One of the benefits of Freelancing is the FREEDOM but sometimes too much freedom leads to disorganization and chaos. Possibly the biggest challenge a Freelancer faces is the ability to be his or her own boss-- with no one constantly over your shoulder, no fear of a walk thru by the uppity mucks there's plenty of opportunity to slack off, and that will kill your career.
1. ESTABLISH YOUR WORK HOURS - This should be a "general" guide because as I've already covered sometimes creativity cannot be caged. Sometimes that great idea or inspiration comes at 2 in the morning rather than at 9. Everyone is different and this is a find your way kind of rule. During a week of working freelance take occasion to jot down notes of the time and productivity-- you'll likely see a pattern emerge. In my own case I like to get an early start but seldom do. But after years of study I've discovered my peak productivity blocks in the day- 5am-8am and 2pm to 10pm. We'll get into this a bit further below.
2. ESTABLISH A WORK AREA - This is the BIGGEST key for me. I don't allow my work to spread out all over the house. I work ONLY in my studio space. The entire third floor of my house is my office area. It houses my computers, drawing tables, easels, supplies and reference material. I DON'T spend ANY time in there NOT working. You wouldn't drive to your corporate office job so you can search eBay would you? I treat my work area with the same respect.
3. KNOW WHEN A JOB IS NOT THE RIGHT FIT - It’s hard when you're just starting out to turn down a job, but sometimes (especially early on) things come along that are not right for you. I can't draw cute. I can't. Bunnies might start KIND OF cute but eventually they're going to look depraved. It's not in my makeup. Early in my career I would have taken that gig and kept at it killing myself and doing four times the work to make it right for the client. Now I know better. You turn down the WRONG job so you're available when the RIGHT job comes along.
4. DEADLINES TRUMP EVERYTHING - My kids from an early age knew the phrase "Dad's on a deadline" -- which meant I'm a phantom that might pop up out of my studio 2-3 times a week. The Deadline is the thing. I don't miss deadlines. This should not be your every week routine— you need to have a life, but those deadline crunch times are special circ*mstances.
5. SET UP PRODUCTIVITY - Da Vinci used a similar schedule and I've found this works; 45-90 minute working sessions with breaks in between makes me MUCH more productive.
LET'S GET A LITTLE FURTHER IN-DEPTH to my talking points
1- Establishing Your Work Hours-- I would suggest you even buy yourself an OPEN/CLOSED sign that you can put outside your workroom door. It doesn't have to be a fancy neon one, it can be a simple cardboard one. In my studio I use to blowmold ghosts that sit at the edge of my desk-- when they're on I'm working. It not only lets other people know you're "at work" it gets yourself into the right frame of mind.
Share your working hours with significant others. Let them know you're going to be struggling to "work from home" and you'll need their help. They wouldn't walk into your office on Park Avenue with your co-workers all around and your boss down the hall clutching the light bill and saying we need to talk about that neon beer sign you must have on 24 hours a day-- they would wait until you're home from work, and just because work is now home there should be no difference.
They need to understand that work from home does NOT mean you don't work. It does not mean every elderly relative can expect you to shuttle them around to doctor appointments, it doesn't mean you're instantly the chaperone at juniors Zoo trip. YOU ARE STILL WORKING just AT HOME.
You’ll need to decide if you are going to follow a standard Monday-Friday work week or will you take Mondays and Tuesdays off? Resist the urge to not take days off because money is coming in. I strongly advocate days off for your own mental health. It's easy to swing the opposite direction in Freelance and work 24/7.
One of the first things I wanted when I went Freelance was weekends off. After years of working in retail I never got to enjoy them. In retail I had every Sunday and Wednesday off. SPLIT days-- and I was looking forward to two together. It seemed like a dream to me.
The downside to being off weekends is so is everyone else. So those Wednesday trips to the bank or the post office I used to make were a breeze compared to trying to go on Saturday morning.
Now, I schedule days off (and to be honest A Day Off) the week I'm working. It allows me to better balance projects. And being completely honest, I LOVE working freelance, sometimes taking a day off is like punishment. But even on the weeks I don't take a day off I take a morning off, or an afternoon, or an evening-- that works for me. Starting out-- I'd give yourself at least one day off each week as you're figuring out what works for you.
How About Holidays? That seems like a no-brainer until you're on that big project and it's due Dec 27th and using the Organizational skills I set up for you in Session 1 you realize you're behind. Suddenly you have a virtual scale in front of you held by Santa Claus with family and friends on one side and the client on the other.
Deciding up front that it's a hard and fast rule that you won't work CERTAIN holidays is a concession I made right away. I don't work on Christmas-- in fact I don't work two days BEFORE Christmas and I don't work the week FOLLOWING Christmas up through to Jan 2nd. I don't. Nope, not gonna do it.
Why? I like Christmas and it's a holiday I look forward to. I work extremely hard up to Dec 22nd but truth be told Christmas is VERY Slow in Freelance because most clients aren't thinking about projects either. So a studio shut down is perfectly acceptable.
But the OTHER 99 holidays on the calendar? They are all up for grabs. I don't work the night of my wife's Birthday and I keep the schedule light during the day-- but other than Xmas, New Years and my Wife's Birthday I will work any other holiday even at the drop of a hat.
