Once I had started to create digital art, I posted it on forums and communities etc..my first customer saw some of my earlier works, and thought I could create something for one of their websites, so they got in touch with me and I did, we were both pleased with how it turned out, and I realised that it was easier than I thought and had fun doing it at the same time, I just had got paid for something I enjoyed doing..surely that’s everyone’s dream job. If one customer liked this, then i am sure other’s would too, so that’s when I started to take designing a little more seriously, and set up a website to showcase my artwork..

2. When you started freelancing, what were your goals? Do they differ to what they are now? What conscious decisions did you make to reach your goals?

I had several goals on the road to freelancing, I think most of all I wanted to enjoy what I was doing, and what I was working on, I set goals like to evolve my work, and make new websites, set up projects and do more networking too. I dont think differ too much now, although at the beginning I was less picky and took pretty much most jobs, even with low budgets just to broaden my portfolio as I was breaking through into the industry.

3. What was the most important thing that allowed you to grow your business?

The most important thing I think was setting up my website. This was a key factor in looking more professional and getting more clients. Most of my clients now email me from finding my website actually. My business definitely grew from here, and now I will set up a website for each project, and always update current one’s to keep things fresh.

4. You have also created an ecommerce shop (Funkrush), could you tell us how that came about?

Funkrush originally started out as a hobby as I was developing and bringing myself into the creative industries. I had made a lot of contact with illustrators and designers via networking and in person. So I got friends to design shirts, found a printer and set up a quick website and started selling! Born and bred in the online ghetto, it features designs by some of todays most recognised contemporary illustrators. Funkrush produces a variety of products, mainly focusing on tshirts but also zip up hoodies, socks and even prints.

I tout Funkrush as being urban apparel but it’s more of a mixture of urban infused graffiti street art mixed with cool, funky, and unique characters. We use the tagline “clothing that makes you smile” for the business, and it’s a very accurate take on our products. It has developed ever since and is now stocked all over Europe, I have more plans to develop it too!

5. How do you balance your time between selling tshirts and Freelancing?

Well to be honest, I think its about 50/50…although recently I have started designing more and have spent less time on Funkrush. Ideally I will get people to run Funkrush for me so I can concentrate on designing more and not have to worry about things like order fulfillment, which is actually starting to annoy me, however sales have grown its still enough for me to handle. It would be great to market and advertise Funkrush more, actually..im pretty busy, so organising time between the two is pretty hard, but I am a pretty laid back kind of guy so I dont let it stress me too much.

6. What are your plans for 2010?

Relaunch my personal portfolio (which should have launched while you are reading this – www.peteharrison.com), also relaunch Supercombo, I have a lot of new products for it, I was going to build a new Funkrush website, which not only stocked Funkrush but other brands too, like supercombo..so I can start to combine my projects and things will be easier to handle! I want to upgrade my stockroom, print a bunch of new tshirts, and get some nice clients design wise. I also want to upgrade my studio, and sell a lot of stuff I have that I don’t need..perhaps do more traveling too!

With the importance role that networking plays for freelancers, the question then becomes where do we network? As far as events and organizations go, networking can be done in two ways. One approach is to register and attend events organized by industry associations for the industry to which the you belongs. For instance, if you are a copywriter, find and join international, regional and local copywriters associations. Given the dynamic and fluid nature of the freelancer’s job description, there are times when there might not be an industry association that completely represents what you do. When faced with that kind of scenario, you can look for associations that are closest to representing your area of work.

The second approach is to join the industry associations that your clients belong to. This is probably the more effective of the two since you get to interact with a large number of potential clients and there is a likelihood of getting positive responses from at least some participants as long as you present yourself effectively. Such workshops and conferences organized by these associations provide a highly accurate form of marketing where you are able to access a sizeable number of clients and compares well with other forms of advertising such as posters and brochures where a lot of energy might be expended in marketing yourself to people that might not really need your business service.

