The Secret Life of a Flash Freelancer
Peter Elst - Flash on the Beach 2009

Why go freelance?

Top reasons to go freelance
I hate my job
I hate my boss
I hate my colleagues
My work is not valued
Our clients are idiots
I’m wasting my time
I’m not paid enough

Top reasons to go freelance
I want a challenge
I want freedom
I want to experiment
I want geek status
I want to build a business
I want to live up to my potential

My story
FlashForward 2001 - Amsterdam
Macromedia Flash MX sneak peek
flashcomponents.net
Flash MX Most Wanted Components
Macromedia Certified Flash Professional
Freelance Flash developer

My story
FlashForward 2001 - Amsterdam
Macromedia Flash MX sneak peek
Passion
flashcomponents.net
+
Flash MX Most Wanted Components
Sharing
Macromedia Certified Flash Professional
=
Freelance Flash developer
Work

Start blogging

Write articles

Author books

Speak at events
Flash on the Beach
FITC
Adobe MAX FlashForward
Flashtival
The ActionScript Conference
webDU
Multi-Mania
Scotch on the Rocks
Flashconference.de
MediaElements

Be accessible

Work versus pay
• Not all work is paid work
• Where do you draw the line?
• When does helping out become working for free?
• How do you set expectation?

Work versus pay
• 15 minute rule
• Give advice not solutions
• No refund policy
That said...
• Be nice!
• These are potential clients

Freedom requires discipline
• Its (too) easy to do overtime
• Keep track of your hours
• Set milestones and create daily todo lists
• Procrastination is your enemy

Dealing with clients
• Be clear about your skills and expertise
• Give honest feedback about their plans
• Know your role within the project
• Communicate and set up a workflow

Choosing your projects
• Do not take on just any project!
• Make sure you feel comfortable about the work
• Money should not be the determining factor
• Its tempting to bite off more than you can chew

Failure is an option

Embrace the possibility of fuckups
• Murphy’s law and human fallibility
• Technical limitations are not always avoidable
• Have a backup plan and learn from it

Surviving nightmare clients
• Find some way to vent your anger
• Never send out impulse email replies
• Accept that some clients are jerks
• Provide honest feedback and a project debriefing

Project checklist
• Is the project technically possible?
• Is the project deadline feasible?
• Is the budget within your range?
• Are you excited about the project?
• How well does the client communicate?
• How do you feel about the team?
• Is this a project you would put on your portfolio?

Setting your price
• Know your value and respect it
• Be consistent about pricing between clients
• Charge by the hour/day or a fixed rate

Charging by the hour/day
• Low risk for the freelancer
• Client typically requires you to estimate
• Make sure you keep a detailed timesheet

Charging fixed rates
• Much bigger risk for the freelancer
• Be careful about doing this for experimental work
• Calculate in extra days for contingencies
• Clients know the exact budget

Estimation versus guesstimation
• Don’t do fixed pricing without a signed off spec
• Break down the project into chunks
• Compare with previous projects
• Don’t forget to take research into consideration
• Be sure to budget in 20 to 50% extra hours

The cheap/fast/good dilemma
Clients always want all three, though:
• Cheap and fast won’t be good
• Fast and good won’t be cheap
• Good and cheap won’t be fast

Dealing with feature creep
• Feature creep happens
• Make sure you work in iterations
• Embrace change (but charge for it)
• Have the client budget in features

Project workflow
idea
proposal
functional spec
technical spec
budget
contract
prototype

Project workflow
idea
proposal Concept
functional spec +
technical spec Definition
budget
=
Implementation
contract
prototype

Setting goals
• Where do you want to go with your business?
• Do you want to employ people?
• What are you passionate about?

Preventing burnout
• Force yourself to take a step back
• Make sure you have a backup plan
• Work towards a daily routine
• Keep yourself motivated

Work/life balance
• 40 hour weeks are difficult but not impossible
• No deadline is more important than your health
• No deadline is more important than your family
• Working from home can make things easier

Self evaluation
• Regularly look back at your work and evaluate
• Be critical but recognize your strengths
• Find areas you need to improve on and do it

Experimentation
• Try out new technologies and push it to the limit
• Don’t limit yourself to what you know
• Go outside of your comfort zone

Contributing to the community
• Open source your work whenever you can
• Be recklessly vocal about the things you care about
• Get involved in local user groups, other initiatives

Time management
• Time is a limited resource
• Break up your day into different tasks
• Keep track of your hours on each task
• Try to minimize impact on other projects

Ten commandments
1. Know yourself
2. Be passionate about your work
3. Communicate with your clients
4. Experiment and share what you learn
5. Don’t let money primarily drive your decisions
6. Be self-critical but allow yourself to be proud of your work
7. Accept failure and learn from it
8. Set yourself goals and work towards them
9. Don’t be afraid of change, embrace opportunities
10. Have fun!

Q&A
• Are you thinking about going freelance?
• What are issues holding you back?
• How is it working out for you?

Thanks!
Feel free to get in touch with your
questions, feedback.
blog: www.peterelst.com
email: info@peterelst.com
twitter: @peterelst