Author: communications

Would you believe? One of the secrets to finding freelance success is to get involved.

Get involved with organizations (like The Freelance Exchange!) … but don’t just join. Get the most out of your membership by becoming an active member. Go to events, participate in conversations in person and online, and yes, volunteer on committees and serve on boards.

That’s the pro tip. That’s the secret sauce.

That’s how so many of our FX members have found freelance success. By volunteering.

Why?

Because people like to work with (and refer!) those whom they know, like and trust.

So, you need to become that person!

People will send you work and referrals when they know:

• WHO you are
• that you’ll do good work
• you’re reliable

And a great way to do that is by giving back to the community.

In doing so, you can create a name for yourself and your business. You can establish and improve your professional reputation. And you can be rewarded greatly with new business and find freelance success.

Not only will you get warm fuzzies when you volunteer, you’ll also get to have your voice heard AND be able to make a difference for our organization and members.

Think of it as Part of Your Marketing Strategy

You probably post on social media. Maybe you have a website. You might send emails. What else can you do to improve your company’s reputation?

Obviously, there are tons of opportunities for self-promotion. And, if you’re self-employed, you may very well be seeking out free or inexpensive options to do so.

Newsflash! Volunteering fits that bill.

Just think … you could join a committee and help out with simple tasks. You could serve on the board as a Chair or Director, helping lead special projects or events. OR, you could even share your leadership skills on the Exec Board, helping guide the ship.

Each and every time you volunteer—in whatever capacity—you get the chance to:

• rub elbows with movers and shakers
• take ownership of the organization
• and be rewarded for your hard work

This is one very easy way to put your company on the map. And find freelance success with free PR!

Just by donating a bit of time here and there, you get plenty of opportunities to share about it!

You’ll now have an added reason to share something on social media. You can add that impressive bullet point on your bio or résumé. You could add it to your website and/or FX portfolio page. You might be listed on a leadership page. You might win a Volunteer of the Month award and get added recognition. You could even get a special name tag. Plus, as a bonus, you’ll make new friends!

There are endless benefits to volunteering. You just have to put yourself out there. Level up your business by volunteering, and reap the rewards with more referrals and more business.

Interested in serving on a committee or on the board for FX? Check out our current needs and openings, and throw your name in the hat today!

Freelance graphic designers are a fearless bunch!

That theme came through loud and clear from the graphic design members of The Freelance Exchange of Kansas City who responded to our email questionnaire.

They overcame the doubt, ditched the hesitancy, and jumped headlong into the world of freelancing.

For instance, Linda Waterborg wrote that she had wanted to go out on her own for years, “but I was scared and always found a reason to stay in a 9-to-5 job.” She added, “I kept trying, and learning, and failing, and trying again, and growing.” Then, one day, she realized she had all the right skills and building blocks in place to make the move.

The biggest lesson for Waterborg as a freelance graphic designer was to keep pushing outside her comfort zone, something Holly Hempfling embraced as well in describing the best piece of career advice she has received: “Lean into fear! If it feels terrifying, you should probably go for it.”

It’s cool how these sentiments transcend our specialties. Many of us can identify with that feeling of being on the edge of the high dive with our careers — wondering if we should leap into the unknown waters of freelancing. According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the approximately 265,000 graphic designers employed in the U.S in 2021, about one in five was self-employed.

Who among us, for instance, has not had some version of the experience related by Annie Monfort, a freelance graphic designer? She wrote that her tipping point came when “the certainty of staying in a job where I was bored, became scarier than the uncertainty of figuring out everything you need to know to support yourself.”

Tolerating the unknowns and discomforts of freelancing, she wrote, “is honestly one of the most valuable lessons for all aspects of life.”

Freelancing also provides a greater promise that we will love what we do for work, a sentiment underscored by Jake Edmisten and Jen Rarey. Their comments apply well beyond those who work as freelance graphic designers.