But just attending the events is not enough. How you carry yourself holds the key to whether your networking is effective or whether it backfires and, in one swoop, ruins your reputation in the industry. One tip is to arrive early (10-15 minutes for instance) for any meeting or event. This is not only a good show of professionalism but also allows adequate time to talk to the attendees before the sessions kick off. As you interact with other people in attendance, you must be careful not to fall into the trap of selling yourself too hard. Looking like you are only in the event to network, even though it might be true, might not set well with others. Carrying yourself with confidence as opposed to appearing desperate is one way to win the trust of a future business associate. Take time to listen to everyone you interact with before introducing what you do. Chances are that they are the ones that will ask what you do.

Due to the interpersonal interaction and the rapport that may result during networking sessions, you have opportunity to make a more lasting impression than many of the other forms of marketing such as brochures and posters. Once you manage to break the ice and gain a level of confidence with the potential client and the conversation starts to flow freely it will not be that hard to bring up what you do and how you can both benefit in a business relationship.

Even though many people might not necessarily admit it, lucrative business deals are sealed as much due to the technical ability of the parties involved as they are due to the social and ‘emotional’ connection between the parties. People will not hesitate to give business to someone that they think they can easily relate with. Networking is an efficient way of doing business when one looks at the speed with which it can move you into this kind of trust with your target clients.

If you think about it, most businesses are built through networking even though the entrepreneur might not actually realize that they are networking. It is passing the word round to family and close friends on what it is you are doing that many people are able to land their first significant contracts and build from there. The importance for freelancers is probably more significant than it is for many other types of businesses when you consider that the freelancer fulfils multiple roles that would often be handled by different people in an ordinary business.

… part 2 here …

1. Job Opportunity.

With today’s economy there are many people who simply can’t find work or who are working less hours than they need to make ends meet. Becoming a freelancer will provide you with job opportunities as long as you are willing to go out and search for them

2. Financial Gain.

You can either work as a freelancer in your spare time which will help supplement your income or you can choose to work at home full time. Either way if you put in the time and effort you can actually gain financially over what you make at your day job.

3. Set You Own Hours.

You can set your own hours. If you choose to work 12 or 14 hour days for three or 4 days and then have a long weekend you can. If you prefer to work during the wee hours of the morning and then sleep during the day time you can do that as well. You can choose your own hours and work as much as little as you choose without worrying about getting demoted or fired.

4. Accept only those jobs you want.

When you work for a big or little company, you work for the clients they accept. Here you accept only the jobs and clients you want.

5. Be your own boss.

By becoming a freelancer you become your own boss. Which means not only can you set your own hours, your own vacation time, but your own rate of pay as well.

6. Saves Money.

Becoming a freelancer can actually save you money. You don’t have the expense of gas to and from work, or eating lunch out. You can dress anyway you please which helps to save on your clothing budget and you are not asked to put in for co workers birthdays, baby showers, weddings, and other celebrations which can add up to a big chunk out of your paycheck.

7. No daily commutes.

You no longer have to fight rush hour traffic or drive long distances to the office. You can simply jump out of bed, grab a cup of coffee, and you’re at work.

8. Less Work Related Stress.

When you work as a freelancer you can eliminate a lot of the work related stress that surrounds working in an office with other people who may have conflicting personalities or annoying habits. Since you set your hours and take the amount of work that you know you can comfortably handle there will also be less deadline stress.

9. Independence.

As a freelancer you have the independence to work from anywhere you please. You can work from home or pack up the laptop and do a bit of traveling while working on the road.

10. Personal Satisfaction.

There is nothing like the personal satisfaction you get from building your freelance career from scratch and becoming a success at it.

11.Doing Something You Love.

This last reason is possibly the most important. You get to do something you love. So much of our are lives spent working why not do something you truly enjoy?

But be encouraged, there are also some very successful freelancers running great businesses.

The difference? Well, there are many and if you look around the blog you can find a load of ways you can be more successful. But for the purpose of this post, I am going to suggest that great freelancers understand personal branding.

Branding a business, even if only a one person operation, can do a lot of things in terms of the business’s sucess. A good brand builds credibility, client loyalty, delivers a target message to clients and other businesses, and even helps in your marketing strategy.

