Tips from New York's Busiest Freelancer.

 My wife, Laura, wrote the post below. Laura might be, touch wood, the ad industry's most-successful freelancer. Since she voluntarily left her vaunted staff-job owing to two HHCOs (heinous holding company offenses) She wanted to: 1. Get older. and 2. Get paid. As a freelancer, she hasn't involuntarily missed a day of work since Millard Fillmore's second term in office, and he only had one term.

Laura, incensed over some recent disparagement of her freelance status and its lack of status, sent me this.

I owe her one-and-a-half day rates for her labors, if I can afford it.

New York's busiest freelancer is (un)available by clicking here.

Discrimination that’s not on the grounds of ethnicity, age, sex or disability.

 

Someone I’ve been working with for a few weeks recently said, “Well you’re just a freelancer so we didn’t invite you to that planning meeting.” I should have been there.

 

Then this morning another person new to the team sent me a random note asking if I’m a freelancer and do I have other assignments? Why does this matter?

 

That got me so incensed it inspired me to write this post, my first for AdAged, which as my husband’s many readers know, often delves into the topic of discrimination.

 

My frustration was over my denigrated “freelancer” status and label, which I felt was unfair.

 

Honestly, the comment I hear most, after six extremely busy years of not being on staff is, “You are the most unusual freelancer I’ve ever met; you really give a damn.”

 

I do care. And it shows. 

 

What else makes me different, aside from the fact that I love what I do and I’ve been fortunate to be a creative director on staff for quite a few years?

 

The same things I tell people who are just starting out in this or in any business:

 

1.     Always go above and beyond in every assignment. Wow them. Your goal is to hear that this is so much better than they thought it would be. When an outline is requested, show them 3 outlines and 2 manuscript pages. An intern I supervised once would come to me with 50 well thought out headlines almost every day. I hired him immediately. He’s now an EVP at a hot agency.

2.     Know more than the clients. A wise agency president, who was a writer, once said the pressure is on writers, as we have to know 10x what the client knows about the brand. He wasn’t wrong. This impresses team members, the strategy group, and most certainly clients. Everyone will reach out to you as the knowledge nerd. And that’s ok (except if want to have any kind of life without a constant deluge of questions).

3.     Be eager to participate in anything and everything. People who are not “client-facing” make life difficult when the team needs someone on the call or in the meeting or to do something with clients, even if it is mundane. And who can present your work better than you?

4.     Work while others sleep. Not just during those daytime naps we know some team members take, but beyond the 9-5 day. Some of the best times to write are early before the meetings and daily craziness or in the middle of the night when something is keeping you up.

5.     Know more than just the brand. Know the market, know what’s new, know what’s dope, know tech, know the world. Read and explore. Know that going to a museum, zoo, live performance, or out for a walk can bring a new perspective. A strategist friend working at a games company was energized talking with her 6- and 9-year-old gamer nephews.

6.     Raise your hand. Not every assignment is what you’d want. That’s why you are there. But when you do it better than others, you will get better assignments than others.

7.     Work well with others. You should have learned this in elementary school, but we know lots of people who must have been out that day. Connect with people you are working with, even if it is to just have a cuppa Joe.

8.     Be a human being and even be funny (if that’s who you are). We aren’t robots…yet. Show others your personality, quirks, and interests beyond work. Make someone laugh if you’re comfortable doing that. Recognize someone’s great idea publicly. Give thanks to a colleague. Be a mensch. Treat people kindly (some missed this one in elementary school, too). Kindness will pay off at some point…you’ll have to trust me on this.

9.     Ask for a reco even if you are called “creative gumbo”. Yes, I was called that and it was a compliment (which you can read here). When team members know how good you are, ask them to write a recommendation. When I shared two of these, I was immediately hired for my next gig…no questions asked and at my rate.

10.  Take vacations. There’s a reason to take a break. To fill your head with sea air. To read a book for hours. To immerse yourself under water. To hike heights. To sleep late. To relax. To see a different part of the world.

Know that whenever you plan to take time off, it will never be a good time (in the eyes of those working with you). But you just have to do it. They’ll appreciate you that much more when you return. And maybe, just maybe, someone will actually thank you.

Despite my freelancer label, I’ve been able to enjoy an abundance of interesting opportunities.  I’ve been part of pitch teams, traveled to client meetings across the country and in other countries, participated in market research, spent time in editing suites, been a judge of creative work in awards shows, met with researchers, worked on everything from ads to videos to websites to social media posts, participated in regulatory/legal meetings, taken my dog to work, and I’ve even made a few friends along the way.

 

So, brush up on those elementary school lessons and you’ll be busier than you want to be. And hopefully, you’ll show others how valuable freelancers can be.