Starting having work- Please help

[John]

Do you have consistent work now? Are you struggling for the first years of freelancing as Dave Rapoza said in one of his conversations with Daniel Warren?

I have consistent work outside of art. A part time, on call, white collar job that I am super lucky to have. I am in this position so I can work on the art stuff and not die at the same time. The pay is not good, but this is the sacrifice I am willing to take to make my own art gig work.

My first year was a total bomb. I lived off from the savings of my old jobs to go freelance full-time. The pay was brutally low. I had to deal with low balling at its finest. I decided to pull the plug when it got to the point that the reality scared the bejeezus out of me. The reality check was: 1) I wasn't good enough to get the rates I wanted, 2) Clients pay so little.. or don't, 3) Decent clients were so hard to find (still is!), 4) Zero time for personal projects, and worst of all, 5) My savings tanked.

Dave Rapoza, Amit, and the other people who pulled it off their first year are hardcore soldiers to this game. It's not easy living off on freelance art alone. I had to cry back home to mommy because the industry is ruthless!

If ever you're pursuing full time freelance work, if I may give you a tip: always money upfront. At least get paid half of the money the client promised from the get go or, at least, in the early stage. Don't get screwed doing work for free.

EDIT:

Haha me too, almost entered in several companies but at the last momment i was suddendly dropped.

Dude! The first time that happened to me was heartbreaking! Like the opportunity was so close only to slip through my fingers! Now that that happened to me a bunch of times, I no longer anticipate, nor expect that I'll get in! Haha! It's the same feeling as buying a lotto ticket!

But, through this experience, I actually gained the ability to say "we don't want you" in the nicest possible way!