Let’s chat about a few different things “grown-ups” don’t tell you about your student freelancing income.

Most of the world considers your income “flaky” and “not very dependable.”

I’m sure you already had a bit of a hunch on this one. Freelance income (student or not) has a bad reputation to being much like a roller coaster. The idea that freelancers often go through feast and famine cycle isn’t just an idea, it is a reality for a lot of freelancers, especially newbies.

Thus, most people who receive a steady paycheck every single month (or twice a month) feel that “freelance” income is a bit flaky. You never know what you are going to get from month to month. This becomes apparent to freelancers who go loan shopping (for either a car or house), as loan officers feel that freelance income is not as dependable as a steady paycheck.

You can work to make yourself a steady paycheck to help give the doubters more reason to take your freelancing income seriously. Doing this can prove to loan officers and those who require knowing your income in order to make a decision that you can manage your money well, and that you have a stockpile of money that can cover you for so many months.

You may measure your growth by gross receipts/sales, but the rest of the world only cares about profit.

Throughout the last five-plus years of my freelancing, the only number I cared about every month was the gross receipts (or sales) number. This number was the total amount of money clients sent me for the month or year. So when people asked me (for insurance or loan purposes) “how much did you make last year,” I gave them the gross receipts number.

Gross receipts doesn’t take into account your expenses or taxes. While I knew that my expenses were super low, no one else believed me. So when I started seeking a loan, the loan officers only cared about my profit number, or gross receipts minus expenses. Notice I didn’t say taxes?

For instance, if your gross receipts was $10,000 for the year, and your expenses were $1,000, your profit is $9,000. However, you still have to pay Uncle Sam out of that money. Most student freelancers will likely be paying 10-20% of their profit in taxes. So 15% of $9,000 is $1,350.

Using those numbers, the loan officer sees that you made $9,000 and considers that your income. However, you may be thinking that you made $10,000, but you only really took home $7,650. So, while we want to give the higher number to make it seem like we make more, most people use the profit number, but that number isn’t really even accurate either because of taxes. Keep this simple math in mind the next time someone asks you “how much do you make” as it isn’t an easy answer.

You still need capital to operate, so this further reduces your “take-home” pay.

Capital, in simple terms, is money and resources available for use to pay for things in your business. So out of the money you make from clients, some money has to go to pay for things such as expenses. You should also put money back for emergencies and a general savings. This money should be left alone and stay with your business. This further reduces how much you can “pay yourself,” or your take-home pay.

Using the numbers above, let’s say that after expenses and taxes, you are left with $7,650. Out of that money, you should save some money for an emergency fund and savings. In addition, if you want to even out your pay from month to month, you should look into putting some money back to help cover you during rough months. With all of these things that should stay with your business (or capital), your take-home pay is much less.

Most people don’t understand this when they think about your freelance income. You are running a business, which means your  business needs money to operate and you need money to feed yourself. So while it looks like you made $10,000 in a year, you maybe only “paid yourself” $5,000.

Knowing these things about your income can help you make better decisions in terms of setting goals, talking to people (i.e. loan officers) about your income, and financial decisions when it comes to your business and personal life. This info shouldn’t discourage you, but understanding how others view your income can help you when you graduate and continue to pursue your freelancing.

P.S. I talk more about this and many other topics in my new book, “Student Freelancing 101: A Start-to-Finish Course to Becoming a Student Freelancer.” Pick up your copy at studentfreelancing101.com!

I’m here to tell you that you are good enough. There is no reason you can’t market the skills you have and be able to land clients who find value in what you have to offer. So let’s chat about three different things you can do to power through the feeling of “not being good enough.”

Stop telling yourself you aren’t good enough.

Yes, this is the obvious one, but it is an important one. You must stop telling yourself you aren’t good enough. The more times you tell yourself that you aren’t good enough to land clients, the more you will start to believe it. So stop right now!

Confidence goes a long way, and the more confidence you can build, the better off you will be. Also, others around you (read: clients and prospects) will see that you are confident in your skills and will be more willing to hire you. Not only do you need to talk the talk, but you need to have confidence that you can walk the walk.

Make it a habit to learn something new.

Confidence comes from knowledge. The more you know, the more confident you can become as well. Students in general don’t know as much as their professional counterparts, that is why we are called “students.” Being a student means you are in the constant mindset of learning something new. While you are in school, it is much easier to learn new things than when you aren’t.

Make a list of things you want to learn about that is relating to your freelancing. Is there something you wish your professors would cover in school, but haven’t? Take it upon yourself to learn it on your own time. Has a new technology came out that you are eager to learn more about? Set time out to learn more about it so if a client comes to you asking you about it, you can confidently help them.

Evaluate what you aren’t confident in and work on improving them.

This is closely tied with the second point above. For you to have feelings of not being good enough, there is a reason why. Have you come across something that you didn’t know that you felt like you should know? Is there something a client has asked you about that you didn’t know much about?

This is the perfect opportunity to do something about it. I keep a running list of things I want to learn about. For instance, WordPress was one of those things I wanted to learn about, as I started hearing more and more about it, and clients were asking about it. I spent an entire summer learning it and designing for it. In about four months I felt confident enough to start offering it as a service. Now it is one of my most profitable services. And it all stemmed from one client asking me about it.

You shouldn’t let the fact that you are a student and you aren’t as knowledgeable and experienced as other freelancers start to wear on your confidence. Take whatever is making you feel like you aren’t good enough and do something about it. Students are great about learning on their own. Make a list and work through the list. You will be amazed at the benefits it will do to your freelancing.

P.S. I talk more about this and many other topics in my new book, “Student Freelancing 101: A Start-to-Finish Course to Becoming a Student Freelancer.” Pick up your copy at studentfreelancing101.com!

A second job provides you with a new influx of much-needed cash, helping to pay bills, save some money, and possibly even have a bit left over so that you can resume some of the leisurely activities you used to enjoy, such as going out with friends or out to dinner with your family, purchasing new things for the home, and even traveling. Of course the amount of income will vary based on the jobs you have, and the important thing to remember is that the extra money may not be worth it if having two jobs is putting too much strain on you.

2. New Skills

For some, freelancing isn’t always about the money—sometimes it’s about gaining valuable experience in a new trade. