how to be a freelance creative - jonny elwyn_free sample

8/13/2019 How to Be a Freelance Creative - Jonny Elwyn_Free Sample

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HOW TO BE

A FREELANCE

CREATIVE

JONNY ELWYN

FREE SAMPLE


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INTRODUCTION

Five Tings I Wish Id Known When I Started 7

Te Pros And Cons O Being A Freelance Creative 8

ips For Tose Starting Out 10

Tree Tings You Can Be Certain O 11

BRIEFING WELL

How o Brie Well 12

Creating Creative Clarity 13

Define Success 16

Te op Tree Tings o Speciy In Your Brie 19

GETTING TO WORK

Organised For Simplicity 20

Back Ups, Archives And Quick Amends 23

Te Danger With Reerences 24

Managing Your ime 25

Creative Competence And Continual Learning 26

CONTENTS


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Contents

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How To Be A Freelance Creative

THE MONEY STUFF

Making Money 29

Dos And Donts For Daily Rates 31

ips On Negotiating 32

Keeping Your Money 34

Dealing With Late Payments 37

Getting More Money 38

Investment Doesnt Need o Be Sexy 39

In Te Service O Loyal Opposition 41

PLAYING WELL WITH OTHERS

Communication 43

Building Fruitul Partnerships 46

Working With Difficult Clients 46

Negotiations 49

CAREERSHAPING DECISIONS

Why Ergonomics Is Essential o Your Creative Career 51

How o Get Work And Build A Business 55

What o Do I You Dont Know Anyone 57

Building Your Business 58

How o Get Te Kind O Work You Want 63

Becoming More Employable 65

Getting More Clients 68

Doing Unemployment Well 69


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FREELANCE WORK/LIFE BALANCE

ips On Working From Home 73

Common Freelance Fears 73

A Freelance Philosophy 75

HOW TO BE MORE CREATIVE

Working With And Against Your Emotions 77

Building Creative Habits 78

Getting A Fresh Perspective 80

Tree Questions o Promote Healthy Creativity 81

Making Ideas Happen 82

BOOKS FOR CREATIVES

Creative Ideas 84

Books On Storytelling/Screenwriting 88

Business Books For Creatives 90

Marketing Books For Creatives 92

ALL MY MISTAKES

All My Mistakes And What You Can Learn From Tem 95

GET IN TOUCH


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For Hannah, who always believes in me.


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FIVE THINGS I WISH ID KNOWN WHEN I STARTED

I I could go back in time and tell my younger sel these ew nuggets o inormation,I could have made a much better, more lucrative start in my reelance career. But

hey, you can only know what you know when you know it.

1As a reelancer you are an entrepreneur. As your own boss you shape yourown business and make your own success. I used to think though, as a filmeditor, that I was very much at the end o a long chain o events that had to

happen beore I could get any work; first o all the client had to decide to make afilm, then they had to decide to use a producer/director I knew, then that producer/director had to decide to use me, i I was even available and up to the job.

It was only much later that I discovered how easily I could kick start that chain by

pitching to potential clients directly and then either sharing the work with otherreelancers or taking on more creative roles or mysel.

Tere is nothing to stop you doing anything.

2Raise your rates and ask or more money with every new client. Tis is one othe simplest ways to increase your income, but or a long time I was nervousto try it. Also, expect to be asked to offer a better deal, so always ask or more

than youd really be happy with. However, at the very start o your reelance career,take whatever you can get just to keep yoursel in the game.

3Sell enthusiastically. Whenever you sell yoursel and your services to yourclients, do so with a confident smile. Always be sure to create genuine valueor your clients along with a riendly relationship, and they will appreciate

what you do or them so much more.

4Te competition are your community. Te more people you know who dowhat you do the better. You can help them find work and they will help youback. Tese relationships are vital.

5Being reelance is much more un than having a real job as long as you

dont worry about money. Getting to a place o not worrying about moneydefinitely takes a ew reelance miles to achieve but it is entirely possible.


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THE PROS AND CONS OF BEING A FREELANCE CREATIVE

I you are considering a career shif to going reelance, or you are resh out oschool and wondering i it is the right career choice or you, then here is a quick

run down o the positive and negative aspects o being a reelance creative.

PROS CONS

Freedom to do whatever you want.

Ability to charge more money per day.

Opportunity to work with manydifferent clients and collaborators.

No office politics.

