5 Things a Freelancer Won’t Tell You

Have you ever wondered what goes on in the mind of a freelance graphic designer?  Probably not, but here are 5 things that a freelance graphic designer may be thinking but won’t tell you.

We are not actively working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Being a freelancer gives us the flexibility to work odd hours and modify our schedules, but most freelancers have regular hours for communicating with clients (meetings, phone calls, email correspondence, etc.).  Creative inspiration can strike at any time, and I have had plenty of late nights working on a project because I am on a creative roll.  Occasionally clients may receive an email from me at 2 am, but this is not the norm.  We need time to be “off” from work, rest our brains and recharge.  So, please forgive us for not immediately responding to an email or phone call outside of regular working hours.

When you are happy, we are ecstatic and proud.  We take great pride in our work and abilities, so when you are happy with the work that we have provided, you are helping to validate what we already believe about ourselves.  Thank you for making our day with your praise.

Kindness goes a long way.  A client that is demanding and treats me like the “help” will get excellent service from me, but a client that is always polite and kind to me gets the same excellent service and more.  I have often waived rush fees, thrown in extra services that I would normally charge for or made special accommodations for client’s that are polite and kind.

We are more than willing to give you exactly what you want, but we also want to give you the best product possible.  You may have a very specific vision of what you want your design to look like: Edwardian script text in the upper right hand corner in size 14 pt font, a neon yellow border and a hot pink background.  We can give you this, but we want to make sure that you are not wasting your money hiring us to layout a design that will be difficult to read, too distracting and a color clash to the eye.  Allow us to use our expertise to make suggestions to make your design an effective marketing piece as well as an eye appeasing one.  Of course, if you really want it exactly as you have laid it out, we can do that too.

We brag about you to our family and friends.  I am supportive of my clients and the products and services that they offer.  If I know of someone that could use a product or service that one of my client’s has, I tell them about it and how great it is…then I show them the graphic design work I have done for them.

In general, we want to make our clients happy, because without our clients, we would not have a business…or food, or shelter, or…well, you get the picture.