5 Things I wish I knew…

Before Going Freelance

By Original Magazine Editor, Emily-Grace

  • I have had the pleasure of meeting some incredible people within my career, and not so great people, all of whom have shaped and developed my career and who I am as an artist.Finding and surrounding yourself with right group of people is extremely important, it can help you shape your craft, ideas and support when riding the complicated wave of the creative industry.

    How can you surround yourself with the right people, you may ask? Well, You need to start networking and inserting yourself in social situations. This doesn’t nessicarily have to be in person (although, you must find the courage to attend an in person event!) Networking can take its form within social media. It can simply start with a like of someone’s artwork that you admire on Instagram, TikTok etc or a comment under their work.

    Did you know, if you surround yourself with the right people, your output increases up to 15%? However, being surrounded by the wrong people can decreases output by 30%?

    The Dots and I LIKE NETWORKING  are great places to start this process and they even offer free virtual talks for you to get involved in.

  • So, after Uni, you and your friends go your separate ways. Some may find jobs in the industry straight away, and some start a new journey else where.

    All of this is exciting and scary, but often left me feeling lonely, this may apply to you especially if you have had to move back home or you live far away from a major city. After my degree, I couldn’t afford to go out or visit my friends because I made the decision to put myself through shitty internships and jobs in hopes that it would kick start my career. This did pay off but left me feeling isolated at times.

    And when you do decide to go freelance, you feel even more isolated and lonely as you have to pitch yourself to companies and agencies day in and day out, with some days, leaving you with very little return.

    This is why, Going back to my first point, surrounding yourself with the right people, is extremely important.

  • We’re given this impression by the industry that you will be creating artwork 24/7 and whilst that may be true for the select few artists, in reality that’s simply not the case.

    The hardest part of the work load isn’t just about the ‘physical’ act of creating work. More often than not, the hardest part is pitching yourself constantly and consistently in order to bring the work in, thus, doubling that work load.

    Let’s break this down…

    70% of your time will be spent pitching yourself to a company or applying for job, all whilst waiting for a response.

    The other 30% you are actively creating work and out of that 20%, you will be creating work for other people and the final 10% will be the work you create for yourself.

    With that 30% stat in mind, you finally start to book jobs/commissions etc. (congrats you!) and your work load starts to increase and suddenly you’re dying under a pile of deadlines and trying to manage your time.

    But you would rather be busy than not..right??

  • When you hear the word freelancers, entrupuerners, business people, we think of the high flying, chic individuals that have all the money in the world.

    This ultimately is the end goal for many of us, however, you actually spend the majority of your time not only chasing invoices, but waiting for them to come in.

    Chasing invoices can really start to grind on you as a freelancer. This was something I was never taught going into the industry and was simply not prepared for the emotional struggle it can bring you.

    In a nut shell, it’s a simple thing. Contracts get signed, you complete the work by the agreed deadline, you send off your invoice and within 30 days you get paid. But that’s not the case for many companies.

    I have had conversations with many freelancers within the industry who have found themselves in finical trouble, due to invoices not being paid on time. It is the scary truth within the freelancing industry, not to mention the uncertainty of contracts being terminated early or never renewed with a drop of a hat.

    How can we combat this? Well, creating your own contracts before the work is carried out, is a great way of protecting yourself and your time, along with adding any late invoice fee’s.

    Additionally, Has a client wanted something from you sooner than the agreed date in your contract? Add a Rush fee.

    Freelancing Females and thejamiebrindle: Business of Freelance are great Instagram accounts to follow for more tips on this subject and navigating the world of freelance.

  • Making the decision to go freelance and being your own boss, is the most courages, freeing, yet crippling experience you will go through as an artist. There is no greater feeling than being your own boss but that comes with a whole lot of challenges, especially when you get hit by the self doubt boat..

    Typically, if you have any issues within in a place of work, you speak to your manager, or boss etc. as a freelancer, we don’t have that luxury. We only have ourselves which is great as you learn how to trust yourself when making decisions, however, it can also lead you down the road of self doubt.

    I have found that social media, can also attribute to this self doubt. We’re all very good as posting the great work we’ve been doing, the great clients, the rewards of when the invoices come in (and on time!!) but this is only a glimpse of someones life and what they want their audience to see.

    You then start to question if you should be a freelancer, if you have what it takes and did you do the right thing quitting your stable 9-5 job? Does this sound familiar? I would be lying if I said I have never felt this way before.

    One way that helps me, is that I have started to unfollow all the unhealthy content creators and celebrities on socials. This can be a difficult thing to do, because who doesn’t like keeping up with the kardashian drama? But by allowing that toxicity into your space, generates an unhealthy way you see your own life.

    It seems silly to unfollow these type of people on socials but it can help. Start following creatives who give incredible life lessons out freely to their audience. Creatives who encourage you to post bad artwork, the vulnerable artwork and the artwork that makes you think. Inspired to write: Amy McNee is a wonderful author and creativity coach who advocates for all these things and so much more.