Who, What, Where, When and Why? I do not know.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Contacts Into Contracts

I am an independent contractor. I am not a freelancer. Freelancing has a bad vibe these days. Several years ago, I didn't mind being called a freelancer. It was like a badge of honor. Being a rogue freelancer was like being a specter in the night, ready to pounce and rescue people in need of something they themselves could not provide. The explosion of the available talent pool coupled with the implosion of fees, means you have to do much more than simply be good enough. You have to stand out from the rest. That means getting out there.

I'm not going to find any work sitting on my hands bemoaning the fact I don't have any work.

I've been busier in the past few days than I have been in the past few weeks. I have a lot of leads, and contacts and try to find  more each day. I network, I put myself out there, I get involved. I meet people. I tweet, I FB, I blog, I link, I backlink, I stumbleupon, I digg, I research, I chat, I learn and I still have to find time to work on the art side.

There have been days where I feel I'm wasting my time and nothing is going to happen. My shoulder, neck and butt hurt. My wrists are sore from working on my art and the computer. But, in the long run, it will pay off. Some of those contacts are turning into contracts. I have had to get out of the "I'm going to illustrate full time" mentality and offer up multiple services. I do want to illustrate full time again, but I'm realizing this is not going to happen fast enough.  I've had to go back to the advertising repertoire and pull out old tricks from there. But, that's OK. I see the long term potential. I am actually sort of afraid. The amount of work that could suddenly come my way in next few weeks and months has the potential to overwhelm me and take me into a direction I really wasn't looking to go.

If you're an independent contractor and struggling to find work. Hang in there. If you're in a full time job and you'd rather become an independent contractor, weigh the pros and cons carefully. There is nothing better than having the flexibility and freedom of working for yourself, but there is a lot of stress and, I feel, may be more work involved than just getting out there and rolling 9 to 5.

Till next time. Keep It Real!

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