Open Thread: Should you work for an employer prior to freelancing?
Last week’s open thread talked about the usefulness of formal education for freelancers. We got some interesting responses and had a great discussion! This week, I thought we’d look at another surprise statistic from the Global Freelancer’s Survey. We asked freelancers how many years they’d worked as a full-time employee before beginning their freelance career.
excerpt from "Freelance Confidential," Rockable Press
Of 3,285 responses, 543 had never worked for an employer before freelancing. That’s a large number of “native” freelancers!
We focus so much on readers who are “making the switch” to freelancing from the corporate environment–escaping the cubicle, becoming your own boss, etc. We are, after all, FreelanceSwitch. I had expected “I didn’t work as an employee before” to be a minor response. I thought the results were interesting so I dug a little deeper into it for the chapter in Freelance Confidential.
I compared the way survey responses differed between those who were former employees and those who began freelancing from the start of their career. Freelancers who started their career freelancing shared some interesting characteristics:
- They tended to be younger on average, which might indicate jumping directly to freelancing is a newer trend.
- The numbers were split evently in America, but freelancers in Europe and Asia were much more likely to have never worked for an employer.
- Far more likely to be “self taught” when asked about education.
- Slightly more likely to report new job leads from participation in competitions or contests.
- Reported lower hourly rates and earned income.
- Native freelancers more frequently reported plans to expand and open a small business with employees/freelancers.
Meanwhile, freelancers who had former employee-employer experience were more likely to have the following characteristics:
- More likely to have university or college education.
- Report “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their income.
- Be “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with their freelance project opportunities.
- More likely to report less free time since they began freelancing.
- Paradoxically, they also more frequently cited “more time with family” as a reason for freelancing.
- Report higher net income and more likely have access to health insurance, retirement plans.
It seems like skipping the experience of working for an employer is a growing trend with freelancers. Blogs like Students That Freelance even help student freelancers build up their business before graduating. On the other hand, the survey statistics show a mixed bag when it comes to how that influences your business. What do you think? Is foregoing the employee experience a reflection of changes in the workforce? Is it beneficial to work for a traditional employer before striking out on your own, or should you work for yourself from the start?
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I think it’s important to get a sense of what it’s actually like to work in a business environment. Granted, not all places of work are the same, but you’ll gain a better appreciation of where your clients are coming from. As a freelancer you’re not immune to the office dynamics of your clients. Especially if the project you’re working on is being managed by a committee. Spending a few years learning what it’s like to be an employee makes you a more well-rounded freelancer.
Also, depending on the size of the business you work for, you may have an opportunity to see what it’s like to run a business. Those kind of practical experiences could save you a lot of time and money when you run your freelance business.
I lasted for 9 months with my first employer before going freelance. I definitely think there are benefits to having been employed, even if only for a short time.
1) It gave me confidence in starting out on my own—I saw how they ran their business and thought “I KNOW I can do better than this” (I was right: a few months later they folded).
2) It opened up networking opportunities that I might not have been aware of and gave me insights into the industry through people who had different backgrounds to me.
3) It forced me to design to tight deadlines, which taught me a lot about forcing the creative process.
4) I was able to get instant feedback about my work from people also invested in the process which, having been out here alone for 13 months, is probably the thing I miss most.
I know there are places online where you can get feedback from your peers, but it really doesn’t come close to discussing stuff in person over a coffee with someone who also knows the client.
However, I don’t think that working for someone necessarily helped me avoid the (many, many) mistakes I made early on. I think there’s an argument to be made for getting out there and start failing as early as possible.
Great points Simon. I think the hardest part for a person going out there and failing early is paying bills. I think at that point one should get a part time job doing anything and then freelance. Once the freelance work picks up and easily covers the same amount of $$ from the part time job then one can leave that job and go into freelance full time.
I think it rare to find a student of a design or web school that goes straight into freelancing and does very well. I believe the reason for this is most design and web schools do not teach students how to run a business. A business is exactly what freelancing is.
This is not to say that you can’t go straight from school into freelancing but I think one will find that they would make fewer costly mistakes if first they learned about business in a safe environment. That environment being working for a company with other seasoned design professionals that one can study and learn from.
One of the biggest pitfalls with freelance is building up a client pool and generating a continuous stream of income. Often what happens is a freelancer that does not have any experience will be desperate for work and will take on any and all projects. This leads to low paying gigs, working for really low rates, and sometimes having clients that are just terrible.
Andy Rutledge has an interesting article on the subject here:
http://www.andyrutledge.com/advice-for-new-freelancers.php
He makes some really valid points. The question is, what do you do if you are a designer and have not found a job and need to freelance? I think the answer is you keep studying and learning. Pick the brains of the professional freelancers in your area and on the web. Find out what the fair market value and rate is in your area and make it yours.
Great link, Will. Andy Rutledge always manages to pack a lot of insight in so few words.
