My first ever BarCamp 9 London talk #bcl9. As a freelancer I get asked the same sort of questions. I hope someone will find it useful.

1. 5 things
I learned while
freelancing
by Albert Lo, October 2011
twitter.com/albertlo

2. Hi, I’m Albert
I’m currently a contract Interaction Designer

5. Caveat.

6. These are my own opinions
& experiences so far in my
freelance career. Don’t
blame me if you fuck your
life up by listening to me.

7. If you’re good at something,
never do it for free.
— THE JOKER (THE DARK KNIGHT)

8. Ask yourself.

9. In order to protect the
sheep...you’ve got to go
after the wolves. And to get
the wolves... you’ve got to
be a wolf. Are you a wolf or
a sheep?
— ALONZO HARRIS (TRAINING DAY)

10. 1
Finding work.

11. Failures don’t plan to
fail; they fail to plan.

12. Get your shit
together

13. Tsunami.

14. Website.
Blog.
Social media.
Meet ups.
Be a resource.

15. 2
Working with
clients/PMs/
stakeholders.

16. Communication.
Managing Expectation.
Personality.
Process.

17. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like
water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes
the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the
bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the
teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be
water, my friend.
— BRUCE LEE

18. 3
On business
Management.

19. Get organised.

20. Physically.
Mentally.
Digitally.

21. Get a good
accountant.

22. Think about getting
a good solicitor.

23. 4
Honest positives.

24. New challenges.

25. Less red tape.

26. Meeting & working with
new people.

27. Money.

28. 5
Honest negatives.

29. Agent Smiths.

30. You >--< Employer

31. You >--< Your Ltd/Umbrella company >--< Agent >--< Client

32. N.D.A.

33. Finding the
damn work.

34. Finally -
is it worth it?.

35. Thanks for
listening!
—
@albertlo
albertlo.com