There’s many components that make up a brand, so we’ll start with one of the first considerations and that’s your company name.

What’s in a Name?

Just like your own name, your freelancing business name is significant.

As a freelancer, you really have two main options.

1. Use your full name as the brand name.
2. Create a specialized brand name.

This choice should be made with the future in mind. Don’t be flippant and assume you can just change the name at any given point.

If you plan to turn your one man show into a firm one day, you need to weigh up whether ‘Your Name’ will work as an appropriate business name. Just think about Adidas, Johnson & Johnson and Ogilvy.

On the other hand, a very clever brand name can be very memorable. When I first started as a freelance designer, I used the name Breadlegs. Nearly everyone asked me why the business was called Breadlegs and I made up a different story each time. I haven’t traded under that brand for over 5 years now, but I still get people asking.

So to summarize, there is no right and wrong. You will, however, need to refer to the name a lot in your day to day activities, so make sure it’s pronounceable and clear.

The bad thing about freelancing is that unless you work, you don’t get paid. The hardest part is actually getting through the projects that you have. You’re probably familiar with the creative block, which is an inability to create anything at that particular moment in time. There are of course, other things that can get in the way of getting your work done such as sicknesses, other chores, etc. Luckily, there are ways to get over every imaginable obstacle out there.

Here’s 5 tips to help you increase your productivity and get your work done in a timely manner:

1. Create a schedule

Do this before you go to bed every night so that you will have a generalized idea of how your day is going to look. Keep in mind that nothing ever goes exactly as planned, so be prepared for a dozen unexpected things to occur. Create an outline of how your day might go, and make it a point to pave out a time frame at which you will get your work done. Doing this will help to mentally prepare you for the day ahead.

2. Rise Early

Make writing the first thing you do in the morning. If there are other chores, go ahead and get them out of the way as well. Some days it may be easy to get up and start writing, and then others, it may be easier to get up and do your other chores. Consider alternating to keep things interesting, or, if you would prefer, stick to one certain way of doing things everyday in order to create a routine.

3. Eat Breakfast and Exercise

This may sound like it has nothing to do with increasing productivity, but it is very important. A lot of people assume that sitting at a computer all day is a piece of cake – not exhausting in the least bit. Well, as you may already know, that’s a big fat load of crap! Writing can be very exhausting, especially mentally. You’re going to need energy, and the best way to get it is to make sure you eat breakfast and get some exercise. You don’t have to exercise early in the day if you do not want to. Some people work out when they first wake up, others do it on their lunch breaks, and then others workout a few hours before bed at night. You’re going to need that extra boost every day.

4. Take Breaks

No one says that you have to work for a solid block of five hours straight, or even two hours straight for that matter. When you find yourself feeling distracted, mentally exhausted, or even a bit tense and irritated with what you’re doing, get up and move around. Go do something totally different for about 30 minutes. Take your mind completely off your writing and just relax. Take the dog for a walk, do the laundry, wash the dishes – whatever you do, just keep it simple. When you return to your computer, you’ll be ready to write!

5. Know When to Quit

Do not assume that you have all day to do your work because it won’t get done. Set a time limit for yourself. For example, you might say, “In the morning, I am going to wake up at 5:00 AM, work for 1 ½ hours, and then get some chores done for two hours. After that, I am going to sit down for 3 more 90-minute rounds of working, and then I am going to be finished. I plan on being completely finished by 4:00 PM.” When it’s time to stop – stop. You can’t let your work drag out all day, if you do that, you’ll be miserable.

When starting out in freelancing, often you’ll hear all sorts of advice. Advice like “price yourself cheaply to start with to get some customers”, or “don’t go full time straight off the bat”, etc. That’s all well and good. But this one piece of adviceshould be at the back of your mind no matter what else you hear.

“Market yourself for the long term”

Good solid work comes from good, solid relationships and good solid reputations. There’s no quick way to build those ingredients, but there are ways to make it quicker. Here are some ways to keep an eye on the long term.

