Starting up on your own as a freelance Motion Graphics Designer or setting up a small studio from home or an office can be a unnerving, frightening, fun, exciting, daunting, but very satisfying step forward in your career. You’ll need to be able to deal with everything by yourself, there will be no backup staff, and you will need to find the right balance between the producer and administrator role and the creative side. You may well find that your feelings change from the initial pleasure of working from home, to the difficulty that clients bring when you have to deal with them by yourself. The job of the concept artist Sydney is always on a freelance basis and you will be expected to work as and when required.
However, there are a few more important aspects you should consider before starting your freelance business which you will find below.
Finances When You Start
Many people think that they need to borrow a large sum of money from the bank or another sponsor to start-up their fledgling business, but this is not necessary. Any viable business should start with as little debt as possible and grow when the time is right. Don’t go out and buy everything you think you need straight away, buy hardware, software and office supplies as and when you need them, and budget for them in a job to make the costs easier on yourself. Start with the basics, a PC or MAC, a good quality monitor, a comfortable desk and chair, and the software you need to create your work. You probably already have these if you are considering going freelance, so maybe just get a couple of other essentials like a decent photo printer/scanner and perhaps a DSLR camera or video camera. Consider starting a new business or current account at your bank to keep your business finances separate to your own money, and to make the paperwork easier when it comes to the accounting.
Getting your freelance business set up can be a fairly painless process if you know what you’re doing – so read on and see what else you should consider.
Don’t Worry if your Showreel isn’t exhaustive – keep it lean and mean
Starting your freelance business doesn’t mean you need a vast array of different projects on your reel immediately. Edit together your best pieces of work and keep it short, no longer than 1 minute 30 seconds is an ideal length. See what is missing, what isn’t up to scratch and what you have too much of in your showreel and be critical with it, edit it right down. Consider spending a couple of weeks working on unpaid self commissioned projects to fill the gaps and give yourself the best chances of winning work by showing the full range of skills and styles you can offer your future clients. Get your showreel online, then check the job boards, different sites and newsletters out there with job news that you can contact potential clients through once you get your showreel where you are happy and proud to show it off. Confidence in your abilities and passion in your approach breeds work.
Charge the Right Amount for your Skills
A common error that Freelancers make, happens when they first start out, or when cash is hard to come by. Reducing your rates is the worst thing you can do, as well as allowing yourself to be talked down from your original quotations – although there must be some flexibility in this. Know your value and stick to it, the moment you drop your rates you are undervaluing yourself and your work and it will be hard to raise your rates back to where they were. Clients you’ll want to avoid at all costs are those looking for something for nothing, and will almost never be of any good use to your business future. Some have been known to get freelancers to work for nothing, to win a project, and then as soon as the money for the job appears, they go somewhere else with your ideas.
Also remember that your rates will dictate what type of clients you can attract. if your rates are very low, then you’ll be attracting bottom end clients. Likewise if your rates are too high, you will miss out on a lot of middle budget work. Look at what you produce and charge the rates accordingly. If you aren’t sure what to charge, talk to other Freelancers, look at small studio costs and see what you offer that is similar to them. Most Motion Graphics artists in the UK charge somewhere between £150-£400 ($225-$600) per day, but this is a loose guide and is dependent upon the experience, skill, client and project criteria.
Feast or Famine Syndrome
As we are all unfortunately aware, the economy can fluctuate, budgets can rise and fall and work opportunities can grow and shrink as fast as you can say Freelance Motion Graphics Designer. Planning properly for the times when you will suddenly be short of work will help keep your business and your sanity intact during those harder times. But, by understanding that this will happen, you’re able to plan better and keep better control of your money and spending.
Encourage yourself to keep some money by for the leaner weeks, don’t buy kit until you need it, and remember you have bills to pay. If you are currently employed and thinking of going Freelance, consider saving all the money you would spend as an employee, travel costs, lunches out etc. all add up over the months and squirrel that money away every week as a little reserve.
