Freelancing In Fashion
I recently saw this headline on my FB feed: A minimum-wage worker needs 2.5 full-time jobs to afford a one-bedroom apartment in most of the US from Business Insider. It is no surprise that even salaried workers with office jobs are still working gigs and side hustles to make ends meet. Personally, I can't remember a time since I left college, that I didn't have a side hustle or a freelance project on top of my regular job. I also notice that every year there are more and more freelance job opportunities, and less full time salary jobs in the fashion accessories industry, specifically. Chances are that if you are in the fashion industry, freelancing will be a part of your career history (and as you see below, this could be a wonderful thing!).
In fact, freelancing launched my career in the fashion accessories industry. I didn't know it at the time, but that gig was an incredible opportunity in more than just brand name. In 2015, I supported myself entirely off freelance income, while looking for full time work. I still know peers in the industry who support themselves fully on freelance income. This post is about demystifying freelancing for fashion professionals.
Freelancing can be very scary to the uninitiated. Everyone's first worry is that they won't make enough steady money to live off of. This is not the way to think about freelancing in todays times. Of course there is a certain amount of risk assessment that needs to be taken into account, however, in today's fashion industry climate, more and more employers prefer to hirer contractors and freelancers than salaried positions. The reasons for this vary to companies wanting to avoid on boarding/healthcare costs to less salaried positions needed due to rising efficiency in the workplaces. So there is plenty of temporary work available making the risk that you won't have a gig much lower. I would also encourage fashion professionals to look as freelancing as a way to design their lives, as opposed to an unfortunate employment plight.
KINDS OF FREELANCING
In my experience, there are two types of freelancing in the fashion industry, which I will call:
-Full Time Freelance
-Contract Freelancing
The key differentiator here is how you get taxed. Full time freelancers are on a W2 and contract freelancers are on a 1099 MISC form. Full time freelancers are basically working the same position as they would if they were a salaried worker, except they don't get health benefits from their client and their time at the job will usually end at some point. This type of freelancing often goes for months at a time. Sometimes the agency hiring you might offer some form of health care, but it is usually very minimal and expensive.
Contract freelancing is usually more of a moonlighting deal. You might get called back repeatedly to do the same job, just when they need you. It might be just working on tech packs or consulting on one project. You would probably be assisting someone complete their work load during the busy parts of their cycle. It could even be a remote project you work on from your home office. What is important to understand is that being on 1099 MISC. form, you will get taxed at a higher rate. This is because the government sees you as a self employed business owner. You get all your pay up front, but need to reserve at least 30% to pay your taxes conservatively. If you can't drum up enough expenses to claim, the taxes really eat into your take home pay. For this reason, I recommend maintaining separate hourly rates for each type of work respectively.
Knowing the above, I would recommend freelancing to graduates looking for diverse job experiences and season professionals that would prefer to have more flexibility in their schedules. Freelancing is really for any professional that wants more work/life balance or has a hard time with prolonged repetitive daily routines. Freelancing is probably not for the person who needs to have reliable, set amount of income every month. Also, if you don't like meeting new people regularly or learning to regularly adapt to new work conditions, then I don't recommend freelancing for you. Freelancers must like to manage their own schedules and work independently.
RATES
Peers who decide to jump into the freelancing pool often ask, "How much should I charge?" Here is my advice:
1) Consider first how many years of work experience you bring to the table and what you would be getting paid as a salaried work for those years of experience. Each title correlates to a certain salary range generally.
2) Then consider how you are being taxed.
3) Finally, think about the commuting & resource expenses.
So, I would decide on a base number for my experience level and then raise the rate depending on the other conditions. For example, if I got to work from home on a project, on a W2, I would just charge my base experience rate. If I had to commute to an office and bring my own laptop, and I was on a 1099 MISC form, I would charge my base experience rate plus 30-40% more to cover commuting costs, taxes, & wear to my laptop.
RECRUITMENT AGENCIES
Once you figure out the rate you need to make a job worth your time and effort, stick to it! Agencies will try to negotiate you down and make you feel like you rate is a ridiculous ask. Don't buy it! Agencies often make 30- 50% off of each freelancer. That means if a client willing is to pay $60/hr for a senior designer, the designer would only see $30-42 of that rate through an agency. You don't do any of your fellow freelancers any favors by accepting a rate that is less than what you know you are worth.
Another reason to be weary of agencies is finders fees. This is a fee the recruitment agency will charge a company if they end up hiring a freelancer they placed. Most companies will want to avoid the fee and this means, even if you love working somewhere, you might not be considered for FT employment if you freelance there. Most agencies have a 1 year time limit on this, so you will need to wait one year before you can be hired at the company you were freelancing at.
GET IT ON PAPER
Once you know your rate, I recommend setting up your own freelancer service agreement. This document should detail your services, terms of payment, pay schedule, and how you will use work generated in your portfolios or online profiles. It should also have a spot for signatures from your client, so you have a paper trail showing they acknowledge your terms. This has really helped me when working with small independent clients. It immediately communicates what I offer, how much I charge per hour, and my expectations for payment. It helps set the stage for invoicing and offers clear boundaries for when payment is due. If a client doesn't pay or communicate pay issues, you can point to the service agreement they signed. Setting up an invoice template is also another way to save time and help clients see how time is being used on their projects. My template details (per day) how much time I spend on a project and what I did during that time. It also has my payment info and payment schedule. My #1 tip for avoiding payment issues with private clients is charging a deposit upfront to get started on a project. I recommend charging about 2 hours of your base pay. Most projects will require more than 2 hours of work and this get deducted from the first invoice. This weeds out anyone whose budget doesn't work with your needs and keeps clients engaged.
FREE AT LAST
Another benefit of freelancing is getting to see how different companies work. I often think that a person who has had freelancing experience is more valuable to a company than one who has only had salaried positions for this reason. You get to see how companies organize, structure, and what are the designs & colors they are using for the season; what tools they are using to get the job done. This can inform and inspire you as you go on in your career. You will get a sense of best practices to make you a better designer and what to look for in a company. I have had friends dying to work at a prestigious brands, only to freelance there and realize it was a toxic work environment for design. Freelancing, especially early on in your career, can also be networking. If you're an introvert like me, you might not find cold networking appealing. Being a freelancer pretty much gives you an excuse and opportunity to talk to people where ever your assignments take you.
Once you decide what kind of freelancing you want to take on, and what your rate is, you can start to think about what kind of life you want to have. Are you off two months a year? Do you only work Monday-Thursdays? Maybe it would be nice to avoid rush hour and work 10am-4pm? You can often negotiate some variation of these terms with each gig. I have one friend who takes no work in July to be with her kids. You couldn't have that type of flexibility with a salaried job!
