How to win the Freelance Game

by Dave Harland and Steve Price

It’s December. An often tricky time for those freelancing, particularly in the creative industries. It can be a period of 'feast of famine'.

For example, I am writing this on the back of finishing three major projects. Looking down the barrel of December with a clearer calendar and schedule. Sounds good, right? Wrong.

It’s December 5th and I’m already focused on how our billings might be for Q1 of 2020. Hunting down the leads on new projects and following-up on prospective clients. There’s never time to be satisfied, to relax or rest on ones laurels.

Freelancing might seem exciting, but it’s no walk in the park. As well as doing the work, you become a receptionist, accountant, social media manager and your own best mate. And with so much stuff to think about, it can get a bit overwhelming.

A month ago, half a bazillion people liked, commented-on and shared the shit out of Dave’s ‘20 really negative tips on how to win the freelance game’. I was one of them. His post resonated with me. Immediately a light bulb went off (probably somewhere). I contacted Dave to ask if he wanted to use them to raise some money for the charity, Mind. He was like, “Hell, yeahhhhhhh”, so we put this limited-edition A2 screenprint together.

Dave, “I wanted to share some of my learnings from the past sixteen years. It’ll help them start freelancing as they mean to go on, advice I never had or wasn’t aware of. Provide them with stuff to think about during the scary first year, and put their head in the right place if times get tough.”

Amongst the usual guff people post on Linkedin, Dave’s posts are always worth reading. Working for myself for nineteen years I have dealt and continue to deal with depression and anxiety. I’ve celebrated, struggled, stressed and survived in unequal measure.

Thankfully more and more people and organisations recognise the importance of mental health and wellbeing, it seemed fitting to create something for all self-employed people. Hopefully it will help and the money raised will go on to help others.

Each artwork is printed on heavy duty 300gsm Accent Antique Alabaster, and with only 50 being made, they’re as limited as limited-edition gets (except if we’d made less than 50. Sue us).

And the best bit — all profits will go to supporting Mind, because freelancing can be a very lonely place, and Mind is always there to listen.

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This is our bi-annual awareness project. Every other year, around this time, we like to put together a project that aims to draw awareness to an important issue while raising money to help support the cause. This year we are focusing on mental health and wellbeing amongst fellow freelancers and self-employed people everywhere. 

We hope to raise ￡1,000 for Mind. Help us make that happen by buying one of our artworks: https://plan-b-studio.myshopify.com/

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Credits

Copy by Dave Harland

Design and art direction by Steve Price

Printing by Daniel Mather Screenprint

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