There’s also more about this in the E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber too.
A most excellent read for anyone starting out on their own.
You bring up some great points, Will. I run StudentsThatFreelance.com, where my goal is to help better prepare students for the freelance world. I completely agree that most design schools do not teach the business aspect of freelancing or being an artist, which is one of many driving factors behind my blog for student freelancers.
One reason (probably the main reason) that freelancers don’t succeed without working in an agency is because they are having to learn and reinvent the wheel, something agencies and studios have already done. That was a struggle for me, but I started freelancing the same time I started working for a printing company. Alot of what I learned in the printing company helps me now.
However, there are so many freelancing sites and books out there that provide alot of the same information that you would acquire in a studio, so if someone is passionate and dedicated, I feel they could successfully go into freelancing without studio experience.
One thing to keep in mind though is that everyone is different. Some people need that agency experience, while others are really good and great at the business aspect, without it.
Wow interesting, i did about 7 years before i went solo. But i learn t a lot about running my own business from her. I advise it for younger designers.
It’s good to get some full-time experience under your belt, especially to learn some of the accountability habits you’ll need as a freelancer. However, I wonder if that high rate of direct-to-freelance might be because of the challenging economy. I notice far fewer entry-level positions at the companies I work with, and the barriers to starting a freelance business are lower than ever. It’s nowhere near as scary to hang out a shingle as it once was, and more clients are willing to evaluate freelancers on the quality of a portfolio than on the quality of a Rolodex.
At some point it is good to make mistakes as an employee than a freelancer I think and you can learn from others.
I think it’s quite important for each freelancer, to at least try to work as an employee. if the company is good and has at least some 30 employees, he will most likely gain a lot of experience.
And if nothing else, he’ll appreciate the following freelancing part of life much more!
I went into freelancing straight out of college – it was the only thing I’d ever really wanted to do, and I was determined to do it. Of course, my field is illustration, which is a mostly-freelance field to begin with. These days, in-house illustration jobs are few and far between. Plus, my school (Sheridan College) provided an excellent education in the business of illustration, and left me feeling very much prepared.
Oddly enough, however, the vast majority of my current income comes from freelance design. I’ve done loads of promotion for my illustration work, and had a very difficult time breaking into the industry. On the other hand, I’ve never gone out of my way to promote myself as a designer, and only recently put up a design portfolio simply because I was sick of sending pdf portfolios to potential clients. The work has come entirely through word of mouth, friends of friends, family friends, and the like, and it’s been enough to pay my bills and support me while I revamp my illustration portfolio and hopefully manage to get back on track with my intended career.
I have no idea if there’s a moral to this story.
Interesting article,
I’m a bit of an in between, I am self taught in my freelance profession (design) and spent most of my adult life getting degrees in other, unrelated fields. So after years and years of study and in the end not liking it, I started out as a freelancer in design. I did work for half a year, 10 years ago in a design agency in Europe and that taught me a lot about thinking through a design project.
From my perspective what I perhaps missed the most in starting ‘anew’ as a freelancer, especially in a new country, is not having a network prior to starting as a freelancer. Besides teaching you how to do business, being an employee in a larger organization can also give you a design community and with that feedback on your work. This of course will be even worse if you have no education in your freelance field either.
But perhaps one of the positive side to starting out without too much prior knowledge is that you’re not easily deterred by the impossible simply because you don’t know it’s impossible. That pulled me through some of the first projects I did and I learned a lot on the way.
As for clients I did find I could in part rely on my university networks and hence do a lot of work for academic institutions. Having some kind of ‘professional’ experience does come in handy I would say, if only to leverage it as an expertise to get clients.
What would be interesting to see is where these freelancers will be in a few years. Do the self-taught underpaid aspired business owners succeed? Going freelance from employment might often be a more conscious decision to want to work on your own, while going freelance without prior employment is perhaps more of a necessity or an experiment (it was a necessity for me starting out in a economic downturn and without a decent portfolio, but I love it now).
Nice article,
I am a student and started straight as a freelancer (with only two contract, I don’t even know if it can actually be said to be freelance..) and quickly got a job as a part-time developer. The reason I got that job is because the lack of client.
(As someone mentioned above) I think that having a part-time job on the side until you get enough steady client to generate enough income is a good idea (so you don’t end up eating sandwichs everyday).
It is true that design school do not provide student with business expertise but at the same time, I have to take a lot of “free electives” and I intend to take business classes with them, combining best of both world.
Not having read anyone else’s comments, so be warn I might have repeated someone else’s thoughts…
I had very small on job work experience in graphic design, before I switched to freelancer full time. I worked about 1 1/2 years at a printing shop.
Some of the main reasons I switched is because the company I worked for didn’t appreciate what graphic design really was. I had no really creativity freedom and no room to help education customers on how they should design their business card, poster, flyer, etc.
