I am a senior Marketing major in the Bryan School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I have been a freelance web designer/developer for approximately 3 years now. I took a year off of school in between my Sophomore and Junior years in order to handle the growth that my freelance business, 336 Creative (http://www.336creative.com). In that year, I grew from 5 clients to 19, and also spent a few months living in Honduras working at a medical missionary hospital by day and freelancing at night.

How long have you been freelancing and what made you start freelancing as a student?

I’ve been freelancing for close to 3 years now. I took my first web course in basic html in middle school, and after 2 weeks knew basic HTML better than my teacher. In high school, I made a website and online payment gateway for my neighborhood lawn care service clients to manage their accounts and schedule which services when. My dad’s company hired me after that to redo their website, and from then on I started receiving referrals after referrals, the backbone of my business.

What are some of the best parts about being a student freelancer?

The best parts of being a freelancer are handsdown the flexibility that it provides. I went and lived in Honduras for a few months, but still was able to keep my business running as smoothly as if I was home. All I need is an internet connection, and I can run my business from anywhere in the world. Not only is the location-flexibilty great, but also the time-flexibility. I’m not a morning person at all, so the year I spent interning at a large advertising agency was rough because I had to be in the office at 8:30 am. On top of a 30 minute commute, that made for an extremely early morning. Now, I head upstairs to my office usually around 11:00 in the morning, and work for 2-3 hours, head to a class or two, and then come home and eat dinner. I then do various evening activities with friends or family, and then head back from my night work session, from about 11:00-2:00am. This is my most productive work time as there are no distractions since the rest of the world seems to be asleep. I would never be able to do this in the corporate environment.

What are some of the challenges you have found being a student freelancer?

The biggest challenge to me is staying focused on my work. It’s extremely easy to get distracted and unfocused as a freelancer as you don’t have a boss looking over your shoulder. You are your own boss. You’re required to keep your own self focused on your work, and you’re the one who takes the heat from the client if things aren’t delivered on time.

Another challenge to me is on the student side – after being in business for 3 years, there isn’t a lot that I haven’t come across at some point in time. So to sit in class day in and day out and being taught from a textbook how things are like in the real world is really frustrating because I’m one of those people that wants to raise my hand and say, “No, let me tell you how it really is.” So staying motivated in my classes is probably the hardest thing as sometimes it just seems like a waste of time and money.

Where do you hope your freelancing career will take you in the future?

Up until this year, I thought my freelancing business was just a means to making some money in college and something I could continue on the side after graduation. However, the last 18 months has been huge for my business. I’m now at a point where I can live off of it full-time. I’m using this last year in college to go after bigger and more involved projects that I previously would’ve shied away from because I’m at a point where I need to make the shift from multiple small projects to less projects, but ones that are bigger in scope and size.

Where can our readers see your work and read more about you?

I’m fairly active on Twitter (@themattbrown). I used to blog, but have found that I’m much more effective at microblogging. My portfolio can be seen at http://www.336creative.com. Unfortunately, since about 75% of my business is now through agency partnerships, I can’t include all of my work on my website. If you’re interested in seeing more of my portfolio, or hiring me for a project, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me. I really enjoy collaborating with other like-minded people, and hearing about everyone’s freelance process, your office, your technology, etc.

Want to be featured? If you want all the fame, please feel free to email us with the subject “I want to be interviewed!” We plan to feature one student freelancer a week.

My major is technically called as “Design Technology Innovation”, but it is just basic graphic design degree. I’m in my last semester at the University in Southern Alabama working on my BA, but as of January 2010 I have been studying from abroad in Sweden and will hopefully graduate from here. With my freelancing, I am beginning to focus on fashion, entertainment and product industries. Hoping to provide promotional materials, advertising, etc. I enjoy illustrative design more than traditional methods.

How long have you been freelancing and what made you start freelancing as a student?

I’ve been freelancing since I was 16, i’m 20 now, so 4 and 1/2 years.

