Life as a Freelancer Archives

Most advertising creatives are “big picture” kind of people, and there are probably a great many reasons we didn’t pursue careers in law or finance — which means very few of us take the time to read the contracts we sign, or to debate the merits of being a W2 employee versus being a 1099 independent contractor.

While neither sexy nor glamorous, the paperwork you do on that first day of your job can have an enormous impact on your career and on your finances. For example, the contract you sign may limit your job opportunities once you leave the company. And depending on which tax form you fill out, you could owe a lot more at the end of the year even though you may see more in your paycheck every week.

Below is a brief explanation of all the things you’re committing to when you sign an advertising contract or fill out a form for the IRS. Don’t stop learning here — do your own research so you can protect yourself and plan for your future.

What’s in a Typical Agency Contract

It’s nothing personal against you, but advertising contracts are put in place to guarantee that employees don’t run off with an agency’s clients or try to profit off work that was created with the agency’s resources. Whether you’re an independent contractor or a full-time employee, you may need to sign a contract before you begin work.

If you’re a good, conscientious employee, you won’t have much to worry about. But it’s still worth taking a few minutes to read through the contract, especially since you’re signing a document that may limit your opportunities once you leave the company.

Non-compete Clauses

You’ve worked on a particular account, probably become friendly with their brand manager and other executives, and know their business inside and out. What’s to keep you from leaving the agency, contacting the client on your own, and proposing to do work for them at a fraction of the price the agency charged them?

A non-compete clause, that’s what. These safeguards are written into most standard agency contracts. Should you leave the agency for any reason, it’s meant to prohibit you from reaching out to their clients (or really, any of the clients who are with the agency while you are) and proposing to do work for them. Depending on the specific wording, you may also be prohibited from going to another agency and then working with certain clients, usually for a specified time like one or two years.

Ownership of Designs, Inventions, and Work Product

That website that you worked so hard on for one of your clients — conceiving it, researching it, and writing all the content? That’s not actually yours. At least, not if you’ve signed a contract with a clause about ownership of design. This is basically saying that while you’re an employee, your employer owns all the creative output produced on the premises or created using the company’s resources. That means they own it, always and forever, without you receiving any additional compensation. This also applies to things you create that have nothing to do with the company, but do on company time or using company property.

Confidentiality Agreement

This language prohibits you from revealing protected or confidential information about either the agency or its clients. However, this one isn’t always as black and white as “working for Pepsi and then running to Coca-Cola to sell the secret formula.” Where many creative people run afoul of this is by including work-in-progress or internal communications in their portfolio. Both have the potential to reveal confidential information about a company, and as such, the advertising agency could step in and take legal action against you.

If you worked on a project that you want to include in your portfolio and you’re not sure if you’re on the right side of the agreement, your best bet is to discuss this with your creative director or another executive who understands both the company’s policies and how agreeable (or not) the client in question would be. You may be given a thumbs-up, providing you strip out identifying and confidential information, and then put it on a password-protected page. Or you may be flat-out denied, which is a bummer, but it’s better than being sued.

Filling out Forms for the IRS

At your new job, you will either be considered an employee, or if you’re a freelancer, an independent contractor. Your status will have a huge impact on your paycheck, as well as how you file your taxes at the end of the year.

If you’re an employee, you’ll receive a W2 form from your employer.

Prior to your employment, you’ll fill out a form that asks for information such as your address and Social Security number. You’ll also be able to claim allowances or dependents. If you’re a W2 employee, your employer will withhold applicable taxes (Social Security, state and federal income tax, Medicare tax) as well as payment for your benefits, such as medical, dental or transit. Basically, so much will be taken out of your paycheck that you will get sticker shock, but at least at the end of the year you will owe less in taxes and may even get money back.

If you’ve claimed allowances or dependents, you’ll have less taken out of every paycheck, but you could end up owing more at the end of the year.

If you’re a freelancer or independent contractor, then you’ll receive a 1099.

