Climbing other peoples' mountains - how to get to the top as a freelance service designer.

I started freelancing to escape the kind of work culture that assumed everyone was on the mothership and would do whatever it took; I wanted to choose when and where I worked, and crucially what I worked on.

Five years later and I’ve found that if you want to be a successful freelancer there’s a lot less ‘me’ in it than I first supposed.  I was trying and failing to explain this to a friend until eventually I said;

“It’s a bit like I’m a Sherpa, I use my skills to help other people get to the top of their mountain, rather than trying to climb my own.”

Thinking about it this way has been a bit of revelation for me. When you start a contract you’re in at the deep end: new brief, new team, new ways of working and new client. It can be pretty challenging and humbling stuff. So I’ve learned it’s best to keep your ego out of it. Here are my thoughts on how to live long and prosper as a service design freelancer.

1. Realise it’s not your mountain to climb. You’re a rockstar right? That’s why you turned freelance in the first place? You’re going to put your stamp on this project and take it to the next level. I’ve definitely fallen foul of pushing my ‘vision’ on projects, and no matter how ‘great’ my product or service idea, it’s always come back to bite me. If this is happening you're getting WAY too attached to the outcome and it’s very likely going to stop you from doing the best job.

This doesn’t mean you should be less committed to the projects you work on, but it does mean your main role is to support, advise, guide and deliver. Ultimately, you’re helping someone else create their thing, not build yours.

2. Do what’s needed to make the expedition successful. So you’ve been hired for a contract! You should definitely have some sort of statement of work describing the services you’ll provide. It’s valuable protection from unscrupulous and overly demanding clients. However don’t think of this as the limit of what you’re there to do. When I’ve worked with contractors who don’t move a muscle unless it’s in the brief, it feels wrong. Contractors are a big investment, so you need to pull your weight (and sometimes some extra weight too).

Look at the project you’ve been assigned to and think: what does this project need me to be? Perhaps things aren’t organised well, so think how you can help. Definitely don’t throw your arms up and say: ‘this isn’t how I would do this at all’. By all means find problems, but only if you can present solutions. One big caveat: you have to be careful not to come across like you know best when doing this. Arrogance will forever go down badly. Instead, done right, most of the time, most people are very grateful for the input.

3. It’s your job to help others get to the top. ‘What?! I heard contracting was all about doing your own thing, finishing work at 5.30 and clocking off for the day.’ It can be like this, but it’s not if you want to get to the top, and design freelancers often give themselves a bad reputation in this respect.

If you’re going to be genuinely valued you’ll need to have the spare capacity to help those around you. When you think about it, it’s obvious that you getting to the top of the mountain fast, whilst others don’t, equals ‘failed project’, and your value to the client evaporates. Plus there’s an upside. Some of the most rewarding moments I’ve had on projects have involved sharing my experience with more junior team members, and in turn, learning from them.

4. It’s crucial to get everyone down safely. Granted you’re not very likely to die on a contracting job, but the cost to you and to your client of crashing and burning can be career-limiting. The lesson is to be realistic about what’s achievable. Clients aren’t as forgiving with hired guns as their own staff. Also this might be the first time they’ve worked with you, so you don’t have much of a reputation to fall back on.

So my advice is, don’t take too much on in an effort to impress. It doesn’t work. People would always rather you under-promised and then over-delivered. If you’re in a more senior role judge the abilities of your team, and don’t put them at risk. When you see problems emerge, calmly and clearly communicate these to your client and suggest remedies.

5. Warm yourself from the glory of others. Because you’re a contractor you’re probably not going to be invited to the awards party, in-spite of your role creating that revolutionary new app or innovative customer experience.

This can be hard emotionally. Often you’re out the door at the end of a project, often without so much as a thank you. You have to be intrinsically motivated to cope with this. Focus on taking joy from the fact you helped create something great and that you get to see it succeed.

6. Don’t rest on your laurels. The service design world is full of peaks, and it’ll be time to summit the next mountain soon enough. The lifeblood of contracting is getting out there and finding the next interesting adventure. When I started to contract, I settled into a pattern of working with one particular company. If a client loves you and the work you do, it can feel good to be settled and have colleagues, so why would you go anywhere else?

Unfortunately, as well as some awkward tax implications, staying in one place too long is a career limiter. If you want a job, you should get a job. But if you want to contract, you need to get out there and build up your client base.

So why bother with contracting? A big plus is you get much flexibility and control over your time, and you can take as much holiday as you can afford each year. You can choose to spend time on non-billable work. Plus there are far fewer meetings and corporate responsibilities.

It’s true the money is good. Contract rates are typically 30% to 50% higher, and can go higher for very senior posts. However you only make money if you’re busy, and to be busy, you need to be a real pro.  

And what I’m learning is that pros focus on their clients, and not on themselves. If you can do this well, you’ll be able to bring total commitment to your work, without needing to take ownership. Then everyone gets to the summit, every time.

*Philip Goad consults independently on service innovation, design and strategy

This post was first published on Strategic Design Resourcing https://www.strategicdesignresourcing.com/