To be honest, I met a girl while I was in high school and I needed some money to help her out. So I started freelancing because my job at “Smoffice Smepot” wasn’t working out very well. So I started doing small design competitions, then I got on a few biding sites and luckily enough I got a long term client from New York that really liked my work. So yeah that was a while ago… I just loved it so much I kept with it.

What are some of the best parts about being a student freelancer?

Ha not having to get up to physically go to work. I can be comfortable when I’m sick, tired, don’t have to travel to go there. Yeah, way better than a regular job for me, considering my sleeping habits.

I enjoy being creative and there aren’t many jobs that allow that. I’m happy to hear clients say “here’s the text, just send me back your concept”. Then there is the no working hours limitation, it’s good to work till 6 in the morning when your in the flow of things.

It’s interesting to me to manage myself, I feel like I’m in control of my ups and downs. It sucks when no work is coming in, but I feel really good when I get a new client. Really good.

What are some of the challenges you have found being a student freelancer?

Classes, grr. I honestly feel that my classes are the biggest hindrance of my getting work done. At the same time they are my responsibility, even online classes are irritating to do. I mean, who ever invented “History”.. yeah I need to talk to that guy.

Where do you hope your freelancing career will take you in the future?

More freelancing I hope to never have a job at a traditional design firm at a desk. I enjoy working with firms from time to time to get the experience in, and it’s a change of pace. But at the same time it would irritate me to do that for long term in a permanent position, even if it were design related.

I just want to work independently, hopefully gather a clientele large enough to manage that.

Where can our readers see your work and read more about you?

http://www.arleaux.com

The best way to get in touch is just to contact me by email or similar. I am very open to meeting other people and designers.

There are links on my site for information, also the Twitters, Facebook page, Blog, LinkedIn…Uhm I think that as all. Just email me!

Want to be featured? If you want all the fame, please feel free to email us with the subject “I want to be interviewed!” We plan to feature one student freelancer a week.

We are Graphic Design Media students who both focus on illustration and we study at the Colchester school of art, design and media in the sunny county of Essex in the U.K.
As well as studying we run a freelance design collective designing promo material for small businesses, charities, bands and club nights.

How long have you been freelancing and what made you start freelancing as a student?

We have been freelancing for about a year and a half now, we got our first job as a collective via our university working for the NHS on a drugs and alcohol awareness poster, after that we soon realized that working for clients was the best way for us to build up our portfolios so we started taking up as many jobs as possible for little or no money.

What are some of the best parts about being a student freelancer?

Again building up your portfolio and your C.V, our C.V’s are twice the size of most designers our age and we haven’t even left university yet. In the current financial climate leaving and looking for work is pretty scary but freelancing allows you to hone in your skills both as a designer and as a person uni and it gives future employers some proof of ‘real’ work rather then just uni briefs and grades. Also that little bit of extra cash never hurts.

What are some of the challenges you have found being a student freelancer?

Clients that don’t pay on time or try and pass off you contracts cause your a student is the most annoying, also people asking you to free pitch is never very cool.

Where do you hope your freelancing career will take you in the future?

We are currently looking at studio space and in to buying print machines like a letter press, screen beds and a gocco. We honestly hope to just make an honest living and create some work we can be proud of.

Where can our readers see your work and read more about you?

http://hiddendingbat.blogspot.com/

The Hidden Dingbat Collective can be contacted at hidden.dingbat@live.com.

Want to be featured? If you want all the fame, please feel free to email us with the subject “I want to be interviewed!” We plan to feature one student freelancer a week.

We want to showcase the best of the best of student freelancers, but you have to make yourself known! Give us a shout to be interviewed and possibly featured on the site!!

What are you waiting for?

I am currently attending Piedmont Middle School in Piedmont, CA. Piedmont is a town inside another town (Oakland) full of (mostly) boring people and there’s nothing to do, which is one of the reasons I started freelancing My freelance work includes web & graphic design and development . Because of my small number of “real” clients and relative inexperience, a lot of the work I get is overflow from other freelancers.

How long have you been freelancing and what made you start freelancing as a student?

I have been freelancing for a little over a year, but I’ve been designing and coding for about three years. Web design became my calling after I took an introductory course on web design at UC Berkeley. Since then, my knowledge, talent, and experience just grew.

