1. The good, the bad & the
ugly of finding & keeping
freelance work
Lisa Ghisolf
@gizmodesign
#wcmke

4. We‟re not freelancers...
We‟re qualified, independent professionals

5. • The famous Pablo Picasso was at a party. A woman
recognized him and approached the Master. She asked, “Will
you create a sketch for me?” Picasso agreed, and, as he
pulled out his sketchpad, asked her for a subject. “A bird in a
tree will do,” she responded. So Picasso spent about a five
minutes doing what Picasso does on the sketchpad. Finished,
he ripped the sketch off the pad, handed it to the woman and
said, “That will be $10,000.” The woman was floored. “Ten
thousand dollars! Why, it only took you five minutes to draw
that sketch!” To which, Picasso replied, “No, madam. That
sketch took me a lifetime.”

6. Get the business
Your niche(s)?
Network
Agencies
Your peers
Write & speak about your passion
Social media

7. How to get (lousy) clients
Be cheap and easy
Spend all your time on their work, and not on the
good clients
Don‟t establish your authority
Never bill them
You‟ll know them by the dread in your email box

8. How to be a lousy
freelancer
Don‟t scope your projects
Stay locked in your office
Agree to everything, have no opinions
Take responsibility for nothing
Disappear
Slag on your fellow „lancers

9. Contracts
Always, always, always.
Did I say always?

10. Discussing money
Don‟t be afraid to stand by your numbers
Less $ = less functionality, less design
Deposits
Publish rates?

11. Getting paid
Your contract is your best friend
Deposits
Reasonable terms
A good lawyer letter w/drafted motion is worth its
weight in gold... Or your paycheck

12. Sanity
Shut up about work/life balance! Don‟t spread
yourself too thin & don‟t get complacent either
Multitasking is BS
Don‟t fall victim to the 80/20 rule—it definitely exists
Find fallbacks for work you don‟t have to do
Get out from behind the computer
Take care of your health—you‟re the star player