For the last few years (over 8 now) I’ve worked as a freelancer/contractor. For some time I was hired by a non-profit as a contractor which basically meant I worked from home, but according to their hours and rules with set pay. During this time I was still working on building my own business, Dynamic Vantage, as well as running Expressions. Last year I decided to sever the contracting cord though. It was a tough decision. The contract guaranteed my rent and bills were covered each month, and although I didn’t get any benefits at all, I wasn’t entirely out on my own. I had that safety net.

Cutting that cord was a scary moment. I had debated doing it for the longest time and had even cut down my hours to just 3 days a week since DV was bringing in so much work. I finally realised though that I wasn’t going to build my business while having to spend so much of my time elsewhere. My husband and I work together for ourselves now. It’s still a scary thought at times, especially when you worry that you won’t have enough projects lined up, but I’m still so glad I took the step. So far, things have been going brilliantly and the projects continue to come in. We are fortunate to work with some really fantastic clients, so it’s an exciting time.

Recently, a friend asked for some advice about going freelance and starting up her own biz. I’m not sure I’m really qualified, but I think I’ve learned a lot (sometimes the hard way) over the years. If I can give anyone advice on starting their own design business, it’s this:

• Expect to wear many different hats when you first start out. I spend most of my week on client emails, project management, proposals, invoicing and other business necessities. It’s not all creative fun.
• Some hats just aren’t made to fit. You can’t be good at everything and knowing where you need help is an important part of business. I, for one, am no accountant. I’m horrible when it comes to understanding taxes, so we hire an accountant to deal with all of that. If you can afford help in the areas where you are weak, don’t skimp. It will be well worth it, especially when it comes to legal areas and taxes.
• Repeat yourself. In your proposals and contracts be as detailed as possible in everything you outline. Repeat yourself as much as you think is needed to ensure the client fully understands what is involved in the project. Detail what you are doing for them, but just as importantly, detail what you are not doing for them. For example, we don’t host out client’s sites so we make sure to mention that. We are always happy to recommend hosting services and help our clients get an account setup, but we don’t do any hosting ourselves.
• Be polite. It’s often easy to lose your cool, especially when you deal with people who try to undermine you, but try to keep a level head. Word of mouth is a key component to marketing your new biz, but it goes both ways. Negative word of mouth spreads a lot faster - it seems folks are always very quick to talk about bad experiences rather than good ones, so don’t let anyone have a reason to badmouth you for being impolite or neglecting customer service. As a business owner or freelancer, you are as much your brand/business as your work.
• It’s ok to say no. To be honest, this is one I am still learning. It’s very easy to say yes to every project that comes your way - especially when you are first starting out and concerned the bills may not be covered for the month, but there are a few reasons why this is never a good idea. I’ll get into all of these in more detail in another post. For now let me just say that there are only so many hours in a day. If you say yes to everything not only will you get burnt out, but your work will suffer as well, which means you’ll have a weaker portfolio, which in turn means you may lose out on some great projects because people aren’t seeing what you are really capable of.
• Get involved in the industry. This is another one I am still learning. Getting involved does a few things for you: you learn more and gain more skills, you meet like-minded people who help you formulate new ideas and opinions, you create a network of potential collaborators for future projects and you gain a position of note, and perhaps down the line even expertise, in your industry.

I still have a lot to learn and every day seems to offer up new lessons in being a business owner, an entrepreneur, and a designer. One thing is certain - it’s never dull!