Entry-level freelancing for creators

To be a successful freelancer, you’ll need to be accessible to potential clients, flexible in your work schedule, and ready to take on new challenges. Freelancing has its pitfalls, but it can be highly rewarding.

In this tutorial, we’ll explain what freelancing is and isn’t, discuss the pros and cons of freelancing, introduce you to some freelancers in the real-time 3D industries, and outline steps to get you started.

Freelancing, also called contracting, means selling your services by the hour, day, or week, or at a flat rate for the duration of a project. Freelancers are typically self-employed. Another arrangement, long-term contracting, is similar to freelancing but for assignments that last months or years. In fact, long-term contractors are often treated just like full-time employees, and there is some controversy over whether they should be paid, taxed, and granted benefits as such.

In this tutorial, we’ll consider a freelancer as a worker on short-term assignments and as someone who must have the versatility and flexibility to take on multiple projects and roles.

Why do companies hire freelancers?

Companies hire freelancers to fill temporary gaps on teams, bring in specialized talent for certain projects, or just save money. Freelancers allow companies to expand or contract their workforces easily, without having to make or break commitments to full-time employees.

Freelancing is especially useful to companies that use rapidly changing technology, such as real-time 3D. As these companies require new and trending skills — for example, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) development — freelancers with the right experience can help teams ramp up quickly. This means that real-time 3D freelancers need to keep their skills up to date and be ready to take on new assignments.

This is not to say that all freelancers are highly experienced. Some companies hire freelancers to do entry-level work to support their full-time developers, in roles similar to an intern. In this way, freelancing can be an excellent way for a creator to begin their career.

In this video, some real-time creators tell their stories of their first freelance roles.

These creators were able to begin their freelance careers on meaningful projects in roles where they could make a real contribution. You can too!

The life of a freelancer is different from the life of a regular employee — and this life is not for everyone. Freelancing brings with it some financial instability. If jobs are not steady, pay will not be steady. In the US, being self-employed means paying the full premiums for health care insurance, which are substantial.

To stay financially stable, it’s important that freelancers charge the right amount of money for the services they provide. Hour by hour, freelancers get paid more than employees. When setting which rates to charge, freelancers have to balance carefully — they must know what other freelancers are charging to be competitive, but also charge enough to cover their higher expenses. A successful freelancer is savvy about asking for the right amount, saving money, and managing expenses responsibly.

Freelancers must also be good time managers. They must be able to make themselves available for new opportunities as they arise. When on a job, they often have to build self-discipline to meet deadlines.

On the other hand, freelancers have to know when to say no. Potential clients want to get the most for their money, and they often need help because they have tight deadlines. With experience, freelancers learn to say no when the rate is too low, the deadline is too soon, or the skills needed are not a good fit. They have to be ready to make hard decisions.

In this video, our real-time creators tell the stories of challenges they have faced.

They say it’s important to understand the environments you’re working in and find ways to collaborate! We recommend Game Jams to get started and find projects to work on. You’ll get practice working on a team, and you’ll be able to showcase your specific skills in a working project.

Why would anyone trade the security of a full-time job for a freelance career? Well, the benefits are numerous for those who can create their own security.

In rapidly changing industries, companies can come and go quickly — it can even be less secure to have a full-time job! Freelancing gives workers a way to build a career without having to rely on an employer’s success. Freelancers also build business skills that, over time, build a secure career.

Freelancers also experience a wider variety of projects and roles. By taking on a variety of projects over the course of a year, they build skills both deeper and broader than they could in a steady job.

Freelancers get to know more people and more businesses. They learn about different companies and roles where people are using real-time 3D, and build their networks of professional contacts. Before long, many freelancers gain new business mostly by word-of-mouth.

Let’s hear what our creators have to say about the opportunities available to entry-level freelancers in real-time 3D.

Freelancing is a great way to explore career directions, and the opportunities in real-time 3D are increasing!

Companies who seek freelance help know that every creator starts at the beginning — with no prior job experience. In this video, our established creators tell us what they look for in someone who is starting out.

Overall, companies look for people who care about the quality of their own work and the mission of the project they are working on. As you research potential clients, look at the mission or vision statement of each organization. Are they working for a cause or an industry you believe in? Show them your passion!

In your portfolio, include works that showcase not only what you can do, but also what you want to do. Show potential clients your enthusiasm for your work, and you’ll be likely to attract clients with the same enthusiasm — a win-win!

Professionalism and communication skills are key for people starting out. Make a good impression in every interaction, and make sure your passion and vision are clear. Then, clients will be happy to help you learn additional technical skills. Being consistent, reliable, and a pleasure to work with is considerably more important than being a technical superstar.

Here is an exercise to help you get started as a freelancer. In this exercise, you will learn what you need to add to your portfolio to gain clients as a freelancer, doing the work you want to do. Even if you’re not ready to start freelancing now, this exercise will give you a direction to aim for the future.

In this exercise, you are not looking for jobs — you are looking for talent, just like potential clients do. You’ll find creators who have been exactly where you are now and who have developed their portfolios and clientele to build a career. Let’s get started!

1. Put yourself in the mindset of a business owner or project manager who needs help and is looking for someone like you. Then, find three Unity creators on these websites (or any others you might find). Search for Unity plus words that describe what you do.

• LinkedIn
• ArtStation
• Fiverr
• Upwork Project Catalog

2. Look at the portfolios that most closely match your favorite work, and answer these questions:

• What finished works have they completed, such as games or film clips?
• What skills are they demonstrating that you already possess?
• What skills are they demonstrating that you need to develop?

Don’t be intimidated if these portfolios are larger and more advanced than yours — remember, these folks started out the same way you’re starting now!

3. With the answers to these questions, make a list of the skills and portfolio pieces you need to develop in order to become competitive as a freelancer.

4. Refine this list to a few pieces that represent the skills you want to demonstrate. Find a balance between an impressive body of work and a set of projects you can realistically complete.

5. Ask a trusted friend or mentor to review your list. You might even reach out to someone you respect on social media who knows the field in which you are pursuing work. Ask them whether the pieces you have selected would help you find freelance work and what you might do to get noticed by potential clients.

6. Now, build that portfolio! In the tutorial Introduction to portfolios, we include some detailed steps on the process.

Example portfolios

If you’re looking for inspiration, here are links to the websites of our established creators, plus a few folks on the Unity Learn team. Investigate the portfolios of our established creators — or review them if you’ve already explored their works — and look for work similar to the work you want to pursue.

• Nora Shramek, Senior Lighting and Rendering Artist at Unity Technologies
• Lual Mayen, Founder and CEO of Junab Games, making games for peace
• Krystel Theuvenin, Faculty Member at Urban Arts Institute
• Ben Radcliffe, Senior Advocate in Media and Entertainment at Unity Technologies
• Harm-Jan Wiechers, Sound designer
• Maize Longboat, Developer Relations Manager (DRM) at Unity Technologies
• Sutu Ai Campbell, AR/VR Artist, Director of Sutu Eats Flies and Co-Founder of Eye Jack.
• Kristin Miltner, Senior Sound Designer at Spatial
• Steven Christian, Visual and Immersive Artist and Founder of Illtopia Studios
• Joy Horvath, Senior Instructional Designer at Unity Technologies
• Lucy Corrina Bourn, 3D Generalist at Unity Technologies

In this tutorial, you have heard from established creators with freelancing experience about their first roles, challenges, and greatest opportunities. You’ve learned about what it takes to succeed as a freelancer. And, you now have a plan to develop a portfolio that will appeal to potential clients who want what you offer. You’re on your way!