Underwear and Freelancing

Posted: October 21, 2008 at 7.33 pm
Posted by wes in Featured, Logos

IncSpring

GUEST POST BY WES WILSON FROM INCSPRING

I have been trying to get to the absolute core of why designers abandon agency work and go down the ‘freelance-stay-at-home-and-work-in-your-underwear’ route. It can’t be just the underwear thing can it?

Working for a design agency has its rewards and comforts. Guaranteed income, industry kudos, working with like-minded creatives - why would anyone give this up for the stress inducing terror ride that is freelancing?

I believe the answer is control.

When you work in an office-based agency you surrender yourself to the forces around you - the manager whose only skill seems to be diverting blame, the nightmare client who is a friend of the boss and the secretary who insists on eating her reheated stinking curries in the corner of the open-plan office. You grit your teeth and plough on, safe in the knowledge that payday will come and everything will be OK again (for a few days).

You also lose control over the most precious thing to you - your work. Good designers are like no other breed of employee. Each bit of their work is created with parts of their very soul, yet most of their day is spent pleading for it not to be discarded. To a designer throwing away a good piece of work is more than relinquishing ownership, it is amputation. That work belongs to the company not you and if it doesn’t work for the client then it is abandoned forever.

A freelancer can control every aspect of their day. Work the hours that suits them, work with clients they like and most importantly work in their underwear. Also freelancers own and control their own work. If a client does not like a piece of work it can re-used on a site like IncSpring. Someone out there will appreciate it and put it to good use. If the client is becoming a pain in the neck, you can say goodbye to them and move on to another.

Being in control is the ultimate benefit of going freelance and outweighs every minor concern you may have about freelancing.

So if you are plodding away at an agency and all this sounds familiar think about what your future as a freelancer could look like. Come join us. Take back ownership of your soul and be a control freak. You can wear whatever you like.

Wes

14 Comments

Mitternacht
October 20, 2008 at 8.49 pm

I totally agree with you. I’m a freelance translator, and the job in itself is not always what you would call fun. But I’d never go and work in an office - control, freedom, and, in my case, ultimate mobility (I never have to meet my clients) are priceless.

Josh McGlinn
October 21, 2008 at 12.55 pm

For me it is more about being organized. My last employer was horrific about dropping projects on us at the last minute even though he knew about it 2 or 3 months ago. I can plan my days and workflow so much better now than he ever could. Plus I get more control over what I work on. I also get to play the field and have worked with a number of agencies around the country as a result. This has given me a lot of experience at working with other Art Directors or Creative Directors and made me a more rounded designer. Overall, this is a very rewarding decision. http://www.mcgstudio.com

Jeff Fisher LogoMotives
October 21, 2008 at 7.01 pm

For me, it’s not that I don’t play well with others; I just want to choose where, when and with whom I play.

The underwear things is part of it. I do like to be totally comfortable when I am working - especially since I very seldom meet with clients in person. Hey, I even once gave a HOW Design Conference presentation in my underwear…

admin
October 21, 2008 at 7.05 pm

Just to say that Wes will be replying personally to your comments as he wrote the article, so just been setting him up with access to the site.

But in any case, appreciate the comments on this new site.

Thanks
Graham

redehlert
October 21, 2008 at 7.28 pm

Commando or not commando…of your life as it relates to freedom of choice.

Two things I enjoy about being freelance is choice of projects/clients and clock in/out. When you work at a firm, agency, department, what have you, getting a project that doesn’t resonate with you is like a mean wedgie.
Same goes for the hours you put in any given day. Just because you come in at 8AM doesn’t mean your creative light is automatically switched on. There are times when I don’t hit my groove until 3PM. But then I’m jamming away until 11PM or so. But most offices won’t have you coming in at 3PM and checking out at 11PM. That’s like too much starch in your shorts, mate.

However, the freelance life allows me to choose my clients and be open to more interesting/unique projects. Also, if I don’t hit my groove until later in the day, so be it. Work late. :)

For the record, I work 50% at the UW in Seattle as the staff medical illustrator, but this will change when the time is right. The benefits at the UW are great, and I’m willing to stay here while I help grow my biz with my wife the other 50% of my time. I really am moving toward freedom of choice, freedom of hours and of course that means I’m going commando, baby!

Cheers!
Dave

Niki Brown
October 21, 2008 at 7.28 pm

I freelance to keep my skills sharp. I also like chosing which clients i work for (or firing them as well) :)

Jay
October 21, 2008 at 7.29 pm

Wes: Fantastic post. Excellently written and quite true to be honest. I definitely agree with your reason as to why freelancing seems so lucrative even though its a very daunting shift in anyone’s life. The freedom is just fantastic (esp. with the underwear thing now being out in the open ;) ) hehe.

Graham: I haven’t yet got the chance to congratulate you on this fantastic site and don’t know if this is the right place, but meh, what are you gonna do about it! :P (please don’t delete my comment!) hehe, Congratulations! I’m sure WAJC will turn out to be a great success.

