by Erica Flores and Nathalie Heywood
More and more, the question comes up, “Should I get a permanent position or should I freelance?” The answer depends on what is your ultimate goal. Being a freelancer is much like running your own business. You will need to feel comfortable with the ebbs and flows of the work cycle. Which also means working within a budget, fluctuating payment cycles for work, keeping your skills sharp, keeping your portfolio and resume up to date at all times, and staying self-disciplined.
Many chose contract employment as a way to have work/life balance, expand their skills, hone areas of expertise, and widen their experience. Whether you are joining the industry after a career change or after many years as a staff employee, here are few tips to setting up a successful freelance business:

1. Set expectations and do some research.

When getting back out into the market, it is important to research what someone at your level should be looking for in terms of compensation. What is the market rate for someone with your skillset? What roles are out there right now and what are they offering? Consulting with industry professionals and recruitment agencies can help you get a better grasp on the marketplace, skillsets clients are asking for, and pay structures.

2. Update your resume. Your resume is a “snap chat” of your experience and skills.

It is a presentation of your best self— so be direct, take credit for who you are, highlight your successes, think creatively, and make sure you communicate clearly. If you were employed full-time with a company for a long period of time, make sure to highlight any change in title during your time there and the different responsibilities that came with each title.

3. Tighten up that portfolio. Your portfolio is a reflection of your creativity. It is the visual resume. It is important that your samples are relevant and recent. Try to show only work done within the last seven years. Make sure any big-name clients listed are still in business, as it can date your work. Creating a website is one of the best ways to show and organize your work. You can organize your site by client, or by type of work, but it is important that your website is easy to navigate through. There are a number of portfolio sites like Behance.net, coroflot.com, krop.com, wix.com that can assist you in getting your work up quickly and efficiently.

4. Think about your schedule and what you can commit to. Freelancing allows you to explore new industries and clients and have flexibility. It also requires you to be available on short notice. There are many opportunities out there that allow for flexibility in your schedule, including working from home or working night shifts. Analyze what fits best fits for you. Do you want to stay within a morning schedule? Can you work late nights and long hours?

5. Set yourself up to manage your finances differently. Check in with your accountant, learn how to create a budget, and stick to the budget. Making the change from being a full-time employee to a freelancer changes how you approach your personal finances. Your pay schedule is going to be different, and you will have to think about your healthcare plan as well. It is important to make a financial plan and stick to it. Always keep in mind that the freelance industry has slow periods, and you need to prepare for weeks of no work.

6. Make connections. Get out there and network! There are several day and afternoon events for industry professionals. You’ll see a mix of other creatives looking to make connections, and recruiters looking for new talent to fill open jobs. Connecting with a staffing agency can set you on the right track to your next career move. They can discuss new open opportunities and help you narrow down what roles you would like to be considered for.

7. When changing industries, you need to be flexible about your rate and title. Ending a full-time role is an opportunity to change industries. When making the change into a different industry, it is important to be open and willing to take direction. In today’s job market, many will face a Catch 22 situation in which you might have to take a pay cut for a short time in order to open up the door for opportunities that can benefit you in the long run. Think of it as an investment in building your career in the new industry. Also, consider being flexible in your job title. While you may have been an Art Director in one industry, you might have to go for hands-on design to get into a different industry. Flexibility with your job title and rate can widen your opportunities.

8. Make sure the amount of freelance work you take is manageable. When entering the freelance world after having steady employment, it is important not to bite off more than you can chew. Always get a clear scope of work, and set clear expectations, schedules, rates, and contingencies. It may be tempting to take on multiple projects with different schedules, scopes, and deadlines. It can be tempting to take on as much work as possible to keep income flowing in. . However, without the proper scope of work, time management, and understanding of how much work you can do at once, you run the risk of burning bridges with potential clients you are trying to build a lasting relationship with. Try not to think about much work you can take on at once, but how much you can produce at a high quality, so you can have satisfied clients that keep coming back.

The post Setting Yourself Up to Freelance, Successfully appeared first on UpSource.

For many creatives and marketing teams, the creative brief has been the end-all, be-all of the project launch process for a long time. But according to the Content Marketing Institute, today’s industry demands 76% more content than before—and the traditional creative briefing process can’t keep up with that velocity. That’s why the most successful teams are embracing a new approach to project launch.
This new eBook combines industry research with expert input from some of today’s top creative and marketing professionals to bring you everything you need to perfect your team’s project launch process.
You’ll learn:

• Going beyond the traditional creative brief
• Defining the creative brief the assignment brief
• Best practices for mastering the assignment brief

Kicking projects off right the first time means better creative, faster. Download Perfecting Project Launch to get started!
Perfecting Project Launch is brought to you by the workflow experts at inMotionNow, who help in-house creative teams do more of the work they love with the inMotion creative workflow management solution. Want to perfect more of your creative production process? Check out their additional resources.

