06 - Work and other things
It has been all of two months and we've already had a rebranded wave of covid and now there's a war. I don't know as much about geopolitics to write an informed essay about it. For now, I'll hope we make it to June in one piece. 🤞🏽
🌊 Hi, I'm Sachi and this is Currents where I talk about work, books, and other things. If you want to unsubscribe, click the link below. If you enjoy this, please share it with a friend/ random acquaintance/ colleague/ neighborhood monkey (Monkeys were spotted in my area, I went looking for them to promote my newsletter but I missed them :/)
👩🎨 Freelancing when it feels great and when it feels like crap
All creative folks are at some point or the other faced with the choice of working for a company/studio or going solo. Each option has its own perks. I had just left a pretty awful workplace when the magnitude of covid-19 began to be apparent. I somehow wrote a dissertation after hunting for books on art history online for months. What did I want to do next? The world suddenly felt available in a way because everyone had to work remotely but at the same time I wasn't sure what was the right step to take. I took a course on graphic design while I looked for work to feel like a more legitimate designer, whatever that meant. I found work at a studio which blatantly lied to me during my interview about what the job would involve. I didn't think I had it in me to go through another cycle of vehemently loathing another company and their exploitative practices so I left. I saw so many red flags from the beginning, like when they tried to underpay me at every stage of negotiation because I had a degree in a different kind of design. That course from that prestigious university clearly didn't do much. People will use anything they can to underpay you. I was angry, resentful and mostly jaded with what work looked like at creative companies.
Going freelance seemed like the obvious decision. It started with wanting to get away from awful people and stop being in constant work victimhood. I didn't know how I would make this happen considering I didn't have a clientele when I took the leap. I got my first project soon enough, which really surprised me. This taught me, the hard way, to never send final deliverables without clearing all payments. They still haven't paid me. This really didn't help my trust issues towards clients. The next one was a smaller gig, that I charged peanuts for. This one taught me that undercharging for gigs helps nobody. Work done with resentment is rarely worth it. It also makes me feel sick inside to put/withhold the kind of care I put into design when there's egregiously low compensation at the end of it. At first I was tested with trusting my clients too much and trusting myself too little. Then again, this is how you learn. You can watch a thousand videos (I watched a ton) and still continue to undercharge your clients until you feel sick inside and decide to never undercharge as much again. You learn by screwing up. New terrains inevitably bring screwups.
I met good people to work with as a freelancer soon after that. This collaboration helped me work on bigger projects and give me an entry into actually running a brand. Designing how a brand looks is one task but to keep it alive, like an organism, is a task by itself. It felt ever so slightly safer to trust people. It helped to have bigger projects from this tie-up and smaller gigs with people who approached me. In a good (financial) month, I was juggling 5 projects and making the money that I always wanted. In a more restful month I was juggling 2 projects, and making an amount that I wasn't thrilled about but I was okay with regardless. In a bad (financial) month, there was either very little money or none. Retainers are ideal, I had a few, but even those contracts end. It has a been quite a journey from setting hard boundaries to protect myself from clients to setting boundaries for me so I can work better. Clients went from an almost enemy like position to people who genuinely don't know better. I don't know the intricacies of their business, why would they know mine? That being said, clients who lack basic courtesy are the worst. Give them the benefit of doubt but as anything else in this world, conditions apply. ✨ If a potential client can't afford your services, you can adjust the deliverable. If it still isn't affordable and they gracefully decline - they are good people. Some even return when they have the budget to work with you. If they can't afford your services and tell you why you should lower your prices to suit their needs - show them the door. Good clients exist. I'm learning to find them and treasure them.
After 6 months or so I stopped showing up from a place of being jaded and angry, I started trusting my own skills. You can step back once in a while, look at your work and appreciate it. You made these beautiful things. You helped business owners reach their goals. That is real value. Your work is valuable. I still haven't reached a place where I've got it all under control but I'm working on it.
