Tag: business

When Your Heart is a Hammer

Hammer and Screw

It’s great when you find the perfect match between your challenge and solution. The right ratchet for your nut or the perfect swing for a hole-in-one.

As a web designer this often means choosing the right technology to support your end goal. Should the site be static, or CMS-based? Or will it be completely custom, like a web app or something built upon a 3D framework? Then each one of those paths carry a big set of choices of their own. It can be daunting, but good web designers don’t shy away from making the hard decisions carefully. After all, it’s a choice between long-term usefulness and prosperity versus wasted effort.

I ponder these things and am thinking that we need to be equally careful about choosing our people.

For example, a few years ago I took a job at an interactive agency which was looking for a designer with some Flash skills. The job began with a mix of both interactive work and design, but after a couple years I was only doing the technical work with no creative at all.

I began to have an internal struggle over this because I enjoyed programming and loved the company, but I was trained as a designer and was not prepared to abandon that other love of mine. In the end, my heart for being a designer won out over my heart for the company and job, and I eventually left to start my own business.

Although the changes in heart and job resulted in my leaving, I did work there happily and effectively for four years and we parted on very good terms. I would call that a successful employment.

In filling that job I believe my employer did well, because my heart matched well with their own corporate philosophy. Skills and versatility were important, but more important was that I agreed with their philosophy of caring for their people, having fun, being responsible and working hard.

The heart is most important. This might seem like a no-brainer, but if your organisation serves Liberals you don’t fill your positions with Conservatives. If your company exists to promote Christianity you don’t hire atheists. You don’t hire known anarchists for government jobs and you don’t outsource national security projects to overseas organisations if you can help it.

Any of these examples is like using a hammer to drive in a screw. It might sort of work, but in the end you will probably regret it.

How NOT to Evolve from Freelancer to Agency

I recently ran across an article explaining how a freelancer can become an agency, and it sent chills up my spine. That may have been partially because I work in my poorly-heated office during the depths of the Saskatchewan winter. Nevertheless, in recent years I’ve become a big believer in the power of freelancing and here’s why.

Quality of life

I live 2 blocks away from a major street. Every morning at about 7:50, cars are lined up all the way to my house waiting to get through the traffic light. I’m usually in my bath robe at that point, thankful for that extra hour of sleep. Let’s say going to an agency and working the day averages 8 hours per day including commuting. I average about 6 hours per day in my office. That gives me over 450 extra hours in a year. I’m sure my kids will be thankful later on that I was around that much more, even if I stop making crêpes for breakfast. Furthermore, Mother Nature might even reward me with some extra oxygen to breathe instead of exhaust fumes.

I’m doing what I love

I like the hands-on work of my business. The graphic design. The creativity. The coding. I know a few people who started out in the role, and when their company grew to a considerable size they were doing more meetings, paperwork, and administration. No thanks.

We have the tools

Agencies still have their place, but technology nowadays enables freelancers to assemble, collaborate and disperse very easily.

Right now I’m part of a contracted development team with members from California, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan. We use Google’s tools for video meetings, document sharing, and calendar. We use GitHub and Lighthouse for bug tracking and code versioning. I’ve worked in a large interactive agency before and the only thing I’m missing now is the opportunity for social engagement. The work still gets done just as efficiently.

Tools like FreshBooks or Harvest, coupled with internet money transfer make it so easy to contract or be contracted. Why burden yourself with a payroll if you don’t have to do so? If you know the right people, it makes a lot of sense nowadays to use freelancers.

It’s not for everyone

One thing I appreciated about that other article was that it was realistic. Not every freelancer should become an agency, and in the same way not everyone is cut out for freelancing. It’s still more paperwork and admin than working for a salary. Interpersonal skills are essential to stay connected to other developers and your clients. There are slow times where you’re wondering when the next job will come in. I can find those factors to be tiresome at times, but in the end—working less, getting paid more, doing the stuff I love, and being close to the people I love is my priority. Freelancing just happens to provide those things.