Posts Tagged ‘Freelancer Interview’
Freelance Interview: Leigh Taylor
Monday, April 13th, 2009
Today we interview Leigh Taylor, an ex-marine turned freelancer. I bet he has very few trouble clients…
Who is Leigh Taylor, tell us a little about yourself, what you do for work any side projects etc.
“Leigh Taylor is an ex-marine who decided to become fat, go bald and strain the only muscle left that hadn’t been strained (his brain). All in the pursuit of his one true passion - design!”
I am a Web Designer based in little old Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK. I was a little late to the field not really getting into any type of design work until starting University back in 2003. I discovered my passion more by chance than anything else, I read no overviews or information on the when applying to Universities. Solely by the name of the course I narrowed it down to two; Multimedia and Communication Design in Sheffield Hallam University or English and Psychology at Cambridge University.
Luckily the first acceptance letter came from Sheffield Hallam and I had already made preparations for that course when the second acceptance letter came through and as frivolous that decision that decision was it set me on the road to becoming a Web Designer.
Thankfully the course I was on was so varied and introduced me to a multitude of various genres of design I was simply taking everything in with puerile enthusiasm but whenever a lecture was carried out on Web Design I actually did become excited and obsessive about the coursework assigned to us. This realisation was the incentive to pursue it further and ultimately try and make a career out of it.
Six years later and I am still as passionate and willing to learn new skills and techniques to broaden my knowledge and skill set. I predominantly do Web Design and everything attributed to that, such as information architecture, usability, user journey, SEO, front-end coding etc. I also, as of late, am doing more and more print work, branding, typography development, illustrations, graphic design, marketing and creative artwork. Anything and everything that takes my fancy I will do with an aim to do it well!
In terms of client work I have made a conscious effort to really ramp down on the amount on projects I do. Being really selective allows me to offer a lot more to that particular client and gives the opportunity of really taking a project from the bare bones to a fully branded offering. Something that allows me to gain true satisfaction in the work done and less of the ‘this will do attitude’.
How did you get started then in Freelancing?
In the early days I wasn’t actually aware of being able to make money from the work that I was doing. I simply was doing it will the sole intention to be truly creative and push the limitations I had in terms of my own capability.
For me freelancing started by fluke. Whilst at University I had unknowingly been entered for three local design awards for professionals by a lecturer and surprisingly won two out of the three, a few photographs later, an attended ceremony and a few hundred mailers allowed people to put a name to a face and that is when the requests started to come in.
I took any and every job which was a great learning experience. Being able to work with real clients compared to the fictional ones presented in University coursework was both refreshing and challenging. Two great motivational positives that I have and will continue to strive for in my professional career.
The snowball effect happened after that through referrals which has steadily built a really varied and recognisable client list. I have been very lucky so far, as a freelancer I have yet to pitch for any work; I simply get requests for work in my inbox/voicemail and take the interesting jobs. So there is an aim to keep that going with a little nudge from some self-marketing and self-promoting.
Do you think freelancers will feel the credit crunch pinching? How do you see the outcome? What tips can you give them in terms of marketing in this economic hardship?
Intelligent freelancers will still be working as hard, if not harder in this ‘credit crunch’. These people will already have an attitude of producing portfolio-worthy designs on absolutely everything they do, being pixel-perfect, quality and polish oozing from their work and showcasing that effectively inside and outside the design community.
The more savvy freelancers will take this opportunity to gain a little knowledge, even awareness will suffice, to how the stock markets and business is run all over the world. They will then also notice that ,yes, there are thousands of companies going bust, into administration and scaling down where money is tight and not available for creative, development or digital marketing but these also create fantastic opportunities for other potential clients.
There are clients out there that are capitalising on this ‘credit crunch’ situation, there are quite a few actually. With fewer competitors, cheaper cost of media, cheaper production and potentially significant increase in target audience brand recognition. Money is being spent and lots of it! The freelancers’ problem is spotting a profitable client from a client who is going to be yet more collateral damage of the recession.
All I can advise to freelancers is up your game, gain knowledge in areas that put you in an advantage over your competitor and keep doing work that always exceeds expectation.
