Self-Pimpin Ain't Easy
From Full-time to Freelance: The
Ten Commandments
by Jon Jones
Art Producer at smArtist LLC
www.jonjones.com
jon@smarti.st
@jonjones on Twitter
THE ZEROTH COMMANDMENT.
Thou Shalt Set Up a Sacred Workspace and Shun False Idols.
• Don't work where you play.
o You will always be at work, and resent it.
• Don't play where you work.
o You will never get any work done.
 Gotta do dishes!
 Gotta take forever making lunch!
 Gotta empty trash!
 Gotta feed the cat!
 Gotta bathe the cat!
 Gotta get stitches!
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.
Thou Shalt Know the Day and the Hour.
Amateur: “I’ll have it done in two hours!” Delivers it in eight hours.
Professional: “I’ll have it done in eight hours.” Delivers it in six hours.
Manager Insight: What does it say about your competence if you don't know how
long your job takes?
Don't make me do Artist Math. "2 hours" means "4 hours," "4 hours" means "8
hours," etc. Be realistic, don't just tell me what I want to hear.
If the truth happens to be what I want to hear, good. If not, let me know and we'll
work it out.
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT.
Thou Shalt Heed the Words of the Technical Guidelines Tablet.
Amateur: “Here’s the delivery!” File's a technical MESS I'll spend hours fixing.
Textures assigned wrong, files named wrong, directories assigned wrong, total
chaos. Bonus points for weird or profane filenames. (note: Not actual bonus
points.)
Professional: “Here’s the delivery!” Files are properly named, textures are
properly assigned, technical guidelines were met and I don’t have to fix anything
because he paid attention to my instructions.
Manager’s Insight: I don’t know if the Amateur just didn’t read the doc, or if he
simply didn’t understand it. If I explained it badly, I'll cop to it. But please, try your
best and ask questions.
THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.
Thou shalt heed thy client’s word to the letter.
Amateur: “Sure, I’ll incorporate that feedback!” Misses half of what I asked for and
acts like nothing’s wrong. Did he not read it, not understand it or just ignore it?
Professional: “Sure, I’ll incorporate that feedback!” Nails every single point spoton and (as a bonus!) verifies point-by-point what was fixed.
Manager’s Insight: This comes down to two points: 1) The Professional is
showing me he pays attention to what I say, and 2) he’s focused on details and
doing a good job.
THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.
Thou Shalt Be Mindful, for the End of Day is Nigh.
Amateur: “I’ll have it ready for you by the end of the day!” Submits the deliverable
at 3am, which is the end of HIS working day but is eight hours after I’ve left work
and gone home.
Professional: “I’ll have it ready for you by the end of the day!” Submits the
deliverable at 3pm, so I have another four hours to review it and write feedback.
(Technically not end of day, but early is great.)
Manager’s Insight: End of Day means the end of MY day, not the end of YOUR
day, night owl! I'd like to at least look at it before going home.
THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT.
Thou Shalt Honor Thy Customer and Thy Reputation.
Amateur: “I’m just this guy that makes art. What’s customer service? If I make
good art, that’s all that matters because that’s all they really want.”
Professional: “I’m a service provider and I take customer service seriously. I am
an artist, but my success in that depends on creating art to my client’s exact
specifications.”
Manager’s Insight: You are in the customer service business. Be responsive and
make the client happy and maintain it. It’s like dating. You work out, dress well
and get in “dating shape” to look great. Then when you’re in a relationship, you let
it slide because you’re safe. Contractors do this. Contractors should not do this.
THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT.
Thou Shalt Not Mock the Client with Feeble Protestations.
Amateur: “My dog ate my stylus!”
Professional: “I dropped the ball on this, and I will do my best to correct it.”
Manager's Insight: I don't want excuses, I want results. If you screwed up, be
honest and let me know so I can plan for that. I've heard EVERY excuse. I know
the difference between a reason and an excuse.
THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT.
Thou Shalt Form an LLC and Understand Thy Taxes.
Consult a tax professional. He will probably tell you to form a Limited Liability
Company. Look that up. It is important.
Resource: www.legalzoom.com (that's where I did it.)
Get a business bank account. Credit unions are great.
Get to know how business taxes work. Take records.
Keep receipts. Your tax guy is your best friend.
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT.
Thou Shalt Start a Website and Find a Good Domain.
1. you@yourname.com email is professional. If you use webmail, Gmail only. Hotmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc
look amateur.
2. Get a dot com. Second best is dot net.
3. Avoid weird TLDs (top level domains) if you can. Also avoid subdomains.
 Bad example: “ieatpaper.iamaprofessionalartist.co.xxx.nz.abc.123.omg”
4. If you don’t use your real name, be simple. If you say the name aloud, can people find it on the first
try?
 Bad example:
“Superdeliciousartistboythatmakesart.com/portfolio/lookatmeIamcreative!!11/”
5. Avoid internet slang.
 Bad example: “lolwutplsbesrs.net”
6. Avoid bad spelling.
 Bad example: “imaektehthreedeemodelz.net”
THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT. (cont)
Thou Shalt Start a Website and Find a Good Domain.
1. If you must hyphenate, use only one.
 Bad example: “c-o-n-c-e-p-t-artist.com”
2. Avoid complicated words.
 Bad example: “www.archaeologicalartisan.com”
3. Avoid unintentional words.
 Bad example: www.FerrethAndJobs.com (yes, this is real, it's a law firm)
4. If it takes longer than three seconds to speak aloud or explain, it’s too long.
 Bad example: “It’s incompatenceingameduhvelopment.com, but ‘incompetence’ is
spelled ‘i-n-c-o-m-p-a to be funny blah blah blah"
5. Don’t pick something offensive. If it has to do with drugs, sex, poop, communicable diseases or
Nickelback, reconsider your life.
o Bad example: “snotinmyhair.com”
6. Short and simple is best.
 Good examples: “chrisholden.net,” “autodestruct.com,” and “twotongraphics.com”
THE NINTH COMMANDMENT.
Thou Shalt Know and Love Thy Web Tools.
(but not the Biblical "know.")
Manage leads and deals.
• Resource: www.zoho.com/crm/
Manage time tracking, billing, invoicing, profit and loss.
• Resource: www.freshbooks.com
Shareable online documentation, spreadsheets, etc.
• Resource: docs.google.com
THE TENTH COMM--oh, I'm done.
For more detailed information on all
of this and more, visit my website:
www.jonjones.com
Jon Jones, Art Outsourcing Manager
jon@smarti.st
@jonjones on Twitter