In this article, Mike shares some key points that he has learned over the 45 years of working in the pro audio sector, 30 of which have been as a freelancer.
Working in the creative sector, you are nearly always working with other people, collaborating on a creative project, and as a result, relating to people is the biggest part of what we do. Some say it's 90% people skills and 10% technique. The second most important thing is looking after yourself, and that is where we will start.
Be Kind To Yourself
As a freelancer, you are your own boss, but unfortunately, we often don’t care for ourselves. Be a good boss and be kind to yourself! For example, are you tired? Give yourself a break. Here are some more tips to help you take better care of yourself. After all, you are your own HR department, and if you don’t, the chances are no one else will.
Book Holidays At The Beginning Of The Year
Just because you work for yourself doesn’t mean that you don’t need to create an annual leave planner. I learnt very early in my 30 years as a freelancer that booking a summer holiday at the beginning of the year was very important. It took a lot of courage not to book just one week but two weeks off, but I quickly found that one week wasn’t long enough to wind down and then relax. It needed to be 2 weeks to be an effective holiday.
What was interesting is that when clients came to book me, and I had to explain that it would not be possible to work on those dates because I would be on holiday, most, if not all, of them, rearranged things around my holiday, so that they could still get the job done with me.
Clients are people, and they appreciate the need for a holiday. As a result, they were very understanding and flexible regarding holidays.
Do Not Work Long Days - It’s Not Worth It
As well as taking regular holidays to recharge the batteries, it is really important that you do not overwork. Try and aim for 7 to 8 hours a day maximum, with a decent break partway through the day.
If you are working from home, it doesn’t have to be a 9-5 day with an hour for lunch between 1 and 2 pm. You can and should set your working hours to suit you and your family.
It may be that it suits you better to work early and then be able to stop at 4 pm when your young family comes home from school or nursery. Then, you can spend quality time with them until it's time for them to go to bed. Be there at bathtime and be able to read them a story. These were special times when my girls were growing up, and I am so glad I made space for them in my working life.
Alternatively, you may be a night bird, and your family has grown up, in which case moving your work time to later in the day may suit you better. But make sure you consider your partner, too. Just as it was important to spend time with my children as they were growing up, it is important to carve out time to spend together with my partner.
If you are working in a facility, it may be that you can ask to work ‘flexi-time’. A good employer will value you as a person and want to be able to support you in balancing the work requirements with having family time.
The Weekends Are For Resting, Not More Working
Ideally, you should not be working at weekends either, especially if your work and clients mean that you are working more like 10 or even 12 hours a day. This should also include communication like email, direct messaging or phone calls. These should be deferred to normal working hours. Responding to emails on your phone during family time is not a good work/life balance. Instead, ensure you have out-of-office responses where possible or at least send a holding response explaining that you will pick this up early next week.
See A Trend Forming?
Burning the candle at both ends, then snapping it in two and burning it in the middle, will eventually come back to bite you. We have all done it to get a job done that has overrun, but it should not become the norm. It will have consequences on you, your physical and mental health, your relationships with those you love, the quality of your work, your reliability and so on.
When we are tired, we get grumpy, we are not nice people to be around, we start to make mistakes, and the quality of our work suffers. That impacts on our reputations. We don’t spend enough time with our partners and our children, and those relationships suffer and get damaged.
It’s not worth it!
Use the weekends to rest and spend time with friends and family.
Reputation Is Everything - Be Reliable And Trusted
These two words are key. Over the years, I have seen time and time again that clients will use the same people over and over. Nothing revolutionary in that, but the reasons they chose the same people are. The surprise is that they don’t always choose them because they are the best at what they do. They choose them because they are reliable, and they can trust them to get the job done well and on time.
If you’re turning up late for jobs, being slow, or worse still, forgetting to reply to emails, being off sick all the time or constantly making excuses about why things can’t be done, none of these will aid your reputation. Part of being professional is being reliable. If you agree to do something or meet someone at a certain time, stick to it. Of course, there will be occasions when things happen which are out of your control or when you are legitimately unwell, meaning that you can’t work. Most clients will be understanding of this if it’s very occasional. If you prove to be reliable, it stands you in good stead for future work.
What this shows is that reliability is more important than skill.
A good reputation and being trusted are essential for any freelancer, whether working at home or elsewhere. If you are changing from a full-time paid post to a freelancer, hopefully, you should have built up a reputation.
One of the things I stress when I talk to students, apprentices or any other kind of new entrant into our industry is never to bullshit. What I mean by this is never say you can do something when you can’t. Having read it or studied it a bit in college is very unlikely to cut it in the real world. It's a small industry, especially in areas of specialism and reputation. These can be trashed with one overstated promise that leads to a job not being done well or, worse still, the job not being completed at all. Our industry runs on trust and deadlines, and break either or both of these and you will have a huge uphill climb to rebuild your reputation.
