Beyond the paycheck — the non-obvious ROI of freelancing
Part 7 of the UX Study Guide I created. It is a 32+ page study guide / mini-ebook I wrote to discuss everything that I know about the topics of subjects of ‘#UXDesign’, ‘#ProductDesign’ and ‘#DesignCareers’. It’s meant to be a piece for generalists, maybe even career changers at the top of mind. It’s great if you are already familiar with a lot of the concepts in the technology industry. It’s not a requirement though. Follow my newsletter if you would like to know more about this project.
One of the best ways to diversify your portfolio and body of work is to find freelance opportunities. I’ve always advocated for this because I’ve seen the impact it had on my own career. A lot of the work that came out of freelancing turned out to be one of the most interesting and experimental ones I’ve been fortunate enough to have done.
The idea of being self-employed, even for a short while, may be daunting to a lot of people. The lack of job security, difficult clients and the hands-on approach to design operations are tough enough. You also have to continuously sell yourself everyday. You may be your own boss, but on the downside you are also your only prime advocate. I get it, it’s a lot of hustle, especially if you would want to just focus on the product creation part.
Despite all of those things, I still think it’s worth a shot — especially for Designers who are itching for a different type of work or environment. Let me give you a few good reasons why…
You’ll meet a variety of builders in the tech industry.
When you’re not attached to a company or a startup, you’re basically a free agent. You have the freedom to move around, try new things and explore your options… while getting paid. No-one loves freelancers better than startups — pre-seed, stealth, early stage and even mid-sized, well-funded startups. That means you, as a free agent, in theory can shop around, do a bit of pitching and eventually, you can find yourself working with some of the most interesting ones. Without any sort of long term commitment on both ends. This will bring me to my next point…
You’ll increase your luck chances.
Meeting new people is a path filled with serendipitous moments. This would highly depend on where you are geographically, but assuming you live in 2022 and you’re like most of us — remote. One chance encounter with one person can lead to another, and another. If you have the talent, the skill and the right mindset, you’ll attract the same types of people, which essentially means you’ll have a higher chance of landing the right projects. Sure, there will be a few misses. Your instinct will be tested to its core. But the more you put yourself out there, the greater the likelihood of you actually striking gold. Gold, in UX can mean different things to different people. Generally, it could be any of the following:
- Amazing team
- Cutting edge technology projects
- Unique research work
- Future unicorn companies
- World-class founders
Hunt for more and more of #2 and you’ll have capital for life.
For more of my thoughts on creating / finding luck ↓:
You’ll have equity for your career capital*
Career capital is a word I first encountered from this book / website.
“A key strategic consideration is ‘career capital’ — the skills, connections, credentials, and financial resources that can help you have a bigger impact in the future.” — Benjamin Toddf
Combining the first 3 reason can and will lead you to more gains. The sum of which is career capital. You can keep earning it through full-time work (corporation, startup, government and the public sector). You can also do it through freelance work. The point is, by looking at everything you do professionally from this lens, you’ll sharpen your mind and your instincts in a smarter way — the kind that brings a lot of value and impact to your future.
One of the upsides to being a freelancer is time and the freedom. You can teach (online / in-person), write (for yourself / for someone else), sell (yourself / your products / other people’s products) and flex your range of other skills. Most of the time, a full-time job may not be able to fill all of this out and it shouldn’t have to.
Just for this reason alone, freelancing is totally worth the time, if you are intentional about it.
You’ll learn how to productize yourself.
A lot of people have defined and are still defining what this concept actually means but, so far, no-one has done it better than Naval Ravikant.
“Productize has specific knowledge and leverage. Yourself has uniqueness and accountability. Yourself also has specific knowledge. So you can combine all of these pieces into these two words.
If you’re looking towards the long-term, you should ask yourself, “Is this authentic to me? Is it myself that I’m projecting?” And then, “Am I productizing it? Am I scaling it? Am I scaling with labor or capital or code or media?” It’s a very handy, simple mnemonic.” — From:https://nav.al/productize-yourself
This is important and it’s a lifelong skill, actually. Arguably, it could also be a foundation for careers of the future. After all, much like the products we are building and designing, we, too, are constantly evolving. Our human operating systems will demand and require a certain level of commitment for it to adapt and thrive in an unknowable world. Freelancing is an extremely accessible, doable and practical way to develop that.
“If you are really good at something, having amassed skills and a reputation, it’s more likely that you will earn the benefit of the doubt and more easily create value.”- Seth Godin, A freelancer’s dilemma
Interested to know more about this UX Study Guide?
- Send me a message: nikkiespartinez@gmail.com
- Read the informal writeup on the project background: https://nikkiespartinez.substack.com/p/48-the-highs-and-lows-of-creating
- Subscribe to my newsletter: https://nikkiespartinez.substack.com/
- Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikki-espartinez-ba78b362/
About the author
Nikki is a Sr. UX Designer working for a data company in New Jersey. In the last 2 years, she has helped design & build a holographic platform, contracted for a research team inside Fidelity Investments, worked in the Design Operations side of an e-commerce company, mentored brilliant design students/career-changers, advocated for UX best practices at RookieUp, have co-taught UX courses at General Assembly and have also contributed directly to the growth of the Mentorship program on UXPA-New York. Designing for a better world is her life. She also runs her own newsletter, working title, about her thoughts on the future and more.
