5 Needed Traits to be a Successful Freelancer (Patreon)

A lot of folks have been asking for more advice on freelancing, so here are some personality traits that I've found to be essential while you're self-employed in the art world. This stuff is hard! But building these aspects into your professional self can make everything feel a little easier.

A great freelance artist is...

1. Adaptable

Freelancing fulltime is unusual. You're usually not paid every other Friday, you have to figure out your own insurance, physical workplace, marketability, and so forth. At the end of the day, you absolutely must be adaptable.

This comes in a few different forms. 

Your work itself must be able to adapt- with the changing market, with changing needs, with changing styles and technology.  What is desired one year might be gone the next. It's important to keep up with the visual trends within games/animation/etc so that your portfolio is sought out by companies that are trying to figure out what will be the next big thing.

You as a worker must be adaptable. This stuff can get very messy, and while we acquire a lot of freedoms by freelancing, we also find new challenges. Being able to work on a diverse set of projects opens up the amount of gigs you can apply for, which increases your marketability. In the last year, I've worked on (or started to work on) video games, board games, card games, TTRPGs, and more. Sometimes it was just a brief job, but regardless, I've been able to transfer skills between those situations. This allows me to say "yes" to more projects rather than "I'm not sure if I can help you with this." (Which is a perfectly fine thing to email someone. I've done that multiple times and was only met with gratitude that I didn't commit to something that I couldn't do.)

You as a person must be adaptable. Being able to work with a wide range of client types and personalities is essential, so having the soft skills to stay professional in high-pressure situations and being able to dissect the needs of your client are really important. Since you're working with so many different people, you're going to bump into very different types of people. The more of a people-pleaser you can be (without compromising your time, ethics, self-perception, or standards,) the better off you are. Be pleasant to work with so they'll want to hire you again in the future!

2. Willing to talk money

I know of a lot of situations in which a client wanted to hire someone, but that artist skirted around the money conversation too long, so nothing could happen.

You have to be willing to talk numbers.

The easiest way to do this is to talk to other artists about what your rate should be, then really stick to it. Have a minimum. Have a "I'm guessing this will be a little too high, but I'm going to quote it anyways" rate. Have an asshole rate. But you MUST have set numbers in mind before you can be confident in quoting rates. If you're not sure how much you can charge, here are some suggestions:

• Read Xavier's Big Thread(tm) on freelancing rates
• Check out freelance rate calculators like this one 
• Read my Patreon Freelance 101 post about rates
• Follow Justin Oaksford on Twitter (just in general. Great dude.)

A good rule of thumb is that your MINIMUM should be 3x minimum wage or more. Personally? I never quote under $60/hour as an absolute. My default is higher than that now, but I had to learn the hard way. My original absolute minimum when I started was $40/hour, but that was actually way too low. (My gut reaction is to be nervous putting that number out there, but I also believe that wage transparency benefits all workers.)

Sometimes I'm okay with a lower rate for either a project I really want to work on or if there is some sort of revenue sharing option... but that's all pretty situational.

TL,DR: when in doubt, make your minimum either $40/hour or 3x your local minimum wage.

3. Able to network

I couldn't freelance without the network I have, hands down. Clients need to be able to find you in order to hire you. This is a big part of why I recommend folks work in-house for a while (if they can, which can especially be hard if you're outside the US) so they can connect with other professionals.

If getting a job in a studio either doesn't align with your goals (like you want to enter an alt content creation space) or is actually extremely hard (you live in a country with very little work or you don't have the resources to move for a low paying job) then I recommend focusing on networking online.

Focus on the social networks that really respond to your work. I focus primarily on Twitter and Artstation. Instagram, DeviantArt, and tumblr have always been hit or miss for me. Try posting on a wide variety of platforms for a while- and do it as effectively as possible- to get a gauge on which ones love your art the most. You should also keep in mind where your clients are actually coming from. Some people have a TON of followers on Insta but never get paid through it.

When you're networking in any format, focus on the personal relationships over how many followers you've hit or how many likes you get. Those tight, intense friendships will be what ACTUALLY leads to work...every time. Networking is not catching Pokemon. It's building genuinely well-intended, healthy connections with people that care about your success and happiness.

4. Good at consistently following through

So you got a gig! Nice! NOW, DON'T FLAKE ON IT. A freelancer that flakes is the worst kind. Getting a little bit into a project and then deciding it's not for you and ending communication is a horrible way to burn a bridge. This industry is small. Don't make this mistake.

If you're getting into a job and it's not what you expected it to be, then be open with your client. People really, really appreciate transparency, especially in situations like digital art freelancing where a lot of folks just take the easy route and stop responding. 

Transparency is especially important for long-term contracts in which you're working with someone over several months. Did you set your rate too low? A few months in, it's okay to let them know you're raising your rates a bit in the upcoming year, and ask if they can meet your new pay. (I don't recommend doing this often, but it can be done professionally.) If you are assigned different tasks than the contract outlined, talk to them about that. If you're getting overwhelmed with too many contracts, be open. Don't ever ever just stop responding!

Never commit to something that you're not 100% confident you can follow through for. Ever. When I was just getting started with freelancing, I had a few gig offers for tasks that I knew I wasn't comfortable with. I had enough money saved up to say no, and to let them know why. EVERY SINGLE TIME, they appreciated my honesty and told me they would reach out to me later if they ever had work that was more suited to my skillset. 

5. Generous!

Be kind!!! Oh my god!!! Freelancers that are assholes are the worst. Once you hit a certain threshold of skill and network, you'll find that there's a lot of work out there. You won't be able to say yes to everything that slides into your inbox. Passing that work on and recommending other artists for those gigs is an essential part of making positive connections in the art world.

"But those people are my competition! What if we apply to the same job later, and they win?" Then you win too! You have someone on the inside that can help you next time you apply. Also, freelancing/making art professionally in general is tough as hell. Any time a good artist gets a job, we all win. 

When you refer another artist and they get the job, they know you have their back. Eventually, you might hear from them on the other side of the coin. Artists pass around work all the time, so if you help folks out, they'll want to help you out later.

Pass on work. Help each other. Be kind and open. Lift each other up and build networks in which folks support each other unconditionally, but don't be stingy and don't be scared of other creatives. 

Thanks for reading!