Designer News
Where the design community meets.
almost 6 years ago from James Greig, Creative Director at Greig
Just to second the above:
Designer News
Where the design community meets.
Designer News is a large, global community of people working or interested in design and technology.
Have feedback?
This.
Too many people allow themselves to be taken advantage of in the freelance world because they don't treat it like a business. You think when a larger agency like Huge books a gig for a Fortune 500 company they don't have a cancellation clause? In their case, that could mean they've already staffed up and turned away new/competing clients to serve the business. Tons of money lost.
It's the same with you as a solo player. When I first started out I thought I had a 9 month retainer agreement signed with a smaller shop I had worked with in the past. We signed on the dotted line and I declined 2 promising gigs because I thought I'd be booked. Well surprise surprise, they backed out before the gig even began (they lost a client), and I only had requested a two week cancellation fee. The gigs I had turned down would have provided above-rate work for 5 months. Lesson Learned.
Always include painful cancellation fees in your contracts. Avoid gigs with subcontracting companies like Creative Circle and Aquent because not only do they leech 50% off your rate, but there's usually no way to get a cancellation clause with them either (they of course get one but you don't).
...And please for those just starting out, DO NOT calculate your rate based on your full-time salary. You will always lose. It should be at least 2-3X that. As Ivo said, shit can happen, and as I've found, it inevitably WILL happen and probably 25-50% of the time (not necessarily lawsuits but non-paying or late-paying clients, gigs not lasting as long as you'd thought, disputes over hours, projects going over budget, etc. etc.).