I’m new to the working arena of ID. (Fresh Graduate BA. PD)
I really hope for some advises from my seniors, senior’s seniors & very experience seniors.
In this case i am working as a freelance designer.
I had been offered a furniture design job by one of the clients in my own country ( namely Country A), to design few furniture pieces at approximately $1000 (USD) per piece/per final design with few % of royalty. The condition layout by this company is that i am not allowed to design for any other same sector’s or same categories of furniture companies in Country A. The categories that i meant refers to this (Garden,Living, School, Office - furniture etc).
As i have lack of experience in what a freelancer in Product Design should charge in the market, and have no idea why should i be bound by this company as i am a freelance designer, before making any further actions, i truly seek for your guidance & advice.
What you’re talking about is called a “restrictive covenant” in employment law (Canadian at least). Usually the purpose is to stop employees from leaving a firm and taking all of their clients. In this case, I would assume that they don’t want you leaving and designing a similar competing product.
In Canadian employment law, these are considered void unless the employer can prove that it was justified to protect their business, and not so restrictive that the employee cannot find new work (it sounds too broad to be enforceable in Canada). If you are concerned about how it will impact you I would try to negotiate it down and if they refuse to budge, contact a lawyer to see if they are enforceable in your country and if it applies to freelancers. I am not a lawyer, so don’t do anything that could get you in trouble based on my advice.
Yours is an interesting case of service provider + sales success incentive = revenue risk. Much has to be assumed: you feel the manufacturer is trustworthy (have a contract, require quarterly or annual sales statements, stipulate contract duration, narrow the client’s non-compete requirements, negotiate %, negotiate up-front $$, etc), you feel confident that you can design products that the target market will find appealing, you understand the workload per product will far outweigh $1000 payment (you’re betting on brisk sales to otherwise compensate) and you have the time to invest in a ‘maybe’ - then it is exciting, fun and potentially rewarding. If you can swallow a worst-case scenario (products never go to market or client never pays you) then the work becomes, if nothing else, an addition to your resume/portfolio…the rest is all upside.
There is always risk for a freelancer, especially when accepting work from another country - unless you have friendies/muscle/legal-entities in that region that can ‘apply incentive’ for the client to follow through on agreements.
Hi guys thanks for the input.
I guess the conditions doesn’t works for me and the location isn’t that ideal.
So i have done what i have to do.
Thank you for your advice, appreciate it!