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Most creatives have found themselves stuck in a creative rut at some point or another. For starters, in-house creative teams have to keep up with more work than ever before. According to the 2016 In-House Creative Services Industry Report, nearly half of the in-house creative teams of every size reported working on over 1,000 projects a year!
But sometimes more work is only part of the problem. Here are four other possible explanations for why your creative spark feels shot.
1. You’re missing personalized communication.
Now that we’re well into the digital age, more and more in-house agencies are embracing the idea that different team members don’t necessarily have to be in the same location to work together. The 2016 In-House Creative Services Industry Report found that 59% of in-house creative teams currently have team members in more than one location. Digital work environments can definitely have their upsides, from providing creatives more flexibility to allowing for a more diverse team. But most in-house creatives rely on healthy, regular dialogues about their work for inspiration—and improvement. If in-person communication is lacking, or digital collaboration is occurring without a personal feel, your creativity can take a hit.
2. You’re spending too much time on administrative work.
Sixty percent or less of work time is actually spent productively, according to an Atlassian study. So where is the other 40% of the creatives’ time going? Unproductive meetings and unnecessary emails are definitely chief offenders. But according to the , over 66% of creatives report their teams spend at least an hour every week on administrative tasks. It can be hard to feel inspired when digging through email, collating feedback, managing versions, and tracking down project info is encroaching on creative time. If you’re struggling to produce the amazing work you were hired for, it might be because you don’t have enough creative time and space in your workday.
3. Your colleagues are overwhelmed.
Sometimes getting stuck in a rut has more to do with the people you work with than the environment you work in. Creatives thrive on collaboration and feedback, which means it’s vital that your colleagues, managers, and clients avoid becoming so overwhelmed that they’re unable to give you what you need. A study conducted by the Center for Creative Leadership found a whopping 83% of employees reported that their time is wasted by managers or colleagues with too much on their plates. If your creativity is feeling stifled, take a look at what’s going on with the people you work with. Their workloads might be negatively influencing your creative spark.
4. Your creative process takes too long.
Most creatives are all too familiar with delays during the creative process. According to the inMotionNow Workflow Checkup, for 73% of creative teams, getting final approval on an asset takes at least two days. Meanwhile, for 62% of creative teams, it takes two or more rounds of review to get final approval. It’s easy to feel disconnected from the creative work you’re producing if your process is regularly taking much longer than expected. And for many creatives, a personal connection to their work is one of the essential fuels for creativity. Take a look at if the length of your process is devaluing how you feel about your work—it could be the reason you’re feeling uninspired.
For more content tailored to creatives, check out the other resources at inMotionNow.com.
Ellie Baldini is the Content Marketing Manager at inMotionNow. Having been a member of several creative teams herself, Ellie knows the challenges of inefficient workflows. Ellie draws on her experience to connect creatives and marketers with the benefits of inMotion, so more teams can get back to doing the work they love.

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Interviewing can be a chore for many hiring managers. Usually it’s because the vetting process hasn’t given you concrete information, and hasn’t properly prepared you to meet a candidate. In addition, the candidate has been asked the same set of questions over and over, which can make the conversation stale.
Here are eight questions to include in your interview that should spark life into the process and get you the information you need to conduct a revealing interview.

1. I am assuming, you’ve been given a lot of information about our organization and role. Given what you’ve learned, why are you interested in working here?
2. Why are you a pleasure to work with?
3. Why are you a challenge to work with?
4. What do you hope to accomplish in the first six months in this role?
5. Give me an example of a mistake you made and how you rectified it.
6. What is your strategy on the first day of work?
7. How did you get to know the people in your current or last role?
8. What type of feedback will you need from me as your manager?

The answers to the questions will reveal lots of information about your potential employee. For example:
Question 1 tells you if they did their research and prepared for the meeting. It will also tell you a bit about how they approach work.
Questions 2 & 3 identify how much they know themselves and if they are secure in their skills.
Questions 4 & 5 let you know if they plan well, how they think, and what they will contribute.
Questions 6 & 7 reveal how they work with a team and what their leadership qualities are
Question 8 reveals how they will work with you.
Nathalie Heywood-Smith
Nathalie Heywood Smith has created and executed thought leadership, reputation management and social media programs. She has helped professionals transition into new careers, graduates embark on their career journey and executives position
themselves for emerging growth. Former Vice President at Update Inc., she started the division Update Creative and directed all business development and strategy for the recruiting firm.
Come see Nathalie moderate our speaker panel on their career journeys on Sept 29 in NYC at In-House Perspectives 2.

