Author: Gary Merrill

The last couple of decades have seen a succession of new technologies that have helped creative professionals market their services. First, there were email and websites. Then came Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and as sure as night follows day, there will be another great leap forward in the not-to-distant future.

As technology progresses, anyone who promotes the old methods is likely to be branded a Luddite. And yet, in all areas of our hi-tech lives, there is much to commend tried-and-tested approaches. Thirty years ago, for example, microwaves promised to revolutionise cooking, and yet we still love a slow-cooked meal from a traditional oven. Likewise, the arrival of TV in the 1950s did not kill radio. For that matter, nor has the e-book destroyed paperbacks.

Undoubtedly, the online world offers a host of very useful additions to the freelances’ marketing toolkit. But many people are so fixated on new approaches they forget a very simple maxim that particularly applies to the creative industries: humans buy from humans.

Some products and services are ideally suited to be bought and sold online. If you do your weekly shop via a supermarket website, for example, or click a few boxes to change your gas supplier, you are buying standard, inanimate products. But as a creative freelance, you are neither ‘standard’ nor ‘inanimate’ - you are unique and human (one would hope).

As a human being, you are defined by your personality, your life experiences, your emotions, your hopes and fears. When you try to sell your services to a client, you will form the closest links if you can find more personable ways of interacting. This means connecting like human beings have since the dawn of time: with voices and facial expressions; with handshakes and pecks on the cheeks; face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball, communicating openly and sharing other people’s physical space.

This is not to say, of course, that using technology is misguided. On the contrary, LinkedIn, Facebook, email, etc. have totally redefined how freelances connect with potential clients. But these should be seen as complements – rather than substitutes - for ‘old school’ approaches.

Online marketing methods have inherent limitations that are rarely, if ever, acknowledged by their supporters. Email, for example, offers a quick, convenient and free means of getting in touch with prospective clients. The problem is, of course, that every other freelance in your line of work shares this belief, and consequently, clients are bombarded with messages.

If you are unknown to the client, it’s likely your email will be ignored. At this point, you may be tempted to send another email as a ‘reminder’, but the chances are this will be ignored too. If you repeat this pattern, you might even start to question your own worth: constant rejection is a sure way to dent confidence. Alternatively, you might just give up and move onto the next prospective client. But there is a third option.

Twenty years ago, before email became widely-used, the vast majority of initial contact between freelance and client was done by telephone. There was never any guarantee of success but this medium will always be infinitely more human than the written word.

A phone conversation is far more dynamic and immediate than an email exchange. By speaking and listening, you can discuss, negotiate and respond quickly to unexpected statements. The other person’s voice tone allows you to gauge their mood and you can adjust yours accordingly. Phone calls are also far more time-efficient than emails: you can say much more in a minute than you can type, and you don’t need to wait hours – possibly days - for a reply.

In these terms, the phone is clearly more effective than emails for the initial contact, so why don’t we use it more often? One reason is that emails are too convenient: you can write one message, copy-paste it to an infinite number of recipients, click ‘send’ and convince yourself that you have done a good self-marketing job. Not many creative professionals enjoy the process of selling their services so email is often seen as a panacea. For the reasons outlined above, however, it is not.

Contrary to received wisdom, technology does not provide the answer to all our problems. This was true of the microwave and the television, and it applies equally to social media and other online technologies. It is also highly debateable if technology can ever hope to offer a truly effective and complete marketing solution for the creative professional.

This is not to say, of course, that we should dump our laptops and go back to handwritten letters. A website, for example, is an excellent way of telling the world about your skills and experience but it is unlikely that you will be offered a commission on the strength of your online presence alone. To make the most of new technology, we need to blend it with the best of the old techniques.

Whether you are a musician, actor, writer or journalist, work tends to arrive in fits and starts: such is the chaotic nature of freelancing. Only rarely will you enjoy a steady, predictable flow of jobs, and the variability of freelance work will inevitably have an impact on your cash flow.

Freelance bank accounts can lurch from hideously overdrawn, to healthily in the black, and then, before the next payment arrives, back into negative territory. And just when you have paid all your bills, the tax deadline looms and you start desperately digging between the sofa cushions for loose change. OK, maybe this is an exaggeration, but an unpredictable cash flow is a perennial issue for many freelances.

Set targets

There is no simple answer to this problem, but you can take measures, which will minimise the trauma. The first is to set yourself a financial goal for the year. This could be a radical suggestion because many freelances work on the assumption that they simply need to earn ‘as much as possible.’ But the problem with this strategy is that you are destined never to be content. With no target, there is no satisfaction.

You might also be tempted to compare yourself with others in your field and set your goal accordingly. There is nothing wrong with ambition – on the contrary, aspiring to improve keeps us motivated – but it’s important to remember that everyone has different skills, experience, contacts, and luck. Just because someone else has scooped a major contract it doesn’t mean you are a failure, nor should you feel a burning urge to beat your rival next time. Don’t let other people set your goals: you need to decide for yourself.

The starting point, therefore, is to sit down with a pen, paper and calculator and figure out how much money you need – rather than how much money you want - per month. In other words, what does it cost to put a roof over your head, heat and light your home, feed yourself (and any dependents) and have a reasonable existence? This is your ‘survival income.’ Next, add amounts for those things that make life more enjoyable – trips to the restaurant, shopping mall, a vacation, etc. – and call this your ‘happy income.’

Then, add 25% to each figure (this will be explained below.) So long as you bring in the lower amount each month, you will survive and if you hit the upper amount, you will be content. The next step is to draw on your experience and estimate how many jobs or commissions you need to achieve these income figures. Naturally, not all work is the same but you should be able to equate your ‘output’ with financial amounts. For example, a journalist might need payment for four feature articles a month to reach their ‘happy income + 25%’ but could survive if they only wrote one and did four days subediting work.

