The Art of Freelancing

[Noah Bradley]

I hate to spam y'all too much--but I figure since my account is so bloody old I'm permitted the occasional bit of shameless self promotion.

Anyway, I've put together an extensive 5-hour long downloadable lecture on all things freelancing--portfolio building, branding, marketing, finding art directors, etc. I've put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this thing. I tried to make it the best possible content I could. And I think I've done a pretty good jobs. Here's the beginning:



You can check out the full video here.

Again, I'm sorry to be spammy, but I really think folks here might get something out of it.

Love to hear what y'all think of it.

[Saramel]

Oh wow! 5 hours?? Thank you! Can't wait to get off work and watch this intro!!

[Star Eater]

Thank you for sharing this Noah, no ways would I call it spam.

[JeffX99]

It isn't spam if it's tasty!

[Slothboy3000]

Thanks a lot Noah. Much appreciated!

[Dusty]

Fantastic, man. As I am just at the beginning of my freelance *side* career...I do have aspirations to make a *full* career in the future. I will be buying the lecture soon!
My question is do you cover anything like the tax/insurance aspects? I'm not too overly worried about taxes as I plan on just hiring an accountant when the time comes, but I gotta be honest...the whole insurance thing has me severely freaked out. I don't even know where to start. Of course, it's a ways off before I get to that point, but still.

So if you cover the business aspect of it, that would be helpful.

Thanks!

[Noah Bradley]

Thanks for the warm reception, y'all. Sure beats torches and pitchforks.

Jeff: What, you don't like how spam tastes?

Dusty: Actually, taxes & insurance are two areas I had to skip over. This thing kept ballooning in size and at one point I just had to start cutting back. At least for now. I'm thinking in the near-ish future I'll do some extra stuff focused on those business details, maybe some stuff on transitioning from a full-time job to freelance (seems to be a popular request), agents, retirement/investments, etc. That stuff will all be free for whoever downloads this lecture, of course.

Tried to cover what I could, but I was bound to miss a few things. Thanks for the kind words!

[donm]

Just saw the intro before work, thanks for doing this Noah. I'm not ready to transfer to Freelance yet but this will definitely give me something to plan for.

[Star Eater]

I have to say, I think your guarantee is a really brave move and definitely conveys a strong sense of belief and confidence in your product. I don't doubt that its worth it, but I'd be worried about some jerk trying to claim his cash back for the hell of it.

[Noah Bradley]

I have to say, I think your guarantee is a really brave move and definitely conveys a strong sense of belief and confidence in your product. I don't doubt that its worth it, but I'd be worried about some jerk trying to claim his cash back for the hell of it.

Yeah, I have no doubt that I'll have at least a few people who just don't want to pay for it and will demand their money back. And that's ok with me. The message that it conveys (absolute confidence that this is worth every dime I'm charging) more than outweighs that money I'll lose from it.

...No returns yet!

[Dusty]

Thanks for the warm reception, y'all. Sure beats torches and pitchforks.

Jeff: What, you don't like how spam tastes?

Dusty: Actually, taxes & insurance are two areas I had to skip over. This thing kept ballooning in size and at one point I just had to start cutting back. At least for now. I'm thinking in the near-ish future I'll do some extra stuff focused on those business details, maybe some stuff on transitioning from a full-time job to freelance (seems to be a popular request), agents, retirement/investments, etc. That stuff will all be free for whoever downloads this lecture, of course.

Tried to cover what I could, but I was bound to miss a few things. Thanks for the kind words!

That's kind of what I figured and that is awesome that you'd offer a "companion lecture" to this. Thanks again!

[Noah Bradley]

I'm also thinking of doing some interviews with other artists & art directors at some point, as well as answering any questions that come in from people who have watched it. Ideally the learning won't stop at the end of 5 hours.

Oh, and there's also the fact that I might want to get insurance before I teach people about it.

[JFierce]

That would be a good idea, artists and directors might have their own little take on it, I'm sure not everyone had the same experiences free lancing. If I ever do go into free lancing I'm sure this would be quite the help.

[GuruGaia]

Good stuff Noah, I think I might be able to start playing in the freelance playground in less then a year if I bust my butt. But information like this is really important (I love to knowledge up before taking a leap). Its hard to find thorough information like this without having to weed through hours of useless dribble. Thanks for the effort for all the work you put into helping other budding artists out. Its good to have advice from someone who is still relatively close to their educational years and still has a lot of the transition fresh on your mind.

