Some designers make a great career out of freelancing, some struggle to ever pay the bills solely from freelancing income.
If you are already a successful freelancer, you will probably see that you are not guilty of most of the points made below.
If you are hoping to be a full-time freelancer, or are currently finding it difficult to get your freelancing going, some points below may help you figure out why.
If you are thinking to be a freelancer in Singapore but doesn't have any marketable skills to even begin with, consider our digital marketing course, graphic design course or professional photography course in MAD School to start working towards your dream.
To explain this post a little better, our opinion on when a freelancer knows they have “made it”, is when you can comfortably pay 100% of your bills from your freelancing income. Some of you may disagree with that description of “making it”, but that is how we measure it so that the conversation can start somewhere (we do encourage you to add your thoughts in the comments at the end though).
And so, the 50 reasons why you may not make it as a freelance designer:
The thought of working a 16 – 19 hour day makes you feel violently ill
You sleep in past 12 pm most mornings
You don’t know what the word “typography ” means
You hear the word “Hex ” and you think someone is talking about dinosaurs
When meeting clients, you wear jeans and a t-shirt
Your hair is a mess, all the time
Your phone manner is terrible (you answer with “hello”, and nothing else)
You don’t understand what a “bleed ” is
Your business card is a home-made Microsoft Publisher job
You have never started a conversation with a stranger
You are not confident
You are not likeable
You do not manage your personal finances well
Your mum doesn’t even like your design work
You want to be successful, but your drive is completely lacking
You are not self-motivated
You don’t have a desire to be the most successful person you know
You don’t have a website
Explaining the difference between 300 dpi and 72 dpi is like speaking a foreign language to you
You think white space is wasted space
The bevel function in Photoshop doesn’t work anymore because you have worn it out so badly
You struggle to actually complete a project
You have to give your clients money back because you over-promised on your ability
You have 0 business skills and have no idea how to develop them
You really dislike sales and feeling like a salesperson
You don’t make your clients sign contracts
You think it’s cool to be flaky and disorganized because that is what “us creative types are like”
You think you are right, and the client is wrong
You think that your prices need to be lower than anyone around so that you can get the business
Your people skills are terrible
You don’t have a plan for your freelancing career, you are just floating along
You don’t really understand what marketing is
You haven’t developed a brand for your freelancing career
You are unable to save money
You don’t have a desire to continue learning all the time
You have never worked more than 40 hours a week in your life
You have never worked for anyone before
Seeing a logo you designed on a billboard or on tv doesn’t give you a rush
You design things that look good but don’t match the brief whatsoever
You spend most of your time working on entries for silly online design contests
You let clients name their price
You’re not a risk-taker
You do not manage your time whatsoever
You are not disciplined in a daily routine
You don’t study your competition
You don’t even know who your competition is
The word “crop ” makes you think of the farm
You suck at Photoshop
You are guilty of over 20 of the points above
You are angry at me after reading this
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