Constant variety o types o work,styles, budget levels and creativechallenges.

ake as much holiday as you like, or aslong as you like, whenever you like, asofen as you like.

Work rom the comort o your ownhome, ree rom the expense and hassleo daily commuting.

No guarantee o constant work.

No sick pay, holiday pay or pension.

Potential or loneliness i workingalone at home or not in shared office.

No Christmas parties.

A clear and direct career progressionroute is hard to map out.

No holiday pay means holidays aretwice as expensive when you includeloss o earnings.

Cabin ever can be experienced i youhave not lef the house or days. Alsomanaging work/lie separation can betrickier i your office is in your home.

HOW TO MAXIMIZE THE PROS AND MINIMIZE THE CONS

In order to have the best reelance experience it is vital to tailor it to your ownspecific needs and preerences.

For example, i you are a highly sociable person and love being around people allday, working rom home might not be the best option or you. Tereore, i youcan afford to rent a desk or room in a shared creative work space that might be anexcellent way to increase your enjoyment o each and every day.

Working in shared office space can also lead to some exciting collaborativeopportunities as you are ar more likely to have chance encounters when you areactually in an environment filled with other creative people.


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Conversely, i the idea o not being jammed onto a packed commuter train, norsitting or hours in glacial traffic every day makes your heart leap or joy thenworking rom home is an inexpensive and time-saving option.

Te main challenge o working rom home is maintaining the discipline o keeping

ocused on work instead o being distracted by household chores, V or the latestunny online video. At least in a shared workspace there is the social accountabilityo seeing other people busily getting on with things to keep you on track.

Lastly, maintaining a healthy separation between work and the rest o your lie canbe a challenge when working rom home. Having a home office with a door youcan close can help you literally leave the office at the end o the day. A side benefito working rom home is that you will save tons o money not eating out or lunchevery day.

HOW HAVE THE PAST EIGHT YEARS BEEN?

I have loved being a reelance film editor in London or the past eight years. I lovethe reedom that I have rom having days where I am not working to pursue othercreative endeavours (like writing this book, or updating my blog), seeing riendsand generally just enjoying lie ar more than havingto go to work every day.

o be honest there have been a air ew times whenIve had no work or a couple o months in a stretch,

but even this has never made me long or ull timeemployment. With a little bit o planning and saving,as well as developing other streams o income, youcan ride out these tougher times. For me the smoothdefinitely outweighs the rough.

Trough being reelance, Ive been ortunate enoughto have the opportunity to occasionally travel withwork, meet and work with dozens more creativesthan I ever could have in one single company, and been paid more than I believe Icould have ever earned in-house.

Ultimately, though, I simply enjoy the act that I am my own boss ar too much toever work or anyone else. Ive learned not to worry about where work will comerom or how I will get by, and so I eel very blessed that it has always somehow justworked out in the end.

I simply enjoy

the fact that Iam my own boss

far too much to

work for anyone

else.
http://www.jonnyelwyn.co.uk/http://www.jonnyelwyn.co.uk/


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TIPS FOR THOSE STARTING OUT

As a quick aside, here is what I hope is airly obvious, but useul, advice or thosestarting out in their creative careers, reelance or not.

First impressions count.Make sure you turn up on time and equipped to do thejob. Even i that is simply interning and making tea and coffee, be sure you knowhow to do that! ry to remember peoples names, even i you have to write it downon a piece o paper in your pocket. Remembering someones name is a quick winto making them eel valued, and orgetting it leads to instant insult.

Your attitude matters far more than your aptitude. I you are just starting out,no one expects you to know that much o anything anyway, so it is OK i you dont.Just make sure your attitude is one o humble eagerness. Be willing to do any jobwith all the effort you can muster. Ask lots o questions and hoover up knowledgerom those around you. Tey will eel good or teaching you what they know.

It is surprising how rarely those who say they are hungry to learn, actually are.

I you are eager, pay attention, make notes and ask lots of questions.You will notonly learn more but you will impress those around you with your attitude. Andthat opens doors.

Dont be araid to ask for feedback on how you are doing and what you couldimprove on. Tis helps speed up your learning and draw in potential mentors.

THREE WAYS TO MAKE YOUR CLIENTS LOVE YOU

1Te simplest way to make your clients love you is to offer them reebies. Tesedo need to be cost effective or you (thereore almost negligible costs) but addreal value to your clients. Free phone support to less technically-minded clients

goes a long way as do other reebies such as easily-created extra deliverables oruseul ormat conversions etc.