Great work both of you :)

~Jay

Wes Wilson
October 21, 2008 at 8.01 pm

Thanks for all of the great responses, I’m glad to hear other enjoy the underwear factor ;)

@Mitternacht I agree with your attitude, the work is not always perfect, but it would be much worse in an office with someone looking over your shoulder.

@Josh McGlinn I’m the last person to say I’m organized (as much as I’d like to be), but there’s nothing worse than getting a last minute project that throws off the rest of the work I was procrasting on :)

@Jeff Fisher LogoMotives Your reputation helps a lot in having the ability to choose where, when and who for. It’s something most people strive to acheive. LOL, I’ve never attempted a conference in underwear, that’s great!

@redehlert That should have been the title of this post “Commando or not Commando…” Ha! I agree about the hours, my best work gets done around midnight.

@Niki Brown, you bring up a great point. It’s tough to try and pursuade a client when your boss doesn’t want you to, much less fire them.

@Jay thanks! The switch is daunting, but well worth it if you’re good at your trade. The question is, do you grow your freelance business enough to open an office where you force your employees to wear underwear… probably not a good idea ;)

Agreed - great site Graham, thansk for letting me contribute! I look forward to my next guest post!

Graham Smith
October 21, 2008 at 8.14 pm

Commenting on Freelancing and testing the CommentLuv. Cool, generating a free plug for my other site. Cool bananas.

Im hearing a lot of positive’s about Freelancing, most of which I yet to experience. Namely paying clients and work. Meh.

Im still kinda at the beginning after a long break from my last job, so it clearly takes time to get you’re feet on solid ground. But I feel Im getting there, all be it slowly.

Yay, I wear my boxers until midday sometimes. Woop. But that depends on my dog needing a walk or if he is happy to wait.

But overall, the impression I am getting is favourable, I am focusing on self branding, trying to create a reasonably image of myself and ImJustCreative, and hope this in turn helps me in my quest to attract paying clients, at least it’s part of the process, the other is going out there and getting it, which I am not so good at. After all, spent most of my time in a studio with work being brought to me.

But yeah, great post Wes, thanks so much for doing, next one tomorrow then? :)
Graham

Graham Smith´s last blog post..One Uber SocialMedian List for Creatives and Geeks

Liz
October 21, 2008 at 8.57 pm

Been freelance for 8 months now and am loving it. More freedom to be creative, more power over my career, work and life. The freedom to be myself, really!

And i’ll admit - i have a comfy pair of yoga pants that i refer to as my “freelance pance” — hardy-har, get it? “pance”=”pants” ;)

Liz´s last blog post..Halloween Costume ideas for Internet Nerds and Apple Fanboys (or Fangrls)

Bojan Stefanovic
October 21, 2008 at 11.54 pm

Some four years ago a brake point in my professional career happened. I woke up one morning, thinking ‘oh another stress day at work, balancing between creative directors unbelievable requests and tight deadlines, trying to figure out why the hell an art director has always to finish and beat incredible deadline with unfinished projects from senior and particularly junior designers, answering unbelievably stupid questions from account managers who doesn’t know a sh** about what they are selling at first place and finally, trying to figure out what happened that i am feeling so bad about the work that i used to enjoy. And then i opened up my inbox, and there it was - a dozen of RFP’s from new personal clients around the globe wanting to hire me after they saw my portfolio via few online galleries that i joined in and uploaded my best logo work from that time that was not under NDA. I went straight to managers office and gave a 15 day notice. The rest is history for me, and i am enjoying every day of being my own boss, working in my underwear and watching my two year Lana growing up with daddy being close to here, instead of long day/all day somewhere else… Go Commandos!

Christopher Neetz
October 24, 2008 at 2.26 pm

Why I left working for an agency-

-At heart I have always been an entrepreneur
-I need room to grow
-My old employer changed from start-up to corporate
-I want to work towards building a better infrastructure for America
-My old office had windows that did not open…

Jamie
October 29, 2008 at 4.05 pm

Well-written post, Wes. :) However, I have seen a few articles/posts on “agency vs. freelance” and I think everyone forgot the 3rd category of “crappy inhouse designer in a tiny/nonexistant design department at a small local business”. lol

I’m in South Bend, Indiana and although I don’t want to stay here forever, this is where I’ll be the next few years at least — and design jobs are very limited. I was working at a hardware company as a “graphic designer” for the past 3 years(which included more Excel spreadsheet tasks than actual “design” work). And I’ve flopped around between various inhouse design teams at local businesses…. none of them have provided *any* creative outlet (and most of these positions paid less money than the factory workers earned at the same business).

So yes, I am working my way towards freelancing full-time at home…hopefully by August of next year :) I’ve never tried out the agency thing…maybe some day I will. But right now I feel like I will die if I have to show up to an office one more day and create a spreadsheet for my boss. LOL