What are some of the best parts about being a student freelancer?

My favorite part about being a student freelancer is living two worlds at once. For me, school life and work life are totally different, but the balance can be exhilarating. Most people whine about having too many things to do, while I am in my prime when under pressure. If I’m not under pressure, I get lazy The chance to meet so many other awesome freelancers is also great!

What are some of the challenges you have found being a student freelancer?

Your age and experience can definitely discourage clients, and I’ve been turned away more than a few times just for that. As a student freelancer, you have to just keep your head held high, and remind yourself that they don’t know what they’re missing

Another thing I have trouble with is saving time for me and my life. In the rush of student/freelance life, I often forget my family and things that are truly important. Just this past weekend, I conquered that challenge and went to see Kickass with my friends and it was awesome!

Where do you hope your freelancing career will take you in the future?

Attending a university and getting a degree is my main goal at the moment. I also hope to establish a creative design team of a handful of talented developers. We would travel the world and work for awesome clients!

Where can our readers see your work and read more about you?

My website http://lickynee.com/ is my main portfolio. I also blog and tweet. Recently, I’ve started experimenting with selling items on the Envato Marketplaces. If you think you might want to join my future design team, just send me an email!

Want to be featured? If you want all the fame, please feel free to email us with the subject “I want to be interviewed!” We plan to feature one student freelancer a week.

I started out at CSU Northridge, majoring in Animation, and am currently finishing up my degree in Media Arts and Animation at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online. I was skeptical about going to “online art school” at first, but I’ve learned that it’s really in-depth, and almost feels tougher than taking a course in a classroom setting! It also allows me to do school on my own schedule that fits into my freelancing. I take classes on everything from modeling in 3DS Max to figure drawing skills and video editing. Most commercial artwork is developed on computers anyway, so why not the classes themselves? It’s helpful to be able to see video tutorials and lessons that directly teach me how to use the software in the industry, and to get critiques from teachers who currently work at big places like Dreamworks. I love being able to ask for advice in getting into companies like those!

As far as my freelancing with Laci Morgan Creations goes, I operate my business out of my home in Grand Terrace, CA. It’s been fun transforming one of the rooms into an office, complete with wacom tablets, Disney posters on the wall, art supplies, and textbooks galore! I like working in a space with lots of personality. I specialize in character designs, logos, and family-friendly short animations, and I tend to get a lot of clients that are seeking the “Disney-ish” style of artwork, which I’m good at mimicking. However, when work gets slow, I take on jobs in everything from graphic design to wedding invitations. My most unique project so far has been designing a logo for a “dog waste removal” company that wanted poop in the graphic. That was a challenge to make appealing, to say the least!

How long have you been freelancing and what made you start freelancing as a student?

This will be my second year of freelancing full time, though I’ve had a lot of practice doing projects to family and friends as favors. I made the decision to freelance after working at the Disneyland Resort for two years, where I taught park guests how to draw Disney characters like Mickey, Donald, and Pooh on model. It was fun, but I really struggled with the low pay and crazy schedule. (I had to work every holiday and weekend, and just barely was able to get the time off for my own wedding!) I struggled with working so often and late, and still being able to have the energy to do schoolwork or spend any time with my family. Those things are so important to me, and I wasn’t willing to sacrifice them. So after doing a lot of research on running a business, I made the leap of faith into full-time freelancing and haven’t looked back. I’m so glad I did! Luckily, my time at Disney has given me some good skills that are highly marketable in the freelance world. I’m grateful to them for the lessons I learned there, and I do hope to make it to the studio side of things one day. I just had to learn for myself that working within the resort side was not the best fit for me.

What are some of the best parts about being a student freelancer?

It’s wonderful being able to make my own hours! I’ve discovered that I’m NOT a morning person. I get groggy and grumpy. So I tend to do my best work in the afternoon or evening, when I seem to get a little more pep and mental clarity. Working at home also allows me to save money by eating lunch in, and I can even take the time to take a break and walk my dog outside for a little bit. But the best part is that I can finally spend holidays with my family again, and not have to wonder whether I’ll be working through Christmas. Even if I do have a lot of work on my plate, I can take it with me thanks to my trusty MacBook Pro!

