Product of Experience- UI and UX Designer Mike Hince
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Redundancy helped push Mike into a freelance career. Since then he's evolved, learned, focused, launched his own products, developed his own personal brand and formed his own design studio... and yet still regularly questions whether being freelance is right for him. Why?
Key Takeaway Points
- Mike became freelance after being made redundant
- When naming your company, stick to something people can say and spell!
- Don't try and offer too many services/skills
- If you’re not enjoying it, you’re not doing great work - and if you’re not doing great work, you won’t get better work
- Mike invested his own money in creating an app. Financially it wasn’t a ‘success’, but it’s paid for itselfmany times over in the experience, reputation and ultimately work it’s given him
- His current side project is ‘Howler’, a joke writing site/community which has given him huge experience
- It worked well for Mike trading as himself, attracting clients who don’t want an agency they want an individual
- Mike gets more leads to his Mike Hince site than he could actually work with, his SEO on it is very strong - if you search ‘freelance UX designer’ he ranks very highly
- Mike has started a design studio with his wife taking care of the admin side of things, freeing up his time to do what he does best
- Being freelance can be lonely and you want to be part of something bigger, not just for the social company but to work with other ambitious minds pushing the boundaries of the industry
- Being knocked back drives him forward
- Opportunitis need to be thought about; if someone offers you an inhouse job, don't just dismiss it
More from Mike
Who the hell is Steve Folland?
You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be?
Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at stevefolland.com, track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up.
This episode is supported by The Podcast Host
Steve's hosting Being Freelance live as part of New Media Europe this June!
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