What's it like to be a freelance creative director/copywriter?
March 10, 2016 1:33 PM Subscribe
Current Group Creative Director/Copywriter considering leaving the full-time agency world and going freelance. Is this a shot at freedom or a fool's errand?
I've been a very successful creative in an ad agency for several years. A year ago, I was promoted to group creative director. And I hate it. I really really hate it. It's all of the responsibility of management without any of the joy of creation. I feel like an account person in a creative's body. Coming up with amazing ideas is what I love and what I'm good at. But these days I run from meeting to meeting to meeting and I'm starting to realize it's just not for me.
I'm not super interested in dropping back down within my current organization. I'm also not obsessed with producing. Honestly, if I had a job where I came up with genius ideas and shoved them under a door and never saw them again, I'd be pretty happy.
A couple of people I know have gone freelance and tell me it's an awesome and lucrative path. So it's got me thinking. But of course, I have some questions:
- What does freelancing look like if you're not in a big ad market like NY/LA/SF?
- What are the downsides of freelancing? I'm in that daydreaming stage where all I can see is the freedom to set my own schedule and the flexibility to work only on things *I* choose to work on, which I know is wishful thinking, but I don't have enough experience to burst my own dreamy bubble.
- What kind of pay am I realistically looking at? I don't expect to fully replace my current full-time salary (in the mid to high $100k range) but I'd at least be in the same arena, even if it's in the nosebleed seats.
- If you've made the leap from full-time to freelance, how did you do it? What set you up for success? What would you have done differently?
I've been a very successful creative in an ad agency for several years. A year ago, I was promoted to group creative director. And I hate it. I really really hate it. It's all of the responsibility of management without any of the joy of creation. I feel like an account person in a creative's body. Coming up with amazing ideas is what I love and what I'm good at. But these days I run from meeting to meeting to meeting and I'm starting to realize it's just not for me.
I'm not super interested in dropping back down within my current organization. I'm also not obsessed with producing. Honestly, if I had a job where I came up with genius ideas and shoved them under a door and never saw them again, I'd be pretty happy.
A couple of people I know have gone freelance and tell me it's an awesome and lucrative path. So it's got me thinking. But of course, I have some questions:
- What does freelancing look like if you're not in a big ad market like NY/LA/SF?
- What are the downsides of freelancing? I'm in that daydreaming stage where all I can see is the freedom to set my own schedule and the flexibility to work only on things *I* choose to work on, which I know is wishful thinking, but I don't have enough experience to burst my own dreamy bubble.
- What kind of pay am I realistically looking at? I don't expect to fully replace my current full-time salary (in the mid to high $100k range) but I'd at least be in the same arena, even if it's in the nosebleed seats.
- If you've made the leap from full-time to freelance, how did you do it? What set you up for success? What would you have done differently?
I'm Australian and I'm not actually freelancing at the moment because I'm home with two very young kids (though I've done a fair bit of it in the past) so take that with a grain of salt but basically - it depends. It depends on your own reputation, your network of people who will recommend you or hire you, your awards and how well you price yourself. You want to make enough money to maintain your standard of living, but too high and they'll go for someone cheaper.
You probably know a lot of this already, you just don't realise it. Think of when you've had to hire freelancers yourself. Very occasionally, my agency would hire absolute guns at extremely high rates to crack a brief no one else had been able to. But that was rare.
Most of the time, freelancers get the crap bread and butter stuff no one else wants to do and chances are, you'll never even get to see the job through, you'll never find out what happened to it and six months later you'll see a mangled version of the concept you slaved over out in the real world that you barely recognise. The odds of a freelancer being given the high profile glamour work that will win awards are rare.
The other thing with freelancing is that yes, it can be lucrative but if you're like me, you're always scared to spend the money because you could work for two months and make huge cash but then get nothing come in the door for weeks (or months). You just never know. It will depend on the market you're in, the time of year etc.
In an ideal world, you would be the go to girl/guy for several different large agencies so you could actually rotate between them on demand. But the thing is, when an agency starts to need freelancers on a regular basis, eventually they'll just bite how bullet and hire a full timer - it's cheaper - so you need to be constantly out there showing your wares.
I'm certain there's very good freelance work out there for some people. If you're very consistent, a great creative, easy to get along with and not precious and competitively priced and the work is there (that's the big one) you'll probably do quite well.
If you're a prima donna who thinks that some work is beneath you, you should probably stay where you are.
Do a lot of research before you set your rates and be willing to go with a lower day rate for a longer contract. If you undersell yourself too much to get in with an agency, you may be kicking yourself a few months down the track when you realise your peers are getting as much work there as you but making several hundred dollars more a day. Ask me how I know. And you can never put it up after that and still keep them as a client.
The upside though... you have a lot more freedom, if you have the balls to take it. For example, I was always scared to take a holiday even if I could afford it because if work came in, I wouldn't be there to take it on and I wanted to be seen as reliable. If you reject work, you don't know if they'll ask again. If you're comfortable taking this on and can actually enjoy your off periods and relax when there's no work, you'll probably love freelancing. It's down to your ability to handle risk and uncertainty, really.
One of the best thing about freelancing for me was when I landed an extremely lucrative three or four month contract working for an excruciatingly painful client. The day rate was huge. Huge. Because no one wanted to work on their business. Being there was horrible and the only time I've ever gone in thinking about the money I was making and not the job I was doing (I'd never really worked for the money, I'd always worked for love).