My boss charged like $45 for a design, something I might have spent hours on and made a million revisions.
that being said, I do think clients want to see someone with on the job experience. Without asking a client why they want to see that I can only guesstimate and in my opinion I feel that clients feel you are probably more stable and a trust worthy designer if you worked for someone.
I don’t think you have to have on the job experience to be a good designer thou. Having on the job experience def. won’t hurt you, it can only help you. You will learn something no matter what. Even I learned stuff.
Some of my own family members think I jumped into freelancing full time too soon and that I should of gained on the job experience… of course now after almost a year of freelancing FT, they are eating their words as I’m bring in about 3x more income than I did.
Both experience and education matter. To me starting from scratch without experience is like moving in a country where you don’t know the language and decide to learn it the hard way (as you go along)….well that doesn’t mean you are going to learn how to spell correctly or good grammar practices
Whereas educating yourself to a good degree, gives you a good knowledge standing ground to fall upon at hard times, when you realise that the educational system refers back to ages where education only was important.
I wish they practically do Public Relations, entrepreneurship lessons and customer psychology as a major lesson in every related course you undertake educationally!!!
Emotional Intelligence is by far more important than AI nowadays.
I have a college degree in unrelated field, never worked as an employee, and I’ve been a freelancer for the past 12 years. Recently I had a second thought about my situation, decided to get a full-time job and even applied for a full-time position. Ironically, I didn’t get the job yet the company asked me to work with them as a freelance contractor.
After researching the job market, I’m fully convinced that freelancing is the right path for me. None of the jobs I looked into paid me better than I do now, hours and expected overtime is mediocre, and I just wouldn’t trade the freedom that freelancing offers for anything else.
I found that working for a boss before working for yourself ONLY teaches more about how to lookout and handle dishonest business practices.
Where I worked I learned how to fight back when faced by dishonest business people who want to take Freelancers for a ride.
But, Freelancing has NOTHING to do with formal education.
It is a gift from GOD to be creative ! And NOT a self taught thing !
That’s a fantastic study.
In regards to working for someone before you begin working for yourself/on your own, I think that you absolutely should. If for nothing else, do it to find out what you could be “missing out” on (paycheck, benefits, etc.). Treat it like an educational experience and identify key areas where your employer performs well as well as the areas where they don’t do so well. Then, use what you’ve gathered to help you craft your own freelance methodology. Learning from others’ mistakes before striking out on your own is going to save you a lot of time and money.
I couldn’t agree more with Nico, creativity is one thing and education is another.
Being Greek I am from the school of thought, that when you learn- you learn from scholars
so I went to UNi and got a BSc degree myself. I find that I had the chance to learn best practises, distinguish and develop a critical mind.
but I agree, I could well have learned that as an apprentice under a boss or in a family business as well. but always care to learn from “scholars”
Also, coming from an acting background where art, creativity and talent is your bread and butter to begin with I will say one thing about it from my 8 year old experience…. whilst talent is a gift from god, if you don’t nourish it and cherish it and constantly water it, feed it with new thoughts, mingle with peers… it will wither, hibernate remain stagnant. That’s what matters most. and it is scientifically proven with you IQ that it withers if you don’t challenge it.
Personally Uni and a science degree in 2:1 gave me a status to fall upon on melancholic days with no work, charge me fees upon, best coding and design practices, estimate critically and question technologies and analytical thinking.
But I fully appreciate and admire the self taught experienced practitioner!
I worked for 12 years in a print shop environment for several companies of different sizes. I think the experienced I gained was very important. Especially the fact that I worked towards becoming a print designer. The ability to communicate clearly with my printers is priceless and my ability to design pieces that work well for my printers is also priceless. Personally I am a huge believer that if someone wants to be a good print designer they should spend at least a year working for a print shop. Not just an internship but full time employment. It gives you a really good idea of the diversity they deal with and what works well in print.
On the business side, I was fortunate enough to work my way up to Vice President at my last place of employment before going to freelancing full time. This taught me a lot of lessons about running a business and managing employees. While I was not left solely to make major decisions, I was very much involved in discussions with other corporate officers about the direction of the company and finances of the company. All of which I feel will make me a stronger business person in my own business. I value the knowledge I gained during that time.
Another benefit of working for a business full time is that you learn about the corporate culture, big or small. You learn what professionalism is and how to address important people in a business. This is going to serve you well as you try to work your way into a business and eventually meet with a client. Knowing who to talk to and how to talk with them is a key aspect of gaining a good client. Lastly I think working for someone full time can be a great source of contacts. While you have to be very careful about your agreements with the company you work full time for, many times the relationships you build can be extremely valuable down the road as a freelancer. We all know networking is so important.
Personally, I never would have jumped into freelancing full time without some experience working for a company. While it may not be the freedom you wish for right away, the knowledge you will gain is invaluable in my mind.