What are some of the challenges you have found being a student freelancer?

I’ve learned a lot about what NOT to do when starting out as a freelancer, haha! You’ve got to be pretty disciplined and plan your time accurately. I also found it tough to pinpoint my prices at first. When I look back at what I charged for those first projects (versus the amount of time they required in the end), I cringe, but I know that I also gained a lot of valuable experience and some solid portfolio examples. You also want to remember not to be TOO eager to jump into work and underestimate the time each project will actually take you. Make sure that you’re paid accordingly!

I think the toughest part about freelancing, especially as a student, is in learning to run a business well. Many art or design students may be able to create masterpieces, but they’ve never been taught how to keep track of invoices, handle taxes, manage files and write contracts, which is crucial to running a freelance business successfully. Forums and blogs like www.freelanceswitch.com were incredibly helpful to me when I started out. There were things mentioned that I had never thought about putting in my first contract draft, like the importance of retaining certain rights to the artwork, or putting in writing what would happen if the client canceled a project halfway through. Those are things you’ll encounter frequently, so it’s good to get advice from your peers who have traveled the freelance path before you.

Finally, I sometimes get so caught up in the large pile of work and schoolwork sitting on my desk that I forget why I got into the field in the first place. It’s easy to get busy and stop creating work for yourself, or to let your creativity and effort on school assignments fall back when you’ve got a client deadline that’s eating up your “creative juices.” Try to surround yourself with reminders of why you love doing what you do, and take the time to learn a new skill or create art just for you at least once a week if not more. For example, this weekend I went and watched Dreamwork’s “How to Train Your Dragon,” and by the time it was over, I felt a renewed passion for the animation field. I found myself wanting to go jump on my computer and practicing making textures on my characters like in the movie. I try to remember that even the best artists were once students just like us.

Where do you hope your freelancing career will take you in the future?

I hope that it will give me a strong portfolio with a lot of variety that I can one day show to a big studio when I’m ready for an internship or even a permanent job in animation or illustration. I also hope that I will have learned some good business skills that will help me in future dealings at my job. Or who knows…maybe I’ll end up liking freelance work so much that I’ll just be able to keep doing it for the rest of my life. That would certainly be nice when I’m ready to start a family!

Where can our readers see your work and read more about you?

I try to keep my website, www.lacimorgancreations.com, updated with my latest portfolio pieces. I’ve also just started a blog that will follow my artwork processes from start to finish, www.lacimorgan.blogspot.com, though it’s still a work in progress. Feel free to email me or send links to your blogs, too…I love to hear from fellow student freelancers and share ideas and frustrations! Maybe one day we’ll end up collaborating…

Want to be featured? If you want all the fame, please feel free to email us with the subject “I want to be interviewed!” We plan to feature one student freelancer a week.

I graduated in 2009 with a Bachelor of Visual Communication (Major in Graphic Design) from The University of Newcastle, Australia. I’ve only just stopped being an (official) student, though I am always learning and will continue throughout my whole life. My freelancing consists of a whole range of fields: identities, websites, packaging, posters and even car wraps. I like to keep things diverse.

How long have you been freelancing and what made you start freelancing as a student?

I’ve been freelancing for about 5 years now… I started freelancing as a student so I could have more experience in what ultimately I’d be doing at some stage after school. It’s a great way to get real world experience.

What are some of the best parts about being a student freelancer?

As I said above, the fact you are getting experience for what ultimately is going to be your career.

What are some of the challenges you have found being a student freelancer?

There are always going to be challenges no matter what you do, however as a student freelancer, time management was one of the hardest challenges… staying focused on your student and client work is vital.

Where do you hope your freelancing career will take you in the future?

At the moment I work full time at an agency and do freelance on the side. I hope to continue this for a while as it’s quite enjoyable.

Where can our readers see your work and read more about you?

You can find me all across the internet but I am most active on Twitter & Facebook and my own blogs.