When You Make A Mistake
With the best will in the world, we don’t always get it right. We all make mistakes at some point. The key is what we do when we make a mistake. When you make a mistake, do you try to hide it, lie about it or blame anything or anyone else except yourself? The outcome of this strategy is that the client will remember that you made a mistake and tried to hide it.
Instead, when you make a mistake, hold your hands up straight away, then go above and beyond to fix it. Doing this will result in the client remembering that you went above and beyond to fix it and not that you made the mistake in the first place. You end up with a positive outcome instead of a negative one.
If you can get a reputation for being reliable by being on time, working hard, and doing the job without having to be chased, you are making your client’s life easier, and that is what they will remember and will make them want to book you again.
Be Nice To Everybody
In the creative sectors, we are nearly always working with others. Some further up the pecking order, others less so. The key is that irrespective of where someone is in the hierarchy, be nice to them. Don’t just be nice to the people further up the list because they can help you get more work.
Be generous with your time and skills with everyone, especially those who are younger or less experienced than yourself. Any one of these folks could be tomorrow’s hotshot director looking for a team of people they can trust and respect. Just as people are looking for people they can trust, they also are looking for people they respect. So be generous with your time and expertise with everyone around you and help build the next generation of colleagues.
Finding Work, Getting Paid And More
Creatives are rarely good business people. When it comes to rates and what to charge clients, we are even worse. The key here is that if we charge too little, we devalue ourselves and others in our sector. Make sure that you know your worth and that you are charging enough.
What Is Enough?
With regard to a day rate, first, work out how many days a month you need to bill to get the money you need/want. When setting your pricing, also remember it isn’t just about your time and how much you want to get paid per hour. It is also about putting a value on what you know, what you can do and how fast and well you can do it.
Investigate what others charge for doing similar work. What is the going rate for the kind of work you do? If the amount we want/need to earn in a day is more than we can charge because of what others charge, you will need to reconsider what work you are doing. You may need to move to a different skill set, one that will enable you to charge more. Alternatively, you may need to find a better or quicker way of doing what you do so you can charge more.
Whatever you decide, you will need to square this circle so that you earn the amount of money you want/need without having to work excessive hours to bring in enough.
Don’t Forget Taxes
One last thing whilst we are on the subject of money is tax. If you are freelance, don’t forget that, unlike someone in a paid job, where their employer takes the tax from their salary and what lands in your bank account is theirs to spend. You must set aside money as a freelancer to pay your tax bill.
This took me a long time to learn. Here in the UK, as self-employed people, we pay our tax in two instalments, January and July of the following year. In a business, the point we need to pay our taxes is tied to the financial year. Either way, taxes are paid as a lump sum rather than being taken out of our salary every month.
To avoid future problems and stress, consider having a dedicated bank account and transferring an appropriate amount, say 20%, of your income. Then forget it's there and certainly do not dip into it. That way, when it comes to settling your tax bill, you will have the money available to do it.
It Is OK To Say No
Whilst we are looking at finding enough work, there is a key strategy you need to include, and that is it is OK to say No.
The curse of saying 'yes' is real. People hate saying no, but try practising saying 'no thank you' to jobs that don't suit you.
Setting boundaries is really important here. It’s OK to say this can wait until tomorrow. The chances are that no one will die. It's also OK to say to the client, “This can’t be done until tomorrow”.
As freelancers, we are scared to say no. We worry that saying no will mean the client won’t come back. It is my experience that If a client is that fickle, then they will also probably haggle about the price and give you unrealistic deadlines to work to.
Ask yourself if that kind of client is really worth killing yourself for. Yes, there will be times when you will need to work over to get a job done, but this should be from a good relationship with your client, one of mutual understanding and respect and not one built on a master-servant model.
Learn to spot these kinds of clients and projects and walk away from them. I know it's hard to do, but it will be worth it for your physical and mental health.
Communication
Communicating with colleagues and clients is key. Everyone has their own style and preferences for how they communicate or be communicated with, but keeping people informed about things and responding to questions or requests is critical as it keeps everyone updated about what’s happening and how the project is progressing.
That said, it is important to balance giving a timely response with creating an appropriate work/life balance. Try not to get into the habit of replying to emails at any time of the day or night. Instead, give yourself time when you’re not in work mode. Use tools like out-of-office messages or replying with a holding message to help balance the need for timely responses with the need for time off.
Communication is something you’ll be doing every single day, whether it's emails, video calls, face-to-face meetings or studio sessions.
For example, if you’re in the studio recording a voiceover or ADR and the artist is in the booth, use the talkback to keep them informed of what’s going on. If you need to hold a conversation with a producer in the control room, either keep the talkback open so the artist can hear it or speak to them to let them know you’ll be back with them very shortly. If, for whatever reason, something needs to be resolved, which will take a bit longer, consider inviting the artist back into the control room so they’re not left sitting on their own in the booth for an extended period. When it comes to remote sessions where the producer and artist are both in another location, communication is even more important because everyone is in different spaces, and long gaps without being communicated with are very unsettling, so make sure your audio is routed so that they can hear each other and you.
