Micro Advice
 
Freelance work does not find you unless you throw out the right lures, and the right lures are contingent upon market readiness. Freelance work means extra income, which corresponds to some extra effort. The effort comes in keeping self-control when those who are not as professional as you elect to ignore business norms.
Every attempt to manage compensated time should be made until the assigned requirements are met. Going into a photography assignment without specific objectives can make for a seriously skewed photo shoot. A skilled photographer can’t afford for the client to troubleshoot and explore options while the clock ticks.
Discuss objectives with the client before the shoot starts or discuss having independent control of the work. A frazzled client will maintain control of the work, make mistakes, and hold the productivity of two people in neutral refusing to acknowledge it. Instead of gaining the best gifts of the photographer’s talent, the client insists on getting their way.
The photographer, puzzled, watches while the client insists on resorting the shoot into a static drudgefest instead of a creative challenge. This isn’t what they signed on for. Without being able to lead, they are forced to follow someone unqualified, (and figure out why nobody else wants to help).
Imagine a clothing designer attracts a talented photographer to their studio to photograph a hot new line. But when the photographer arrives, the designer pulls out an old rack of forgotten clothing from the year before. The carelessness and comments of the client reveal their distaste for the old clothes, but the client insist the photographer spend their energy on the old clothes instead of the new line.
A trained photographer knows before the client does that a bad decision has been made, but a client who can’t hear this has just stalled the entire process working through their own issues. The client has now trapped the photographer in their own crisis.
Failure to acknowledge the communication energy and experience of another person is tantamount to stating that they can’t operate in any other way but in an assistance capacity.
Keep a schedule loosely in mind and see where changing gear can help getting to a new area where the execution can be more productive.
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August 18th, 2009
A freelancer’s career commonly begins with a business or agency at which the freelancer gains experience and contacts in a particular field. Often, talented freelance professionals leave their place of employment because their services are in great demand and they can receive better pay as a freelancer. A freelancer can work at home, in the community, or at their client’s place of business.