[Diarum]

Best Ever ^

[rem92]

I just purchased it, and listening to it atm, so far, worth every penny... thanks Noah. i really recommend anyone who wants to get into freelancing.. but specially art students, i think will be the ones who will find it most helpful, clueless art students that don't have a clue of what to do with their talent and how to get their foot in the door.

[manlybrian]

Dang....I'm on an incredibly tight budget right now but I really want this. I'm planning on buying it in the next few months.

[NyeAlexandaFrayne]

any chance of a student discount? i joke, damn i am going to have to not eat for a week for this haha

[Kjesta]

Woah, what a treasure! I'm low on money right now but I'm convinced this will be around for a while so once I've got a little to spare again I'll buy it for sure. (Might take a couple of months but seeing that my art isn't up to industry-standard yet anyway, I don't worry yet...)

[Dusty]

I'm also thinking of doing some interviews with other artists & art directors at some point, as well as answering any questions that come in from people who have watched it. Ideally the learning won't stop at the end of 5 hours.

Oh, and there's also the fact that I might want to get insurance before I teach people about it.

Haha, that was another question I was going to ask.
If I was a single man, I'd probably just deal with my lumps. But with a wife and maybe a mini-Dusty in the future, I gotta cover my bases.

[JeffX99]

Jeff: What, you don't like how spam tastes?

Oh I like it just fine! I quite like spam, eggs, spam and spam. Spam, spam, eggs, spam, spam and spam. Etc...

On the insurance/taxes question...I would really consider offering advice in that arena if it were me...just because it starts to tread into legal waters potentially. Obviously you're not going to give an in-depth analysis/recommendation I imagine, so you'd probably be ok keeping it sort of an overview and maybe "here's what I do" kind of thing.

[Noah Bradley]

rem92: Awesome, really glad to hear you're getting your money's worth out of it. I'm really hoping more art students hear about it. I think it could help a lot of people coming out of school.

Dusty: Yeah, being young and single I'm allowed to skimp on the insurance--if you've got responsibilities then I wouldn't recommend it. But I do have this lump I should get looked at...

Jeff: Very good point. That's why when I talk about suing people and dealing with contracts and such I tried not to give any direct legal advice. I'm happy to help as much as I can, but I don't need to get screwed over here.

The site's down right this second, but Jon Schindehette posted a fantastic review of this over on ArtOrder.

[Alex Chow]

After brief confusion about where to download it (damn Paypal's tiny text, but thanks for resolving this fast), I'm starting to watch this and I'm around 1 hour and 30 minutes into this.

This is by far the most comprehensive lectures for portfolio building I have ever heard. While some info overlaps with other resources I've had over the past years (Bobby Chiu's lectures, forum lurking, etc.), the fact that a) they're all in this video neatly compiled for easy access b) it introduces things like website building and branding that I have never heard anybody go into as deeply as you makes this well worth it from this chapter alone. The marketing section is also fantastic as most people would just say "go to conventions", but this video includes what to do in them.

Highly recommended, absolutely no doubt about it.

[Conniekat8]

Sweeet! Thanks a million.

Comes right at the time when I was seriously contemplating what path to take after the education.. and freelance being the most attractive.

The price is a bargain for the valuable information you are offering here

[Pilgrim1099]

I think what you're doing is wonderful and extremely helpful, but may I ask if there is a transcript or subtitled version of it because there are some illustrators or artists who are deaf or even hard of hearing, like myself?


Cheers!

-A

[Saraiva]

And thanks for this. Ive been watching it for a while.

[Noah Bradley]

Alex Chow: Thanks! And yeah--a lot of this info is spread out in other videos, in blog articles, in books, and other sources. I tried to take all that info I learned (mixed with some of my own experiences) and distill it down to an easy-to-digest format. So glad you like it.

Conniekat8: You're quite welcome.

Pilgrim1099: Definitely. I've had a few people request this already. Go ahead and send me an email and I'll set you up: [email protected]

Alternative: lol, I seem to get that a lot.

Thanks again, y'all. I've got CA to thank for so much of my success. Glad I can give back in a small way.

[madbot]

Thanks a ton Noah, this is very helpful. I listened to the first 30 mins last night and knew buying & downloading the rest was a no brainer. It's really great to get something like this as a downloadable lecture instead of the usual book format. All this info compiled in one spot! The price you have is more than worth it too. I know I will get a lot out of this. Cheers.

[Diarum]

I don't have the money, so I am going to wait till someone puts it on a torrent site so I can get it for free.

[Noah Bradley]

madbot: Sweet, thanks man. Really hope you get a lot out of it. Don't hesitate to ask me any questions after you're done.

Diarum: At least you're honest, I suppose.