Handling Notes And Revisions
In the creative sector, it is rare to be working on your own project. You are working as part of a team, which means it's a collaboration. We are working together. Yes, there is also a hierarchy, with some people having the final say. Because it's a team game, the often-used phrase comes to mind. ‘There is no I in team’.
A key part of a team game is that you will get notes on your work. I was once told that how you handle notes delineates whether you are a professional. To clarify what I mean by ‘notes’, they are changes or revisions from stakeholders in the project you are working on. Typically, they will be from producers or directors, but they can come from further afield, like lawyers, writers, PAs and so on.
Any creative process is highly iterative. Whatever it is you are creating, whether it's a music track, promo, composition, TV show, radio program, computer game, single or album, no one gets it right on the first go. The creative process will go through a series of versions, and as a result, there will be a series of notes on changes.
When it comes to notes, it is essential that you understand and take to heart that notes are NOT personal. You need to learn not to take notes personally. They are not a direct critic of you. As a team, you are working out the best way to deliver the project, and as you work on it, it may show elements that are not working as well as they should. Don’t get me wrong, learning not to take notes personally is hard, but it is essential to take out the personal element in the notes and understand they are for the benefit of the project as a whole. Finally, there will be times when the answer is, “The customer is always right, even when they are wrong.”
That said, there is one exception to this rule. I remember being given some excellent advice that if notes ever become personal, then this can be the start of a slippery slope into abuse, and you should consider looking for an early exit strategy as the best plan to protect your mental health.
Back to how to respond to ‘notes’…
If the notes come in person, listen carefully, take accurate notes and clarify that you have understood what is being asked of you. If the feedback has come via email, reread it several times and try to read between the lines. Don’t be scared to ask questions to get clarification if you are unsure or to understand better what the person is looking for.
It has been my experience that it is essential not to respond to feedback immediately. Remember, it's not personal. Instead, take your time and consider the most appropriate response.
Then there are times when having worked on a project, which was hard work but as a result is something you are very proud of, the feedback comes back: “Can we try a different direction?” Ouch!
Remember that is what is best for the project. It may be that what you have offered isn’t what the client has in mind and that at least the client now knows what they don’t want. You can then work together to determine what is best for the project. It may be that in the end, you circle back to what you started out with when it becomes clear that the direction the client wanted to go in didn’t work, but you had to try to do it to find out it wasn’t going to work.
What about pushing back on feedback? My view on this is it largely depends on the client and your relationship with that client. I was much less likely to push back if I didn’t know the client very well. Then, as I got to know them better, I could better judge how much I could enter into a discussion about the notes I was being given. I knew I could debate with some clients about the creative direction and style and come to a consensus as to the best way forward. Whereas others, I knew that the ‘right’ way was how they were asking for it to be done. Remember, the client is always right, even when they are wrong.
Others have told me that their policy is to push back once. When you do push back, the key point here is to do it respectfully and constructively.
Problem Solving
Sometimes things go wrong. Quite often, this can be beyond your control, but that doesn’t excuse you for not being ready for it. Working in live broadcasting, failure isn’t really an option. You can’t have dead air. I have a reputation for not only having a plan A but plan B, C and so on. But I never lost a broadcast.
The software might crash, your internet connection could go down, or a piece of equipment could fail in the middle of a project. Plan and be prepared for the things which are most likely to go wrong and have measures in place to mitigate them. For example, don’t just keep one copy of a project on a single drive. Make regular backups. Keep spare batteries for your wireless mouse if you use one. If your internet connection stops working, there will be certain things you’ll struggle to do, but you can still make video calls from your phone, and you can send moderately sized files by tethering your computer to your phone and using the cellular data connection. Plan ahead and find ways to work around issues as best you can.
Being A Freelance Is Not For Everyone
Not everyone is cut out for self-employment, but you are giving it a go and are doing a great job.
Remember, not everyone can work for themselves. Some need the security of a paid job. Some need the structure of a paid job. Some can’t handle the freedom and flexibility you enjoy.
How many people have you seen who were in senior roles go freelance, and then you have watched their confidence crumble? It’s hard not having a team around you or a boss to guide and direct you, and it is very easy to underestimate that.
Don’t forget that those freelancers who seem like they’ve got a handle on it often have learned it all the hard way. I love working for myself and have managed to achieve a good balance, but it’s taken years of practice.
Finally, remember to pat yourself on the back. As a freelancer, no one else is there to do it, so do it for yourself. Well done, you are doing it!
In Conclusion
We started with the statement, “It’s 90% people skills and 10% technique.” You may have been surprised about the ratio, but hopefully, now you have read the article in full, you can see that all of this is about people skills. If you don't get the people skills right, it doesn’t matter how skilled you are in what you do. If you cannot relate to people, you are going to find it very hard in the creative sector.