Freelance as Lifestyle Design: Become Location Agnostic
Beloved Contributors
Solving For Big Dreams
When I use the word dream, usually what follows are seductive stories about foreign countries or passion projects. I'm always afraid of coming off as condescending because dreams come in all shapes and sizes. There is no such thing as dreams that aren’t big enough as long as they’re authentic. If you're someone who just wants more time to relax without having to work 5 days a week, that’s great. But you probably don't need my help figuring out how to do that. If your dreams come in size XL, you might need some additional resources to pull them off.
Becoming a Digital Nomad
Finding Work Abroad
When it comes to working from abroad, I have admittedly little experience. Generally when I’m traveling, I’m not interested in being responsible for anything, even if its just the safety of my laptop. That said, finding remote work is pretty commonplace and I don’t think clients care when you’re in Manhattan or Mumbai as long as you’re delivering in the right time zone. I consulted my panel of experts to see what their experience was with remote work and what advice they had on finding remote clients.
Mitch Myers
"Almost all of my clients are 100's of miles away from me. Mostly on the coasts (LA, NY) and some overseas. I have mainly developed my relationships with them just through good ole' fashioned talking. Truthfully, most of the opportunities I have been given in my career so far have been by just asking for it. Don't ever be afraid to ask for what you want if you see value in yourself."
Nate Reininga
"Who do you know in cities you want to be in? For example, I decided I'd like to be in LA right now, so I tried to find work in LA. For me, this process has been 95% been word of mouth and connections I already had. Surely you know people who know people there and they might need your services."
Lorcan O'Shanahan
"I do very little work in my city. Most of the gigs I get are through people who’ve found my work online, seen an old tutorial of mine or maybe caught one of my talks that are online. My reach has been quite organic and I believe having a very focused type of work (Fantasy User Interface) and style to match went a long way in paving a path for me. I’ve been fortunate with the projects I’ve gotten. Those have lead me to getting more similar work, each time compounding into an exponentially growing network of people, studios, and companies. They all reach out looking for my guidance where user interface meets motion graphics. There will be luck involved, a dedication to the craft of learning new skills, and then your ability to socialize through your work. I would imagine if I did want more work in my city, I would start looking at who works at the places I would like to do business and somehow reach out to start a dialog. Its not that people don’t want to work with you, they often just don’t know who you are and if they do then either your work isn't good enough (practice harder), they forgot you (you need to curate your online presence better), or timing is an issue (time for another beer)"
Sekani Solomon
"I haven’t, don’t really know people. People have reached out to me. If you want to work at a place, specific client, shoot an email, the worse they could do is say no. Tricky to work remote, just a matter of making a case that it’s more efficient for them. Making them feel like you are giving them more value. Just reach out. Having more GPUs at home, GPU rendering allows me to work a lot faster than a typical studio. I haven't seen too many studios that have invested in GPU rendering tech."
Online Job Boards
A quick Google search of an area should tell you what their motion graphics presence is pretty quickly. If it looks like there are no studios to work for in your location of choice, hope is not lost. There are multiple options for finding gigs online that are remote.
Remote Work Job Boards (job boards with exclusively remote gigs)
Working
Nomads.com
Indeed
Upwork
SolidGigs
Job Boards: (job boards with the occasional remote work gig available)
Motionographer
School of Motion
Working While Abroad
Remote Working
Enlarge Your Computer Monitor Without Bringing One
“Most hotel rooms and apartments you'll work at have a TV. If you bring an HDMI cord you can plug it into any TV and boom you have yourself a large computer monitor to work off of instead of the limiting size of your laptop monitor.” -Bhakti Patel
Wifi Finder Apps
If you want to get a lay of the wi-fi landscape in a new place, there's an app for that. Wi-fi finding apps exist that locate the strongest signals in the immediate area so you don't have to waste your time canvasing the area until you find a pocket of coverage. The best ones vary depending on whether you have Android or iOS so google it and find one that suits your needs.
Buy a Mobile Hot Spot
If you need heavy duty wifi access for accessing video files (most motion graphic artists do) then you might want to buy a mobile hotspot. You’re investing in your own WiFi source that won't let you down no matter where you are. These can be a bit pricey, ranging from 50$ - $250 but if you're serious about working remotely, it's a no brainer. FYI if you are traveling internationally you might need to swap out SIM cards for different countries.
Mobile Horsepower
You may have a great laptop but in this industry, there's never enough horsepower. If you are into 3D rendering then you have a few options. You can always access your home computer using apps like LogMeIn and then grab the renders from the cloud. Or you can pay for cloud-based rendering services like Rebus and RenderStorm (great customer service) if you/ your client have the budget for it. Lastly, if you want a local power-boost you can always append your current rig with external GPUs to bring your horsepower with you.
Communication Tools
Frame.io
This platform is a godsend for posting renders of your work for clients to view. It gives them the ability to scrub through your clip and leaves comments at specific time markers so they can give crystal clear feedback on what changes they'd like you to make.
Google Hangouts
One of Google's many amazing free tools that lets you video chat with up to 8 people at a time. Great for client calls especially because you can share your screen at any point letting them view your RAM previews in real-time, saving you the time it takes to render out.
Slack
This chat platform is in the industry standard for communicating with teams. You can share conversations, pics, video, links and extremely important GIFS with individuals and teams in real-time.