Anyway the job ended and I had to leave my city and fly out to another city to live with my fiancé for a year, where there was really no ad industry and no work for me. That mind numbing gig enabled me to live there for a year without a job and still pay my mortgage and all bills. THAT'S why you freelance. It bought me a year off to do what I wanted.
posted by Jubey at 3:24 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
You probably know a lot of this already, you just don't realise it. Think of when you've had to hire freelancers yourself. Very occasionally, my agency would hire absolute guns at extremely high rates to crack a brief no one else had been able to. But that was rare.
Most of the time, freelancers get the crap bread and butter stuff no one else wants to do and chances are, you'll never even get to see the job through, you'll never find out what happened to it and six months later you'll see a mangled version of the concept you slaved over out in the real world that you barely recognise. The odds of a freelancer being given the high profile glamour work that will win awards are rare.
The other thing with freelancing is that yes, it can be lucrative but if you're like me, you're always scared to spend the money because you could work for two months and make huge cash but then get nothing come in the door for weeks (or months). You just never know. It will depend on the market you're in, the time of year etc.
In an ideal world, you would be the go to girl/guy for several different large agencies so you could actually rotate between them on demand. But the thing is, when an agency starts to need freelancers on a regular basis, eventually they'll just bite how bullet and hire a full timer - it's cheaper - so you need to be constantly out there showing your wares.
I'm certain there's very good freelance work out there for some people. If you're very consistent, a great creative, easy to get along with and not precious and competitively priced and the work is there (that's the big one) you'll probably do quite well.
If you're a prima donna who thinks that some work is beneath you, you should probably stay where you are.
Do a lot of research before you set your rates and be willing to go with a lower day rate for a longer contract. If you undersell yourself too much to get in with an agency, you may be kicking yourself a few months down the track when you realise your peers are getting as much work there as you but making several hundred dollars more a day. Ask me how I know. And you can never put it up after that and still keep them as a client.
The upside though... you have a lot more freedom, if you have the balls to take it. For example, I was always scared to take a holiday even if I could afford it because if work came in, I wouldn't be there to take it on and I wanted to be seen as reliable. If you reject work, you don't know if they'll ask again. If you're comfortable taking this on and can actually enjoy your off periods and relax when there's no work, you'll probably love freelancing. It's down to your ability to handle risk and uncertainty, really.
One of the best thing about freelancing for me was when I landed an extremely lucrative three or four month contract working for an excruciatingly painful client. The day rate was huge. Huge. Because no one wanted to work on their business. Being there was horrible and the only time I've ever gone in thinking about the money I was making and not the job I was doing (I'd never really worked for the money, I'd always worked for love).
Anyway the job ended and I had to leave my city and fly out to another city to live with my fiancé for a year, where there was really no ad industry and no work for me. That mind numbing gig enabled me to live there for a year without a job and still pay my mortgage and all bills. THAT'S why you freelance. It bought me a year off to do what I wanted.
posted by Jubey at 3:24 PM on March 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
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1) Your resistance is natural. The way one fellow stated was, "I liked coming up with the ideas. Now I manage the people coming up with the ideas. I would rather come up with the ideas. But then I think that someone managed me when I came up with those ideas. If I want to move up, that's the step."
That seems profoundly true across many creative industries. One way to think of that is that you're a suit. The other way to think about it is that you're now a curator, and your goal is to get the best creative output from your team. Suggest reading Ed Catmull's 'Creativity Inc.' before making a decision.
2) Upsides of freelancing are higher day rate. Because the company doesn't incur long-term liabilities for you, you are rewarded with a premium. That also means (usually) no healthcare, pension, etc.
3) Downsides of freelancing are the illusion of freedom versus the reality. Unless you are able to establish yourself as a luminary / goto person in some specific area of expertise and maintain the momentum / connections, chances are that you'll spend a lot of time waiting/selling/waiting/selling. That can often (easily) burn through the freelance benefits, for you're either working on a high day rate, where the goal is output-oriented, or you're selling yourself in for the next project which will start in one-two-three months, oh wait, four-five-six months.
4) Depends on your utilisation methodology. The people who I've seen go freelance to success are using freelance to get somewhere else. Either their own company, or a career transition. If its the former, it's usually a boutique agency where they specialise in Skill X and become the outsourced provider to a few agencies. The latter looks like, "I want to make films, and I need gigs to get me there."
What I have seen not work very well is the 'freelance as life' origination, where the idea is to freelance work as a career. It's feast or famine, and at the end of the day, you're in nobody's house. That means a lot of varied work, and the ability to say no, but it also means constantly selling and having no backstop.
The people that I see that truly love freelance, don't necessarily love the craft, they love the sell. The ones that love the craft seem to end up in a catch-22 of not being in anyone's house, and not refusing work. So it's similar to what you have now, without the job behind it.
My note: as you progress in your career, the goal is not meant to be the person in charge of creation, but to enable other people to create. If you are not ready/willing to make that step, you can gain control over your life as a freelancer, but then you will likely not progress much.
I know very few freelancers that have remained such. Generally, they use it as a tool. The ones who remain constant freelancers seem to float gig to gig, as the years go by, without ever really 'making it'. Rather they have chosen not to make it, and instead sit within their comfort zone.
YMMV. IMHO. ETC. ETC.
posted by nickrussell at 3:09 PM on March 10, 2016 [2 favorites]