Invoicing and Accounts
These two essential requirements were always the aspects that freaked out most creatives wanting to go Freelance, after all it goes against the grain to use spreadsheets everyday, we would much rather use After Effects. Today, there are a vast array of invoicing and accounting applications and websites out there that will help take the pain out of keeping track of the books. It is actually quite simple if you stay on top of it and do a little bit of organised number crunching as you go along. Once things are going well in the business, consider getting an accountant to handle your tax return and (if necessary) vat accounts, it is most likely they will actually save you money as well as time even after their fees.
Clients don’t like to pay their bills – who does?
Like any business, cash flow is an important part of keeping afloat. Just because you have lots of money owed to you, doesn’t mean you have anything until it arrives in your bank account. Clients will delay paying as long as possible, especially if they are a large company with their own accounts department. After all, their accountants are paid to save them money and would never be encouraged to make quick payments. Most Freelancers specify 30 days from date of invoice as a payment request or requirement. If you get paid in this period count yourself very lucky. Most of the time you will need to gently remind them to pay, be polite and ensure you resend the information such as the amount owing, invoice number etc. to make their job as simple as possible. If you make it difficult for them to pay you then they may just delay further and put your invoice to the bottom of the pile.
The most important thing to remember is to make sure you write and send your invoice the moment you complete the job – no one will pay until they’ve got that!
What you may miss about being employed
There are certain drawbacks with Freelancing like anything in this world, but they are outweighed by the positives in setting up on your own. Consider what will change for you from the office or studio job. There won’t be others around to bounce ideas off and have a giggle with, you might feel a little isolated. There won’t be anybody around to help you with a piece of software or technical issue. There won’t be other equipment to use if you have a problem. You won’t have access to vtr’s, big storage systems, or superfast networks. It’s also worth remembering what you will lose out on financially by leaving your job. There won’t be any paid holiday, no life insurance, healthcare or pension contributions. You will of course earn for what you do instead of lining your bosses pockets, and you won’t be bogged down in meetings and office politics.
The hard truth
The hard truth is that Freelancing isn’t right for everyone. Just because you have a computer, some software, and read all the freelancing advice, doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to cut it. Spending 4 hours a day working and 6 hours surfing or playing games isn’t going to get you anywhere. Downloading all the best plugins isn’t going to make you the best designer, and watching the creative videos on vimeo isn’t necessarily going to give you the creative ideas you need to be one of the best in your field and make a good living.
Some people have it and some people don’t. It takes discipline and dedication to build a freelance business, especially if you are working from home, surrounded by your comforts and distractions. Keeping track of clients, payments, open jobs and potential leads can be a daunting but necessary task. There is a lot to juggle and only you to do it all. There will be countless emails, endless social networking, constant phone calls direct to your mobile (no reception to take them). Think about these aspects before taking the plunge.
If you want to go Freelance…JUST DO IT!
Your freelance business will be incredibly rewarding, different every day, hard work, but fun. Working from home (or your own office) can be really great if you are dedicated and disciplined enough to make the best use of your time. The freedom that comes with freelancing is brilliant and something you will not want to give up. If you make a success of it, you are going to wish you had done it earlier, it really is a wonderful way of working. The hours are your own to choose, you can take certain projects or leave them, as you wish, you can take a holiday when you want, and spend more time doing what you love and less time with office politics and commuting. If you feel you want to go Freelance after all the consideration above – then make the most of it and you’ll never turn back. If you have the skills and want it badly enough, you’ll be able to accomplish anything you set out to do, and do it on your own terms.
DazPix is a London based design, animation and direction studio producing motion graphics, visual effects and cgi for broadcast, advertising, music and corporate clients.
We design, direct, shoot and post produce anything that moves. We take a project, develop a concept then bump it, shake it and grind it, until it pops out the other end looking shiny and new, on budget and on schedule.
With 20 years experience in the highest echelons of TV and moving image, we know we can deliver whatever you need and exceed your expectations.
Check us out at http://www.dazpix.co.uk and follow the blog to ensure you get all the free articles and downloads at http://www.dazpix.co.uk/cat/blog
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Darren_Marshall/563887
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3862588
