Fire Studios

In this episode we welcome in our new season with an extend time-slot and even more changes you'll notice through the episode and discuss the very important topic of "The Jump To Freelancing", leaving your 9-to-5 to become your own boss and live your dream. Areas we cover are: "Going into Freelancing straight out of High School", "The Pro's and Con's of Freelancing", "How to Build a Client Base", and "Tools and Reasources for Freelancers".

Panel:

• Fire G - Host (Fire Studios)
• Andrew Turner - Panellist (Burning Stone Cold)
• James White - Panellist (James' Blog)
• Scott Oldford - Panellist (Scott Oldford.com)

Going into Freelancing Straight out of High School

Pros:

• Instant income
• Instant portfolio building
• Less debt
• More work experience

Cons:

• No garuntee of income
• No Fallback
• "closing doors"
• Less likely to go to college if fails
• No/Less networking with your generation

Main Points:

• Don't quit your job unless you can make the same income without it
• College is a great Networking tool
• A college diploma will let you move onto something else if freelancing turns out to not be for you
• Gain a higher learning of your trade
• "leaves doors open"
• Lets you build client bases without relying on them
• "It doesn't matter if you're the greatest programmer ever, if you can't get a job." and a degree helps get those high end jobs

The Pro's and Con's of Freelancing

Leaving your 9-5 and jumping into freelancing:

If you've lost motivation in your current job and bored of the same 9-5 rountine then maybe it's time for change? Thats where freelancing comes in. If you enjoy a certain area such as photography or website design then you could become a freelancer. Being a freelancer has great perks but also has some down falls, although most things have two sides anyway.

Advantages of free lancing:

1. More time to spend with friends/family
2. More winding down time a.k.a relaxing
3. Flexible working hours
4. Learn new skills during your freelancing
5. You are your own boss
6. Increased motivation (Seems you in a area you like)

Freelancing sounds great so far and you could be thinking, why isn't the whole world freelancing? Well it sounds great but like I said there are also down falls of freelancing:

Disadvatages of freelancing:

1. Alot of responibility. Although you have more freedom you will have to take on responbility
2. Need a good client base (which can be hard to get)
3. Relating to the client base, it can be hard to be established
4. Possible chance of you becoming a workaholic

Main points about freelancing:

• Being organised will be key to your success, if your not organised then you won't make it in the world.
• You need to be commited to freelancing and be serious about what your doing
• You will also need to take on responbility of your work, for clients and yourself
• Should you jump into freelancing straight away?

This question was asked and it's defiantly a no, you will need to carefully plan your move into freelancing and possibly even research (From a business point of view) current freelancers in your area that you yourself want to freelance in. Like Fire G said you will also need sufficent finanical backing and fall back capital incase your freelancing doesn't work out as planned. So the title jumping into freelancing is a bit mis-leading as you don't jump into freelancing at all. Going into freelancing is the next step, the next level, the beta upgrade. However you put it it's a giant leap into a new world and needs to be planned carefully

Building a Client Base

Client bases are people regarded as potential customers by businesses that provide services, so that means as a freelancer that means you have customers or clients that you provide your services to.The clients are what keeps your freelance business going and will in turn be paying for the food to be put on your table. Through speaking of that it's very important to have a strong client base. Basically, Clients are the people that you'll be doing work for as a freelancer. Usually this isn't part-time or full-time work for them, though one-off projects, and possibly recurring depending on the services you offer.

Ways to get freelance jobs:

Job Boards:

• Freelance Switch Job Board: http://jobs.freelanceswitch.com -
  Many great opportunities to be found here, and these can be accessed for $7/month. Most job listings are quite detailed, and this is a good way to connect with potential clients.

• Elance Job Board: http://www.elance.com -
  The Elance Job Board has a staggering amount of freelance jobs available for designers, developers and a few other professions. From what I understand clients here know what they need, and from my experiences clients that know what they need usually make the process a whole lot easier.

• Authentic Jobs Board: http://authenticjobs.com -
  Lots of listings for designers, developers and programmers who wish to work not only freelance but part-time and full-time.

• ODesk: http://odesk.com -
  ODesk is regarded as one of the best job boards out there as there is literally hundreds clients needing jobs done. There is a chance that you make pickup a fall-through client* through here so do check them out and make thorough and safe arrangements for payment and the way things are going to work.

* - A fall-through client Is a term I like to think I made to represent clients that don't fulfill their end of the project or are a pain to work with, You will come across these every now and again but you learn to pickup on them fairly fast after a while

Word Of Mouth
• Friends
• Family
• Work peers
• Neighbors

Advertising

• Print - Inexpensive to Expensive depending on where you choose to advertise, local to national newspapers can be the best to choose depending on how much you want to spend and who your target audience is.

• Web - Inexpensive to Expensive depending on where you choose to advertise, can bring a lot of traffic to your website and target many diverse people.

• Television - Can Be Expensive, but can target a lot of people.

• Radio - Can Be Expensive, but can target a lot of people.

• Being Proactive

Being a freelancer doesn't mean that it becomes easy when It comes to work, it can become harder. Don't wait for jobs to come to you, otherwise your going to be finding yourself out of work very soon. Instead get out and hunt down your next job, whether it is by promoting yourself via conversation, job boards, advertising or any other method.

Your Portfolio & Clients

Your portfolio is one of the first areas a potential client will look at. It is vital that your portfolio showcases the highest points of your skills whether it be design, development, programming or even photography. It is best to get a friend to go through a folder with images of your work, and let them choose the ones that they feel is best, along with yours. Why I suggest you get a friend to do it is because they won't have a biased opinion as so to speak, but if you feel uncomfortable or are unable to do this. It is still fine to choose items to go in your own portfolio. If items in your portfolio contain logos or other copyrighted material it is important that you seek permission from the client first, unless this is outline in your contract that all works may enter your portfolio, which I believe would be a smart thing to have.

Professionalism

Being professional is another strong asset to have in your freelance skills toolbox, as this will be able to give you the edge of some other freelancers that aren't exactly professional. By this I don't mean you have to have a piece of paper from university/college/school, but professionalism in the way you communicate with clients/potential clients, the way work is completed (E.g. On or Before or the deadlines, with a high quality). Being professional, will be another way to attract clients and bring clients back.