My First Six Months Freelancing
The Highs, Lows & Everything That I’ve Learned Thus Far
Introduction
Hello, stranger on the internet. I suppose an introduction is probably the best place to start, seeing as this is my first actual blog post since my frequent and moody teenage ramblings on Xanga back in 2004. With that being said, I do have a Tumblr full of reblogged aesthetic nonsense (idealsandangles) with minimal posts of my own if you’re more into that.
Anyway, I’m January—a thirty-four-year-old graphic designer currently based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I’ve spent most of my 12-year design career working for start-ups or on corporate marketing teams doing multidisciplinary design in mostly a B2B capacity, but what I really enjoy is creating kick-ass branding and illustrations for rad companies full of quirky and whimsical beings that like being loud and standing out. So at the end of last year (2023), I quit my full-time gig to start doing just that.
Since then I’ve spent some time trying to learn as much as possible, while also trying to draw, design, network, attract clients, streamline my process, update my portfolio site, stay inspired, sell art at markets, drink water, feed my critters, feed myself, sleep, hang out with people, etc. It’s certainly a lot, but I still think I prefer this rollercoaster to what I was doing.
Initial Wins
There are so many good parts of working for yourself—an almost imperceivable amount, so I’ll tell you the things that have stood out the most in this hella short amount of time.
My favorite part of freelancing so far is the fact that I decide my schedule. To be fair, I mostly work 9-5. But on more of a Monday through Thursday basis, as I tend to take most Fridays off in addition to the standard Saturday and Sunday. What I love about this is that I can take a day off when I’m feeling down, tired, ill, or unmotivated. Without guilt. Without wondering if a whole company full of people are mad at me. I can read my book until ten-thirty, and no one reprimands me for a cozy, slow morning.
Something almost equally as incredible has been finding other designers, artists, and creatives. Freelancing can be lonely af, so a net of designers and mentors has certainly been a savior. It’s been lovely to learn from other designers in summits and courses, but connecting with those designers, chatting, and getting a peek into what they’re doing in their studios and lives has been monumental. It’s also just been wicked cool to engage with a group of such epically interesting and talented creative hypemen.
Speaking of creative hypemen—let’s talk about how awesome the design community is as a whole. Since “relaunching” I’ve rejoined the Meta-verse, which is not my favorite for a number of reasons. And during my short time on IG, FB and Threads I’ve quickly realized that the algorithms aren’t quite hitting the way they used to, meaning that your guy isn’t getting much reach. Which is fine. The few accounts and creators I have connected with though are so supportive of one another. There’s minimal gatekeeping, a fountain of knowledge being shared through tutorials and templates, and humans who are genuinely trying to help each other figure it all out.
And in terms of figuring it all out, I’ve realized that everyone is faking it until they make it. So the biggest high over the last six months has been leaning in on every part. I’ve leaned in on being myself, on creating shit that I actually like, on setting boundaries, on taking up my space and my time, and on living in the now.
Total Downers
Some significant lows come with the aforementioned highs, especially when you’re also dealing with a pretty constant state of neurodivergent burnout.
Firstly, your ego is the enemy and between all of the different variables that freelancers are responsible for it’s impossible to be totally secure mentally. For instance, I’m no longer just a designer. I’m now also the owner, marketing, sales, social, finance, shipping, etc. And on top of that I’m competing with a very saturated market, so I’m not just trying to gain traction on IG, I’m also trying to learn the best way to do cold outreach and trying to network and diversify my income streams.
Okay, back to the neurospicy brain bit—some days it’s damn near impossible for me to focus or find any motivation. I’ve found that if I don’t establish a plan for the day it gets away from me. If I don’t spend five minutes prioritizing I go into a strange mode where I cannot start ANY of the tasks at hand. I freeze and then panic ensues. I also tend to hyperfocus, so the planning (Notion and a daily planner) combined with a Pomodoro timer is a game changer.
Another downside is how frequently non-creatives will devalue your work. They’ll ask for discounts and question both your prices and your abilities. This is why charging by the project is always a way better move than hourly. Our work isn’t worth just the time spent on the design, it’s worth the time it took to hone the craft. It’s worth the knowledge and the strategy built up over years of working with a range of clients and spending hours and hours learning the software.
Learning Curve
Suffice it to say it’s been a relatively long six months with some definite ups and downs, but I’m sticking with it. Maybe it’ll get easier. Maybe it’ll get harder. I’m willing to see what the next six months teach me. But here’s the wrap up or the short of it for all of the TL;DR crowd:
Freelancing is incredible. I’ve never felt so connected with what I’m doing and what I need. It has allowed me to take steps back when necessary and it’s allowed me to put myself first. Work is just not that serious, y’all.
Having a net of supportive and mutually creative humans is critical. Staring at your computer alone all day every day is great until it’s not.
It’s so important and helpful to talk to others in the larger design community. While some people can be rude internet trolls, the vast majority want to see you succeed.
Simplify your admin and processes so that you don’t get overwhelmed or burn out. Make everything as easy as possible.
Price yourself appropriately. Doing cheap random design tasks is not worth your time. They take too much energy and the quantity that you need to design in a month to pay your bills is not it. You are worth the investment, raise your prices.
Figure out a schedule or plan that works for you. Everyone is different.
I’m not entirely sure how easy this has been to follow, but I solemnly swear to improve with time so hopefully you come back next month because I do, in fact, have a “lifetime of knowledge.” Oh, and my pronouns are they/them, so if you’re weird about that you can just skedaddle.
