If you are a freelance creative
professional, you may have chosen your career path to avoid the restrictions
that a corporate career demands – bureaucracy, time commitments, travel, long
hours, and irrational leaders. And, you want to spread your creative wings and
let your spirit fly, right?
Funny thing though - the
corporate world actually provides an enormous opportunity for freelance
employment, but there is a minor Faustian bargain that must be made when working
within those structures. Your job is not to be a creative guru, nor have
you been brought in to dazzle with artistry – you are there to dazzle with
results.
It is critical for creative
professionals to understand that corporate clients hire freelance creative
professionals because they can’t do what you can do with the resources and
talent at their disposal. They have a complicated problem, and they need your
unique abilities to make it go away. Period. They don’t really care about your
passion, your skill, your craft, or your process – they just want their problem
solved as soon as possible. This may assault your ego, but that is why you get
paid: to make their problem go confidently away, and as soon as possible. If
you can do so with creative acumen and brilliance, even better – but don’t
expect them to bow to your brilliance.
People in the corporate world are
the same as you and I, but they have to live in that world. They can’t really influence
their system, and neither can you, so you must embrace working within that
structure. And, you can enjoy the fact that as a creative freelancer you can be
the breath of fresh air in their structured, routine workdays. Creative work is
the fun stuff - as long as you don’t give them any cause for concern, you can (and
should) be the best thing in their week. People love working with freelance
creatives, and they want to love working with you – don’t give them any reason
not to.
What is required of you in the
corporate world, ahead of all creative deliverables, is the provision of
confidence. Make it clear that you have the vision, and that everything will be
OK. You are the oracle. You are the solution. The client needs to trust that
your expertise will give them what they need – not just what they want. If that
trust is lost, then you are in for a really difficult gig. But if you give them
what they need, they will reap results, and you reap the reward. Don’t
over-reach on the job – just be focused, efficient, and “professional” in every
sense of the word.
A creative freelance professional
is hired to make time-based, thought-intensive challenges go away. The client
needs ideas, they need innovative plans, and they want your relationship to be
fun – as long as you provide accountability so they can trust that their bosses
won’t hammer them later. You are getting paid so they can shine. So get
polishing, comfortable in the knowledge that your time in the corporate world
is on your terms, according to your strengths.
