Freelance Confidential - Amanda Hackwith [27]
Our commitment to non-profit work led us to do a lot of free jobs for all sorts of organizations from film festivals to homeless shelters, Buddhist events to animal shelters, and all manner of things in between. As anyone who has done free work will tell you, it was usually rewarding in the end, but often very frustrating in the middle. When you aren't charging, it's very easy to fall into a mindset that the client should be so grateful that they just get out of the way and praise you from the sidelines. But a client is a client, whether they are paying or not, and ultimately it's not the client you are doing free work for, it's the cause. That was a very important lesson.
Ultimately we freelanced for a couple of years, before deciding to use our freelance business and the flexibility it afforded to start an online company called Envato. We pooled all our savings into the new business and worked freelance in the day to keep paying the rent, while evenings went to the nascent startup. As Envato began to take off, we gradually pulled back and eventually closed Good, leaving behind freelancing with some memories of great projects, stressful deadlines and lots of hard work!
AH It's been almost four years since you started FreelanceSwitch. What did you see missing in the freelance community that FreelanceSwitch provided?
CT Cyan and I learned a lot of hard lessons about the realities of freelancing, and though it was probably good for us to learn these by doing, I often thought we could have saved ourselves a bit of pain by learning the basics from someone else. FreelanceSwitch was really about sharing our experiences of freelancing, our war stories and successes, our tips and ideas. And beyond that, we wanted to get other people sharing their experiences too.
I think these types of resources have been around in the past, however the format of a blog really lends itself well to dealing with freelance learning because it breaks up the huge subject into small tidbits that can be digested daily or weekly. I think the blog format was also perfect for building up a community where freelancers could meet virtually and maybe even combat a little of the isolation that freelancers often experience.
AH And since then, how have you seen the self-employed and freelance community grow? (Do you feel more people are doing it, working in different ways, seeking clients differently?)
CT I don't have any facts to base this on, but my intuition says that freelance work is growing. The main reason I believe this is that the web is a huge enabler for getting work done remotely, and the web is, of course, exploding with growth.
From project management tools to job boards, the web helps people find, do and charge for freelance work. So the more the web grows as a medium of work, the more freelancing is going to grow.
AH You have worked as a freelancer and you've also hired plenty of freelance and contract workers (including me!) for Envato. From the perspective of a hiring client, have the qualities and skills you look for in freelancers changed? Do you feel there are new skills and attitudes that freelancers will need going into the future?
CT I think the core skills of freelancing will always remain the same—reliability, talent, work ethic and organizational skill. If you are a hard working, talented, well organized and reliable freelancer—there will always be work for you. Getting all four of those attributes is very difficult however as they are quite diverse.
However I think there are new skills that freelancers can benefit from, particularly with respect to the web. Namely, it's important for freelancers to be good at creating a presence for themselves online. Blogging, social media, getting involved in communities, submitting work to showcases, contributing to open source, and so on, are all really important ways of creating a reputation and presence for your freelance business.