#16 Navigating the Future of Freelancing
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Hello friends and welcome back to the Future of UX podcast where we explore the latest trends and tools in user experience design. My name is Patricia Reiners and I'm a UX and Innovation Designer from Berlin.

Have you ever thought about starting your own business, leaving your 9-5 hustle behind and become a creative freelancer? If yes, you are right on the cutting edge because in the future it will be easier and more important than ever to become a freelancer, to start your own business and position yourself.

So in this podcast episode, we will talk about starting your own business, becoming freelancing or becoming a freelancer. And we will talk about why freelancing will be such a lucrative and fulfilling idea for creatives, especially if they set themselves up correctly from the start.

So as many of you know, I did work at an agency for some time before I started to freelance. But during that time, I never really fully thought, okay, this is this is ideal for me or this is actually what I wanted. The main problem for me working at this agency was that I was super passionate about future topics and innovation.

But most projects that I worked on in that agency or when I was working for that agency were not related to innovation or future tech like AR and VR. Which is totally normal for an agency. You can really choose the projects you're working on. Sometimes yes, sometimes not so much. So I decided to start freelance on the side. And at some point my freelance work was actually busier than my work that I did for the agency. So I decided to quit and to start my own business.

And for me, this was one of the best decisions of my life and definitely the starting point to create the life that I wanted. Also to work with the clients that I wanted to.

So for me, choosing my own clients, my own projects that I want to work for and that I also want to invest my time in was super, super important for me. Also the fact that I can work where and also how much I want and I think is necessary and also to build different income streams. This is, I think for me, definitely a game changer for creatives.

but i also still remember the time when i wasn't really sure if i should quit my full-time job because i was so secure and i was really scared to actually leave that behind and start my own thing and freelancing will become much easier in the next years so when you are thinking about freelancing and starting your own business that's great this is also the perfect podcast episode for you because

We will talk about some reasons why freelancing is a future topic, especially for creatives or also for your ex-designers and why freelancing is become a much bigger topic in the future for creatives. So we will talk about five reasons why freelancing will become a very important topic in the future. So let's start with point number one, which is remote work.

So with the rise of remote work, of course, also caused by COVID-19 pandemic, more and more companies opting for flexible work arrangement. And this trend is likely to continue making freelance a more attractive option for creatives, right? Like thinking about remote work, I can talk a little bit from my own experience. So I'm working with companies from the US,

from India for example also from South Africa or Dubai and what is really interesting is that you know if they were looking for like a local designer they probably wouldn't ask me right how should they but their whole team is structured so they have you know members in India or

in Australia or the US. So it's from all around the world and it doesn't really matter if I am as the creative consultant is based in Germany or in Switzerland or the US. This is a really big plus. All the remote work is super great for freelancers because it opens up the pool of clients through the whole world because you're working remotely anyway.

Okay, then point number two, it's the increased demand for flexible work. I think this is also very, very interesting because many creatives are seeking more control over their work schedule and lifestyle and freelancing really provides that flexibility, right? So as demand for this type of work arrangement increases, freelancing is likely to become a more popular option. So what I actually mean with that is that

are kind of like shifting their focus a little bit more on really fulfilling their dreams giving something back to the society to our earth to our planet really having a bigger mission and then also being able to work

more flexibly, so more when and where and for what they actually want to. So a lot of people are going to decide and leave their day to day job behind because they want that flexibility and that flexibility is everything for them. Although they are not that secure anymore with like a full time position.

But even for those people who really demand the flexible work can build different income streams for example and then still get the security. This is I think a really important topic. Also for everyone who's interested in freelancing and might want to start freelance this year or next year, I am working on a really cool new program. It's the Freelance Freedom Mastery. It

probably going to launch in April. It's an online course which will guide all the participants through everything you need to know for starting your own business. And we will focus on you. So really have a deep dive into your skills, your personality and really build the groundwork for your business based on you as a person, which I think is

definitely the most important thing when you start something which is primarily based on you and your skills. We will also cover topics like positioning, personal branding, project management, getting clients and much more. In case that is interesting for you, I added the waiting list in the description box. Be sure to check it out and get notified with updates and also a special offer if that's an interesting topic for you.

And then let's switch to point number three, which is also a very important one. This is technology advancement.

So with the increasing availability of online platforms and tools, it is easier than ever for creatives to find not only freelance work and connect with clients, but also made freelancing more accessible and appealing to a wider range of people. So I already talked a little bit about it in the topic of remote work.

So we have like through all the technology advancement that can, I'm also referring here to Instagram, for example, right? Like I'm getting a lot of my clients through Instagram. So when I'm sharing a post for the specific topics, I'm not really targeting their, you

Of course, also like young designers and UX designers, but also clients who are seeing that I am sharing content about that topic and be knowledgeable about that topic. Then they ask me for projects or for consultancy work. And I think this is super, super interesting and only possible through the technological technological advancements.

