Considering Freelancing - What Should I Know? Also advice welcome!

[Darkwing]

So over the past year or two, I've started volunteering my services to some fan productions. So far it's been a great experience and I feel a sense of accomplishment as I'm now completing projects on a very regular basis. Now I'm considering expanding that practice into something that might make a few dollars here and there.

 

I by no means am looking to quit my day job. Rather, make a little bit of money on the side doing what I already do in my spare time. Thing is, I'm not really sure where to start. Also I'm not entirely sure how to best "get my name out there" so to speak. I'm not looking to do big things, rather target smaller groups that need a bit of work done here and there. I have started work on a website which you can view at www.dwflash.com.

 

If anyone has any advice or pointers or anything, please let me know. Likewise, is this viable?

[largento]

I know nothing of Canadian tax laws, so it would be a good idea to check up on them. In the US, there are some definite downsides to self-employment.

 

I think the website is a necessity.

 

What I would suggest doing is scowering the crowd-funding sites, looking for film projects that you think could use your services and then politely spamming them, letting them know your availability, abilities, and pricing. These projects are looking to raise money for services like yours.

 

And I've done three Kickstarters and I'm still getting emails from people selling their services, so it must be working for people. :-)

 

I would expect that success with those independent projects would give you the credentials to move up to bigger productions.

[Darkwing]

Ah! Very clever thinking! And as I understand it, if it's not an "official" business, I can do it all under the table. Unless by some miracle I make more than I'm expecting, in which case i can claim it at year end as other income.

[robcat2075]

I've been able to make most inquiries I've gotten over the last 15 years very brief by saying they would need to pay 1/3 up front.

 

If they can't pay anything up front they probably won't pay anything ever.

[John Bigboote]

"Half up-front and the other two-thirds on delivery!" -gets a laff every time...

[zandoriastudios]

You might also consider invoicing at the completion of the project. A lot of businesses deal with vendors through accounts payable, and usually pay invoices in 30 days. I do work for my former employer as a freelancer and I do this--the first couple of months it felt uneasy, however now that there is a stack of invoices I can relax about it, and there is usually a check in the mailbox for 1 or 2 of them, and I can see what should be coming in over the next month or so...

I used to worry about the 1/2 deposit thing, but now I prefer to give an estimate/quote on the front end and bill later.

[Roger]

While I'm not doing this now, I have done it in the past and I would suggest you be very careful with "suggestion creep" by clients. Meaning, you quote say $1000 for a job and know it can be completed in 20 hours, giving you a profit of $500 (assuming half for overhead/taxes). They start asking you to change a something here, something there and before you know it you're working for minimum wage. I would suggest if you're going to bill in the low end range, make it very clear that since it is such a deal, they get what they signed off on with no changes or they can request changes but it will cost them. For your part, make sure you underpromise and over-deliver. If you think something will take a month, tell them 2 or 3 so that way when you deliver in 6 weeks you look like a hero. You don't want it to be the other way around, that's bad for your personal and business reputation. I call this my "Scotty" theory of deliverables (as in Scotty from Star Trek...he'd always pad his estimates of how long it would take to fix the warp core...the downside of this is if they figure out that's what you're doing).

 

Be wary about working for very little pay or no pay on the promise of future work later. They will expect to pay you less later, too.

 

Get a portion (1/3 to 1/2) up front and the rest on completion. If they aren't willing to agree to that, they're not serious.

I would suggest billing such that you're making at least $20-$25 an hour after all your costs. Otherwise, why bother?

[robcat2075]

 

Be wary about working for very little pay or no pay on the promise of future work later. They will expect to pay you less later, too.

 

 

A former manager of mine once noted that whenever he cut a client a deal in the hope of future work, it never resulted in future work.

 

It seems a lot of big VFX companies have gone broke on that plan.

[pixelplucker]

I've been self employed almost 30 years now, scary thought. Yup taxes are not in your favor being self employed, hours are long and you may not have a boss over your shoulder but you have clients yelling and screaming instead.

 

It took me a long long time to weed out the garbage, I am only a contract worker (work with other companies in my industry and not directly with the end purchaser). 99% of the people that want your services are unlikely willing to pay the price for them especially if your doing work for free. Never just give away work in hopes of them coming back. Typically these people scavenge around for suppliers that give something away in hope of returning business. If you actually got a job out of them then your first paying job is only worth half the rate you would normally charge so is that really worth it, will they come back again or find some other sucker to do the same thing again.

 

Look around for what the going rates are and the quality of work that is being done. Most likely if you count your costs of doing business (rent, utilities, and other silly things like food) How many hours can you stay busy (billable time) Cost of your hardware and software. If you really consider these and work at home then you may fit in the realm and might have a shot.

 

Before you quit your job and end up on the side of the road in a cardboard box and run your comp off a stolen car battery while using a hijacked Internet connect, try to build up steady work where the income from the new venture is equal or greater than your getting now. Do this over th course of a year since most work has its cycles.

 

For myself I have had a blast with the great people I have worked with and wouldn't trade it for sitting in some cubical in an obnoxious office somewheres. No lie it is really really hard to do but also the most gratifying. If your going to do this for the long haul also keep in mind how industries change and try to keep up and evolve with them.

[Darkwing]

This is all really fantastic advice and I highly appreciate it! It's late so I won't make a big long post, but it's quite obvious to me that my expectations are very low haha. You guys are here spewing numbers like 20 bucks an hour and I'm here thinking I'll be lucky to get 20 bucks for a project. But like I said, this is all just in a consideration/fact-finding phase. Just a way to make a little money on the side of my (minimum wage) management job. Like it's not even a goal for me to start up a full blown business. Spent my whole life watching my parents fail at that, but I'm at least interested in the prospect of new challenges.

 

Again thanks for the advice so far! Like I said it's late and I'll re-read everything with a clearer head in the morning!

[pixelplucker]

Don't be discouraged but rather be determined. Not everyones business model is the same. If your work is comparable to someone in the area that is charging $100 an hour then you shouldn't be selling yourself short at $20 an hour. Not only does it lower the market value for the work but it cheapens the expectations from the client. It's nice to be competitive but don't go crazy.

 

When I had a screen printing shop I ran into tons of basement printers that had 0 overhead and didn't even charge for their artwork or setups and their cost per color charges where so low they didn't even cover the cost of their electric bill. This was a huge pain because the customers felt they were getting ripped off going to legitimate printers. The basement printers wouldn't last a year but were damaging to the business.

 

Be subjective about your work and see what the market will bear based on others.

[zandoriastudios]

You can't make it as a freelancer billing what you think might be a good rate to make as an employee! Remember that you are paying your own taxes, insurance, electric, phone, Internet, etc...

There is a handbook from the Graphic Artist Guild for ethical pricing guidelines that has a pretty good matrix of fees based on the type of work: https://graphicartistsguild.org/handbook

 

I usually estimate my time for a project and multiply by a rate of $60-80/hr depending on the type of work...

[John Bigboote]

 

 

Be wary about working for very little pay or no pay on the promise of future work later. They will expect to pay you less later, too.

 

 

A former manager of mine once noted that whenever he cut a client a deal in the hope of future work, it never resulted in future work.

 

It seems a lot of big VFX companies have gone broke on that plan.

 

My former company(that I worked for)- Grace & Wild Studios- one of the largest post-production facilities in the midwest- went out of business in 2011 by doing exactly thus. It never-never-ever-ever paid off!