Look for work in the right places

Building long term relationships requires you to position yourself as an irreplaceable resource for businesses.

Now there are exceptions, but generally you don’t find these clients on job boards. Why? Because those clients are happy to use job boards! They can find a replacement very quickly, and most likely, as soon as your rates rise or your timeframe shifts, they will.

Instead, some places you could look for work would be local businesses, agencies, freelancers with complimentary skill sets.

Local businesses need someone to take care of their website for them. Most often, they don’t have the knowledge or time required to maintain an effective web presence. For these types of businesses you can situate yourself as the “go to guy/gal” for all their website stuff. Take care of their domain name, web hosting, updates, keep up to date on their marketing goals, be available for questions etc.

Working for agencies and other freelancers is great for freelancers that like defined projects, because almost always, if you do a good job, you’ll get more work in the future. In these situations, you’re basically outsourcing your marketing.

Your service doesn’t stop when the job is done

If you’re working with small business owners, your service should never stop. If you aren’t doing hosting yourself, at least work in with a hosting partner that shares some profits with you. Always look for opportunities where you can offer new services.

Build recurring revenue streams

Some people don’t recommend hosting yourself. I recommend you do, but that you charge for it. My hosting is typically more expensive than other hosts, but my clients pay more because they trust me, and because I become their sole contact for all web issues, which makes it easier for them.

Same goes for domain registration.

If you do one website a month, and charge $300 hosting for a year, the next year, you’re starting off at $3600 revenue instead of 0.

When you’re selling, think of the long term

Don’t always be blinded by immediate reward. Some times its better to take a pay cut in order to get a job that has great potential down the road. (And anyone that says they’ll send you heaps of people for work, usually won’t).

An example of this is if you’re designing a website for a section of a larger organisation. I’ve got foots in the door in tourism, health, and a religious group. All of which refer a lot more work to me through my repute, rather than by direct word of mouth.

Summary

Always keep an eye on the long term. If you’ve done it right, you’ll find the leads materialising from nowhere.

Over the last few years I have used various freelancers. Their jobs have ranged from writing or graphic design to web-design. I have provided work for musicians, fashion designers, artists and consultants. I have been impressed and at other times seriously disappointed.

So here’s my list (and forgive me for starting with #2…)

2. We want you to listen.

Yes… listen! It’s a very simple exercise that many fail at. We want you to listen to what our needs are for the project. We don’t want you to push your favourite piece of code or your latest flash animation trick. Only suggest them if they will add actual value to our project (not your invoice).

1. We want you to listen.

Did I say that already? Being a freelancer means a lot of work in creating clients and sales. Yes you need to put bread on the table, but to see us just as clients will mean you miss a returning customer or a recommendation.

We buy into you first your skills second. Take ‘L’. L is an extremely friendly guy. He will take calls from clients even when there is nothing to be sold. He is a top seller in his company because he sees people first and sales figures second. His clients and vendors return to him not necessarily because he provides the cheapest or best products and services. He gets taken out to lunch often by people passing through to say thank you. He has listened to life-stories and problems.

Likewise I have returned to certain freelancers, coffee-shops and clothing boutiques because I felt valued as a person (not a customer).

If you’re not a ‘people person’ you may have picked the wrong career. Am I saying we just want to be friends? In a way yes. And if you don’t like us FAKE IT!! I would be grateful if you were sincere in caring, but the truth is we won’t know the difference. Email clients such as outlook have sections for detailing information concerning spouses, birthdays, anniversaries and children. They are there to be used within a business context rather than forgetful dads.

3. We want you to be professional.

We want the services/product you agreed to provide at the price we agreed to by the time we agreed to. If you can be early- even better. We want you to be on time for meetings; to reply to our emails and phone-calls.