Even if you’re an independent contractor, you’ll still need to fill out tax forms. But when you get your paycheck, nothing will be deducted from it. For example, if you work 20 hours at a rate of $40 per hour, then your paycheck will be $800. Technically, you are not on the company’s payroll, and when you invoice your client, you’re seen as a vendor, no different than outsourced IT or repair services.
But you are responsible for paying not only state and federal income tax on these earnings, but also both your share and your employer’s (again, that’s you) share for Social Security and Medicare taxes. Currently that amounts to 15.3% on earnings of up to $127,200, and this is on top of all the other taxes. (But at least some portion of it’s tax-deductible.) Freelancer rates are often much higher compared to regular employees, and that’s to cover all these taxes and payments, along with the fact that outside contractors aren’t eligible for benefits.

Help is available!

If you have questions, ask your human resources professional or recruiter. It’s their job to translate all these concepts into simple language and explain the impact on your finances and your life.

If you’re just starting out as a freelancer, find a good tax professional ASAP! They can give you advice on all the little things you can do to keep more of your money at the end of the year.

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.

There is no way to sugarcoat it: The job search can be a painful, soul-sucking, ego-bruising endeavor. And that’s on top of the stress of either having a job that isn’t right for you, or not having a job at all.

Full disclosure: I just lost my regular, full-time gig. One of my recent shop’s clients pulled way back on business, and there were just too many creatives and not enough work. This was my third layoff in the last 2½ years! That’s just some #agencylife realness for you. So anyway, you can believe me when I say I’ve got the job search thing down to a science.

When I have to start a new job search (such as I am doing today), I like to gamify it, or take a game-like approach to it: breaking it down into challenges with quantifiable actions, trying to hit certain targets, and then rewarding myself when I do. Below are some ways I’ve approached my own job searches, and some of the tips I use to get potential employers to respond to me.

Break your search into manageable, quantifiable goals

Getting a new job is hard, but if you break it down into small key steps, it’s not such a big deal. For example, the steps in your job search might be researching potential companies, making new connections on LinkedIn, reaching out to former co-workers, and applying to job postings. Figure out each step that goes into your job search, and then give yourself a numerical goal per week. For your particular position, experience level, and industry, there may only be a handful of jobs on the boards for you to apply to, but that just means you should think about assigning yourself more companies to research.

Another benefit of thinking about your job search this way is that you’ll figure out a system that will help you use your time much more efficiently. I like to set up a specific day and time to complete each task because it’s easier to hold myself accountable. Creating a schedule and sticking to it keeps you engaged, which can help you avoid that free-floating what-am-I-doing-with-my-life angst that can creep up on you when you don’t have a job.

Treat your resume and cover letter project like an SEO game

Unless you have an “in” at a company and have an actual email address to send your resume to, your resume will probably be scanned by a bot or a system that combs your resume looking for keywords that correspond to the skills or experience that company is looking for. So your first challenge is making sure your resume isn’t automatically kicked out. The same way companies use search engine optimization (SEO) to rise to the top of a query on Google, you’re going to rise to the top of a prospective employer’s inbox.

Customize your resume to each posting you apply for, and make sure you have at least 50% of the keywords in the ad woven through your resume at least once (and that includes the job title). If you use a summary section on your resume, consider front-loading many of the keywords. If you do get the resume past the digital gatekeeper, it will probably be reviewed by someone in HR who has about 20 seconds to figure out if you’re a potential candidate, so you’ll need to convince them fast.

Of course, your resume should still read and sound natural, especially if you’re a writer or work in account services. Make sure these communications reflect your personal brand and connect the dots with all the keywords to tell a compelling story of how you can help the employer and what skills you have to do it.

Keep track of where you’ve been

There’s one thing all games have in common: going back and repeating actions you’ve already taken doesn’t advance you to the next level. Repeatedly applying to the same positions won’t earn you any points. Keeping track of your applications on a spreadsheet or other kind of list can help you avoid multiple applications, and being able to see a track record of your efforts will help you feel like you’ve accomplished something. Plus, if you’re filing unemployment claims, having a list with the dates and names of your applications can help you fill out the online forms in just a few minutes.

