MANILA — AJ Dimarucot used to work as an art director for Ogilvy & Mather when he decided to quit in 2008. Now he works in a 5-man team—himself, his wife and three kids, “I got tired of the 4-hr commute, I got tired of clearing my ideas with people, I got tired of working with same clients over and over. I just got tired of being tired. So I’ve decided, I’ll do freelance.”
AJ is surely not the only one who prefers to be the the boss of his own company. So, for designers who are thinking of transitioning from being a Monday to Friday, 9 to 6 regular employee to a flexible freelancer, learn from the things that AJ himself learned along the way, some of which, the hard way.
You’re running a business
According to AJ, the first thing you have to understand when you venture into freelancing is that you’re running a business. Since you’re now working in an office where you’re the head of all the departments, it means you have to learn to do everything, including the administrative and liaising work.
“When you’re a freelancer, remember that you’re running a business. Learn how to deal with clients properly.”
He learned how to invoice, put actual numbers into writing. He learned how to understand contracts, licensing, buying rights. He learned how to be his own AE, he haggled pricing and timelines, and even learned how to properly talk to clients over e-mail, “Typing in all caps or small caps, clients hate that!”
Since being a freelancer meant you can’t expect an apple to fall from the tree every 15th and 30th day of the month like it used to, AJ also learned how to manage his finances as well as his time, “I can wake up anytime I want. But when there’s work, there’s work.”
Set up an emergency fund
By emergency fund, AJ meant at least 6 months of living expenses for you as a person that you keep as emergency fund, meaning, you don’t use it, “Because for any reason you fail, and you don’t have clients for the next six months, you have something to pull out.”
Especially if you’re like AJ who is a dad to kids who are still fed with milk, and whose diapers have to be changed from time to time, this would keep you from losing your mind when a crisis hit.
Get used to rejection
If they’re not working on a project, freelancers spend most of their time looking for one. And the rejection rate is pretty high. So, if you’re planning to become one, you have to be a tough cookie.
When he was just starting, AJ would send an average of 20 e-mails a week to bid for design gigs, if he’s lucky, he would get 2 responses out of that 20, “I would sit all day actually just waiting for a single response. This went on for probably a year.”
Avoid freeloaders
“We’ll get you exposure”
“We’re just a start up”
“We’ll put your name on it”
“We’ve allocated a budget for production”
“It will be good publicity”
“We will put it on Twitter”
AJ advises freelancers or those who are planning of becoming one to keep an eagle eye on these freeloader red flags. A lot of companies will try to get your design services for free in exchange of empty promises but AJ argues, “If they can allocate budget for production, how can they not allocate budget for design or creative work?”
Passion projects lead to real projects
When AJ is not designing for clients, he is designing about things he is passionate about. Basketball is one.
He once did an artwork depicting Boston Celtics player Kevin Garnett. He sent his work to adidas just to give it a shot. While waiting for adidas’ response, a Jamaican brand that is not totally related to basketball but liked zombies (the brand thought his design looked like a zombie) offered to buy the design for 300 bucks. As a starting freelancer with meager savings then, AJ quickly responded, “Okay I’ll sell you this. It’s not a zombie but for 300 bucks, it is.”
Shortly after, adidas responded expressing their interest to purchase his design. For a while, he contemplated if he should turn the zombie design back to being Kevin Garnett and be a thousand bucks richer. But in the end, he told the truth and offered his services instead to work on other projects for the brand, to which adidas agreed to. Even Nike, the competing brand, came up to AJ to pitch an idea for the exact same design. “Just do what you want do and clients will find you and pay you to do exactly that.”
You don’t need a website
Lessen the burden and cut costs by using existing portfolio websites like behance.net instead of making your own. Update your portfolio regularly and put lots of images of your works.
“The more process you put in your entries in behance, the better chances you have for your work to be noticed,” advised AJ.
Join design contests
Joining design contests is another way for freelance designers to earn money. AJ made a name for himself designing t-shirts for threadless.com which he once won $2,000 for an artwork.
“Focus on your art. Do your art. Do your thing. Do your designs. Then share it, post it online and make money out of it.”
Here are some websites that host design contests:
Tattoodo.com
Feather.com
Spoonflower.com
Find your niche / Build an audience
“Be good at something. Not everything. At least not yet.”
For a start, AJ said it’s important to choose one thing that you’re good at and focus on it instead of trying to do everything. That way, you’ll have a better chance of coming up with good work and being able to sell your work online.
Get an agent
Once you’re as famous as the International Illustrator and Designer Dan Matutina, AJ joked, it would be wise to get an agent who could find and broker projects for you.
Pick up new skills
When you’re a freelancer, everyone on the internet is basically competition. So, to level the playing field, it is important to keep on learning new skills even just by looking for tutorials online like phong.com. And try to do away with excessive use of drop shadows and glows.
Start a business
Welcome any form of extra income. Take a risk and start a business, “You have to spend money to make money.”
AJ, along with his wife, set up the baby clothing brand, googoo and gaga. They started by doing what they love, designing. Now this brand is sold in France, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Belgium, US, Canada and Australia, countries that according to AJ, he has never even been to.
He also partnered with his brother and friends to start a Filipino-Mexican restaurant called called MaDEca.
Get clients on a monthly retainer
Instead of taking your clients’ whole wallet, or charging big bucks for your services, offer discounted rates and get a guaranteed long term cash flow. You don’t only get yourself a steady income throughout the year, you also get yourself some peace of mind.