4. We don’t want to be ripped off!!

This is a particular pet peeve of mine. As most freelancers would place themselves in the entrepreneur bracket they are very quick to ’steal an idea’. This has happened to me on several occasions. Word gets around when someone has no or little ethics in their business dealings. If you think you can do a better job with the project or product then set-up a separate meeting and request a ‘buy-in’ if you really think it’s that good. You may make a quick buck now, but people will soon realise you are not worthy of their time or ideas. You will lose integrity*, ‘friends’ and money in the long-run.
*personal and professional integrity go hand-in-hand.

If you can fulfill these four and a half criteria and provide a great product/service we will always be returning customers and recommend you to others we know.

What I haven’t really covered yet on this blog is getting your portfolio right. When you’ve spent all that time marketing your site, there better be something awesome to see when they get there.

So what makes a good portfolio?

Let’s start with the premise that your portfolio is your most important calling card.

I’ve been involved in both sides of the portfolio wall. Often times i’m exhibiting work to get more work. But there’s been many occasions where i’m checking people’s portfolios when we’ve been overloaded with work and need to outsource to other freelancers.

I’ve seen a load of portfolio and here’s my opinion on what makes the best ones…

1. Well designed.
This goes without saying, especially if you are a freelance designer. I don’t just mean pretty with some nice choice of colours. I mean make sure that your work is set out in a way that is very easy to scan through. Don’t over design and complicate the navigation either, just keep it simple.

Think of your portfolio like an art gallery. The walls never intrude with the work, which brings me to my second point.

2. Don’t try and be too smart.
I’ve seen some portfolios with some crazy ideas and navigation. I understand that the person is trying to stand out and be clever, but I haven’t got the time or inclination to guess how to find the work. I other words, don’t make me think.

3. Show it all!!
This is my personal opinion, but I think you should show off your work in all it’s glory and don’t get worried about being ripped off. I’ve seen some portfolios with tiny little thumbnails of work or short paragraphs of written work because they don’t want to be copied.

If people want to steal, they will.

4. How do you work?
Seeing what you do is great. What’s even better is when I can see the process you went through to get to the final result. What was the situation the client was in when you met them? Did you have to start from scratch? Was their a brief or did you have to research and help create a marketing plan? What were their goals for the project?

This is the stuff people want to know when they take you on. Some will be trusting you with their brand and they want to know you’ll be able to work with them and not in your own little world.

Here’s a video of one site that I personally really like. Please add a link to your portfolio underneath.

So what is a USP?

Well, it stands for “unique selling proposition”.

In non marketing speak, it is a definition of what makes you special and sets you apart from other freelancers. It’s about creating a unique reason for customers to use your services and not your competition.

It makes you more unique, valuable and visible in the market.

For example, Federal Express (FedEx) dominated the package shipping market with “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.” The deployment of this USP allowed Federal Express to emerge as the dominant leader in the industry, taking market share rapidly, and also increasing its sales and profits.

Obviously, you need to be able to back this up too, you can’t just sat it.

Do Freelancers Need A USP?

Absolutely. Your USP will be one of the tools you use to makes you stand out. It will help people understand why it’s worth spending more with you than some guy they find on any old freelance job site.

In theory, if it’s a truly unique reason, then you’re the only one who can possibly deliver what the client wants. That’s when you can start commanding the prices you want.

When you create your USP, don’t get too precious. This will be a work in progress and you can refine it as you grow and develop as a freelancer.

Don’t forget, that your USP is a sentence or phrase that explains what makes you special. So when you develop your USP, you need to put yourself in your prospects’ position.

Think about your freelance services from the point of view of someone about to hire you. What’s important to them and what would be a compelling reason for them to choose you over your competition?

What does your service do for them? How will you solve their problems or improve an outcome?

Customers are not interested in features. However, they are very motivated by benefits.

Freelancing is obviously a competitive market, and you can’t be all things to all people. So maybe it’s worth trying to find a niche. An area in the market that you can take ownership of because of the unique benefits you offer. For example, there are designers that only create websites for churches.

So, to summarise. A good Freelance USP should be:

>> One sentence.
>> One that everyone can understand.
>> Contain benefits that are unique to you.

Then when you have it, use it on all your communications.

Also, add yours below to inspire other readers.