2Providing quality reerrals is also an easy way to keep your clients sweet. Notonly reerring other quality proessionals to take your place i you cant doa job, but also other talented riends that could help them with a particular

problem. Tis is a win-win-win or you, the client and your riend.

3Te third way to make your clients love you is to build a genuine relationshipwith them. Get to know their interests, hidden talents, amily lie and personalhistory. Te more interested you are in them, the more interesting you will be.

Also, deepening your relationship beyond work deepens the connection betweenyou. It might sound simple, but how many o your clients birthdays do you know?


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THREE THINGS YOU CAN BE CERTAIN OF

1You will have periods where you are not earning. Tere will be dry, allow,stressul periods. Tis is OK, it is par or the course. Te important thing to

remember, to be certain o, is that this is part o being reelance. Te decisionto make is: does this instability fit with the season o lie that I am currently in? Inot, it might be right to move out o being reelance. I it does, then you just needto ride it out. Te more you plan ahead, save or such times and be proactive, theeasier these periods will become.

2I you compare you will despair. Te more you measure yoursel againstother reelancer riends, salaried riends, people on the internet, credits yousee - the more you compare where you are with where you want to be and

the more you ocus on the gap - the more you will despair. Te important thing to

remember is that this is a alse comparison. You didnt have the same opportunities,connections or lie as them. Tere is no basis or comparison. Get on withyourlie,

yourcareer and push it in the direction you want. Comparison is a waste o time.

3You have no idea what is going to happen next. One o the constants o beingreelance is that jobs can come out o nowhere, jobs that seem like a surething can all away at the last minute and you dont control what happens

next. You can do your best to line things up, work hard and hope that they comeabout, but i you hold onto them too tightly the bumps in the roller coaster willbecome more aggressive. Youll pitch and plummet with every twist and turn. Te

more you can learn to relax, to enjoy the ride and to hold things lightly, the easierit will be. I think part o this lightness can only come with experience, with a ewrides on the reelance roller coaster under your belt.


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BEGIN WELL AND THE REST WILL FOLLOW

Te most important stage o any creative project is the brie.

In filmmaking the script is the blueprint rom which all other decisions will be

made, and the success or ailure o any film can ofen be traced back to the script.Was it ready? Was it polished? Were the character arcs thought through? Tey saythat problems in the third act o a film the pay off are really problems in the firstact the set up. You can only pay off what youve properly set up.

But the script isnt always up to scratch and ofen it shows in the final film. In thesame way in many other creative endeavours the brie can ofen be as vague andill-defined as we need a website or we want to update our marketing.

Tis can sound like a simple enough problem to solve, but without asking the right

kind o questions, in sufficiently probing detail, the project can get off to a bad startand never really recover.

O all the projects Ive ever worked on that have run into trouble down the line, itcan always be traced back to not spending enough time on the brie.

So how do you brie well?

It begins with asking the right questions.

HOW TO BRIEF WELL

Depending on the project, the time it takes to define the brie might last rom anhour or two to several days. A lot o it will depend on how well thought-throughthe clients request is, and how clearly you understand what exactly it is they aretrying to achieve. Te more you can put yoursel on their side o the table, walkingin their shoes, seeing things rom their perspective, the more you will be able tounderstand what you need to do and why you are being hired to do it.

BRIEFING WELL


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aking the time to do this is invaluable because you are ar, ar, ar more likely toproduce good, effective and client-pleasing work when what you are creating iswhat they actually need. Tis might sound very obvious, but youll be astoundedhow easily this step is skipped over. It is also important to remember that as humanbeings we dont always know what we need until we see it.

So what kind o questions should you ask?

Questions like, but not at all limited to, these kind o questions:

CREATING CREATIVE CLARITY

1. Who are we trying to talk to?

2. What are we trying to say?

3. Why?

4. What do we want them to think/eel/do as a result?

5. What would success look like? How will we measure that?

6. How will the final product be used/distributed/watched/experienced?

7. How will it fit in (with the brand/website/world/etc.)?

8. What is the one thing this is all about?

We will now go through each o these areas in more detail to get a better grasp owhy answering each o these questions is so important.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Te most important element to truly grasp in any creative project is who is it for?Who are we trying to talk to, get involved or sell to? Ofen as artists and creatives

we can end up making things or ourselves rather than our audience.

