob. You set the schedule.
(CAVEAT): This also means you need to be responsible enough to work time into your schedule to actually get the work done, meet with your clients, do your bookkeeping, and so on, at other times during the day. Being your own boss doesn't mean being a slacker--it just means being the master of your schedule.

2. You get more work in a recession.

A cartographer I know is insanely busy this summer. I am busier now than this time last year. Why? A lot of in-house creative staff has been let go. And while I definitely shed a tear for my peeps (I was once one of them, too), it's also an opportunity to get more work. Just because there's a recession doesn't mean businesses and organizations need less creative work. Often, they need more: ad rates are cheaper in a recession, and you can build your brand on less budget--but only if you have the creative content and marketing work in place to take advantage of it. While small shops and freelancers have to pay more FICA, deal with their own health insurance, etc., our overhead in the short term is probably lower than an in-house asset (although losing the in-house body of experience and knowledge is a mighty hurdle to overcome with outside talent). I won't say that a lot of my larger clients are giving me huge projects (because they aren't), I will say that small entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the marketing vacuum right now to launch new projects (which need marketing and development) and larger organizations are doing a lot of smaller, strategic projects with the budgets they have on-hand. And small shops/freelancers are perfect for that.

3. Pick your clients.

Granted: When you're starting out, it's really hard to pick and choose whom you're working for. Nevertheless, one thing I've learned is it pays to be picky. If you sense a prospective client is going to be too high-maintenance, isn't a good fit for your capabilities or style, or doesn't have the budget for what you think the project needs, sack them before you get going (nicely. No need to be impolite). You'll find that as you build your clientele with groups you enjoy working with, they refer other good groups your way (mostly). It's a positive feedback loop that makes both you and your clients happy. If you like to do work for hot air balloonists, you'll probably find a lot of other hot air balloonists calling you after you do a great job for your first one.

4. You can work from anywhere, with anyone, in any location.

I work out of my home, my favorite independent coffee shop, my car, a park--anywhere I want. It allows me to put myself in the best place to get work done and to be creative. If I find things too distracting in one location, I pick up the laptop and the client folder and head somewhere else. Some companies enable this with a more open attitude, but not many. You can also find yourself working with a wide variety of organizations in lots of different locations. From my home base in Denver, I've done work for clients in Oregon, California, Washington, D.C., Iowa, and across Colorado. I've worked with vendors from all over the place, as well, which is another cool thing, if you like to see how people in other places do the same thing your usual vendors do. There is the time zone difference to consider, but it's never been a deal-breaker for me.

5. Set your price, your standards, and your scope.

We all know that the market has a say in how much you get paid (on average, anyhow); but there's a lot of latitude. If you are an expert with years of experience in a specific area of graphic design, or web development, for example, you can command a higher rate. You can also be more flexible than a larger firm can (less overhead for you to consider) when it comes to striking a deal with a client you really want to work with. And you have the satisfaction of being the person who sets a monetary value on your worth. You also don't have to do something you don't want to do. You don't have to settle for less, which your boss may want you to do if you're running over on time, for example. And you can define your practice to fit the specific scope of work you enjoy doing--and are awesome at. If you only like doing user experience work, just do user experience work. Refer your clients to someone else for the rest of the project (or better yet, bid on the job together and get a package deal).

Those are just five reasons why it's great to be a freelancer. There's lots more. I started being my own boss, exclusively, in the last recession, and haven't looked back, and am loving it. If you find yourself spending your coffee breaks, day after day, considering going solo: do the research, make a plan, and go for it!

Labels: advice, b2b, freedom, process, work

posted at 6:00 AM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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7.31.2007

Vacation is Almost Here

August, as almost all of the Northeastern Hemisphere recognizes, is the Month that People Take Off and Stay Away from Work. And so the Notchcode offices will be closed for a week in August, from the 10th to the 17th. Ok, so that's not a whole month, like those lucky Europeans or Hampton-dwellers back east, but at least it's something.

In preparation for our time off, I've been reading the latest transmissions from BoingBoing, which is a great place to get the crap scared out of you if you plan on traveling by plane. Not because they talk about all of the imminent threats by terrorists, but because of the behavior of the TSA as folks try to get on their planes and get to where they are going.

SO all of this got me thinking about the good old Fourth Amendment to the Constitution...you know, the one that guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure. Well, as you can imagine, there is a lot of case law surrounding it, and as a non-lawyer, I am sure (well, I am hoping, at least) that there is some sort of valid reason why we all have to take off our shoes and let people paw through our underwear and make us dump our big gulps in the trash can before we get to the security checkpoint. Right? Right, lawyers? Please tell me there's a reason.

Oh well. Here's a quote from Supreme Court Judge Jackson in 1949, dissenting in Brinegar vs. U.S.:

"The Fourth Amendment states: 'The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.'

"These, I protest, are not mere second-class rights but belong in the catalog of indispensable freedoms. Among deprivations of rights, none is so effective in cowing a population, crushing the spirit of the individual and putting terror in every heart. Uncontrolled search and seizure is one of the first and most effective weapons in the arsenal of every arbitrary government. And one need only briefly to have dwelt and worked among a people possessed of many admirable qualities but deprived of these rights to know that the human personality deteriorates and dignity and self-reliance disappear where homes, persons and possessions are subject at any hour to unheralded search and seizure by the police. But the right to be secure against searches and seizures is one of the most difficult to protect. Since the officers are themselves the chief invaders, there is no enforcement outside of court."

[emphasis mine]

So, how does this jibe with searching something like half a billion travelers in the U.S. alone each year, no exceptions? Sounds like presumption of guilt just because you are getting on a plane. And let me know if you've seen some hidden cadre of judges issuing search warrants behind the ticket counters...maybe it's somewhere in the small print in the boarding pass?

But then, I'm just a designer. What do I know?

And to make this post slightly design-related, here are two great t-shirts to wear as you get patted down next to the metal detector. The first one is based on a WW2-era poster from the Brits, and is awesome. I want one for Christmas, ok? The second one is much more snarky, and I would bet a TSA screener having an off day might pull you out of line for wearing it:

Labels: air travel, freedom, tsa, vacation

posted at 3:28 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

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