Challenge achieved: Reward yourself

Finding a job is often the toughest work you’ll ever have. And even though you’re basically spending your time talking up how awesome you are, it still can make you feel awful. Finding a new job is all about persistence, but it’s OK to take a day off here and there. If you’ve completed all your tasks for the week and can’t bring yourself to do another thing, treat yourself to a day off from your job search. Then hit it hard when you get back to it on Monday (or whichever day).

Another benefit to breaking your search down into these quantifiable chunks is that you have a simple feedback loop. If you’re getting a good response rate, then keep doing what you’re doing. If not, you can simply tweak some of the numbers until you’re getting more phone calls and emails. Getting a new job is very much a numbers game, but keep at it, and your hard work is bound to pay off!

One of the most longstanding, silly, and harmful advertising myths is that account people and creatives are very different types of people — like, “mortal enemies”-type different. You know how the stereotypes go: Account people are obsessed with spreadsheets, rules, organization, and sucking up to the clients. But as a creative, if you want to do good work, rise in the company, and enjoy your job, it’s important to see past the stereotypes and embrace the idea that you and your account people are on the same team.

Building a productive and mutually beneficial relationship with your account team doesn’t have to feel like brown-nosing, and it’s about much more than going out for drinks after work. In fact, you can put these ideas to work immediately.

Show up for meetings

Once you get to a certain point in your career, it seems like you’re spending more time in meetings than doing work, and the temptation is great to skip a meeting here and there — after all, if someone from creative goes, they can take notes, right?

Even if you don’t think you need to, GO. It’s a sign of respect to whoever organized the meeting. It also lessens the workload for your account team, since if you don’t go, they have to do double-duty by taking their own notes as well as catching you up on creative input. Even if a creative colleague takes notes, you will be missing out on opportunities for input and discussion, you look less engaged, and you may find fewer opportunities for growth within the company down the road.

Before you start concepting, spend quality time with the creative brief

You know how you and your partner can spend a week (or more) concepting, hashing out ideas, going back and forth, and finally you come up with 10 amazing ideas, and your creative director blows through them in two minutes? This is kind of what it’s like for the account team when you spend 30 seconds to scan through the brief and then toss it aside.

Putting together a good creative brief is no small feat. It’s not something they open up a template for, jot down a few notes, and then spit out of their computers 10 minutes later. A good creative brief is the culmination of research, time spent understanding the client, and deep insight into business needs. It’s surprisingly difficult to write a good one.

Don’t just review it to make your account team feel better — do it because it will help you produce work that’s on target and will satisfy your client. It will lighten your own workload, since you’ll arrive at viable creative solutions much faster and spend less time creating work that the creative director will yank off the wall.

Invite them to review your work early

A good way to send your account team the message, “Hey, I respect what you bring to my job,” is to have occasional creative check-ins with them (of course, always make sure your creative director is OK with this). Even if it’s not much more than ceremonial, it’s a good way to make them feel like they’re being included in the process. And, if by some chance, the creative team has gone horribly afoul of the creative brief, these check-ins allow for quick recalibration.

One of the biggest complaints we creatives make about account people is that they don’t understand good creative. Here’s your chance to help them learn. Explain your way of thinking, give examples of different creative executions you could have used but let them know why your solution solves the problem. You may be surprised by how eager they are to learn, and how useful that is: a seasoned account executive can crank out a headline or a tagline that’s almost as good as anything your creative director can write.

Go out for lunch, happy hour, or team-building exercises

There’s a lot to be said for getting to know your co-workers as people, outside of work. You don’t have to become best friends with your account team, but the occasional lunch outing lets you get away from the pressure of the work environment and get on more friendly terms. Plus, it helps you dispel all those unflattering stereotypes that account people can hold about creatives!

