1. Client giving you a bad vibe? Drop them asap. This is one of the hardest pieces of advice to follow, because even after 3 years of freelance I still ignore all the signs and give into the temptation of glamor and money. I was once asked to do a websites for an international TV show and for a medium sized corporation, both of those projects ended is disaster.
  2. Dont’ work alone. If you don’t interact with other designers on a regular basis you risk losing sight of the important things like broadening your design skills and discovering new fields (typography, photo manipulation, javascript).
  3. Personal projects are extremely important. Working with clients can really suck up all your energy and having at least 1 personal project (design a blog, business cards, manipulate photos, print t-shirts) can reignite your passion for design.
  4. Never trust anyone. Freelancers are well positioned to be taken advantage of; we are commonly seen as contractors or expendable employees. Always make sure you have a deposit before you start work and get the client to sign off on an outline (or contract) of what is expected of you.
  5. Give everything a time frame. I told one of my first clients I would do updates for $12 an hour, but as your portfolio grows so will your rates and I had to break it to the client that after 6 months of service my rates are going to increase. Not too professional on my part.
12 August 2009 Personal