The post 2-Minute Tip: Ten Best Interview Questions For Managers appeared first on UpSource.

Presenting is not easy. It takes thought, planning and practice.
I find that the most successful presentations don’t drone on for years. Getting to the point quickly through a detailed path is key. Keep it simple with a concise beginning, middle and end, like a case study.

1. Objective

2. Solution

3. Next steps

Your voice is also a crucial presentation tool. Monotone presenters put everyone to sleep and don’t come across as excited about their product. A sense of energy and excitement about the product or idea goes a long way to engage your audience.
Most conference centers have the ability to record meetings these days, so if you really want to see where you need to improve, watch yourself present. It’s an eye-opening and traumatizing experience but worth it, if you’re ready to take your skills to the next level.
Think about if the shoe was on the other foot and you were the person being presented to. What would you want and not want to hear and see?
Robin Colangelo
VP, Board of Directors, InSource

The post Get to the Point appeared first on UpSource.

As leaders, we must follow our gut instincts because when we don’t, it certainly comes back to bite us.
Years ago I was on the fence about transitioning an employee from another team into Creative Services as a interactive designer. Sadly, I thought a warm body was better than nothing so took the chance against my own better judgment.
What a dumb decision that was.
My initial instinct that the individual wasn’t the correct fit could not have been more accurate. The individuals’ shenanigans created a poisonous environment for the rest of the staff and became an all consuming messy clean up for me.
It took months of documenting and trying to correct bad behavior before HR was comfortable with me relieving the person from their job.
So in the end, I created more work and aggravation for myself and my team instead of holding out for the right fit.
Lesson learned.
Robin Colangelo
I AM IN-HOUSE : White & Case
VP, Board of Directors, InSource
@RobinColangelo4

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Can’t find the right image?
After searching and searching for weeks for a global image to depict a particular industry to align with our new brand, we were still coming up with nothing that would stick.
Several designers had given it a shot, multiple client meetings to discuss direction had taken place and still, nothing was sticking.
I then recalled a speed brainstorming session I participated in at the in-HOWse HOW conference in Boston a couple of years ago. We tried everything else, so why not give the speed-dating concept a whirl.
We gave the entire creative services team—all roles, around the globe—10 minutes to come up with image choices based on several key words, searching any stock photo site of their choice.
The result? We nailed it. Three strong images came out of this search and the client picked one. Gotta love when a plan comes to together!
Robin Colangelo
I AM IN-HOUSE : White & Case
VP, Board of Directors, InSource
@RobinColangelo4

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From interns to your most experienced team members, everybody can use coaching no matter what their discipline. If you have pride in your work, as most people do, improvement is a career-long pursuit. As a team member of various in-house agencies over the years, I have always welcomed input, whether I agreed with it or not. In the vast majority of cases, the creative director was making a valid point and my work was easily adjusted to incorporate his or her thinking. The work was better for it. And, if there was disagreement, at least I had a chance to share my thinking. On the other side of the coin, as a team leader, I have seen the most success from following these five tips:

1. Coach in-person. When making suggestions, I’ve learned the right way to do it is in person. It’s important to give your team members, whether writer, art director, designer, producer, or digital artist, a chance to explain and/or justify their thinking. Sometimes that will change your mind. The benefits of productive dialogue outweigh the alternative of scribbling some direction on a piece of copy or layout and sending it back without any discussion whatsoever. It’s demotivating at best. Sure, in certain circumstances it may be unavoidable, but it should be the last option, not the first.

2. Keep it in the team. When possible, it’s best when coaching comes from within the in-house creative team, rather than from another job function or team (account service, marketing, sales, segment director, etc.) Although it is rare to find a perfect situation where this behavior never happens, it can be beneficial if external coaching is kept to a minimum. It seems that this external coaching, from other departments or teams, is often subjective and can be irrelevant if feedback involves creative direction. e.g. “Can you make the logo bigger?” “I don’t like that photograph.” And the list goes on.

3. Keep Criticism Constructive. It is common to see creative directors with an art or design background critique concepts by questioning the typeface, leading, kerning, or position of copy/photography and never address the fundamental idea. Keep the priorities straight. Some of those calls are entirely subjective and don’t affect the communication. Again, this type of feedback is demoralizing, at best, so resist the urge and critique only when necessary.

