The Freelance Manifesto: A Field Guide for the Modern Motion Designer

by Joey Korenman

Designing beautiful boards and making smooth animation come naturally to us Motion Designers. It’s what we’re good at. However, designing the career we want, with the freedom, flexibility, and pay we crave, that’s more difficult. All of the above is within your grasp if you’re willing to take the plunge into freelancing. School of Motion founder Joey Korenman worked in every kind of Motion Design role before discovering that freelancing offered him not only more autonomy but also higher pay, less stress, and more creativity. Since then, he’s taught hundreds of School of Motion students his playbook for becoming a six-figure freelancer. Now he shares his experience and advice on breaking out of the nine-to-five mold in this comprehensive and tactical handbook. The Freelance Manifesto offers a field guide for Motion Design professionals looking to make the leap to freelance in two clear and concise parts. The first examines the goals, benefits, myths, and realities of the freelance lifestyle, while the second provides future freelancers with a five-step guide to launching and maintaining a solo business, including making contact, selling yourself, closing the deal, being indispensable, and becoming a lucrative enterprise. If you’re feeling stifled by long hours, low-paying gigs, and an unfulfilling career, make the choice to redesign yourself as a freelancer—and, with the help of this book and some hard work, reclaim your time, independence, and inspiration for yourself.

Genres: Design, Business, Nonfiction, Art Design, Productivity, Art

360 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 6, 2017

Reviews

[DJNana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is aimed at a very specific target audience, which just so happens to be me. Hence the 5 stars. In short, if you're a Motion Designer, buy this right away. Don't even think about it. Don't even read the rest of this review. It's essential.

Korenman lays out 4 key phases (with an optional 5th phase) for taking control of your time as a motion designer. Finding your own work, dealing with clients, how to build your portfolio website, it's all in here, and it's super detailed.

And it's not all conceptual, or theoretical - it's real, nitty gritty, in the details, exactly what to do, what tools to use right now.

If you're in some other creative field, it's probably still an interesting read, but not so clearly applicable. You'd be better off reading Tim Ferriss's 4 Hour Work Week (a book Korenman is obviously a big fan of) and applying those principles to your own life.

[Silvia Philbrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the book and definitely got a ton of useful tips, ideas, action plans that I am excited to implement. However, for all the hype in the industry around this book, and frankly the amount of pages, I was expecting a lot more content. The first part of the book (Why Freelancing is great) could have been said in one or two pages, and it felt like Joey was saying the same thing 60 different ways. The second part was very practical and useful, but I felt could have been expanded on, maybe with more case studies, scenarios, workflows, or more information on different types of projects or clients...
I would definitely recommend this book, just was expecting a bit more and was a little frustrated by what I viewed as a lot of page fillers.

[Gatinhos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Korenman keeps the writing fairly straight to the point and breaks down numerous barriers to freelancing, although some of them are almost romanticized. Regardless, it's an extremely useful book when it comes to freelancing and any creative field, not just motion design, so that you have control over your life and goals when switching to a freer working style.

[Jasper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indispensable for any motion designer, current or aspiring! I'm a student just starting out in my career and I know this book was an investment that will come back to me many times over. I went from being completely terrified of freelancing (read: the unknown) to making my first moves by the end of the book.

[Shahriar Shahrabi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no interest in freelancing, I still really enjoyed this book. Beside teaching you the core concepts behind freelancing, this book is great for covering valuable lessons on professionalism. How do you talk to clients? How do you prepare yourself for people to like you? How should you look at your time, budgets, goals within a business setting?
These are invaluable skills for whoever branches out of being an employee. If you are in a company, if you wish to move up to leadership qualities like these are a must.
I usually scratch my head when people pop up to job interviews or contact me to ask for something, while obviously not having done the faintest research or preparation. I wished they would all read this book!

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goes over the common fears and myths of freelancing. Much of the book is spent on how to connect with potential clients, land a booking, and gain enough traction to do it full-time. It also goes over deciding the "why" of your new lifestyle so you can accommodate what you want to do (go through a grind to pay off a mortgage, or only do just enough so you can have plenty of time with family). The author applies his knowledge for motion graphics freelancers, but the overarching principles are easily applicable and explained.

Overall great book, highly recommend to anyone interested or even curious about freelance lifestyle.

[Eric Rothman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good advice in here, especially for stalking and contacting new clients. I wish I'd had this book when I started freelancing. I had to learn all this stuff the hard way; some of it really recently into a 10-year career. The stuff about crafting your life the way you want it is really empowering, regardless of your industry.

Also, I'd love to be wrong about this, but I do think he's a little bullish about the state of the industry. Maybe it'll stay great forever–I love the optimism–but there's a case for healthy skepticism too. At any rate...

