Life as a Freelancer Archives

Looking for a change of pace, but afraid that freelancing will bring too many? It may not be as bad as you think! If you’ve been playing with the idea of going freelance, know that there are plenty of pros to go with the cons, and that it’s worth your time to look into it for these reasons:

1. Freelancing can help you find your next full-time relationship.

While you may not be open to considering freelancing on a full-time basis, it’s okay to get into freelancing on a temporary basis. A freelancing stint can be an invaluably proactive way of finding the next phase in your career without the direct pressure of making a long-term, upfront commitment — both on the part of you and your client/employer. Getting to know each other over a project is the best form of mutual discovery, and will more likely lead to a harmonious long-term fit when the time is right.

2. New clients can re-invigorate your creativity.

You can’t rest on your laurels or risk becoming outdated as a freelancer. Each new client and assignment demands you bring your best foot forward. If you want to continue to win new work, you must continue to be impressive. Rising to this challenge will do wonders for your engagement and make you a stronger creative force.

3. Diversifying your work opens new doors.

There’s a lot to be said for stability, but if you feel yourself wondering what options lay outside the purview of your current role, you need to make yourself available to new opportunities. Once you let go and make space for new experience, you’ll find that each new job grows the breadth of your knowledge and makes you a more appropriate candidate for a greater variety of opportunities. You may find your next niche unexpectedly by trying a number of things, or simply decide you want to preserve the stimulating diversity of self-employment in the long term.

4. “Gig culture” is here.

As the prevalence of “gig culture” gains popularity and workers take advantage of the flexibility that freelance life affords, the agencies that specialize in pairing companies with the talent they need are having a huge moment. Gone are the days when you had to do all your own prospecting; now you have extra resources. These agencies not only keep an eye out for an appropriate fit, they also advocate for you in negotiating pay, navigating the protocols of on-boarding, and — most importantly — see to it that you’re paid consistently.

Freelancing doesn’t have to be all unknown paychecks and instability – sometimes it’s exactly the change of pace that a creative needs to find their creativity again.

Interested in learning more? Check out this article on the difference between freelance and full-time.

Are you sure the freelance life isn’t for you? See how you can work full-time but live like a freelancer.

Marjorie is a former Creative Circle candidate based in Portland who recently accepted a full-time offer for her dream job. She is a writer/editor and stylist/producer with an emphasis in the design world. If you are interested in working with someone like Marjorie, please contact your nearest Creative Circle office.

You’ve probably been told that when looking for a full-time job, it needs to be your top priority. That’s perfectly solid advice but cranking out resume after resume is not going to get the attention of a hiring manager or creative director. To invoke another cliché, you and your resume needs to work smarter, not harder.

It all starts with keywords — those hyper-specific words that describe skillsets, experiences, or qualifications that employers call out in their “help wanted” posts. Many companies use what’s called an applicant tracking system that allows them to screen applicants very closely by having the system exclude resumes that don’t include the pre-specified keywords. Even if you have an amazing portfolio or you interned at famous agencies, no one is going to know, or care, unless you can get your cover letter and resume past a slew of digital gatekeepers. Take notes and optimize your job search up with these keyword tips.

For Your Resume

Keyword-optimizing your resume is essential to get a foot in the door. While it doesn’t make sense (and doesn’t look natural) to include all the keywords the ad utilizes, between your resume and your cover letter, you should be able to include most. Spend some time analyzing the ad, particularly the summary of the position and its duties, as well as a requirements section. If the ad is sparse on details, find similar ads and similar companies, and look at those keywords. You can also turn to keyword-analysis tools that can help you boost your odds.

Don’t settle for close: if one job description calls for “photo editing software” and your resume details your proficiency in Photoshop, you might not make it through the filter unless you use the exact same words.

Important: Don’t just write for the resume bots
When your resume DOES make it into the hands of a real-live human being, it shouldn’t read like you just stuffed every single keyword in. Besides just dropping the words, use them in a way that makes it clear you know what you’re talking about. Better yet, use them in a way that demonstrates your value to the company, especially in quantifiable terms. Good examples for popular roles might be:

Art Director: Designed 508-compliant elements of an integrated marketing campaign that resulted in sales of $100,000
Digital Copywriter: Wrote SEO-optimized copy for a landing page that resulted in a 11% conversion rate
Brand Strategist: Used business insights and quantitative research to develop the creative brief used on a winning brand pitch for an account worth $5 million
Traffic Manager: Initiated new jobs and created timelines for more than 100 complex, multi-media projects each month

For Your Cover Letter

By now, you probably understand what a huge buzzword the phrase “cultural fit” is: companies want employees who reflect their values and fit in with the existing workforce. This will require you to go deeper than just the job requirement and skills. Find information on the company’s culture in the website’s “About” section, the company blog, and their social media feeds. Are there words, phrases, or attributes that are used repeatedly? What themes do you notice?