For example, i you are hired to help sell more washing powder, and you are a hipyoung twenty-something, the chances are you wont really connect with your targetaudience (unless the company is seeing a big new market in hip-young twenty-somethings, which seems unlikely) i you make something you think is cool. oa mother o three what you think is cool, and what she thinks is useul and goodvalue are probably worlds apart.


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So, know who your audience is. What are their desires? What motivates them?Why would they want to engage with your project? ake the time to answer thesequestions in detail and your project will be pointing in the right direction rom thestart.

COMMUNICATE CLEARLY

As a ollow-on to knowing who your audience is, tailoring the way in which youcommunicate with them is the next crucial step. Tey say that the responsibilityor clear communication rests upon the speaker, so i you cant understand me, Ineed to change the way Im communicating in order to help you understand me.Tis is also true or almost any creative project, because we are the ones initiatingthe conversation.

Unless you are targeting a highly specific elitist audience who revel in insularjargon, youll probably want to shape your communication in such a way that itcould also be easily graspable by anyone. Would your mum understand it? Yourgrandather? Your five-year-old niece or nephew? I not, your message probablyisnt clear enough.

Doing the hard work o simpliying the ideas, concepts and message into a ormthat is immediately and easily digestible can ofen take more work that we expect.But by simpliying, condensing and clariying you can make your work ar moreattractive, engaging and impactul because it will work or so many more people.

You really can do more with less.

Part o the difficulty in achieving this simple clarity, especially in corporate settings,is that clients want to pack their communications chock ull o text, statistics ormultiple messages.

Tey want to say and do more, but ofen they ultimately achieve less. Film, orexample, is not the best medium or communicating acres o text. Yet clients mighteel that it is vital to do so. Is there a way to achieve the same aim in a simplified way?Can greater detail be provided externally to the film on a website or handout?

Knowing what you are trying to say, using the most suitable creative medium andreally working on the clarity o how you are saying it, is crucial to producing aneffective creative project.


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every scene and plot point should all be lining up with pushing the protagonisttowards their ultimate goal. Every part o your project should be adding to theresult o achieving that final goal.

I the point o the website re-brand is to convert more visitors into customers, every

part o the design, layout, colour palette, unctionality etc. should be contributing tothat goal. All other goals must be subordinate to the ultimate goal, and i somethingis not adding to that goal it is likely hindering you achieving it in the best waypossible and so should be removed. Te good is the enemy o the best.

Once you understand what the goal o your project is, also make it obvious andeasy or your audience to understand what you are asking them to do. Find a wayto do so without pandering, or boring them along the way. I the audience is trulyengaged, and understand what the pay off will be, they wont mind doing a bit owork.

DEFINE SUCCESS

One o the pitalls that creatives can most easily all into at this stage o the briefingprocess is getting overly excited.

You have spent all this time and effort really getting to know the client, absorbingtheir problems and ambitions and now countless exciting creative solutions aresparking in your brain. It is very easy to eel at this point like you are done with the

brie, but by pausing or one moment and asking a simple question What wouldsuccess look like to you? you can really add a lot o extra value to your client andto your services.

By defining what success is or the project in theeyes o your client, you are also establishing a way tomeasure whether the project is successul or not. Itmight be that the client wants to get a certain numbero new customers, email sign ups, views, likes etc.It might be that they give a surprising answer and

reveal something you didnt know beore.

It is possible that the scale o their ambitions could bewildly optimistic (We want this to go viral) andso it is wise to then try to rame their metric or success a little more conservatively.It always helps to under-promise and then over-deliver! Saying something likeLets aim for a million views on Youtube, but if we get to 250,000 we can all agree,that will still be a huge achievement.

Take the time

to define what

success will

look like to your

client.


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Tis also helps to rame the value o what they are investing into the project relativeto the outcomes. I, or example, theyre hoping to raise 100,000 in donations,investments or new customers and the project is going to cost 20,000, they will bereaping a 500% return on that investment. Framing that conservatively, i they onlymake 50,000 they will still reap a 250% return.

In some cases it might be harder to define what success looks like. I the client asksor greater brand awareness or a cooler looking website etc. it will be harderto prove that it has been successul, unless you can agree what an outworking othat success might be. So something like adding in a customer survey to see whatpeople think o the new website could be valuable addition to the project brie.

aking the time to define what success will look like to your client, and how youwill measure that success, is a simple way to add another layer o value to yourcreative services and ensure happy clients.

