My So-Called Freelance Life - Michelle Goodman [3]
What’s silly is giving up the dream because some overworked officemate who lives to bitch about her carpal tunnel syndrome said you should. Now enough stalling, let’s get to work.
PART 1
You fled the cube - now what ?
Freelancing isn’t just about selling your talents, advice, or wares. Working for yourself as a creative professional also means playing chief executive, bean counter, sales rep, marketing maven, tech support, contract manager, and admin assistant.
Or, as author and journalist Lynn Harris puts it, “People think that freelancers sort of sit at their desks all day and just have ideas. But we’re running a business. It’s a business I can run in my socks, but it’s a business.”
While I’m all about running the best possible business one can run in her socks, I’m not about doing things the traditional (tedious, expensive) way. Business plans that double as paperweights? No thanks. Three-thousand-dollar executive desk/hutch/swivel chair set? Not on your life. Instead, I’ll give you the quick-and-dirty list of what you need to consider and do right away to get this freelance party started—and what plans, purchases, and services you can back-burner till your business grows a smidge bigger.
In a perfect world, you’d plan, ramp up, and build your freelance business on the side while keeping a steady paycheck. After all, if you quit your day job today, it’s highly unlikely you’ll have a full freelance workload tomorrow. But not everyone has ten to twenty spare hours a week to moonlight. And many creative professionals find themselves diving into the freelance pool headfirst after getting laid off, becoming a parent, or getting so fed up with their 9-to-5 they accidentally blurt out where their boss can stick it. If you count yourself among that crowd, not to worry. Many freelancers before you have started their solo careers without a lick of planning and lived to tell the tale (yours truly included). With the help of this book, you’ll be a lean, mean, freelancing machine in no time.
Even if you’ve been freelancing on the side or full-time for a few years, you’re going to find some useful pointers here. As creative pros for hire, it’s easy for us to get caught up with the project work on our plate but gloss over the business side of things. If your website, office space, or income could use a makeover, this section will serve up some suggestions. And if you’re bored with your current workload, these chapters could give you the kick in the pants you need to shake things up.
Chapter 1
Business Plan To Go
Even Thumper had goals
“Smart kid like you. You got to have a plan. Some kind of a dream.”
—Peter Gallagher in The O.C., 2003
I used to think business plans were for people who preferred pumps and pearls to slippers and sweats. When I started working for myself as a freelancer, I wasn’t looking for a bank loan or an angel investor, so, I figured, why would I need some wonky thirty-page tome? How the heck was a hefty mission statement going to help an independent professional like me land better clients and make enough money to pay my rent?
Then I was asked to write a story on business plans for NAFE Magazine, a publication aimed at female execs. In the interviews I gathered for the article, business guru after business guru griped about the way so many self-employed people operate on autopilot, leaping at every opportunity that falls into their laps—the good, the bad, and the ugly, intention and ambition be damned.
Melissa Krinzman, who runs Venture Architects, a New York-based firm that helps entrepreneurs looking for seed money develop their business plans, said something that stuck with me: “A business plan helps you focus on selecting the client rather than waiting for the client to select you.”
In other words, commit to paper your latest and greatest freelance goals—why you want to work for yourself in the first place, and what projects and