And finally, remember you really are on the same team

Yes, at the end of the day — after you’ve included them, made them feel respected and shared the secret creative handshake — it can still be frustrating to work with people who don’t quite see it your way, pressure you to work faster, and make demands on your time. But don’t forget you both want to create fantastic work that will make your client a huge fan of the agency — as well as have a fun job that affords work/life balance. You and your account team can be partners in all of that together.

Remember when you were a teenager trying to get your first job, but everything you applied to said, “entry level, must have at least 6 months experience,” and you thought, “WELL, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET EXPERIENCE IF NO ONE WILL GIVE ME A JOB?”

That’s what it feels like trying to get work in a new category or industry. If, for example, you have consumer packaged goods work, but you pine to do automotive advertising, or you work in social media and want to switch to UX/UI, you’ll find the switch more difficult than you’d think. Even if you already have a solid agency background, employers often insist on a certain amount of experience in a product category. And it’s usually for good reason: Many fields are highly technical or have a set of standard practices that it can take years to learn. But it brings you back to that conundrum: How does anyone get experience if they have to have some before they’re considered for a job?

Don’t give up! There are more opportunities than ever to get related experience that can help you get your foot in the door.

Do some editorial work

Product categories like automotive, technology, and even fashion can be hard to break into because they all employ such specific terminology and require in-depth knowledge of the product, its history, and the marketplace. If those are industries that call to you and you’re passionate about them, start writing about them. If this pushes your comfort level a little, start small by contributing smart, well-written Amazon reviews and work your way up.

If you have a true knack for both the subject matter and the writing, pitch your ideas to publications or websites. Better yet, create your own blog on the subject, which will allow you to add content and social media bullets to your resume.

Spec work

Doing spec work in the category you aspire to could help your cause, but only if it’s polished, insightful, and generally amazing. Many creative directors will argue that it’s a lot easier to do spec work than to come up with great creative that solves a client problem and can realistically be executed. Just be honest and don’t try to pass it off as produced work.

Hobby/pro-bono

True story: I have a friend who was obsessed with fashion, and she organized and promoted dozens of fashion events. She wasn’t making much money, but she created a brand so strong, she was able to get sponsorships from huge companies like H&M, Bloomingdale’s, and Uniqlo. Eventually, she needed a consistent paycheck, and without too much effort and absolutely zero experience in proper advertising and marketing, she landed a senior strategy job at a social media agency that handles Fortune 500 clients — all on the strengths of what she’d been doing essentially as a hobby.

If you come from a traditional background and you want to work in social, there’s nothing to stop you from taking on your own projects. You’re probably already working on your own personal brand; pretend you are also your own agency and promote it on social media.

Network in that industry

Break out of the usual habit of going to the usual advertising/marketing/communications professionals mixers and go to events that cater to your would-be industry. Network the same way you would in your current industry. You might be able to land freelance or in-house opportunities. You’ll also gain insider knowledge about the field and the market by immersing yourself in the culture. You may also be able to join industry-specific associations, and list these memberships on your resume.

Now wrap it up and tie a bow on it

A great way to quickly showcase your emerging skills is to create a page on your website/portfolio that is dedicated to your experience in that industry — even if it’s a mixture of spec work and non-advertising projects such as press releases and blog posts. Include a blurb that talks about your ambitions, but also talks up your previous accomplishments. At the very least, hiring managers will be impressed by your ambition and dedication. And if the work is good and it complements an already-strong portfolio, you may get your chance to work in a category you really love.

A couple years ago, I was on a videoconference, presenting work I’d created with my art director for a long-time client’s new line of business. The client said they wanted to push the creative boundaries to make sure this new product wasn’t lumped in with the rest of their offerings. We took the idea and ran with it.

I had fallen in love with a really “out there” solution, convincing my art director that it was on target and my creative director that including this concept would show a broad range of thinking. So, everyone signed off on it.

When that work went up on the screen, one of the clients laughed and literally asked, “Is this a joke?” While I sat there in quiet shock, my creative director just rolled with it and said something about pushing the work; I don’t even remember his exact words because I was, at that moment, willing myself to have an out-of-body experience. I was terrified that I had lost my team’s trust and dinged the agency’s reputation in the eyes of the client. “Bad” doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt (but “destroyed” gets close).

