How to become a freelancer

My journey from a 9 to 5 to a full time freelancer

Me vending locally at Squatchcon 2022

I knew I wanted to be a full-time artist of some kind when I was younger. The vision shifted as I grew. I wanted to draw comics first. I remember drawing pages upon pages of silly stories I made up and attempting to bind them using tape (It was a mess by the way.) Then as I made my way into middle school I dove into anime and decided I wanted to get into animation. I remember animating for hours on my old Nintendo Dsi back when Flipnote Hatena still existed. Then, I got into high school and they really drilled it into my head that I’d need something more practical. So, I joined a newspaper class and became a graphic designer. From there I had already begun working part-time at the local paper and I was stuck in the advertising and design industry for years.

However, this early love for comics never went away.

A lot of my turning points in my career was when I moved to Washington. People don’t think about it much but location can truly turn your life around especially when you were someone like me who grew up in the Midwest in Montana and Wyoming.

Don’t get me wrong, both places here are beautiful in their own way. One just had far more opportunities to offer than the other.
For Example; Wyoming’s biggest city is Cheyenne and the only “comic” convention they have is the Pop Culture Convention in Casper. If I wanted to do bigger conventions I’d have to travel significantly farther.

Washington, on the other hand, has too many comic conventions to count. Mainly Emerald City Comic Con which is the fifth biggest convention in the WORLD (that is only 2 hours from where I live.) Not to mention Portland is a completely doable 5 hour drive away as well.

This can directly affect business traffic, schooling opportunities, diversity and so much more.

When I first moved up to Washington, however, it was not instant success. I worked at Walmart then a small greenhouse for a short time before having to hop right back into the Newspaper industry to make a living. Even with more opportunity is sure is a smidge (okay maybe more than a smidge) more expensive to live up here. Though, with time and patience I began making connections.
My first freelancing gig was with a fishing pole parts company in Sequim. (Yes I know that is so random and obscure) I organized their manuals into set layouts with part numbers etc etc. I got this job from posting a Craigslist ad about my graphic design and illustration services. It was incredibly boring and not really what I wanted to be doing. However, the manager there turned out to be an organizer for the “Jet City Comic Con” (Now Grit City) in Tacoma. Which gave me my first really important connection.
From there, I kept my eye out for other conventions in the area. Especially locally. This is what lead me to my very FIRST booth experience and vending in general.
OPTTACON.

Opttacon was a gaming convention hosted locally in Sequim, WA

This is an example of an early booth of mine. I sadly do not have pictures of my first booth. This, however, was still Opttacon and you can see how minimal the layout was.

I think it was a perfect first experience. It was all local people. There was opportunity for me to showcase my stuff and meet people as amatuer as I was. I also made MORE connections here. This was around the time my friend Braiden and I started up Pugmera Studio. Which was our own comic publishing company. It was difficult, however, as Braiden had his dark and horror related comics and my art style screamed cartoonish and comedy. Our ideas and vision were a little different. Yet, even then I still loved every minute of the experience of having a company with fellow comic book enthusiasts.
Pugmera Studios probably would have lasted a lot longer if it hadn’t been for the Pandemic which we all know hit in early 2020. It was difficult for us to do any conventions and meeting up to plan wasn’t producing any worthwhile results.
So I had to make the executive decision to branch off on my own.
It was difficult because I really wanted to see Pugmera succeed, but working on my own at home seemed to be the next logical step.

An early advertisment for Pugmera Studio, LLC

From this point in time I began doing a lot of work through Fiverr. Which had its ups and downs. I did have the freedom to work through a “digital agent,” however, they took large portions of the money and charged my clients even extra for using their website. It also took nearly two weeks to have my funds transferred to me anytime I completed a job. It was somewhat annoying even if I was finally making money doing what I loved.

The positive side is that I got a whole bunch of visibility and I built a healthy client base. I did this for about six months while working a part-time job at another greenhouse. When I got sick with COVID finally in late 2021, I was essentially let go. So, I thought it was a perfect segue into becoming a full-time freelancer. I partially stopped using Fiverr. Anytime someone contacted me on there I’d just direct them to my website and they were more than happy to take out the middle man.

This naturally evolved into me taking on more clients. My portfolio diversified and my work got better and better. My published works were getting more visibility and that meant more clients. I also do a lot more shows now with my table set-up significantly improved.

Now, I organize monthly financial goals. I set doable deadlines and try to have what I need to get done for the day/week all outlined beforehand. It helps keep me focused. It’s definitely not easy. Especially trying to figure out myself and what works for me. Because it’s not the same for everyone. I have severe attention issues and that means I’ve had to come up with solutions to keep me focused which has included many therapy sessions and meetings with business advocates and marketing professionals. I’m still working on that to this day, yet I do get better with each lesson and each thing I try. I will write another article with more detail concerning what goes into that process soon.

For now, I hope this has given you some insight on how I got here and perhaps it can help you with where you want to go if Freelancing is something you’re interested in doing.

GOOD LUCK!