Freelance Foibles :: Part 1: Freelancing is not Free

So, as my friends know but everyone else does not, I am currently doing freelance work, which has sucked my soul and time away. Hence no AB's in forever, or any of the other project bunnies I had in mind to get done. Why would I sacrifice fun projects, frineds, fam, and the all-important sleep for freelance, you say? Two words: water heater. Mine broke last month, and as it is 30+ years old and rusting out the bottom, cannot be saved. So I have to get a new one. (I am eyeing an energy efficient one for four reasons: cheaper utilities, healthier earth, refund from gas company if buy one, and nice tax refund if buy one. Need I say more?)The problem is these babies are not cheap; at LEAST $500, with installation adding an extra $200 (and I'm not messing with that, I want my water/heat hooked up right.) Luckily for me, at just this time a bunch of freelance projects popped up on my horizon, which will help me pay for said heater, plus pay off money I owe my momma and others.

So it is good, but obviously not win-win, as I work during the day so the only time to do it is on evenings and weekends. Which I have been. I should make time for AB, I really should, but when I do get a spare few hours the LAST thing I want to do is be in front of a computer. I really DO want to get a Kenshin AB done though, so we can turn him into cute pillows. (Mmm, pillow Kenshin, so cute!) Plus ACEN really pumped me up for doing AB's again, and it's hard to resist that. So this is to warn you that this month, don't expect any AB's. I hope to get something up, but if not, you now know the reason why.

What are these all-encompassing projects, you ask? (Or not, but I'll say what they are anyway, keeping out specific details of course.) I just wrapped up a 32-page visitor's guide for the university (well, half is ads, but it was a ton of work), plus a repackaging for a dryer and a visual identity for a start-up business. (They love the logo, but I still have to get their bi-fold brochures, web site design, software design, and other things done though, yikes.) I also wrapped up the project of doom (repackaging a mini stepper), and have the Photoshpping to prove it (which I think I'll put up later, to share my pain with others.) Tonight I'm working on a new visual identity for some pet products, and coming up in the works is a DVD mailing project. I think that's all. Yikes, huh?

I'll be honest with you, for years I figured I was the type of designer who would never sucessfullly do freelance. The projects always fizzled out or I got royally screwed after doing the work, so I figured I'd only be able to do design for my current job, or family, or for myself/Ello. So this has been a blessing and a slight ego boost, to know that yes, I am making the freelance thing work (for now.) And that , while I could be faster, I am for the most part meeting all my deadlines and my clients are happy with the results.

Which comes back to that pesky "building connections" thing my profs always bugged me about in school. All of my current freelance jobs came from either the PR/Marketing department on campus, who had seen my work and knew what I could do, and a fellow design friend from school, who is on maternity leave and left my name as a referral for her clients. Annoying but true, contacts ARE king.

Oh, and I really want to write this down so *I* remember it, and if it helps anybody else, great. NEVER TURN DOWN A PROJECT BECAUSE YOU THINK YOU CAN"T DO IT. Ever. If you don't have time that's one thing, or if you have mislead them on your skills and truly don't have the ability, that's another, but NEVER say no because you are afraid the project is too big for you. Because it isn't really; it might be intimidating, but just do it one step at a time, using the skills you have honed, and you will find that you can accomplish it after all. When I got off the phone after agreeing to do the visitor's guide, I panicked and was like, "Liz, what on earth have you gotten yourself into?!?!?!" I mean, here I was agreeing to do a very important project, and if I failed spectacularly (and I was pretty sure I would,) I WORK with these people all the time, I'd have to stare at them across conference room tables and know I'd let them down. But I did the baby steps I always do on a design projects, was as professional as I could be at meetings in spite of trembling in fear inside that they would tell me "you don't know what you are doing, do you?" or something similar. But I stuck with it, set reasonable deadlines for myself in spite of only having a month to put it together, and somehow it got done. And not only did I make friends with all the people I worked with, but I now know that, when push comes to shove, I can stretch myself and accomplish whatever I set my mind to do. And seeing how much I have grown as a designer and a person over the past two months, from that project alone, has made it worth the sacrifices it took to get there. Truly.

Though not all is roses and rainbows, of course. The company I am doing the dryer and stepper and pet stuff and mailer for is more marketing based than any other group of people I've ever worked with. They have hard, fast deadlines, and are in the business to make money. From them I have learned sobering lessons. For instance, that, for some products, it REALLY doesn't matter which brand you buy, so long as you as a consumer are attracted to the packaging and FEEL you are getting a better deal or product. And that a lot of marketing practices are really to just get the consumer in the door and get their money, but offering them enough in exchange that they feel it is worth the cost. It may sound silly that this never occured to me before; in truth it has, but to hear someone just come out and say it like that across a desk was shocking to me. In truth the projects I'm working on are useful everyday items; it's not like I'm designing cigarette ads or something. But let's just say I don't think I'll be freelancing for them forever.

If anything, they have made me feel very blessed, actually, to have the full-time job I DO have. A lot of the people and groups I do design work for everyday would be considered pro bono groups for anyone else; in other words, groups you do design for at little or no charge, because they make the world a better place and your desing firm wants to give something back. Groups you can believe in, because they are in the business of educating and helping others and not just scrounging for the almighty dollar. It had never occurred to me before that THAT was the kind of place I work for, and combining that with the great people I work with every day makes me feel very, VERY lucky.

Okay, enough sappy stuff, sorry to get to sentimental there. Lastly, and tying this whole post back into the purpose of my blog, I think my freelance jobs are teaching me on-the-job lessons of how to be an excellent manga artist. Working hard to meet deadlines, juggling multiple projects at one time (magazine covers, product lines, drawing/inking/laying out pages,) attending cons, working with editors, pitching a concept; the list goes on forever of things a manga artist has to be prepared to do.
So all of this craziness, while it is maddening, is teaching me important skills. (I just hope I don't go mad with sleep loss before I get a chance to TRULY enjoy using those skills, heh.)

Wow, I used up a lot of my dwindling time today to write this, ack. But all these thoughts have been swriling wround in my brain, and hopefully by getting them out I will be better able to concentrate on my tasks at hand. And hopefully I will be back to blogging (and posting AB's!) again soon.