It probably isn’t going to be a single word or skill – for example, if you visit the About Us page for NYC-based healthcare agency Area 23, you’ll see language not only about creativity, but entrepreneurship, curiosity, inventiveness. Granted, many agencies will employee similar language, but find what stands out to you and weave it in to your cover letter where appropriate.

For Your Portfolio

First off, your portfolio should be open and accessible 24/7 on your website. The beauty in that is that a keyword-optimized portfolio can attract exposure, even beyond those who see your resume. Take advantage of it in a few different ways:

Use targeted keywords in your permalinks (the unique name/URL that refers to a page).
Don’t forget to specify keywords in the alt-text for all of your images.
Photographers, add keyword-rich text in as many different places as you can. Your “About Us” is a good place for this.
Make sure other, reputable sites are linking to you (which you can do easily with your blog).
Create lots of internal links for your site.
Above all, create great content that’s useful to whoever is looking for you.

For Your LinkedIn

70% of employers admit they’re peeping on your social media. If a hiring manager or recruiter makes it to your LinkedIn profile after reviewing your resume, the first thing they’re going to look at is whether or not your skills match the requirements for their open position. We can’t say this enough: it’s OK to emphasize your skills at different jobs, but never misrepresent yourself or lie. At best, a recruiter might see the inconsistencies and worry that you’re not very detail-oriented; at worst, they’ll think you could be fibbing. Your LinkedIn doesn’t have to be an exact, word-for-word match, but the keywords should match up to complement your resume.

Optimizing your resume, cover letter, portfolio and social media take a lot of work, but can only take you so far. Make sure you’re doing everything you can to improve your job search odds with more resources like these.

Lisa is a Creative Circle candidate and seasoned advertising copywriter who lives in Los Angeles. Her background includes both in-house and agency work on Fortune 500 and global accounts in the consumer and healthcare/pharmaceutical fields. She excels at words, fashion, and cats. If you want to work with Lisa, contact Creative Circle Los Angeles.

You’re sitting in the third round of interviews for a job that you thought was going to be perfect for you. When you first walked in, you were 87% sure you wanted it. But after meeting with the first interviewer, who texted her way through the entire interview, your interest dropped to about 68%. Then you were ferried off to the HR manager who, despite this being your third interview, had no idea of who you were and asked you to repeat your entire employment history. Still, the job as UX designer at a brand-new startup is intriguing to you, so you want to see where it goes.

The HR manager leaves, and as you sit alone in the office, waiting for someone, anyone to come in and tell you what’s going on, your interest starts to plummet. Then, after 20 minutes, when the HR manager rejoins you, he tells you that the company is almost ready to move forward with you, but first, the team wants you to complete a trial assignment…

Do I need to go on? It’s red flag city, and the hypothetical “you” would have to be a glutton for punishment to move forward with the job.

As job seekers, we tend to automatically accept that we are not the ones with the power; that the onus is on us to jump through the employer’s hoops and be happy with what we get. You deserve better! And if you’re going through the interview process doubting the company, here are five telltale signs that this isn’t the job for you.

1. You can’t find much information on the company.

With a well-funded startup, you can usually find information on at least the parent company — such as who signs your paychecks, the financial health of the company, and, more importantly, information that hints at the company’s history and values. If you can’t even find a LinkedIn page, it’s time to worry.

2. The job description keeps changing.

Some people love that “we’re building the airplane as we fly it!” work ethos you find at start-ups. But without having a formal job description, how will you know how to set boundaries? How will you know if you’re succeeding? An amorphous and frequently shifting job description could mean that the employer is already trying to figure out how much they can dump on you.

3. The company is savaged on sites like Glassdoor and LinkedIn.

Take time and comb through the reviews because while it’s true that people are more likely to go public with nuclear reviews than to spread some love, a slew of bad reviews should make you suspicious. At the very least, it should bring up some questions for you to ask the hiring manager about.

4. You get a lowball salary offer, even though you’ve already talked numbers.

Treating you as if you’re an old sofa at a flea market and lowballing your salary requirements well after you’ve shared them is a huge sign of disrespect. Ultimately, it’s up to you if the experience and other compensation are worth it, but if you accept a lowball offer, the message you’re sending is, “I will lower my standards and allow you not to appreciate my work.”

