By Robert Janelle

Scott Marshall is some kind of Canadian super-freelancer. He writes, he edits, he illustrates, he designs and he consults, providing a one-stop shop for clients while running his business in accordance to the principles of Buddhism.

In this interview, we discuss switching gears while providing multiple services, the upsides and downsides of freelancing, 37Signals and Buddhist principles.

RJ: I noticed you offer quite a few services, ranging from writing to graphic design, while most freelancers tend to focus on a niche. What brought you to offer multiple services and how has that affected your work?
SM: When I was working full-time for different organizations over the last decade, I also did some freelance work to help make ends meet, usually in the field where I was not working full-time; partly to avoid conflicts of interest, and partly just to stay sharp. When I decided to freelance full-time, I was comfortable with offering a few services that I am able to work in at a professional level.

My clients tend to be small teams or companies where little attention has been paid to writing or design. Since I can fill multiple roles as required, they enjoy that they can have one person develop a concept, write the copy, create graphics, design a range of deliverables, and so on. I don’t think that the quality of my work suffers. My clients at this point are not looking for the latest cutting edge design - merely good design and writing tends to be an improvement for them.

RJ: You’ve also stated that your work goes along with the principles of Buddhism, can you elaborate on that a bit?

SM: Buddhism is about seeing things for what they are, and dealing with the world as realistically and honestly as possible. It is also about having compassion for others and trying to be of service. So from a business standpoint, that translates into principles like presenting yourself honestly to clients; dealing with finances ethically; and looking for opportunities to do work that makes a difference to someone.

One of the oldest collections of Buddhist wisdom is called the Diamond Sutra; it is essentially a set of teachings about creating and dealing with wealth. One of my biggest influences when I decided to freelance full-time is a book called The Diamond Cutter by Geshe Michael Roach, which is partly the story of an American Buddhist monk who worked in the diamond trade in New York City; and partly the same man’s explanation of the Diamond Sutra. He advances some ideas that might be difficult for us Westerners to accept, but my experience in following them has been very positive so far.

Another primary influence on my business is Getting Real, the book by 37 Signals, who have also created some very useful tools like Basecamp, Highrise, and Ruby on Rails. I don’t necessarily agree with everything they do or say, but their philosophy of keeping work teams small and delivering elegant, usable products is very much in line with my beliefs.

RJ: When offering so many services, how do you switch gears from say, doing illustration to writing?

SM: I write and draw comics in my spare time, so I’m used to switching between words and pictures and layouts. For all of my talk about inspiration on my website, I am not the kind of creative person who has to sit around and wait for the muse to whisper something in my ear. Inspiration comes from sitting down and doing the work, or meditation, or running. The one service that requires me to be in a certain frame of mind is editing; it requires a great deal of concentration to do properly.

RJ: How did you transition from freelancing on the side while working for a company to doing it full-time?

SM: Ha. Abruptly, since I was laid off. I had been working for a place that I didn’t enjoy very much, and was looking around for another local full-time job without many prospects. When I was laid off, I felt so relieved, and I decided “why not?” I had been thinking of trying it for some time, so it seemed like a golden opportunity. I had a bit of severance pay, so I used the first few weeks to design my new business and create some milestones for how I would measure progress. It hasn’t been easy, but so far it has worked out more or less as I hoped it would. I have a couple of clients from around the world and a couple of local ones. I am even doing some freelance work for my old employer.

RJ: What do you prefer about working freelance?

SM: The freedom. I can work when I want to work, for whatever hours of the day, and I can choose who I want to work with. If a client turns out to be trouble, I can meet my commitments and move on. From a design perspective, it is also very good to deal directly with a client as opposed to through a sales rep, who may not know what questions to ask or what to say to make sure the client understands what they are asking for and what they will be getting. I’m lucky that I have the skills required to run a small business in addition to doing the creative work - sales, customer relationship management, advertising, accounting.

RJ: And what do you dislike about freelancing?

SM: Well, I don’t have any health insurance at the moment, but it’s on the to-do list. Most of my problems are the kind of problems a freelancer wants to have: so many deadlines that sometimes I don’t take time to work on the business, to prospect for the future or post to the blog that I try to keep going. My intention is to maintain a balance between high-paying clients and smaller, charitable organizations, so maintaining that balance is the biggest challenge.

RJ: Those are pretty much all my questions, though I always leave the last word to the interviewee. Any advice you’d like to impart to current and potential freelancers?

SM: The only thing I would probably add is a piece of advice that I was given by a former employer, who runs his own retail shop selling science-oriented and educational toys. When he learned that I was planning to freelance full-time, he told me that I owe my customers more than just a simple exchange of services for their money; I owe it to them to stay in business. In other words, go about preparing to do business so that it is sustainable. I think that ties in very well with both my Buddhist influence and the 37 Signals philosophy, both of which advise to keep things simple: don’t take out loans you don’t need, don’t rent office space, don’t staff up, don’t buy a new computer - wait until you really need to. Start by working with what you have and being creative with your resources.

It reminds me of how I created my business cards. I was at a local digital printing shop helping a friend get copies made of her wedding invitations, and I noticed a cool-looking paper in their sample trays. It was heavy, like cover stock, but also translucent like vellum. They told me that they mainly used it for page dividers, since their digital printer couldn’t work with it properly. I bought a few sheets and took it home, designing business cards that are two inches square, with a zen circle on one side and my company name and information on the other. I printed them on the translucent paper, double-sided, with my cheap inkjet printer at home. I always get positive and excited responses from that card, and it cost me practically nothing.