The Everyday Designer #23 — A mid-year recap of what is going on in the life of a freelancer

Mini announcement

Before you begin reading this edition, I just wanted to update you all quickly by saying, I’m going to be trying to go weekly with this newsletter for as long as I can. I ran a poll the other day asking how frequent do people like reading newsletters, and the majority of you said “weekly”. So here’s to more newsletters, hope you have your reading eyes on!

Recap of the first half of the year

Like I said in my last edition of the article, it’s been 6 months since I started this freelance rollercoaster of a journey and there’s been some fun times and not too many bad times (yet). First off, launching in January was way easier than I thought it’d be. Within the first week of announcing my full-time freelance position, I got requests coming from twitter, linkedin and instagram. I also did a lot of 1-on-1 calls (that I would highly recommend anyone to do; its so easy and good for building your network) I also got around to passing the exams for the Webflow Experts program and finally submitted my application for it, I built up enough websites to submit and now I’m just waiting to see they’ll accept me! Although its not a crazy big deal, it certainly helps put you on the map to potentially get more work and better clients long-term.

I’ve learned a lot about running a business too. Setting up your business tax number (in Ontario at least), setting up your business bank account, talking to an accountant about best practices, finding a proper bookkeeping system that works for your needs, making sure you invoice properly (include tax in your prices!). In Ontario you gotta charge a 13% HST (harmonized sales tax). I’ve “relearned” that in-person meeting, in-person discovery sessions, in-person…(you get the point) is better than online meetings/calls/etc. (unless time is of the essence and you are very distant from each other) making the effort to meet-up in person will always pay dividends, especially with growing your connections with clients or potential ones.

I’ve learned about having systems in place that help give you time back to work on the things that matter; the actual work for the clients. Setting up templates like a client proposal, a client contract (get their signatures before you start any work), a brand guidebook template that you can build off of for any clients that want a brand book. A system for how you take a client on a journey when creating the brand or website, etc. The good thing about creating all these is two-fold: 1. you’re setting yourself up for success by doing it once and not needing to scramble every time you start a new project, and 2. once you have a system in place, you can then refine it all you want, for however long you want until you find the sweet spots that work for you!

I’ve gotten denied projects, I’ve gotten ghosted by potential clients, but I also got work! So far I’ve worked on 1 brand, and 3 websites and a few miscellaneous design tasks from another company. Majority of my work has come from one person (thank you Peter Raco if you’re reading this) as one referral leads to another project. So it goes to show how one client can change your life and ripple effect it can have on your career. (bonus tip: always treat your client the best you can, you don’t know how much that’ll pay you back in the future)

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from this season

Hands down, the single-most exciting lesson that I’ve learned has come in the form of reading a book called “The Pathless Path” by Paul Millerd and its been ground-breaking in helping me understand myself as a creative. I finally feel that I understand myself a lot more and that I can articulate what I’ve been feeling deep down inside for the longest time. Here’s the quote that was a breakthrough in helping me understand:

"...the challenge is not to find work to pay the bills but instead to have time to keep taking chances and exploring opportunities to find the things worth committing to over the longterm." - Paul Millerd

I realize the freelance life gives me the time to keep taking chances on things that I actually enjoy doing, (i.e. designing brands, designing and developing websites on Webflow) and that means more to me than a traditional 9 to 5 job where monotony and mundane reign. As a creative person, I have the need to explore different mediums, like writing, like design, like reading, like music, and more, I have creative muscles that I need to flex and if I’m not in the creative gym, then there’s no way I’m going to be doing work that I love.

Maybe you feel the same way, and are stuck in a rut with where you’re at. I’d encourage you to try and envision a path for yourself that you can transition into, and slowly work your way towards it, its possible.

Thank you

🙏 First of all, if you’ve read this far, thank you for reading my rambles. I appreciate your time and your eyesight. It means a lot to me to know that you actually read these as one guy trying navigate this thing we call “life” and the beauty of it all.

🫵 I would LOVE to hear from you! What are your biggest lessons you’ve learned from freelancing? Hit “reply” to this email and let’s get a discussion going!

Maybe if I get enough answers, one of my next editions will be sharing your guys’ answers with everyone so we can all be helping each other out!

🌊 Currents

While I am increasing the frequency of this newsletter to weekly, I’ll be keeping the currents section of the newsletter to monthly. So stick around for the next time you catch some currents of an everyday designer!

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