3. 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
4. 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
5. My story
FlashForward 2001 - Amsterdam
Macromedia Flash MX sneak peek
flashcomponents.net
Flash MX Most Wanted Components
Macromedia Certified Flash Professional
Freelance Flash developer
6. 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
10. 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
12. 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?
13. Work versus pay
• 15 minute rule
• Give advice not solutions
• No refund policy
That said...
• Be nice!
• These are potential clients
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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?
21. Setting your price
• Know your value and respect it
• Be consistent about pricing between clients
• Charge by the hour/day or a fixed rate
22. Charging by the hour/day
• Low risk for the freelancer
• Client typically requires you to estimate
• Make sure you keep a detailed timesheet
23. 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
24. 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
25. 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
26. 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
29. Setting goals
• Where do you want to go with your business?
• Do you want to employ people?
• What are you passionate about?
30. Preventing burnout
• Force yourself to take a step back
• Make sure you have a backup plan
• Work towards a daily routine
• Keep yourself motivated
31. 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
32. 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
33. 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
34. 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
35. 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
36. 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!
37. Q&A
• Are you thinking about going freelance?
• What are issues holding you back?
• How is it working out for you?
38. Thanks!
Feel free to get in touch with your
questions, feedback.
blog: www.peterelst.com
email: info@peterelst.com
twitter: @peterelst
