How did you get started freelancing?
Interned for someone who had a lot of friends in the industry, and I was referred for some low-level CAD work. Skills-based gigs (CAD, rendering, etc.) seem to be more in-demand than general I.D. work. Mundane CAD tasks evolved into more sophisticated projects and then actual design projects.
Where do you find your work? Is it mostly websites or do you find that networking and meeting people leads to more jobs?
For me Craigslist has been massive, believe it or not. This is probably location-dependent. NYC has a lot of legit CL usage, other locales seem to only have garbage on CL. Coroflot has gotten me a few gigs, and a friend of mine has had success with Behance. Personal referrals will always reign supreme though. Also simply offering your services to firms (e.g. send a design/branding/packaging studio a sample folio and offer freelancing).
“Networking” can be hit or miss. For me, blindly attending some event has been mostly “miss.” If you’re a student in a room of professionals, sure it can’t help to get your name out there, but if you’re at an event that’s overwhelmingly attended by other students, no one’s really in a position to help anyone. Ditto with trade shows; vendors don’t really want to talk to a punk 22 year old, they want to talk to a buyer.
What kind of equipment and software do you feel is necessary to be successful as a freelancer?
MINIMUM: Decent computer, Solidworks, as much Adobe as possible, Bic pens, maybe two color markers, copy paper, brain, coffee breaks.
RECOMMENDED: Monster computer, Solidworks, poly-modeler like Cinema 4D, Rhino, high-end renderer like Maxwell, Adobe CS, Bic pens, five color markers, copy paper, brain, coffee breaks, beer breaks.
What would your dream freelancing space include?
Sunlight, breeze, massive solid wood table.