If you could go back to have a quick chat with yourself when you first started freelancing ,what would you tell yourself?
- Be less protective of you work.
- Be more open and willing to receive feedback. Good and bad!
- Give back to the community, regularly.
- Get more people to tell me I can’t do something then do it.
- Be unequivocally honest.
- Don’t waste time on people or projects who don’t value you or your work.
- Worry less. Creative blocks happen for a reason. Realise that reason earlier and avoid it happening again.
- Educate and value clients more, show off less.
- You are only as good as your attitude and approach.
- Oh and finally the winning numbers for the €100 million euro jackpot was 14, 16, 30, 36, 46 - 02, 08 (9th Feb 2007)!
I love books, so if you could recommend a book (or several books) related to freelancing or your field, what would they be and why?
I ever so recently came out of a dry spell of buying books. To make me feel better I bought four in one go, luckily all are really good so I will happily recommend them to my fellow designers out there:
01. Guidelines for Online Success [Paperback]
By: Rob Ford, Julius Wiedemann
02. Logo [Paperback]
By: Michael Evamy
03. Marks of Excellence: History and Taxonomy of Trademarks [Paperback]
By: Per Mollerup
04: LogoLounge 4: 2,000 International Identities by Leading Designers
By: Bill Gardner, Catharine Fishel [Hardcover]
Do you peruse any blogs regularly?
I do and probably far too many for my own good, lol. The main ones that I visit regularly are:
www.smashingmagazine.com
www.ffffound.com
www.freelanceswitch.com
www.abduzeedo.com
www.designreviver.com
www.designflavr.com
www.designm.ag
www.fubiz.net
www.fuelyourcreativity.com
www.hongkiat.com
www.koikoikoi.com
www.techcrunch.com
www.ilovetypography.com
www.logodesignlove.com
www.vandelaydesign.com/blog
www.typeneu.com
There is a lot more than this, if people would like I am more than willing to share my feed subscriptions!
Do you have any links or projects you’d like to promote?
There is a hell of a lot of stuff going live towards the end of April but unfortunately I am unable to mention them until then. It is all hush hush I’m afraid. For people who are interested just keep your eyes on my personal site for updates in May - www.leightaylor.co.uk.
Thanks for joining us Leigh, I’m sure you’ve been of serious help & inspiration to the community!
Thanks for having me it has been a pleasure!
Tags: Freelance, Freelancer Interview, Interviews
Posted in Freelance Interviews, Question | 3 Comments »
Podcast for freelancers Episode 2: Sirens!
Monday, April 6th, 2009
In the much awaited 2nd episode of the Podcast for Freelancers! Today we interview Miles Burke, Author of the (brilliant) Principles of Succesful Freelancing. Miles gives Freelancers tips on the recession, marketing & using your time effectively.
Download the file here
Keep your ears peeled for Sirens in the background (coming from my end)…
Miles book & Blog: Principles of Successful Freelancing
Sitepoint.com
Life at the top: Roger Maynard
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery`
Miles on twitter
Thanks for listening, feel free to comment!
Tags: Add new tag, Freelancer Interview
Posted in Podcast | 2 Comments »
Freelance Interview Series: Benek Lisefski
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
Today we’re kicking off our whole new series of Freelance Interviews. Over the course of the next few months, stay tuned for new interviews with some of the coolest freelancer’s around. To mix things up, some of the interviews will be interviewed via Skype, to create special podcast episodes. If you have question you’d like the freelancers to be asked, send it off to hello@podcastforfreelancers.com.
We’d like to thank Benek for taking the time to do a brief interview with us. He’s also the debutant interviewee!
PFF: Thanks Benek for joining us today. Your our first interviewee!
Benek: Thank you. I’m honored to be asked and I hope people find my answers and experiences useful.
PFF: So then, tell us a little about yourself, and what you do for work.
B: My name is Benek Lisefski. I’m American but have been living and working in New Zealand for the past 2.5 years. I work for client’s locally as well as all over the world.
I’m 26 years old and recently married. I have an art/design background and I’m passionate about anything design: web design, graphics design, typography, architecture and interior design, etc. I try to absorb as much design as I can in my daily work and in my free time.
