Freelancing for a company - How does it work?

zoey

New Member
Introduction - I graduated in 2012, and have been working as a in-house designer for almost 2 years, within the company we do offer a design service so over the past year I have gained a few contacts etc. I will be leaving my job in a few months as I am relocating and will be keeping in contact with some previous clients who want me to do freelance work for them, some being bigger companies.

Question - How does freelancing for bigger companies work, How are you paid? When I have freelanced in the past for smaller businesses I take a 50% deposit upfront etc, but I assume its very different with bigger corporations.
 
No, it's still generally the same idea. Get your 50% deposit, and have a decent contract for them to sign that clearly states both you and your clients' responsibilities etc.

Welcome to the forums btw.
 
I often freelance in one main studio, and I never take a deposit from them, mainly because we have a good working relationship that, but also because we never know how long I'll actually be there. Two days often turns into a week when the proverbial hits the fan anyway.

They normally just ring me up asking my availability and we pencil in a number of days for me to work in the studio with their design team. I just charge per hour/day, fill in a time-sheet at the end of each day, then add up the time at the end and send them an invoice along with the timesheets.
 
Sorry my mistake, Paul is precisely right. I did exactly that for 4 years with the exception of having to fill out time sheets. I thought you meant when you leave your job you will then then become self-employed, working from your own premisses for the clients of the bigger companies.
 
I will be leaving my job in a few months as I am relocating and will be keeping in contact with some previous clients who want me to do freelance work for them, some being bigger companies.

Apologies, I don' know the full story, but is this ethical? Are these not your current employer's clients?
 
Hi all thanks for the advice. Will take this on board.

No I don't believe I'm breaking any ethnical issues on my part, my contract states I'm purely in-house, I get client work here and there but we don't offer it as a service as such.
 
No I don't believe I'm breaking any ethnical issues on my part, my contract states I'm purely in-house, I get client work here and there but we don't offer it as a service as such.

Ahhh, I see. Fair enough then :icon_smile:
 
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