I’ve realised that without the constraints of a full-time job, I’ve gone to seed very quickly. Must work on that. Must drink water at regular intervals, have meals at the right time, etc.
Thanks for everybody’s suggestions regarding study, although it seems Deborah wants me out of the country for some reason :). Right now I’m eyeing, among other things, the MA (New Media) at the University of New South Wales. It’s a part time MA coursework thing, which suits me fine for where I’m at — I’ve been away from the academy for eight years, so an MA by coursework seems to be the stimulating thing to do. Hopefully it’ll have enough interdisciplinary hooks. And be affordable.
Parallel to this, I’m trying to assemble some kind of business plan for my freelance design work. For the getting of monies. Any advice, Abe? Bobbie?
If that wasn’t enough, I’ve been roped into a fucking onstage dialogue with Salam Pax on Thursday night. Nervous. Come if you can — it’s on at 6.30pm at the Parramatta Riverside Theatres. Salam’s also on a panel with Harvey Pekar on Saturday. (I know I can’t compete with a Salam Pax/Harvey Pekar combo bill, but come to mine anyway.)
Went to Natasja’s place for a preview of her Slayage conference paper. It’s on “Hush”, from Buffy Season 4, and it sounds fascinating. On a seeming tangent, she showed me freeze-frames of Giles’ notepad, in which there are all sorts of interesting notes about the Bill of Rights, and a shot of the local Sunnydale newspaper, which had a hilarious, barely-glimpsable article on the front-page about Bill Clinton being embroiled in a “presidential-enhancing drug” scandal. Bored art directors are us! And yet it’s incredibly suggestive about the texture of meaning in the episode. Given the context of well-dresed demons who steal speech, what exactly is democracy? Tantalising.
Oy, given my current lack of clients I’m not sure I’d be the one I’d ask about freelance advice… But here is a little anyway. Most was told to me and reinforce with experience.
When you get a good client, don’t let them go. And pray they don’t get fired, having a friend on the inside is everything.
Always bill by the hour (an impossible task if you deal with small clients, but keep it in mind anyway).
When making time estimates, double them. If you want to have some flex time built in, triple them.
Save money for dry spells (I’ve never quite mastered them). The reason freelances get paid so much more then salaried workers is because they spend half their time looking for work, and the other half trying to get paid for work they already did.
When you find a good client don’t let them go.
Beware of seasons. Probably different Australia, but in the US, but there is almost no work in the summer and absolutely no work during the last 3 weeks of December.
Beware of the “day creep”, where you wake up later and later every day, and subsequently work later and later every evening.
And good luck, its all worth it, I pretty much highlighted the downside. There will be weekday afternoons in cafes, beautiful clients who pay all your bills without ever giving you stress, absurdly large checks, extended vacations powered by those checks…
Tnx. I’m busy using the word “leveraging” to myself. :)