Charge more and stop settling, I say this to myself as much as I say it to you. Charge your clients more and charge your employers more. We have been told all our lives that creative work doesn't deserve to be paid well and we've heard far too many horror stories but it has to stop. I don't say this in a whiny helpless way that the world owes us creative folks more acknowledgement, what I'm saying is that we owe ourselves more acknowledgement. We play a role in this crappy dynamic too. Do you give your work the respect you wish others gave it? I have never bought products online from poorly designed brands. Better designed brands attract more sales. That is a fact. Better written copy attracts more readers. Brands do not magically grow by themselves. Credibility and trust is strategically built and designed. Demand is designed. Nobody has the attention span to remember all the brands that exist. Unless you're ridiculously brilliant, which products and brands rarely are lately, people are coming to you because someone came up with strategy, design, copy, and other work for you. Brands wouldn't thrive without creative work. They wouldn't last. They need you. You aren't lucky to have get some creative work from brands but rather they survive because of your creative output. Creative work has impact - realizing this has been very important. Your beautiful artwork, your witty writing, your insight about what makes people tick, your intuition, your ability to observe and capture it in something visual/in text is valuable not just in the 'art makes the world worthwhile' sense, these are the exact things that brands of all sizes use to stay relevant. If they weren't relevant, nobody would buy their shit. It isn't just about making art for art's sake, it's business. We owe ourselves to stop accepting peanuts in the name of compensation. We owe ourselves to stop whining and choose better, to the extent that we can. Even if we can start with small steps, it's worth it.
There are also many perks that come with freelancing once you make peace with the inevitable instability in income (at least when you start out) You can work more in tune with your levels of energy. I thrive when I can take a 10-15 minute nap post lunch. I work longer hours when I have the energy for it. I rest more when I can't. I wrap up if I'm done with my work. I don't have to hang around at my desk because anyone else is. I can take a day off for an interesting lecture/exhibit. I can make room for learning things that are important to me. I have time to reflect on my practice - what kind of a designer and professional do I want to be? What values are important to me? How do I want to show up for work? My time is my responsibility. It is an absolute joy on most days. Like anything else, it depends on how you use your time. The personal growth that has accompanied my professional growth is possibly the best takeaway. When you work solo, you have to promote yourself, stand up for yourself, manage everything, and take responsibility for yourself. You have to talk to people even if that makes you uncomfortable. You have to learn to stop comparing yourself to other designers. You have to choose to not respond to the impulse to compare, stand tall, and show your work. This is my work, this is what I have to offer and this is why it's amazing. Repeat it. After a while spent promoting yourself and seeing your growth, you start to believe it.
Where am I now? I find myself wondering where to go next again. Do I want to continue running this business by myself or do I want to work with a larger organization so I have access to a better kind of clientele? I haven't had the most conventional career trajectory, I take it as I go. I keep wondering if I'd trade the ups and downs for something more stable and reliable. It seems wonderful to not have to keep searching for gigs all the time. I'm honestly a little tired of the business development aspect of freelancing. But am I willing to give up on the naps, the rest, the flexibility, the boundaries, and getting to turn down projects I have no interest in doing? I'll have to see what the coming months present.
Here are some takeaways from my experience -
✨ I'd be thrilled if I can save you any time if you're on this journey, especially if you're self taught or you're exploring something new. It's okay to take a few projects when you're very new to this field for low-ish rates because you genuinely don't have experience. Stay alert, ask a ton of questions, and pick up skills. Be extra mindful of the ways in which you're growing. People will be quick to remind you of the ways in which you lack qualifications to pay you less. If your work has value, you deserve to be paid. Don't let anybody tell you you're not good enough. Good constructive feedback by a mentor who genuinely gives a shit would never be framed this way. I have been told by people that I wasn't good enough only while talking about compensation, rarely ever when it came to the actual work delivered. Be wary of these people.
✨ When you feel that sick feeling in your stomach when a cheap client is trying to get you to lower your prices - don't do it. It is never worth it. LET. THEM. GO. You'll find another. Sometimes turning down a cheap client and making a little less money is better. (unless you'd rather deal with the hassle. I don't) Listen to your intuition.
✨ Spend time on getting clients and growing your business even when things are good to avoid long periods without work. I say this because I neglected it towards the end of last year, it's something you have to keep doing as a freelancer.
✨ Spreading the word about your offerings helps - do it, even if it's awkward. (If you need to reposition your brand, redo your packaging, or design anything but social media posts for your brand, I'm available. I had to add this in somewhere)
Good luck :)
📚 BOOKS
I couldn't finish any this month. Yes, this is the first time this has happened since I started this newsletter. I am also postponing the book club meet to mid March so I won't be the awful host who didn't read anything. Apologies, fellow book lovers.
🎧 PODCASTS
An interview with Khyati Trehan on It's Designed This Way - she's incredible!
⚡️ INTERESTING THINGS ONLINE
When is the revolution in architecture coming?
Shade Map - view shade on a map
Miranda Keeling's Observations
The Fierce Triumph of Loneliness
Laura Fischer's geometric abstract landscapes
___________
Until next time.
Warmly,
Sachi