You now have a pair of targets that are specific to your own circumstances, and, by thinking about your financial objectives in terms of units of work, you can envisage how you might achieve your goals. Consequently, you have a framework against which you can build a marketing strategy. This framework does not eradicate chaos – work will still arrive sporadically – but, at least, you have accurate benchmarks that will forewarn you of difficult, or indeed lucrative, times ahead.

Get even

Next, you need to even out the undulations of cash flow. It is not unusual for freelances to earn very little – or maybe even nothing - in some months. Work can be seasonal, invoice payment can be painfully slow, and other times, the market for your services will be moribund. Conversely, you might experience a boom and effortlessly break through your ‘happy income + 25%.’ If this is the case, resist the temptation to spend the excess immediately, and pay it into a separate bank account. This is your contingency fund from which you can draw funds if your monthly income dips below ‘survival’ levels.

This strategy may appear tediously conservative but it is preferable to the alternative: debt. Short-term credit may be necessary from time-to-time but borrowing money to finance basic living expenses is expensive, stressful and highly restrictive. Debt is manageable if you have a regular, predictable income because you know that you can afford the payments. But if you have a low-income month, payments to creditors will put inordinate strain on your finances.

Quick transfer

Finally, when you receive a payment, immediately transfer a quarter of the amount to your contingency fund. This equates to the 25% you added to your ‘survival’ and ‘happy income’ figures earlier, and by stashing this away, you will be prepared for the inevitable tax bill. A quarter of your income is a conservative, rule-of-thumb estimate and, when you have subtracted your tax-free allowance and business expenses in your end of year accounts, you will find a welcome surplus, which you can finally spend on whatever you like, with a clear conscience.

The contingency account is an essential weapon in the freelance’s eternal struggle with chaos. Without one, you are exposing yourself to the whims of unpredictable and unforgiving markets. Even if your earnings are normally very modest, it is important to put something away for the inevitable slack period. It is equally vital to make sure there is money set aside for the taxman, otherwise you will need to use next year’s income to pay last year’s tax. There will be times when this approach requires an iron will, but it is far preferable to onerous interest charges, credit card bills that never seem to diminish, and the nagging clouds of debt.

One of the greatest attractions of freelancing is the variety. Potentially, every job is different: you deal with different people; maybe in different parts of the country; and every mission presents a new and exciting challenge. But there is a thin line between variety and chaos, and both are defining characteristics of working for yourself.

Although ‘chaos’ usually carries negative connotations, it is not necessarily destructive. The trick is to firstly accept that a freelance career is unpredictable, and trying to impose order on such an inherently fluid world will just add to your stress levels. So many factors are simply out of your control and worrying about, for example, client budgets, what your ‘competitors’ are doing, or the health of the global economy is pointless. You can, however, prepare yourself for inevitable chaos by understanding its nature.

First, many freelances will identify with the phrase ‘feast or famine.’ Although your domestic outgoings are predictable, your flow of work – and payments – can vary dramatically. You are either toiling 14 hours a day trying to keep four frantic clients happy (while wondering if you will ever enjoy a relaxing weekend again) or you’re staring out of the window and asking yourself why you didn’t accept that safe-but-boring 9-to-5 job you were offered a month ago.

Your workload will never be perfectly balanced but you can alleviate some of the pain by trying, if possible, to secure some regular work. This might seem obvious but often freelances either take whatever projects come their way or intuitively focus on the most lucrative. If, however, you purposefully hunt for, maybe, a guaranteed day a week, perhaps earning lower than your normal rate, you’ll have a steady stream of income as a bedrock for the chaos.

Conversely, you may have far too much work and might be intensely worried about how you’ll hit your deadlines. It’s at this point, of course, the phone rings and another client is desperate for your services. Although it contradicts the freelance’s instinct, learning when and how to say ‘no’ is an essential skill. The danger is, of course, that if you do decline, the client will go elsewhere and never return. But, if you can offer something other than an outright negative, work may not be sacrificed.

For example, a copywriter, journalist or musician could ‘sub-contract’ the work to a trusted associate but still manage the project by providing the quality control, and sending the invoice. Alternatively, you could try to negotiate the deadline, perhaps by breaking the task into more manageable segments and at least begin the work on time, which may stop the client from offering the whole job to someone else. Whatever your chosen strategy, it is essential that the phone call ends on a positive note. If all you can do is make the client feel less stressed by offering a viable alternative, you have dealt with this manifestation of chaos to the best of your abilities.

It is also wise to look for new work when you are relatively busy. Again, this is counter-intuitive because it seems logical to focus on the job in hand and then wait for a lull before chasing new opportunities. However, this seemingly rational approach can backfire horribly. If you neglect active marketing until the current job is finished, you could be faced with a very lean period. It often takes weeks, sometimes months, for a prospective client to commission you and then, of course, it could be another long wait before you receive payment.

The solution is to set aside maybe half a day a week – every week - to make some phone calls, follow up on emails, dangle new ideas in front of possible clients and update your LinkedIn profile - anything that will keep your name in people’s minds. As always, your self-promotional efforts are not guaranteed to deliver work to your door when you need it most, but waiting for the phone to ring when you are desperate for work can be very frustrating.

None of these techniques are guaranteed to regulate your work schedule but they can help smooth the rough edges of chaos. If you have discovered other ways to balance your workload, please add them below. In the next blog, I’ll share some tips on how to deal with the peaks and troughs of income that inevitably accompany the chaotic life of a freelance.