Going it alone. 8 things you should know when freelancing as a product and content designer.
A love letter to product design
I love design. I love everything about it. I love good design that solves problems. The process of getting it to a place it can be used. The iterations, and the critiques, and the failures.
And design works. In fact good UI can increase conversion rates by up to 200%, and good UX can double this — up to 400%. So it’s definitely worth the investment.
But design isn’t linear. There’s no easy way to do it. If you’re lucky you might hit on the solution first time round. But this isn’t a given. Good design often means learning and unlearning, trying again, testing, and sometimes, accepting that something hasn’t worked.
This is all very well and good, but what happens when you’ve been hired as a designer, be that product designer, content designer, web designer. Anything.
Hopefully you’re good at what you do. And that means you’ve sold your clients a solution.
Ok, so you’re a freelance designer.
In the immortal words of Shania Twain… ‘that don’t impress me much’. Na I’m kidding. Anyone who can make a living as a freelancer or solopreneur or consultant or whatever you want to call it, is amazing. End of.
But what exactly does it mean, more than anything, to be a freelancer or consultant of any kind?! You’ve got to deliver.
Hired to design a user flow for a dating app? Reduce user churn? Provide a solution for clients on monetising their app? It doesn’t really matter what the work is. What matters is your solution.
I recently read Mike Monteiro’s book ‘Design is a job’, and if you are selling your services as a designer in any way. I recommend you do too. From identifying how to position yourself as a designer, to finding clients, collaborating with others, and getting paid. Mike has just about seen it all.
The book goes in depth into the ins and outs of being a designer. It’s super useful for anyone running a solo mission, but can also help if you work for an organisation too.
Here are just some of the things Mike talks about in the book:
Succeeding as a freelance designer
Know what you stand for
As a designer, you are a worker. But that doesn’t mean you have to do whatever someone tells you. In fact Mike actively advocates against that. Running your own race means you’ve got the opportunity to pursue good, non-harmful design. And you should do so wherever you can. But don’t do it at the expense of putting food on the table or paying your mortgage.
Finding and getting work
When you first start out, this is one of the most painful lessons of being a solo business owner. Clients will not just come to you, regardless of how good you are. You need to do good work, be nice to work with, and put yourself out there.
Now there are several ways to find clients. I had a lot of success on freelancer platforms at first, and I met some really fantastic people in the process. But these platforms are often a race to the bottom, favour the client, and have too much power over your business. So use them for a short time to build your portfolio, then get the hell outta there.
Beware of bad clients
Thankfully, and in my experience at least, there are more good clients than bad ones. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. You’ll probably know in your gut who is going to be a pain to work for, so do yourself a favour and walk away. No money is worth the stress of a bad client.
Avoid working with anyone who doesn’t understand the value of design, or doesn’t believe design can have an impact. They will just be a PITA.
Bring in the money, honey
I’ll keep this one short, and on this I agree completely with Mike. Charge as much as you reasonably can, and provide a valuable solution.
It can be tricky to know what to charge, but I like what Mike says, “if you’re asking for a lot of money, it must be because you’re very good at what you do.” Amen. But a lot of money for someone could be a little bit of money for someone else. So here’s my two cents for when you first get started. Work out what money you need to make a comfortable living and add 20%. Then keep adjusting from there and raise your prices whenever you have too many clients. Simples.
Get a contract in place
Urgh I made this mistake. It’s awful. Please, please get a contract. And a proper one too, not some template you’ve found on Google. Have a solicitor look over it, or better yet, tell the solicitor what you want to include and have them write it. If you are working for a larger organisation, you might find they have their own contracts. In which case, vet it carefully, and query anything that doesn’t work for you.
Hopefully you won’t have to enforce the contract. But if you do speak to a solicitor for advise.
Getting paid
This could work one of several ways. But most likely you’ll send your client an invoice with your fee and bank details. If you can, negotiate increments of payments. For example, 25% at the beginning, 75% on completion of project (just make sure you define what this looks like). The smaller payments will be easier to collect and keep up your cash flow, which as a freelancer, is super important.
Have a good process
Processes are invaluable. They help you figure out how to do something, and hopefully how to do it well. You are hired for your successful process. Your potential clients want you to use your successful process in their organisation and be successful as a result. So, go forth and work out what your successful process is. And then market the shit out of it.
Always understand the problem
Look, you won’t be able to provide value if you can’t solve your client’s problems. And, news flash, they won’t always know what the problem is, or quite what they want. So get down to the nitty gritty, embrace user research and iterations, and be open to collaboration to get the project over the finish line.
You have so much value to give
When you work for a client as a freelancer or consultant, you have the opportunity to showcase your skills and do really great work. And when you do that, your clients will be delighted. They might even refer you to other businesses (yessss, the dream). So, know your worth, provide honest value, and use your skills in the best way you can.