4. Tie goes to the creator. As a team leader, I have had a lot of success in my career by letting the creative person or team win the “tossups.” When it was a 50-50 call, it was more motivating to let the people working for you win the argument. The perceived freedom also cultivated a more creative environment for future projects.

5. Show and tell. An unexpected coaching success that I have implemented on various teams is “Show and tell.” On occasion, I’ve invited team members to bring in examples of outside work they think is great so everyone can see, discuss, and learn. Not only does this allow for learning and exposure to industry trends, but it also cultivates an environment of creative freedom.

In summary, mentoring is one of, if not THE, most important aspects of your job as a creative leader. You are not doing your job if you are not developing your talent to their fullest potential. And, in most cases, people will remember and appreciate you for that down the road. Despite what many think (“I’m not very creative”), creativity can be taught. I was fortunate enough to have my first creative director spend time teaching me the tricks of the trade, many of which I am now passing along to subsequent generations.

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For many good reasons, partnering with an outside agency makes all the sense in the world. The most obvious being your team is at or over capacity with current work and a project has come up with a deadline that you know you won’t be able to meet. Or, in trying to meet the deadline, you will be delivering less than your best effort. Another reason might be that you have a project that requires special knowledge or expertise that you don’t have within your in-house group.
When partnering, there are challenges you are inevitably going to face both internally and externally.
Internal Challenges
The first, and most obvious challenge, is budgetary. It costs money to partner with an outside agency, possibly a lot of money depending on whom you are talking to. Your management will likely want to know why they should pony up the additional funds. You want to think carefully how you answer that question, so you don’t cast aspersions on your own department. Of course, expectations will likely be higher for work from an outside agency. It needs to be good, and delivered in a way that is better than what your team would have been able to deliver, to justify the spending. And to justify your judgment.
Secondly, I’ve seen morale take a hit, because no matter how you couch the need to go outside, some of your staff will think it’s a vote of no-confidence, especially if it’s a large-budget project. The feeling that the internal team is suddenly the second string is a real likelihood. This sentiment only grows when managers are suddenly unavailable because of time spent with the outside agency. It is important to ensure that your internal team understands the need for the agency, and feels that their time, effort, and input are still valued.
External Challenges
Control, or lack thereof, is the first challenge when dealing with an agency. These aren’t your people and you aren’t going to be able to manage day-to-day activity. One thing I insist on knowing before I sign anyone up is knowing who the team is that will be working on my project. Agencies are famous for having the big shots and/or hotshots in the initial meeting, and then assigning the project, depending on its size and creative potential, to more junior people.
Further, these are people who likely work on many other brands and will be only somewhat familiar with what your brand personality and mandatories are. That makes a good brief with appropriate support materials especially critical. Having concrete budgetary restrictions and a rock-solid deliverables timeline are immensely important items within a brief. But, be smart about what and how much you share. No one likes a “data dump.” From experience, I can tell you volumes of background materials are seldom read thoroughly, so be judicious and only share what you need to.
In summary, you need to manage the internal situation just as carefully as you manage your outside agency. It certainly can be a win-win, but it’s not an automatic by any stretch.

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Projects large and small often go one of two ways when served up to the creative team by account folk:

• “When do you think you could have this by?”
• We need this no later than XX/XX/XXXX.

As to the first, it seems an innocent enough question. Almost respectful, even, given that who knows your schedule and output abilities better than you? But, sometimes, it feels more like the gauntlet is being thrown down and what the person is really saying is: “surprise and amaze me with how quickly you can drop everything else you are doing and get this done.” Especially when you are blind-sided with the question, only moments after being shown the brief (assuming there is such an animal), and the person is hovering waiting for you make a potentially bad decision on the fly.
At the very least, buy yourself some time. Resist the urge to commit to anything other than: “I’ll have a think and get back to you shortly.” The other option is to put the question back to the account person: “When do you need it by?” In nearly every case, they will have a date in mind even if they didn’t offer it up in the beginning.
Just as bad as the creative person who always says “no” or “not possible,” is the creative who always says “yes” to even the most unreasonable or impossible request. Pull a rabbit out of your hat too often, or even when it’s not really needed, and you will have trained your account team to give little thought as to what is a decent amount of time for a job to be done and done well.
Once in awhile, it’s good to do the seemingly impossible, or at least improbable, you will win friends and be more credible down the road if you need to tell someone you are being presented with an unreasonable task.
I didn’t invent this phrase, but I use it often: “The impossible we can do straight away, but miracles take a little longer.”
This POV brought to you by a member of Boom Ideanet, the creative department of the future.” (Link: http://boomideanet.com/)

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