5. They ask you to do an unpaid trial, or you have to work for free before you get the job.

It’s true that some jobs and staffing agencies may ask you to do small tests as part of the vetting process, but a significant project requiring any more than an hour should get your Spidey-senses tingling that the company is trying to take advantage of you, or crowd-source work so they don’t have to pay for it.

Remember, you have the power.

If you still have questions and your would-be employer seems reluctant to answer, that’s perhaps the biggest red flag of all. Time to get out of there!

Don’t blame yourself or see it as a reflection of your professional worth. This kind of thing happens to anyone who will let it. Cut your losses and count your blessings – what if you’d ignored all of these red flags and actually accepted the job? Take this as a sign to redouble your job efforts.

When many freelancers make the transition from side-hustle to legitimate, full-time business, there’s a lot of trial and error — especially regarding how to do money. Some of those errors are big enough (and costly enough) that you want to avoid making them at all.

These are four of the worst mistakes that can tank your financial stability — and your ability to sustain your new business. We’ve also included ways to fix them or avoid the pitfalls to begin with.

Mistake #1: You’re not charging enough for the project.

There are a lot of complicated formulas out there to help freelancers determine their hourly rates. An easier and more practical way to determine your rate is by studying what comparable talent commands in your market. However, it’s not the hourly rate that usually throws a wrench into your finances: it’s when you don’t understand the scope of the project, and quote a price for 15 hours when it’s really going to take you 25, or you don’t take into account miscellaneous expenses that might crop up along the way.

The solution: Ask all the questions before you quote a price. Spend time doing your research and understanding the scope of the project before you quote a number. As a new freelancer — even as an experienced professional who really wants to acquire a client — you probably want to seem flexible and agreeable. You may even be afraid of asking too many questions, lest you look inexperienced or annoy a potential client. On the contrary, these questions make you look engaged and knowledgeable. This is an essential process for doing your best work and being paid fairly for it.

Mistake #2: You’re not bothering with contracts.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get a lot of word-of-mouth referrals from your clients and even friends of friends. Because you want to keep the relationship congenial, you may think, “Why bother with a contract?” But then you’re on the hook when you quoted a price assuming two rounds of revisions and your client insists that you give them five rounds and personally do a press check. Not only do you lose money on the project, but these obligations also keep you from taking on new clients and projects.

The solution: Insist on a contract. Even if it seems like a formality, a contract can save your butt — and an awful lot of money. HOW Magazine has some brilliant advice on creating contracts (including calling it a ‘letter of agreement’ rather than a contract, which sounds nicer and can help a relationship stay on friendly terms). The article is aimed at designers, but the ideas are broad enough to apply to almost any kind of freelancer. Don’t trust your financial future to a smile and a handshake — get it in writing.

Mistake #3: You don’t have a sufficient savings cushion.

When you’re first starting out on your own, money is going to be your biggest worry. Even if you already have a roster of clients and substantial projects in the pipeline and regular, recurring work — you just never know. On top of that, many companies can take as long as three months to pay an invoice (check out this woeful tale about how the world’s most prestigious publishing company pays its freelancers). Experiencing a significant lag in business can force you to take on projects that you’re not super excited about, or go back to a full-time job.

The solution: Don’t take the plunge until you’ve got at least a six-month cushion. Before you strike out on your own, you should have enough money saved up to cover all of your business and living expenses for at least six months — that includes food, rent on both your place of residence and a studio or small office (if you have one), residential and business utilities, and business incidentals. (And that’s AT LEAST six months.)

Even if you’re in your 20s and life is good and retirement seems like it’s a million years away, you must have a financial cushion to deal with the unexpected (e.g., getting into a car accident and needing to pay a deductible and other expenses) as well as put some away for later.

Mistake #4: You’re conducting business using personal accounts.

Perhaps it’s force of habit or just that there’s so much other work to keep track of, but many freelancers use their personal checking accounts and credit cards to do business. “What’s the difference?,” you might think. Well, even if you don’t see yourself as a small business owner, Uncle Sam does. Avoid wasting time and money, and really see how much you’re really bringing in and spending on the business every month.!

The solution: Shop around for small business banking services. A dedicated checking account for your business can help you keep track of your expenses and earnings, which makes doing your taxes at the end of the year much easier.

If you’re just starting out, it’s probably easier to open a new account where you do your personal banking. However, some banks offer packages tailored for new small businesses and startups, including services that work seamlessly with business accounting software like Quickbooks. Many banks also offer other timesaving services and promotions to try and earn your business.