/ ENDTOEND THINKING

A film company that I ofen work or expanded their services into building websites,because they were rustrated with the growing number o clients who they wouldmake online films or, but then find months later that the film still hadnt made itonto their clients website. Tey expanded their thinking rom simply handing overthe finished film, to ensuring that it actually got seen.

By asking questions about how the final product will be experienced by the target

audience, and the world into which it needs to fit, you can not only discover a lot ouseul inormation that will help shape the project itsel, but you can also uncoverways in which the entire process needs to be joined up rom start to finish.

Tis might reveal an opportunity to provide the client with even more services or,at the very least, point out the other people you will need to connect with to ensurea successul handover o your deliverables.

It is worth asking questions that delve into areas that you might not be being askedto pitch or, in order to successully join up all the dots and find ways to increase

the size o your offering.

Tink about what still needs to be done once you finish work on a project. Couldyou offer more services to take up more o that work yoursel?

IN A NUTSHELL

I know o a very successul businessman who will reuse to invest in a new enterpriseor project unless it can be summarised into three specific paragraphs.


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Tis isnt because hes a lazy reader, but because he wants the pitches he receives tohave been well enough thought-through that they can be summarised in this way.

As a final discipline, it is important to be able to sum up the projects purposeand goals into a single sentence or phrase. Tis should help demonstrate that you

have really understood all that the client is trying to achieve and it acts as a finalsounding board with them. When they hear you say So in a nutshell, the project isall about they may well say Well actually, I think its really all about

THE POWER AND IMPORTANCE OF PAPER

As a final point I cannot stress enough the importance o getting all o the abovedown on paper. Tis is vital to ensuring a good relationship and smooth landingor your project.

Not only is it helpul or you to be orced to translate all that you have spoken aboutinto a (hopeully short) document, but it allows you to literally check that you areon the same page as your client.

You should express the brie in your nutshell phrase and then expand upon all theanswers that youve collected as a result o your questioning. Who is the audience,what are you communicating to them and what will they do as a result o theproject? What is the metric or success and to what level?

Detail what you will deliver, when and how. Note down in what ways you willrequire help or co-operation rom your client (e.g. supplying assets, people, time,resources etc.) in order to proceed. Include a budget or what all o this is going tocost (which doesnt need to list every tiny detail) and when you need those undsto be released.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY

A quick note about contracts: I am not a lawyer. I know a ew, but I am not one.Te vast majority o my work as a reelance film editor is or only a ew days. Itisnt practical to draw up a contract or every day that I work. But I do have a seto general erm and Conditions, which I send to every new client that I work or,so they know how I operate my business. For more on these please read the Bonus

Material that came with this book.

I the project you are undertaking eels large enough in its scope, scale or risk toyou, that you eel like you should have a legally binding contract between you andthe client, then you definitely should. Like a good accountant, a good lawyer willsave you money in the long run and help you sleep better at night.


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THE TOP THREE THINGS TO SPECIFY IN YOUR BRIEF

1Include a deliverables list what is the client going to actually get at the end othis project? I they are going to get a hard drive with the final assets on it, or

i you are going to keep a copy orever, you need to budget or this cost.

2Add a 10% contingency into your budget. Tis helps to cover all o theunplanned and unexpected things that will inevitably happen along the way.Whatever is not spent can be reunded upon delivery.

3Submit a timeline or the process o delivering the project, including when youwill show work in progress, client eedback opportunities and deadlines. Tiswill help the client not to eel out o the loop on what should be happening.

Committing all o this to paper will protect you in the long run.

Should the project encounter a problem, run aground or erupt into a majordisagreement, i you have supplied what the brie details, the client wont be able toclaim that this isnt what you agreed on at the beginning because you will be ableto point to a piece o paper that states exactly what you both agreed to.

In addition, as ofen happens, i the project evolves as it progresses, you will beable to clearly identiy how these new deliverables, requests or ideas are outside othe scope o the original brie and thereore are outside o the remit o the originalbudget. Clients should only get what they pay or, but that doesnt stop people

asking or more.

By having a definitive list o what they are getting or their money you can moreeasily establish what extras they will have to spend more on, i they really wantthem. Sometimes o course it is good to throw in some reebies to sweeten the deal,but more ofen that not, more work is more work and that incurs a ee.


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BUY THE BOOK

TO KEEP READING PLEASE BUY THE BOOK

Tank you or downloading and reading this ree sample o How o Be A FreelanceCreative. o read the rest o the book please visitjonnyelwyn.co.uk, where you canfind out more about the book and download your copy in a couple o clicks.
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