Monday.com
This project management tool is great for blocking out project timelines, storing important assets like scripts in a central location that's easy to find and making sure you're on track to meet your responsibilities and deadlines.
Trello
An alternative to Monday.com, this site has a fun visual interface where you can map out different milestones in a project's lifecycle and move your card along as you complete each one. The interface makes your progress feel satisfying. I love how satisfying it is to manually move those cards along as you complete tasks.
Asana
I use this more for personal to-dos than projects but its essentially a big to-do list that lets you check off items as you accomplish them.
Getting People to Pay You For Traveling
If you're going to chasing your dreams off somewhere else, odds are you're going to need to handle some affairs first before you take off. Namely, what do you do about your current housing situation? If you're a homeowner then you can leave whenever you want. If renting out your home is something you're comfortable with then you have the ability to do so. But if you are living in an apartment and you’re in the middle of a lease then you need to sublet or rent out your rental to someone else while you're away. A lot of contracts forbid renters from subletting so check yours before listing it. If it is forbidden then it's ultimately up to you whether or not you want to roll the dice. If you get away with it, then you can potentially have someone cover pay you to live in your rental while you're away which makes traveling much more affordable.
Finding Sub-letters
Seek Out Friends and Family
The first and the best is to go inside your own network and find people you know. If you can have a friend or family move in, then at least you know someone you trust is occupying your space so that you don't have to worry about them causing problems with the landlord or your roommates. But the stars don't always align on this one. Sometimes you need to find just find somebody.
This is an awesome closed group where people post their living spaces, price and time they'll be gone and other people fill in the gaps and live there. It's a great community for everything from shorter term sublets to months at a time.
These services are also really great but they’re also public so there's a higher chance that your landlord is going to catch on. I've heard of people getting evicted from their apartment after listing their apartment in violation of their contract, so use carefully. If subletting is fine legally speaking then these are great options for finding people to pay you to travel abroad.
Finding a Place to Live Abroad That Meets Your Needs
Airbnb
+ meet locals you stay with so you make contacts organically
+ can find places that are extremely low cost and unique
Hotels
+ usually a TV is standard in each room which can serve as a monitor if you're trying to work
+ WiFi is almost guaranteed
+ good isolated place to work
- price is usually higher than Airbnb
Couchsurfing
+ totally free
+ meet people
- literally sleeping on a couch most likely
- no guaranteed spot to work
Finding a Social Network in Other Countries
Don't Stay At Hotels
Hotel alternatives like AirBnB and Couchsurfing are great options for meeting locals while you're staying abroad. Hotels offer you a place to live but don't offer any social benefits. Renting out someone's home, houseboat or couch guarantees you're going to get to talk to someone who knows the area personally and maybe they might even be interested in showing you around in person.
Go Small
SoFar Sounds is a site that lets you attend a concert in the homes of musicians across the world. Instead of going to big venue and being one of hundreds, you can have an intimate experience that's truly one of kind.AirBnB now offers something called AirBnB Experiences where locals can offer classes, tours and other services they have an affinity for that you won't find in the Lonely Planet handbook.
Hostels Are a Community
Hostels are a great waterhole to instantly find a group of like-minded travelers. People who stay at these are looking for a cheap place to stay so they can save their money for the real experiences that matter. If you can find a place to work besides your room (you're usually sleeping in a room with a bunch of other people) then these are amazing springboards for finding friends on the spot, and getting more out of your living space than just a bed. Also a lot of them have their own bars!
Internet Meetups Exist Elsewhere TooI
If you're in motion graphics you're probably already well versed in the Internet so sites like Meetup.com might not be new to you. They exist all around the world, so if you look up hobbies, sports or activities you're interested in, chances are there are people meeting up wherever you are and doing those very things too. For international travel there's also a variant called Internations.com which is a godsend.
Can't Find Work? Reframe Your Trip As A Traveling Sabbatical
In this career, there’s always a way to create value even if a client isn’t paying you for it. If you can't find work abroad, it can be an amazing time to develop your own skills. Learning is a guaranteed way to increase your value as an artist, which directly translates to the rates you can charge. Ever wanted to learn ZBrush modeling? Start a personal project? When you are away you can use the time to buckle down and improve yourself, still adding value to your career without relying on gigs to occupy your time. Reframe your trip as a sabbatical where you're there to grow and learn.
Conclusion
With this guide I wanted to try something different. Usually I'm focused on mining insights from professionals that you can replicate for yourself. Those rules don't apply to finding your own happiness. If you want to get the most out of freelancing you need to decide what’s important to you. Then, realize that you have the complete freedom to do that as often as you want as long as you cover your bases financially.
If money is supremely important to you at your current point in life, then work hard and work continuously. But there might be times when your lifestyle feels like it deserves more attention. Putting your happiness first is a concept that is frowned up in the American workforce and at the risk of being labeled a communist or a hippie (by my father) I do occasionally reject that notion and ask you to do the same. Lots of the people I’ve spoke with are a lot like me. A huge fraction of their happiness is contingent on their work. Your definition is entirely personal.
Welcome to freelancing at a philosophical level. I hope you take designing your new lifestyle as seriously as you would take a client’s design needs. You deserve at least that much consideration.
I give thanks and credit to the amazing talents who lent their insight and experience to me to cover this topic properly: Mike Winkelmann, Sekani Solomon, Mitch Myers, Lorcan O'Shanahan, Bhakti Patel, Nate Reininga, Mike Puleo, and Salima Koroma!