[Ana]

Não terminei a leitura deste livro pois percebi que ele é mesmo direcionado para motion designers, mas mais que isso, é para o mercado americano e não se traduz, pelo que percebi, muito bem para a Europa. A minha questão é que esperava algo mais abrangente, mas ao fim de 50 páginas senti que ainda nada tinha sido dito que realmente me pudesse inspirar.
Provavelmente não será o mesmo para outros leitores, mas para mim este livro não funcionou e por isso não terminei, apesar de o autor ser extremamente motivacional.

[Samantha Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative!



This book is a really great resource for motion design professionals who are looking to get into freelancing, but don’t know where to start. I really appreciate that Joey took the time to express the why behind freelancing. It shifts the professional perspective on staff jobs vs freelance jobs. At the end of the day it’s about getting the most out of the work you do, giving yourself flexibility, and knowing your why. 



Nice one Joey! Hope there will be a sequel to discuss freelancing in a post pandemic era. 4.5 stars :)

[Tom Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! This one encouraged me to go out into the world and be my own boss... something I've wanted to do for a long time but was too afraid. There's a lot of gold in this book. I highly recommend it if you're a designer/animator. Even if you just want to freelance a little on the side and keep your day job - this book really helps get your mind around some concepts that are really helpful.

[Carlos Giadáns · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un libro para un perfil muy, muy, pero muuuuuy específico. Le doy 3 estrellas simplemente por eso.
La lectura en general es bastante fluida, pero en muchas partes se toma demasiado tiempo en dar ejemplos, y anécdotas. Me imagino que para alguien que encaje a la perfección con el perfil, este libro le será bastante útil.
La última sección del libro tiene todo el repositorio de herramientas digitales que pueden ser de bastante utilidad para la mayoría de los freelance.

[Julieta Tobon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dude!!! This book has to be a fundamental reading for every single motion designer on the planet! Please, please, please, if you are one of us, read this right now and it’ll help you a lot with your freelance life, with the relationship that you have or that you’re building with your clients and overall to be a really confident motion designer!
Love it!

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great advice!

Even if you’re not a motion designer, or planning to go freelance, this book has a ton of great advice on living more mindfully and being aware of why you’re doing something. Plus, if you work at all with clients, it provides some great tips and clarity on that.

It’s a fun, friendly read that I’d recommend to just about anyone.

[Ceindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book had a lot of action steps but felt lengthy in some areas. It also gives a very full experience, from just getting started to how to be a Motion Design superstar, so it's definitely a great reference to keep around as you build your freelancing career.

Overall, it's a great book with major points and was written in a really easy to read and friendly manner.

[Brandon Victoriano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very useful and practical information and has definitely changed the way I approach interacting with others in my field. It cleared up a bunch of questions I had and confirmed some instincts as well. Applicable to more than just post production folk but especially helpful for the aspiring motion designer, obviously.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joey is an incredible teacher and this book really does a great job of walking you through the leap of freelancing. It's essentially the book form of his Client Code class, but I think both resources are helpful in different ways. Highly recommend for anyone looking to get into the freelancing world, though this one is definitely tailored to motion designers like myself.

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic resource for anyone who freelances.

Full of actionable insights on how to go about generating leads, building relationships and communicating with clients. Recommended for any freelancer, regardless of their field of work.

[Biminator · Rating 4 out of 5]

บทแรก main idea เกี่ยวกับการเป็น freelance ก็จะเขียนซ้ำๆ หน่อย ไม่ค่อยมีอะไรถ้าใครอ่านหนังสือแนวนี้มาเยอะแล้ว แต่ส่วนหลังนี้แนะนำเลย Trick การหางานในรูปแบบต่างๆ แต่หนังสือเล่มนี้เขียนขึ้นมาสำหรับสาย Mograph designer โดยเฉพาะ

[Ilse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on freelancing as a motion designer, I’m sure I will grab this whenever I need a refresher on how to e-mail potential clients and get to the life I need, definitely recommend this for anyone wanting to go freelance!

[Saúl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must for motion designers.

[Charles H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical, helpful. A shockingly quick read for 300+ pages though. Big font.

[Dillon Vance · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a freelance creative in the commercial world read this book. You don't have to be in motion design to gain a lot from reading this book

[Chris Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good to read a book aimed directly at my profession. Very informative with some great real life stories. Some of it aimed more to US market but overall still inspirational

[Marc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Learned a lot of great HAX.

[Caitlin Muncy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful information and helped me discover my "why" for wanting to change direction from an employee to a freelancer.

[Zoë Soriano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend to any Motion Designer looking for a push to go freelance!

[JustGoscha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has a lot of practical tips and step-by-step guides to get you started acquiring clients and finding work.

[Angelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely helpful for freelancers!

[Roxana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book. A step by step guide on how to get clients as a motion designer. A book about the business of working as a freelancer.

[Hussain · Rating 5 out of 5]

wrote with passion
I will try to do the tips
I hope it works