The wild ride that is self employment

7 years in business, and 7 helpful tips

The 26th of October 2024 was my 7th business birthday! Meaning I have been fully self-employed for 7 years, which seems a little crazy that it has been that long! It’s gone by in a blur of painting, making mistakes, celebrating milestones, and a fair share of stresses - but I don’t regret leaving my part-time job and taking the plunge.

I am not going to say every single year has been rosy, full of perfect paintings, and that my business has grown from strength-to-strength, year on year. I don’t think that's real life, even though you wish for that to happen, of course. Let's not forget there was a Pandemic added in there for good measure! For all the ups, there have been some downs too, but what I can say is that this wild ride that is self-employment is worth it.

I thought it would be fun for me to share 7 tips for creative small businesses. I hope they are useful for you, however long you’ve been self employed for. When I first graduated from University, back in 2013, I would spend a long time searching the internet, magazines, and blog sites for any tips, tricks and helpful nuggets of information on the world of self-employment and wanting to work in the creative sector.

If you have any other great tips, I would love for you to share them in the comments of this post. There really is nothing better than a collaborative creative community!

1. Whatever you do, don’t EVER work for free! Seriously please don’t. It not only damages our industry, but your incredibly specialist skill is absolutely worth that money! Look at how much Starbucks charges for a regular coffee and no one bats an eyelid! I have lost count the amount of clients I have effectively lost because I have refused to work for free, or ‘exposure’. That old chestnut! It can be really demoralising, especially when you have to pitch yourself to clients against other creatives, and the client then picks the cheapest person to work with. Just know that it won’t be a reflection on your work, hold your ground and you ARE worth the fee you pitched! There is that age old phrase:

Good and cheap won’t be fast

Fast and good won’t be cheap

Cheap and fast won’t be good

2. Get some good materials. Whatever you can afford, but if you can go with great quality they will last so much longer and make your work easier. If you’re on a  budget, and you can only splash out on one or two more expensive materials, I would say paper is key. There is nothing worse than drawing or painting onto cheap paper that can’t handle your materials, pills, crinkles and makes your work look awful. Personally, I think the gold standard is anything by St. Cuthberts Mill, but other producers like Arches and Seawhite of Brighton are great options too.

   

3. Delegate tasks you’re not as strong at as soon as you can afford to. For me this was accounting. My accountants are 2 Sisters Accounting, and they’re great; they really understand small business and help me check my accounts and do my tax return for me. I can also ask any questions I may have, and they keep up to date with all of the various budget announcements and what can work for me as a sole trader.

4. Surround yourself with things that inspire you. It doesn’t matter in the slightest what this could be by the way, just make sure you’re consuming enough of it to fill that creative brain of yours. It could be your favourite books, films, podcasts, sketchbooks or scrapbooks. If you have the space to add a pin board to your wall and curate your own inspiration board, that’s a great way to look at things that spark those creative juices. If you want a snoop at my studio, you can read and see more here.

   

5. Contracts! You should always use one of your own (the AOI can help hugely here) and if you’re signing a clients contract - CHECK THE T&Cs thoroughly and always ask to change something if you’re not sure. Seriously - please check any contract a client gives you, even if you have worked with them before. To give you a bit of confidence, I have challenged a few points on previous client contracts (from both small businesses and large publishers) and things have always been changed, or explained to me. I’ve never had a single push back or refusal. Again, if you are a member of the AOI, you can email them at anytime or use their online contact form to help with commissions and contracts from clients.

6. Make sure you have an online presence. It could be your choice of socials (you definitely don’t need to be on them all, I would say pick the ones you most enjoy), but you also need a good website. There are so many great options now that have easy-to-use templates. You don’t have to stress about learning to code or using complicated templates. So many website providers use great pre-made templates that you can simply drag and drop your work into. Don’t over complicate it, and remember it is always better to have some kind of online portfolio rather than perfecting something that doesn’t yet exist. Other sites like Behance, Adobe, The AOI and the Directory of Illustration offer portfolio spaces too.

7. Be nice! Sounds really obvious, but it’s a relatively small industry, and we all want to make beautiful, cool and creative things with people who are nice, passionate and easy to work with. It won’t matter how good your work is if you’re a bit of an arse! Try not to be intimidated by anyone, ultimately everyone starts out in a similar way and if you put the effort in, it will always be reciprocated.

Remember to share any useful tips! Put them in the comments, and save this post so you can come back to them at any time. I would also love for you to share this post too, so others can comment their tips, and we can get a really great community going.

Until next time,