I’ve recently been thinking a lot about passive income. I love what I do, but I don’t want to be trading time for money for the rest of my life. I’m in the process of creating and launching a number of side-projects. I’ve got a flash product that I created a while ago which I’m revamping with a ton of improvements. Keep your eye on http://www.fotomaps.net for a brand new look and vastly improved product coming soon.
I’m also in the process of developing a new online magazine about all things design – a joint venture with my brother. Lastly I’ve got a huge project in the planning stages that I’m really excited about. It fills a big need here in NZ and I can’t wait to start working on it.
PFF: How then did you get started in Freelancing?
B: I’m mostly self-taught and have been tinkering with web design since I took a basic HTML class in 8th grade. I studied art and design at university and had been doing web design work part-time as a student during my studies. When I graduated and needed work the natural step was to start freelancing full-time. The transition was a bit slow—it took me a while to build up enough clients for full-time work. But I was young and had limited expenses and I never imagined getting any other kind of job.
I’ve never had a full-time job. Freelancing is all I know.
PFF: Do you think freelancers will feel the credit crunch pinching? How do you see the outcome? What tips can you give them in terms of marketing in this economic hardship?
B: I haven’t felt any effects of the economic crisis yet. In fact, in the past few months I’ve been busier than ever. I think with business trying to save money they find it more economical to lose a full-time salaried employee and replace them with a part-time contract worker instead. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the demand for freelancers increased.
I think this creates an obvious marketing opportunity. Advertise your services to small to medium sized businesses and agencies that might be able to save money by hiring a freelancer instead of an employee.
It also creates an opportunity to push social media marketing services which I believe will appeal more than ever as business try to save money. They may abandon traditional advertising, like print and TV which are expensive, in favor of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
PFF: Thats a great point. The web is much more track-able in terms of statistics and such also, so clients really do get a much better value for money. If you could go back to have a quick chat with yourself when you first started freelancing, what would you tell yourself?
B: I wouldn’t do a whole lot differently. I’d tell myself to get more structured in terms of business, finances, taxes, contracts, etc. right from the beginning. I’m currently a sole-proprietor but I’m considering forming an LLC as my business expands. These kinds of issues are things you don’t think about when you’re starting out. Hire an accountant and have them help you set up the right structure. Open a business bank account and be strict with how you use it. Track everything! These things will give you peace of mind later.
PFF: Great tips! Especially with the business bank account. If you have to do your own taxes, it will save you hours trawling through your personal account and picking out your business expenses. As you say, I think its good to consider the future, by asking “Where will my business be in 5 years time?”.
Freelancer’s and Creatives seem to love books. So if you could recommend a book (or several books) related to freelancing or your field, what would they be and why?
B: To be honest I’ve read very few books related to freelancing or web design. I find that there is so much information on the web that I don’t need to look elsewhere. It’s such a visual and interactive medium, with examples, tutorials, code-snippets, etc. Ink on paper is an inferior medium for delivering that kind of content.
I recently read an e-book called The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder which was useful but not groundbreaking. I’d like to read more books on marketing and design strategy.
PFF: Do you peruse any blogs regularly
B: I love the web design greats like A List Apart. I also enjoy visiting sites like Web Designer Wall, Smashing Magazine, Freelance Switch, and other for advise, inspiration, and tips.
I’m not as big of a blog reader as I wish I was. I need to make more time for it. There’s so much amazing content out there and so many brilliant ideas. Web design is such a quickly changing field and it can be hard just to keep up with the front lines. I think good web professionals need to dedicate a big chunk of their time for learning new techniques and digesting the latest ideas. I’m guilty of not allowing enough time for this when I get busy.
PFF: Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. Where can we find you on the web?
B: My personal portfolio: http://www.benekdesign.com [PFF: Loving the design for your portfolio]
FotoMaps (new version 2.0 coming soon): http://www.fotomaps.net
Thanks!
Do you have any comments or thoughts on anything Benek has said? Share them with the community in our comments section! Stay tuned for our next installment of freelance interviews very soon!
Tags: Freelancer Interview
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