(P.S. Having separate, business-only accounts isn’t a substitute for fastidiously tracking your finances with your own system or a good app like FreshBooks, Wave, or Mint, but it’s a good start.)

Now, get back to work!

The point of all of these ideas isn’t to create more work for you. They help you automate and protect your business. After all, the less time you waste worrying about and chasing your money, the more time you have to do what you’re really good at.

Even if you’ve been working in a related field in the same city, the agency game can be a tough nut to crack. Break into agency life with these three proactive, positive ways you can work to make it happen.

1. Network.

This is the most important part. For some people, this is pretty fun, but for others, it’s not. How should you get started? Check in on agency calendars – many of them throw events that are open to the public. Open house-type opportunities are a great way to make a good impression in a low-pressure atmosphere. If you’re really attracted to a particular agency, weave their culture into your life. Hit up their creatives’ art shows and music gigs. Cultivate mutual recognition.

2. Start doing it.

Are you looking to provide visual services? Writing? Learn as much as you can about it and use your down time to build skills and awareness relevant to the field you wish to pursue. Use strategies like these to keep learning and growing, or dive into the incredible range of resources available online. Blogs, online courses, and endless reading and viewing archives are within reach.

3. Appreciate the seed-planting phase.

Any sort of introductory meeting you score through a contact is going to get you hyped up with nerves. It’s may not be a job interview exactly, but it’s a close relation. Most of the time it’s not going to pay off immediately in the form of a job or freelance gig. That doesn’t mean it’s wasted time. Getting in front of people at agencies is important. At the very least, an informational interview could be beneficial. It’s a seed-planting stage that will put you in people’s minds. It could be months before something comes up that makes them think to contact you.

Wherever you start, the point is to get started. You’ll learn things along the way, you’ll meet different types of people, and who knows, instead of trying to break into agency life, one day, you might have what it takes to open your own agency.

During my time as a Creative Circle Recruiter, I met with thousands of freelancers in the creative industry who were extremely talented individuals but lacked the motivation and confidence to consistently book gigs. Then there were others who were always busy, had a consistent flow of work, and would actually turn down jobs that weren’t exciting to them. Which made me wonder: what’s the difference between these two types of people? How do some freelancers seem to have a steady stream of client work, while others are desperate to get whatever they can find?

The answer is all in your mind – literally. Your talent alone is not enough. You need a positive, empowering, and confident mindset to find gigs and consistently book out your freelance client list.

Here are five questions to reflect on to improve your mindset when it comes to freelancing:

1. What is your “why”?

Too often, the routines and responsibilities of working bog us down, and we can lose sight of the bigger picture. Why did you go into this industry to start with? Why did you want to be in the creative field? What do you hope to achieve with your creative talents in your lifetime? By scaling back and reminding ourselves of why we do what we do, we discover a refreshing sense of optimism and passion that carries over into conversations with potential clients and our work.

In my coaching business, I help women get “unstuck” in their life, whether it’s in a corporate job, freelancing business, relationship, finances, or physical health. My “why” is to empower women to take back control of their own happiness and well-being. I’ve come a long way in my own personal and spiritual development journey and I want to share that with others. My “why” is to help others recognize their limitless potential and to use it as fuel for inspiration and life-long change.

Reflect on your “why” now. Spend 15-30 minutes writing down your “why” – why you do what you do and what you hope to achieve in this lifetime. Remind yourself of your “why” before going to interviews or presenting your work, when speaking with a client for the first time, or if you’re feeling discouraged in the job application process to uplift and inspire you.

2. What are your unique strengths and abilities?

What makes you different? What skills, life and work experience, and past projects set you apart from others who are applying for similar gigs? Focus on your unique strengths and make a list of the top qualities that set you apart. What do your friends come to you for help with? What would your family or significant other say are your best qualities? What are you naturally good at? What do you genuinely enjoy doing, and how is that related to your freelance skill set? Think about these questions and how you can use these skills to your advantage.

3. Where are your money blocks?

Money is a taboo subject in our society, and yet, it’s something that we’re all driven by in some capacity. We carry around stories and fears around money that we’ve adopted from our parents, friends, the media, and society in general, and these stories can hold you back from charging what you’re worth, finding clients who actually have the budget to pay you, or attracting freelance gigs that will bring you a steady income.

For example, many of us walk around with deep-rooted beliefs that money is the source of all evil, that people who have a lot of money are selfish and greedy, or that wanting to make more money is something you should feel guilty about. Others may think that they’ll never have enough money, so they are constantly living from this “lack” mentality.