For Edmisten, that realization came in the form of advice from someone he used to work with, who stressed the importance of pursuing passion projects. That former co-worker, Edmisten wrote, “told me that I needed to make time for myself, because I wouldn’t find the jobs that I want by doing the work I didn’t want.”

Rarey has learned that investing your time and talents into work that has meaning allows you to “always be passionate about what you’re creating.” Be bold, she urged, and “see challenges as the opportunities that they are, and learn from every experience so you can keep evolving and fine-tuning your skills.”

One other lesson that came from our freelance graphic designers is that there is no one tried and true path into the career you love.

Will Mackey, for instance, discovered his interest in art as a 5-year-old. “Then I just kept working at it for years,” he wrote.

But Erin Albright did not really think of herself as an artist, even when she loved designing pages for her high school yearbook. So in the end, she wrote, “I took a windy path and am self-taught/taught by many amazing designers that I’ve worked with along the way.”

The FX of KC is for Freelancers, Contractors, Consultants and whatever else you call yourself. There’s a place for you here! Want to learn more about FX of KC? 

In the popular imagination, a freelance copywriter is the coffee shop customer wearing earpods and click-clacking away on their laptop. Even ad agency writers working in cool offices might be envious of the flexibility their freelance peers enjoy.

But reality does not correspond with perception, at least according to what The Freelance Exchange of Kansas City (FX of KC) found in an email questionnaire sent to its copywriter members. Our respondents overwhelmingly said they prefer the quiet of their home office.

Typical of the responses was this one from FX of KC founder, and freelance rockstar, Julie Cortes: “I can’t concentrate in a coffee shop,” she wrote. “Too many (Shiny things!) distractions. I usually have to have it be super quiet, too. No music, no podcasts, no nothin’.”

Solitary home offices can be, well, awfully solitary, so public libraries and patio tables got a nod from Mallory Herrmann to “keep myself out of a rut.” You might also see her at a coffee shop!

Another interesting similarity among our freelance copywriter respondents was the way they approach writer’s block. A couple typical strategies included taking a walk or just simply getting something down on paper, knowing that there is always room for editing and rearranging.

Christine Knauer talked about “working around the margins of the project” to get started, such as doing research, editing transcribed interviews, and even formatting the page. “It allows me to keep moving forward with the project without having to be creative just yet,” she wrote.

By now, most of us have heard about the Great Resignation — where the COVID-19 pandemic spurred droves of workers to quit their jobs after taking stock of their lives during the months of lockdown. Many of these workers decided to hang out their own shingle — and freelance copywriters were surely among that group.

There are now nearly 60 million freelancers in the United States, according to Don’t Do It Yourself (DDIY), which provides advice and reviews for businesses seeking freelance workers. DDIY says 41% of the American workforce freelanced in the year 2020, up 13% since 2013. 

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh noted that many of these new solopreneurs do strictly online freelancing, through platforms like Upwork and PeoplePerHour. 

The researchers wrote about the familiar benefits of flexibility and the potential to earn more money, but they also highlighted downsides like commoditization of work and the “unpredictability of a contingent labor market, especially in the absence of labor regulations and rights.” 

But FX of KC freelance copywriter Mike Sherry did not see much of a downside to his decision to go out on his own. He said, “After 30 years in journalism, I wanted to apply my skills in a different way and to be my own boss. The pluses are that I make my own decisions without any second-guessing from colleagues or vetoes from bosses. The minus, of course, is the difficulty of chasing and landing new business — but that is a challenge, too, which could sort of go in the plus category.”

Regardless of the ups and downs of freelancing, many choose this path every year. Joyce Allard said, “I was a copywriter at a full-service advertising agency earlier in my career. After 20+ years in public relations and communications, I decided it was the right time to start my own business as a freelance copywriter. Working with clients and having their projects come to life is rewarding in many ways.”

The FX of KC is for Freelancers, Contractors, Consultants and whatever else you call yourself. There’s a place for you here! Want to learn more about FX of KC?