Staying Creative Presentation

1. S TAY I N G C R E AT I V E
Lessons for freelancers

2. HI THERE
My name is Eoghan McCabe
(@eoghanmccabe)

3. Founded Contrast in 2008
EOGHAN
Freelancing for 5 years

4. S TAY I N G C R E AT I V E
Lessons for freelancers

5. @eoghanmccabe
These creative ideas are food for
thought for smart freelancers “a prince who is not himself wise
cannot be well advised”
— Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
Just do
E V E RY T H I N G
right
“Overall advantage or disadvantage
results from all a company’s activities,
not only a few.”
— Michael E. Porter, What is Strategy?

6. C H E A P, E A S Y, D I S P O S A B L E
Some thoughts on the economics of freelancing

7. Let’s explore some
uncomfortable truths...
Freelancers are like foot
soldiers in drug gangs
understanding
THE ECONOMICS
is the key to success
Economics “represents
how [the world] does
actually work”
— Levitt & Dubner (rather than how
in Freakonomics we want it to work)

8. design skills? best Nope No
practice prowess?
They’re low risk,
dependable?
WHY HIRE A FREELANCER?
So the answer is...
Nah Chance to work with an
industry rock star

9. Easy to fuck over
Cheap
BECAUSE FREELANCERS ARE...
Why?
Easy to manipulate

10. Naive about their
Nice, unassuming people specific value
BECAUSE FREELANCERS ARE...
but this is
great news
Very new to the real
world of business

11. .
You can learn life- You can stand out
lasting business lessons from the masses
If you understand
THE ECONOMICS
You can become
sometimes, It's Not How Good You
very successful Are, It's How Good You Want To Be

12. DECENT EXPOSURE
Let’s talk about marketing

13. When an Apple product speaks for itself,
they let it speak for itself
G R E AT M A R K E T I N G
is all about exposing great products

14. EXPOSED, NAKED, NUDE

15. Let your awesomeness shine
EXPOSE YOUR PRODUCT
Be transparent, approachable
Be up-front about your price

16. #naive #harmless #angry #fucker
2005 2010

17. .
Be a genuine Purple Cow
SEO, Social Media marketing...
it’s not your thing—leave it
to the other guys
BE SOMEBODY
Be the web design guy
Nobody wants Johnny Freelancer
(sorry, Johnny)

18. T H E R E ’ S A R I G H T WAY
And there’s a wrong way

19. There are some rules of
thumb that will help you
An easier life requires specific
WORK PRACTICES
aka, professionalism
Freelancers are terrible at this
because it comes from experience

20. ...but “avoid clients whose ethos
is incompatible with yours” “erosion of moral is expensive”
— David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising
Not all
CLIENTS start small with all clients,
steer clear of big
are created equal commitments
“The [project] in hand
is the opportunity”
— Paul Arden You are nobody’s bitch

21. Business relationships should Always set clear expectations
have very specific terms
Let’s be
FRIENDS
Always exactly meet
expectations
A friendship is a
relationship with no terms

22. .
We always avoid
We never get confrontations
personal in and arguments
disagreements
We write clearly, GROW UP
concisely and
proper-like???!? LOL “Let the other person save face”
— Dale Carnegie, How to Win
Friends and Influence People
We are not
children in a
school yard

23. MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Some business lessons for freelancers

24. Your clients aren’t going to
sue you Write your own, short,
plain-speaking contracts
I ’ M N O T A L AW Y E R B U T. . .
You are not going to sue anyone

25. Practice Pricing
on Purpose
To grow your income, increase your
R AT E A N D H O U R S
increase rate to
control demand Let’s assume
people want to
work with you!
Work backwards
from cost

26. .
Encourage clients to
assume risk—discounts
for up-front payment
Always keep your Give me some
exposure low—be
consistent CREDIT
Who do you trust
enough to lend $1,000?

27. B E I N G AW E S O M E I S AW E S O M E
Some notes on being a great web designer

28. “There is no substitute for talent.
Industry and all its virtues are of If you really suck,
no avail.” — Aldous Huxley nothing else matters
Stupid question, but...
W H Y S H O U L D I B E AW E S O M E ?
You only get one shot at this life
—why do anything half-assed?

29. So you want to
B E AW E S O M E
John Cleese said...

30. You must create a
TORTOISE ENCLOSURE
with boundaries of space and time
http://bit.ly/f8Tql

31. Actively produce new ideas—
there’s actually A Technique for
Producing Ideas
Study the Universal Principles
of Design
So you want to
Ignore trends
B E AW E S O M E
John Cleese said... You’re a shark—if you stop, you’ll die
kill interruptions
“Excellence is not an act but a habit” — Aristotle

32. .
Most of it you do for you
A quick note on
T H E VA L U E O F AW E S O M E
Some of it you do for me
The rest you do for your clients

33. IN CONCLUSION
So what I was trying to say is...

34. THANKS!
@eoghanmccabe