Franco is a freelance video editor. Here, he shares his freelance journey and tips he has for fellow freelancers.
1. What influenced you to become a freelancer?
I was influenced to become a freelancer by the way I was brought up. My family moved a lot when I was younger, so I was never at the same place for more than 5 years on average. Because of this, I grew fond of always exploring new environments and being around new people all the time. Considering that the standard full-time jobs involve one place of work and at the same time, I was never really attracted to that road.
2. Are you a full time or part-time freelancer?
I am completely 100% freelance
3. How long have you been freelancing?
I have been freelancing for just over three years now.
4. Do you think it’s important to have a niche?
I think a niche definitely helps in freelancing when it comes to the type of projects you work on. At least when it comes to video, whether one is referring to film, TV or online; all three require different strategies, workflows, number of personnel in a team, and workarounds. Clients want to make sure they are hiring somebody who can easily adapt to the environment that they are in. If you are an editor, for instance, that only has worked with iPhone footage making one-minute Tik Tok videos, then you will most likely take longer to adapt to a TV project that requires multiple-cameras, more complex communication with numerous teams, and delivering longer pieces of content.
Having said that, if someone is only starting to get into freelancing and doesn’t have a niche, I say dip your toes in everything at first and find what you enjoy the most. I think time is your biggest friend when you are first out of school and thus if you don’t like one field, then you can swap it out for another similar one. It becomes a lot harder ten years in because it may require you having to learn new concepts and start lower down on the ladder.
5. What would you describe your niche as?
My niche right now is short-form social media campaigns. In simple terms, that means all the ads you see on your timeline on most social media applications. These are 1-minute or fewer adverts that are targeted primarily people within the 15-25 demographic.
6. What resources have you found useful as a freelancer?
Quickbooks is my accounting software of choice. I think not enough young freelancers look after their finances when first starting out, and having a software that helps track your expenses is crucial to not falling victim to the taxman. With Quickbooks, you can link it to your bank so it logs all your transactions, and it helps you categorize it between personal and business expenses, and also according to the various categories that match the ones you have to declare on your tax form. This is incredibly useful as it helps you be able to get reimbursements on services such as transport.
7. How did you become a freelancer?
Completely out of luck haha. I was 2 months out of university, and I was just doing work experience and internships with whoever would allow me to, and then I got an email from an editor I met at my university graduate show, and he needed a freelance edit assistant for his company. I spent time assisting the company in various projects, from fashion, sport to general social media campaigns, and that gave my portfolio a huge boost which I was then able to use to reach out to more clients.
8. What method do you find most useful in finding clients?
For me, funnily enough, Instagram has become huge for me in terms of finding clients. Because email, LinkedIn, and Facebook are the typical-go-tos to for client reach, these have become extremely saturated, and thus the chances of clients even scrolling past your message are very slim.
On Instagram, if they are on there it means they have someone who is actively engaged in it as a job, and because people don’t usually relate IG with professionalism, they don’t get a lot of work requests, and so when someone approaches them offering their services, they are very quick to respond and eager to listen, at least that has been my experience.
9. What do you like most about freelancing?
The freedom to choose what I work on and how to manage my time. I feel that good freelancers are constantly on their toes, reaching out to lots of people, keeping up with their industry trends, and crafting their skills. On top of that, I have a lot more control when negotiating contracts with clients when it comes to payments and schedules.
10. What challenges have you found with freelancing, and how do you battle through them?
The freedom to choose what I work on and how to manage my time. I feel that good freelancers are constantly on their toes, reaching out to lots of people, keeping up with their industry trends, and crafting their skills.
On top of that, I have a lot more control when negotiating contracts with clients when it comes to payments and schedules.
11. What tips do you have for those wanting to do freelancing or build their own business?
I think the main tips I would give to any aspiring freelancers would be first to get incredibly organized. Organized with your time, your finances, and your projects most of all. Trust me, tax returns are incredibly dull and they TAKE SO MUCH DAMN TIME if you wait till three weeks before the tax return deadline to do them.
If you don’t have a calendar, get into the habit of using one, you have no idea how easy it is to completely lose track of your schedule and to start conflicting your work events with your personal and social ones.
Also, I would actually go ahead and suggest to work on your speaking skills, negotiation, and persuasive ones. Remember, as a freelancer you yourself are a brand, and you want to be effective in selling yourself to others, clients included. Your skills are very tied to your success in the field, but clients also want to work with someone they can trust and feel comfortable around. Like Neil Gaiman said in a speech, “You don’t have to always be the best person at the job, as long as people really like you and you deliver on time”.
I think in very competitive fields who you are as a person and how you carry yourself to play a crucial role in your success.
12. What 3 words would you describe your freelance work as?
Short-form digital content.
13. What do you like to do in your spare time?
I am a huge philosophy and meditation nerd. I also treat American Football as a religion (Go Steelers!) and I love learning languages. Currently, I am learning German but already speak Spanish. I’d say if you can also learn another language then your client pool expands massively! Not essential, however.
14. How do you find the work/ life balance being a freelancer? Do you have any tips for this area?
When you first start out as a freelancer, your work/life balance will definitely suck. This will be primarily due to early-mistakes with time-management but also because you’ll be taking a lot of jobs in order to have a wide client-pool and to make more money.
But use that as motivation! The better you get with your work, the more higher-paying clients you can approach, and eventually, you can get to a point where you can hand-pick what projects you work on what days you’ll give to those projects, giving you the freedom to relax whenever you want.
That to me is a perk of being a freelancer.
15. What key characteristics are needed to become a freelancer?
Being persistent and pragmatic to me are huge characteristics to have in freelancers. Never will a project go according to plan, there will be all sorts of things that go wrong outside of your control, and you’ve got to be able to work at a high-level while under pressure and still deliver high-quality work.
You constantly are having to prove yourself as a freelancer, because (hopefully) clients are paying good money and so it’s very easy for a freelancer to become overwhelmed with the pressure that sometimes comes from the jobs you take. Learn to differentiate what you can control and focus on that, but learn to adapt to any changes that come your way.
What is the proudest project you have worked on?
I think it was a social media campaign I got to be a part of for Adidas for their new ‘Prophere’ shoe collection. Had a lot of fun being involved in that project and one of the ads I worked on reached five million views on Youtube! That was pretty sweet.
Many thanks to Franco for sharing his freelance journey and tips. You can follow him on Instagram @so_chido
If you are a beginner freelancer looking for a detailed step by step strategy on how to build your business, you can check out my Beginner Freelancer E-course.
