Working in the creative industries: is freelancing the road to success?

 

As you progress your career in the website design and development industry you will hear the word freelance mentioned a lot. In this blog post we are going to explain what freelancing is and help you decide if freelancing is right for you.

What does it mean to be freelancer?

A freelancer is a professional that is employed by themselves offering their services in their respective industry. Freelancers normally Have multiple clients at one time and are often paid per project they do instead of having a set salary. Although freelancers are self employed they can be contracted out to different companies on a temporary basis doing this can help them grow their client base. Working as a freelancer means that you can choice which jobs and clients to accept.

What are the benefits of being a freelancer and the website design and development industry?

 Being a freelancer in the website design and development industry can have a lot of benefits such as:

• Freedom – As a freelancer you are your own boss meaning you have the freedom to choose which clients and projects you want to take on. If you worked for a website design and development company, you would be assigned clients and would be assigned a specific section of the project that you have to complete. As you are not employed by a company you don’t have to commute into work everyday you are able to work from wherever you want as long as you have your computer and a stable Internet connection. Many freelancers will work from home or will use the freedom that comes with freelancing to travel and work in their hotel room or a cafe while they travel the world.

• Flexibility- As your own boss you would be able to decide your own weekly schedule and pick what days you’re available to work. However, you need to be careful to give yourself enough time to complete the projects that you have taken on, time management is extremely important for a freelancer as you work alone so don’t have a team to help bail you out if you fall behind schedule. 

What are the disadvantages to working as a freelancer in the website design and development industry?

Being a freelancer in the website design and development industry can have a lot of disadvantages such as:

• Loneliness- As a freelancer you will be working alone for the majority of the time, there may be the odd occasion that you work on a collaborative project with another website designer but that won’t happen too frequently. A lot of freelancers will feel lonely at some point in their freelancing career especially if they are doing all their work from home. Some ways to help combat this are to get yourself out while you work, go to a cafe and work for a couple of hours so that you can speak to people, or make connections with other freelancers in the industry so that you can build yourself a support network of people you can talk to when you’re feeling lonely.

• Stability- As a freelancer you won’t have the stability that comes with working for a company such as having a steady pay check as freelancers are paid per project, so you have to constantly look for new projects to get paid. You also won’t have the benefits that companies provide such as healthcare and sick pay, meaning if you are ever unwell and unable to work you would have to cover the loss yourself.

How to promote yourself while working as a freelancer?

While working as a freelance website developer self promotion is important as it will be your main way to find clients and projects for you to take on. One of the best ways to promote yourself is by creating a strong portfolio website for yourself. This portfolio website should showcase a variety of different styles and languages to help show that you are flexible and versatile. You should ensure that your website is fully accessible and responsive so that it can be viewed on a variety of different devices. Your contact information or a contact form should be displayed clearly on your website to allow potential clients to contact you for more information. 

Another good way to promote yourself is by creating social media accounts for your website development business in order to allow for more exposure, doing this will give you a higher chance of potential clients coming across your work.

Does freelancing appeal to me?

Becoming a freelancer in the website design and development industry appeals to me personally as you have more freedom in choosing when and where you work, meaning I wouldn’t have to commute everyday as I have medical issues that make it really hard to move some days so being able to work from home would be good for me. The fact that you are able to choose what clients you take on and what projects you take appeals to me as you are able to take projects that you find interesting and that you have a passion for instead of doing projects because you were told to.

Being a freelancer requires a lot of work and commitment, it can take a while before you’re able to see a decent profit from freelancing. However if you are committed and put the effort into building your client base, I think freelancing can have a lot of benefits and could be really enjoyable.