There are also platforms that you can use, for example, Malt, where you can post your profile and then clients reach out to you or you reach out to them. So they some kind of like connect both. All the tools of, you know, where you can present your work, Dribbble, for example, Behance. So clients from all around the world can really see.

you can see your work and you can really show and present yourself. So this is an awesome opportunity for us as creators. We can just use it. It has never been easier actually to start your own business and makes it also more fair, I would say, because everyone has the same opportunities and chances, which I personally really love. And then number four is cost savings.

So for a lot of companies hiring freelancers can be actually more cost effective for companies as they don't have to provide benefits other perk associated with full-time employees like health insurances and all these kind of things.

And this can definitely lead to an increase in demand for freelancers. So when I'm talking to my clients and ask them, why did you hire me or why do you want to work with me and not with a full time? Why didn't you hire a full time employer? Most of them say it's just too much work. You know, we need to go through the whole onboarding. We first need to find that person and we need to go through the onboarding.

Then we need of course to pay them all these special benefits like health insurance and buy a MacBook and all these kind of things. And then we need to see if the relationship really works out. And maybe sometimes it doesn't, so they need to let this employee go and then look for a new one.

And it's really really difficult, what is much much easier to find a freelancer for two months for example to fill in a certain gap or also for half a year. This is also really common especially in the UX area that you get in as a freelancer for several months sometimes even a year on a contract and you work for them every day on a freelancer basis with your day rate.

And that's also for employers super helpful and interesting. Because another thing that is important to understand here is that most of the times they are looking for someone with like a very special skill set. For example, in my case,

I am positioning myself in the area of like metaverse and AR/VR. So finding freelancers who are, you know, who have a UX background and also focusing on AR/VR work, who worked with different clients in that section and also have experience with metaverse and storytelling and gaming is pretty difficult.

So what's much easier is to really find a freelancer than a full-time employer who really needs to build that experience as well.

So for companies, let's just sum it up point number four, it's really cost saving. And I think this is super interesting that also for companies, it's really smart to hire freelancers from time to time. And they're going to hire especially freelancers with niche or interesting skills and topics who are really good in a certain area because then they can bring them in for like a certain task.

So when it comes to technological advancement, there's another area that I just want to touch base on. Because they are not just the online platforms and tools and all these kind of things. But what's super interesting is that the tools that we as creatives are using are so affordable. That can be Photoshop, for example, or the whole Adobe Creative Cloud suite.

all these AI tools or Figma for example, all the project management tools, they're mostly based on monthly subscription and definitely affordable. So even as a freelancer, I'm paying for all my tools and it's not that much. It's around, I would say, let's see, 100,

till 150 euros per month which is not crazy right like if you have projects and clients that's not a lot of money because you definitely get it back

But if we think about how this was before digitalization or all the cloud-based subscriptions, you needed to buy, for example, Photoshop or InDesign for several thousand dollars or euros, which was a lot of money. And of course,

it was much easier for agencies to buy that and then provide that to their employees. Now you as a creative you are 100% free. You can get your own tools, you can just subscribe to them even just only for a month and then decide I don't need it anymore. You have access through everything through your computer. It's also pretty affordable to buy your own MacBooks, your own computers.

This was very different some decades ago. So these things are really changing, like the technological advancements. Wow, it's like crazy word. Technological advancements are really providing so much values for creators and giving them all the tools that they need. So that is like a really big shift coming.

Okay, and then point number five is career advancement. So freelancing can provide creatives with the opportunity to work on a wider range of projects, really gain new skills and build their portfolio. And this can lead to career advancement and greater job opportunities in the future. Also for me, that was definitely one thing that pushed me so much when I wasn't sure if I should quit my full-time job.

I wanted to work on the project that I was passionate about, that I wanted to work on. I really wanted to focus more on the AR/VR and Metaverse topics. I mean, Metaverse was not something back then, so this was not a topic back then, but AR/VR for sure. So I really wanted to dive into these topics and focus on these topics, but I couldn't really do that with my full-time position. It was just not possible.

And people, especially creatives, are understanding how important positioning is and also how important positioning combined with your personal skills is. And this was also something that

made a huge difference for me when I realized what are my personal skills what is my personality type what am I really good at and what do I really just don't like to do and then build my whole business my whole structure based on that and not just on things that I just don't really care about I don't want to do but that I rather and I feel for all creatives have a purpose and really give something back

to my clients and also to the people I talk to and from my network and my community. This is a very important thing.

Yeah. So thank you so much for listening to this episode. Feel free to send me some feedback. Let me know what you think about freelancing. If this is an interesting option for you. And if you think this episode was helpful. Feel free to just share it with a colleague or with a friend. Also, you can always say hi on Instagram at ux.patricia or future...

future of your ex podcast on instagram thank you so much for listening and hear you in the future