My Facebook Profile – I share lots of links here.
My Facebook Group – You can promote your own stuff here.
Facebook Fan Page – Keep up to date with new posts from JCD.
Twitter – Where I share LOTS of design related links.
LinkedIn – The business me.
StumbleUpon – Things worthy of a thumbs up.
Digg – Websites I find useful and great.
Del.icio.us – My many bookmarks.
Foursquare – Where I am in real life.
I also have an agreegator of most of these services at http://jacobcass.com

My Blogs:

Just Creative Design: Just Creative Design was launched in November 2007 as my design business and also as a graphic design blog. The blog focuses on all areas of design and creativity, ranging from but not limited to; graphic design, logo design, web design, advertising, branding, typography, designers, blogging, resources, my work, photography, colour, marketing, social media, user experience and more. Quite varied, however the underlying focus is design!

Logo Of The Day: Logo Of The Day is a high-profile logo design award scheme that rewards the best professional logos and trademarks designed throughout the world. All suggested logos are screened by myself & Jeff Fisher to ensure this. Logo Of The Day is also a place to come for logo design inspiration… daily! It is also a place to discuss, share & rate logo design!

Logo Designer Blog: Logo Designer Blog is a blog focused purely on branding, logo & identity design. It is a place for logo design discussion, inspiration, tips and resources (and then some) provided by myself and the many contributors to the site. Please feel free to submit an article to the site.

Want to be featured? If you want all the fame, please feel free to email us with the subject “I want to be interviewed!” We plan to feature one student freelancer a week.

Right now I’m attending Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, British Columbia trying to get a degree in Computer Sciences. I’m a part time freelancer and currently hold a job with a company called Vancast Investments as a systems administrator. Vancast is an umbrella company that covers two other companies called “Art Knapp” and “Way to Grow”. Both companies are focused around home and garden products and retail. On my website you can see that a lot of my work has been done for Vancast’s child companies; Art Knapp’s retail site, artknappsurrey.com, was built by me under ThinkTank Design. I’ve constructed also handful of PHP applications for Vancast as well. Applications like Automailer, a program that makes mailing lists and sends mail to everyone on those lists at a set time and date, and Xitem an inventory system that interfaces with the point of purchase systems in the Art Knapp building. Both of those Applications will be going public soon under an open source license. When I’m not running around at work, I’m trying to establish ThinkTank Design’s brand so I can collect some more clients as currently I only have a hand full.

How long have you been freelancing and what made you start freelancing as a student?

I started playing with html when I was about 7 years old. Back then it didn’t mean much to me, It was just amusing; sticking pictures of cartoon characters all over my parents web browser with the tag. It wasn’t till about ten years later that I started to really look at web development as something I wanted to do as a career. Previously I wanted to be an architect but that changed after I realized that I would have to spend years drawing I-beams for a corporation that didn’t care about my artistic talent. Just after graduating from high school I worked for my uncle, Mike Sjokvist, during the summer as an extra hand around the office. My uncle Mike owns Splatter Graphics and is a freelance web designer. After the summer my outlook changed. I decided I wanted to take of freelancing myself was because of the experiences had while working at Splatter Graphics. Then there was still the fact I didn’t see a future as an architect anymore.

What are some of the best parts about being a student freelancer?

I can still live at home and not feel bad about it…? Lol just kidding. I’d have to say that if anything freelancing is hard to do while being a student, at least for me. I also work a Job 4 days a week 9am – 5:30pm so finding time to get things done usually extends into the wee hours of the morning (kinda like right now haha, its 2:27am). I do love learning though, so being a student seems to keep my brain well fed.

What are some of the challenges you have found being a student freelancer?

Other than not having time to sleep, I’d have to say finding time for my friends and love ones is a challenge as well. People are very important to me as I’m a very social person. I need to interact with people to prevent myself from turning into a strange geek that mumbles source code to himself. Lol, all kidding aside, I love what I do, it just literally consumes my life.

Where do you hope your freelancing career will take you in the future?

As soon as I’m done with my degree and I’ve got some savings to play with I’d like to buy a nice condo in the downtown core of Vancouver. I’d scale up ThinkTank Design and open an office to work out of, as well as fill it with some talented people to work with. Other than that I’m pretty easy to please. So long as I keep producing work that makes me, and others happy then I will be happy as well.