Spoiler alert: I lived through it. I did not lose my job. We did not lose the business. I have gone on to have plenty of other awkward creative review moments, both internally and with clients. Each time, I rebound a little more quickly, and with a little more grace.

You remember the “7 Stages of Grief” from your freshman psychology class — the idea that you go on an emotional journey through shock, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, testing, and acceptance before you get over a loss? You’ll go through a similar journey following a terrible creative review, from wanting to crawl into a hole to knocking it out of the park in Round 2 and getting on with your career.

Stage 1: Feeling awful

For many of us creatives, there is an arbitrary and fuzzy line between the “work” you and the “personal” you, and having your work dumped on can cut you to the core. It’s OK to take it a little personally.

If your company culture is such that people go out and shoot the breeze or commiserate over a pint, then by all means, go out, lick your wounds, and bond. Just remember, you’ll need to be at peak creative the next morning, so don’t impair yourself.

Stage 2: Coming to terms with the truth

Set your defenses aside and be honest with yourself: Was the work bad or sloppy? Was it too radical a departure from the client’s brand or current work? Don’t automatically go to the client-bashing place. The better you’re able to come to terms with what isn’t working, the easier it will be to make your work better.

Stage 3: Admitting you made a mistake

Let your creative director know that you took the feedback during the creative review seriously and are eager to try again. A good creative director will never throw you under the bus for one misstep. But remember, your work is a direct reflection on them, so your creative director might not be feeling too great right about now either.

Stage 4: Asking for help

One of the most important steps for getting the work right is to meet with your account team and spend some quality time with the creative brief. This document is your roadmap when you start a job. The creative brief represents your account team’s best efforts at conveying the client’s insights and desires. If you think it’s off-base, it’s worth having a conversation with your account team so they can then talk to the client and revise the brief. Your account team doesn’t always get creative, but they know strategy, which is just as important for doing the job right.

Stage 5: Sweeping it under the rug for a few hours

Seeing your work publicly derided and then taking responsibility for it is a lot for a sensitive creative person to handle! If time allows, give yourself a night to deal with it and then put it behind you. Treat yourself to a nice meal, see some friends, or just watch cat videos and go to sleep early; whatever works to take your mind off the situation for the night.

Stage 6: Kicking butt on Round 2

When you’re finally ready to pick back up on Round 2, don’t be hobbled by fear of failure, and don’t play it safe because you want to avoid the sting of criticism. Start with as much creative gusto as you had for Round 1; just be informed by what you learned. Make time for check-ins with your creative director, and work even more closely than usual with your account team.

Stage 7: Getting over it

Coming around full circle to that abysmal creative review I suffered: I got over it, and started hitting my stride again within a week. Eventually, the “is this a joke” ad became a punch line that my fellow creatives would tease me with when I was getting too cocky about an idea.

Bombing a creative review isn’t the end of the world, and through your career, you will come up with new and interesting ways to be wrong. But if you take the time to learn your lessons, you’ll find ways to keep going — and keep growing — as a professional.

Shopping your portfolio around to different agencies, brands and companies used to mean multiple trips to the printer, pounding the pavement, breaking through gatekeepers and shuttling your physical book to all ends of the city. Nowadays, things are different. If you haven’t already, it’s time to embrace the power social media has in helping promote your work and strengthen your personal brand. By engaging hiring managers and starting conversations with others in the creative space, you can leverage social media to your benefit and save a lot on printing costs along the way.

Step 1: Branding

Begin by creating consistent social media profiles that highlight your professional interests and are mindful of your personal brand. As I outlined in another post, your social media presence/footprint is a “strong representation of you, so it should explain who you are, what you do and what you’re looking for. Show your personal brand, and let your personality come through a bit.”

Step 2: Content

You put a lot of effort into your work, so make sure the content you share reflects who you are and where you want your career to go. If you have a portfolio, use imagery of your work and post some of it to your feed. What you say about the piece is important too, so talk about it — but be concise. Your viewer/reader is scrolling quickly.