Think about what you’ve been taught to believe about money and wealth from your parents, your friends, the media, and society in general. Write down your top 10 beliefs and fears around money and reflect on how these thoughts may be blocking you. Choose to reframe these beliefs to be more positive and supportive of your career goals instead.

4. What is the best-case scenario?

Visualize your ideal scenario one year from now. Imagine you’re working with top clients, adding amazing projects to your portfolio, and making exactly the amount of money you’ve always dreamed of to live your best life. How does that version of you feel? What does that version of you do, say, or think when speaking with potential clients? What does that version of you believe about your work and your abilities to consistently book awesome projects?

Write down this best-case scenario and reflect on THAT possibility every single day. Then show up as if that is your reality NOW, embracing all the positive feelings that will come from that place of being.

5. Are you operating from a place of lack or a place of abundance?

Reflect on your mindset around lack versus abundance when it comes to your freelance work. Are you naturally a more optimistic person who trusts that money and clients are just around the corner? Or are you constantly thinking about how bad you have it and how unlucky you are? Are you excited about the possibility of new projects, challenges, and opportunities? Or are you burned out by the idea of having to sit through yet another project brief?

If you find that you’re operating from a place of lack mentality (i.e. never having enough), reframe your thoughts and beliefs to be more abundant.

Become more aware of the thoughts that go through your mind on a day-to-day basis and ask yourself: are these thoughts mostly positive or mostly negative? For example, in an average day, you might think that the weather is crummy again, the traffic is always such a pain, your boss is driving you crazy, and you can’t believe how busy you are with back-to-back projects, again. That would be the landscape of someone with a mostly negative, lack-based mentality.

You can change this mindset by focusing on the things that you can be grateful for in the present moment. In the above example, you could catch yourself in this negative thought pattern and course-correct by thinking about how grateful you are to be able to drive to work and to have a job that provides you with the finances you need to live your current lifestyle.

What we focus on expands, so choose to see the opportunities and things you can be grateful for as much as you possibly can.

When you can address your mindset in these ways, not only will your clients pick up on it, but you will feel more balanced, fulfilled, and excited about the work that you’re doing every day!

Lauren Madden is a Mindset and Wellness Coach and Yoga Teacher in Phoenix, AZ with a background in advertising and marketing. She helps women break through fears and limiting beliefs that are holding them back from living their best lives. To find out more, visit here.

A media buyer is responsible for the placements and the negotiation of price for all advertisements on radio, television, print and digital. Digitally, they are responsible for the ad placements for your favorite sites. Media buyers also have to ensure all media inventory (times, days, lengths and sizes of placements) is purchased within budget, which is why negotiation is so important in this field. The primary goal is to ensure the advertisements are seen by the most people possible for that target audience within budget. Here are five steps to accomplish that goal.

1. The Media Plan

Obtain a media plan from the planner that details the best placements to reach the targeted audience. It should include a budget (typically provided by the client).

The media buy should always list detailed information of placements, prices, delivery goals and final budget. If it is a previous client, obtain the old media buy and use it as a measure of reference to get lower prices during negotiations. If this is a new client you will have to start from scratch.

2. The Pricing

Contact media representatives, establish rapport, purchase the advertisements and negotiate the prices for buy.

Introduce yourself to the representative and ask for inventory (ad placement) prices for programming or if digital, the cost of the ad sizes. Example, for digital, a 300X250 placement tends to be the most popular ad for clicks which equals to views. It is important to establish rapport with the media representatives as in the market everyone tends to know each other.

3. The Negotiation

Tell the media representative how much you would like to pay for each spot and the trick is to start off lower to hopefully save the client money. Always ask for added value (free advertising)

4. The Tracking

Input your media buy in operating system or Excel sheet. Larger agencies utilize an operating system such as Donavon, Prisma or MediaOcean to electronically track the buy to ensure all placements are run correctly. If there is not an operating system, the media buyer will have to manually put the buy in a spreadsheet. It is important to track the buy during the campaign so you can “make good” any ads that did not run while it is “in flight” (the start/end date of campaign).

5. The Monitoring

Track delivery goals to ensure your campaign is on track to meet goals. A successful media buyer will always, make a connection with media partners/representatives, stay under the budget, and monitor campaign to ensure delivery.

With that, you’re on your way to understanding a little more of what goes into media buying!

Gerreka Gilliam is a Creative Circle candidate and freelance media professional with over five years of integrated marketing and advertising experience specializing in media buying and planning.