Where can our readers see your work and read more about you?

Well a good place to start would be thinktankdesign.ca; my site. I’m on twitter as @RobertWHurst and FreelanceSwitch under the same username. I’m also on Facebook and if I like you I might even add you as a friend. Other than that I’m not really sure. I’m not very established yet so I’m still pretty obscure, by I’m still very new in the web developer community. I’ve just turned 20 this January so I’ve got some years ahead to polish my skills still.

Want to be featured? If you want all the fame, please feel free to email us with the subject “I want to be interviewed!” We plan to feature one student freelancer a week.

A month ago I just completed my Bachelor of Business, with majors in marketing and management. In my freelancing I’m doing web design/development, application development and some internet marketing as well, pretty much in that order.

How long have you been freelancing and what made you start freelancing as a student?

I started freelancing in early-mid 2007. At the time I was living off winnings from playing poker online, and I wanted a bit of side income for some stability. In freelancing, it’s normal to have slow months and good months, but in poker, it’s normal to have the occasional month where you actually lose money. When I started freelancing, I was in a losing streak at poker, and knew I needed a better way to make money. The fact that I was a student didn’t really weigh into my decision too much, except that I had plenty of spare time.

What are some of the best parts about being a student freelancer?

The best thing about being a student freelancer for me was being able to do something useful. Some people get a job in a supermarket and do mindless work, whereas being a freelancer allows you to be much more fulfilled in the work you do.

The other great part about being a student freelancer is that the pressure isn’t on to bring in money all the time. Starting a freelance business as a student is always going to take time because you don’t have many contacts, and while you may be good at what you do, you don’t have any real world experience in it. Building up repute and business skills takes time, and it’s great to do that so that when you finish uni, you’re business has been built to a point where you’re making enough money.

Another great part of being a student freelancer is the flexibility. Got exams? No worries – just schedule work later.

What are some of the challenges you have found being a student freelancer?

To be honest the hardest part for me was finding the time and willingness to do assignments and study. I was much more freelancer than student, that’s for sure. And my grades did suffer as a result. But that’s the beauty of being a freelancer – literally nobody but your mother cares about your grades.

Another challenge being a student freelancer is just the general inexperience that you have. When I was first asked about things like “vendor support agreements” and “Service level agreements” and stuff like that, I really had no idea at all what I was supposed to do. I’ve made plenty of expensive mistakes that I’m sure I wouldn’t have made if I was more experienced in business/life.

Where do you hope your freelancing career will take you in the future?

Eventually I’d like to be selling products rather than a service. I’ve teamed up with a couple of other freelancers to build some products and hopefully in time, sales from those products will mean that I don’t have to do as much freelancing work. At the moment I’m still learning and growing rapidly, so there’s still a lot of fun in just freelancing. One of my goals for this year is to minimise the time I spend on projects by outsourcing work, so I can focus on making more sales at higher prices.

Where can our readers see your work and read more about you?

I’ve recently started a blog on freelancing at www.6figurefreelancing.com. One of the products I mentioned earlier is a sales/project/invoice management application for freelancers called Freelance Total, which I use for my own business. And finally my freelancing business website is http://www.vdpwebsites.com.au.

What would you tell a fellow student who wanted to start freelancing? What piece(s) of advice would you give them?

My piece of advice would be to figure out what your goals are. If you want to keep freelancing after you’ve graduated, maybe it’s worth trying to build a client base, make filling your schedule a priority over getting higher rates, build up recurring business, and start exploring partnerships with other freelancers. Focus on building up testimonials and helping businesses.

If freelancing is just something to pay some bills, stick to your rates, and focus on building a portfolio that shows off your skills. Try to get some work with some agencies that you may want to work with later. Build up passive income by making themes or other things that can be sold without support.

Basically, try to figure out some goals as early as possible, and work towards them.

Want to be featured? If you want all the fame, please feel free to email us with the subject “I want to be interviewed!” We plan to feature one student freelancer a week.