Knowing this helps me keep the stress level down. My family knowing this keeps them from asking me why I'm not coming to the Memorial Day cookout, or the Patriots Day party.
2. Establish a Work Area - My wife has her own studio on another floor of the house. We meet daily for Breakfast and Lunch which is a nice break. Her studio is very zen. Very few things, a handful of books, some sparse furniture and warm inviting lights with some inspirational artwork hanging prominently around the room. Mine is the polar opposite of Zen. It's loaded like a High School locker. There is not an inch of space on my walls or shelves that is not filled with comics, posters, original art, toys, action figures, vintage japanese vinyl toys, a lifesize Frankenstein, an Adam West Batman Cowl, a Nicholas Hammond Spider-Man Mask a Tony the Tiger display head, Darth Vader mask, more toys, more art more action figures and did I mention Books? Libraries come to me to borrow things. There are THOUSANDS of books.
I love the kinetic cluttered energy it gives off. At Christmas time I might move a Santa Claus in somewhere. The rest of the year Halloween Lights hang in my studio. It's my own personal Batcave-- all I'm missing is a British Butler walking in with coffee and scones every forty five minutes, and writing that I realize I need a British Butler— send applications and resumes (you must be skilled at Krav Mega and firearms) to andy@andytfish.com. Let’s be real, I know it’ll be tough to find one, so if you have to fake the accent that’s perfectly OK.
But that space works for me. It gets me juiced up and ready to work.
That's how you need to set YOUR space. When you're just starting out you may have to incorporate a drawing or work area in another room because of space restraints. When I was first starting out in a one bedroom studio my bed was three feet from my drawing table. It made for some tough nights sleeping because it was hard to "turn off" working mode in the same room.
Regardless of space, make some for yourself. I have a good friend whose first studio space was a medium sized closet. It was actually kind of cool-- you had to climb in like a race car but once you were encased in the environment like a man piloting a lunar shuttle to the moon you were ready to work.
The point is to make this space YOUR work inspiration-- so make it a place you WANT to spend time in.
3. Know when a Job is NOT the Right Fit - Easy to say when you're established. You're going to take pretty much any job that comes along at first, and that's okay. Sometimes you don't even know the job isn't right for you until you're doing it.
When we get to PART 5: GETTING PAID SON we'll look at how to budget for these types of jobs so at least you're getting paid well for something that isn't a fit.
Let's assume that despite your portfolio of Goth Animals someone comes to you thinking you'd be perfect for that highly detailed photo accurate oil painting of Grandma. That's not a good fit for you, you know it, they don't. But the light bill is due and there's not a lot else coming in right now so you're thinking hard about taking it. It's a fork in the road decision:
A. You take it and spend HOURS upon HOURS resisting the urge to give grandma dark undereyes and floppy ears. If you went with this option the biggest advice I can give you is do a lot of research and spend a LOT of time warming up. Look at portraits, look at Presidential Portraits and study the brush strokes. Grab your favorite sketchbook and some colored pencils and get to an art museum and do some sketching of the portraits in the collection. Get your head ready for the project and then give it your best shot.
B. Pass on it and recommend a friend you know who would be a better fit, earning Karma points from the friend and freeing yourself up for that job that WILL fit. Spend the downtime Marketing yourself (also coming up in the series) which is a better expenditure of your time and resources.
4. Deadlines Trump All - All my rules of work parameters combined with the skills I imparted in the ORGANIZATION session should lead you to a point where you don't have to work overtime, but in the real world we know that occasionally that IS going to happen. If you find yourself CONSTANTLY working overtime on projects re-evaluate your working methods and see if you are actually being productive or if you're wasting a lot of time.
5. SetUp Productivity - The eight hour workday became the norm at the turn of the last century and pretty much has been the standard ever since. This method goes back LONG before that to the days of Leonardo Da Vinci who often used this seemingly odd method to accomplish the amazing array of achievements he did over the course of his life.
It's simple-- you work in 45-90 minute sessions with breaks in between. During the session you do NOTHING but work. You don't answer the phone if it rings (that's why Voicemail was created) you don't check your email. You don't jump on IMDB to see who was the actor inside Darth Vader's suit (it was Dave Prowse, body builder and former Frankenstein actor). YOU WORK. Because SO much of our day is actually filled with distraction. That's OK if you work for SNIDELY WHIPLASH INDUSTRIES who is paying you a fat check to work 30% of the time, as a Freelancer you only get paid for the hours you actually WORK. Novel concept isn't it? It's the price you pay for being your own boss.
This is best accomplished either by setting up a PLAYLIST running the allotted time, or by streaming an episode of a TV series or even setting an alarm clock. Give it a try-- WORK for the allocated time and THEN take a break of 15-30 mins (also timed) to check your mail, return phone calls, do whatever-- you will be AMAZED at how this works if you can really be disciplined about it.
COMING UP NEXT: LIVING WITHIN YOUR MEANS
Andy Fish is a freelance artist and writer who has been living the lifestyle longer than there has been an iPhone on this planet. The advice given has worked for him, it might work for you, he hopes it does. But like all advice, take it with your own situation in mind. If you want to contact him shoot him an email andy@andytfish.com
