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Hi friend,

Many of you are either thinking about, in the midst of, or just about to start freelancing. For those of you who’ve reached out, sorry for the wait. Maybe you’re looking for some answers, a plan, even some inspo. Fret not, this is a resource I put together for you.

#byfriendsforfriends

Freelance / Remote Life tips

These are some of the most common questions I’ve gotten from you all about freelancing / working remotely.

Things that scare you include: Finding work, knowing how much to charge, taxes, tools & resources for freelancers, how remote works, negotiating contracts, work / life balance, WFH life, how to work & travel at the same time. The list goes on…. but I’m here to share w/ u the insights I’ve gathered from living dat Nomadic Lyfe for the past 1 1/2 yrs. Ps. 90% of the things I’ll talk about are related to UX, Product design or some kind of Graphic design position. Most of these things can be applied to other disciplines, but obvi, take what’s useful and apply it to your own craft.

Okie dokie, let’s get started.

Finding work

Around 90% of the work that I’ve taken on has come through word of mouth or through referrals. Your network is your biggest asset and finding work can be relatively easy if you make it known that you’re looking.

A couple of simple things I’ve done in the past are:

1. Check in with friends / past coworkers who have moved on to different jobs. Ask if their team or their org is in need of design support / freelance. If you’re close with them, oftentimes you won’t have to go through an interview process to get the job. Some will ask for a portfolio to share with their team, so prep for the occasion!

2. Some friends have moved on to make new businesses. Ask yourself, how might you be able to add value to their business? Is it through your design skills, or would you be able to help them out in other ways?

3. Ask your friends if they know anyone in their network that are looking for designers. If so, ask them if they could make an intro.

4. Make a list of the ideal clients that you’d like to have. Actually do it. Don’t be afraid to “shoot too high”, really aim for the stars. Now look at that list and ask yourself what you’d like to work on there. Chances are, some of these places are looking for designers anyway. Reach out to the department and start making a connection.

5. Look at sites like Dribbble (UX/UI, sometimes Brand), WorkingNotWorking, LinkedIn, Twitter, Medium, ItsNiceThat, (etc, whatever your disciplines pipelines for news) for leads on who’s hiring.

6. Start perfecting your cold emailing skills — reaching out to someone who you’d like to work with might just pay off! Get to know the person before sending an email, really ask them something that you’re genuinely curious about. They have limited time and you are looking for a response!

7. Sometimes I make “teaser” bits for companies to attract their attention. You can do the same but don’t work for free.

Negotiating Rates

When it comes to pricing your time, consider the following:

1. Projects are priced by hourly, fixed rate, or a retainer. The benefits of hourly is so that you’re being paid for the amount of time you’re working on the job, but sometimes a fixed rate for the complete project is a better call.

2. Your hourly rate should be comparable to the salary that you had while fully employed. For example, say your annual salary was $100k, you would be looking at an hourly rate of $55 to maintain the same salary range. You also have to account for taxes (as a freelancer, you generally pay a higher amount, check???) With the additional amount, you’re looking probably closer to $70/hr as a baseline to maintain your standard of living as a freelancer.

3. When pricing a job, find your range (baseline minimum price and ideal price) that would make it possible to take this job. For example: A month long identity project at $70–100/hr. Usually, the negotiating tactic would be to start high ($100/hr) and negotiate down. The first price you say shouldn’t be the base, simply because it’s almost impossible to negotiate up…

Networking / Online presence

When it comes to Networking… There’s a lot that you can do! Networking doesn’t have to feel dry, think of it as making new friends. Attend some events and mingle, get to know other freelancers, and also let people know you’re new to it. Maybe you’ll end up with a friend who can give u lots of tips ( :P )

I do almost 100% of my networking via email. Call me old fashioned but a nicely crafted email goes a looong way. Try to reach out to people you’d like to learn from via email. They might be able to give you tips, advice, or a job!

Mentorship / Community

Having a mentor is really important in my opinion. It gives people the opportunity to go deep with an interaction. This may take time, but maybe you already have mentors in your field that you can hit up. Start developing this though, as one mentor can take you a LONG way.

Go out for coffee with EVERYONE. People you admire, people you want to work with, people you want to get to know better, people with interesting work, people you want to learn from. Buy them coffee, expense it (hehe), and learn lots, absorb.

Solving the loneliness issue

It sometimes gets incredibly lonely when you’re working for yourself. Sometimes it’s hard to get a second opinion for your work, other times you just miss the office interaction. The best way that I’ve found to avoid this issue is to do a mix of planning & social stuff. Plan your day so that you are around people (for ex at the gym, getting lunch, etc). Plan your work so that you don’t have this notion that you’d be stuck working all day by yourself. Make sure you take breaks to connect with people and do things that you normally wouldn’t be able to do if you were at a 9–5. For example — go for a stroll at 2pm in the park. Run errands at 3pm, get back to work, go to dinner. Your time = value and you’re in control now!

Other things you can do to help with the loneliness:

Talk to your freelance friends, join a slack group, real life group, any group haha.

Do things that help you feel creative, but aren’t necessarily directly related to your work (go for a ceramics class)

WFH vs Cafes vs Coworking spaces

Your work station / workplace is an important place. It’s helpful to separate “living” from “working”. If you’re going to work from home for the most part, have a place in your home where you can shut the door once “work” is over, and not go back in there until the next day. It’s important to not fall into the trap of working forever and ever on your bed — next thing you know its 3am and you’ve become a nightowl and never see your friends. We don’t want that.

Setting up your workspace also mentally helps you prep your focus. Make sure to check in with yourself every couple of weeks to see if your workspace is doing its job for you.

If you are more of a cafe type (like me), finding coffee shops that are work-friendly are now insanely easy. The pro tips here are to look for places that are relatively quiet (maybe some background noise/music), with plugs, good wifi, and good coffee. There’s a whole bunch of apps and stuff but I’ve found that wandering & local recs = the best way to find a place that suits your needs. My two faves in NYC are Rebel Coffee in west village and ADO in greenpoint.

Lastly — there is the option of coworking spaces, but I’ve never done it because I’ve always opted for the cafe route. If you do try, let me know how it was!

Is freelancing right for you?

Before we get deeper, I have to ask you this question. Have you asked yourself if freelancing is right for you? I know it looks like the dream… working on a beach somewhere in Bali on a hammock to the sound of birds chirping & a wonderful sunset. A computer in one hand, possibly a margarita in the other…Hate to tell you this but… it ain’t all like this. You’re most likely going to be alone for most of the day, you gotta manage your own finances, save up taxes, find your own clients, find social outlets so you dont go crazy… But at the end of the day, many of you are chasing freedom of some sort. Mobility, Financials, Interest, or Variety, there is a reason you’re here and a reason you’re curious about freelancing.

So here’s the deal

I want you to be free. I feel lucky to be free — Just a month ago I was surfing / roadtripping across Mexico. I had lots of interesting work, and got to meet fucking cool people. You deserve a full life, so if I can help you by telling you more about freelancing, then I’d be overjoyed. The deal though, is that you tell me wtf you’re confused about, that way I can write about it for you. Okay? You can email me, insta DM me, whatsapp me, comment here, do all that and I’ll try my best ok?

Thx, love ya, hope to see ya soon.

Jie