The “Stories” functions on Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook are great ways to showcase video content. Let’s not forget about your animations, cinemagraphs and motion graphics work. They can live in the social space too. If you have the ability (and legal rights) to share conceptual/ideation sessions and process — do it! We love peeking behind the curtain!

Step 3: Engagement

Every freelancer or full-time job seeker — hell, any savvy social media user — should be engaging with other users with similar interests. You can use it as a source of inspiration and also apply that thought to self-promotion in the creative space by following agencies, companies and the key players within them.

Take that one step further and engage with the people you follow. Like, repost and comment on their content and point them to your profile. Without being overbearing, comment about how you genuinely relate to their content, work or creative process. If you do your homework, this is one way to get them to notice you! In the same way that you check out someone’s profile after a comment on your photo, they’ll do the same and check out yours.

Step 4: Promotion

Now that you’ve made the effort to build your profile, enhance your content and engage with members of the community, it’s time to talk about your work. Regularly. But keep in mind that there’s a fine line between promoting your work and pushing your work on others in the social landscape. To err on the promotional side, share well-rounded content not related to your work. Post about a weekend adventure or a new happy hour spot. Give your viewer insight into who you are beyond your work. After all, we know that creativity is a lifestyle!

Bonus Tip: Don’t make your followers click to read more. Make sure the important information in your Instagram and LinkedIn captions stays above the third line. On Twitter, keep it under 120 characters if you are including a link to your work!

There is truly no substitute for networking and there never will be. However, methods of networking have and will continue to change. It’s up to you to be at the forefront.

Engage. Evolve. Create something great!

Brian is the Recruitment Manager at Creative Circle New York. He brings over 10 years of experience in the creative staffing industry, leading recruitment efforts and partnering with creative professionals and agencies, startups and companies in need of creative solutions.
Connect with him on social: LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter

Starting a new job is a big commitment, so it’s important to think about a few things before you start looking. Many people get to the point where they’re tired of their job and jump ship, but you don’t want to rush out of your current position to get into a situation that’s just as bad, or possibly worse. If you’re thinking about taking that leap, consider the following steps:

1. Find out if you can make a move within your current company first.

If you’re currently working and unhappy with what you’re doing, start looking into different departments. Companies like to keep employees who already understand the culture and who they know can perform well. You might be surprised to find that certain jobs may be becoming available, or the company could even be willing to create a new position for you to apply for. If you want to switch departments, start the dialogue with your manager. They want to see you succeed and can help you get the tools and necessary training to cross departments. It is also a good idea to talk to the lead in the department you are interested in and/or an HR manager because they often have the most pull in who gets hired.

2. Learn more about the company.

When you’re searching for jobs, differentiating one good company from the next can be difficult. To save yourself the headache, go to review sites like Glassdoor to check out what actual employees are saying about the company first. Checking out these sites before applying will let you know what people do and don’t like about the company. It also helps you get a sense of the culture so you can figure out if it’s a place you can see yourself fitting in at. And it’s very helpful once you get an interview because people will tell you what types of questions to expect and the questions they were asked.

3. Make sure the opportunity aligns with your career goals.

Are you making a lateral career move just because you’re anxious to get a new job? You may not like how the company has changed, or you may just be sick of the daily grind, but leaving a company to make a lateral move is not beneficial. It’s smarter to move up with each new position and not fall into the trap of “job hopping” just to keep moving up.

Success is all about dedication and determination, and there’ll be jobs that will become your stepping stones to get you where you want to be. You always want to make sure any job you take aligns with how you envision your future and what you ultimately want for a career. If your current or new job really isn’t getting you closer to your end goal, then you aren’t taking the necessary steps. No matter what, you need to make sure you put in the time, and soon the opportunities you are looking for will arise.

Krista is a Creative Circle candidate, creative writer and content creator in Los Angeles. Her background includes news, marketing, copywriting and editing. If you are interested in working with Krista, please contact Creative Circle LA.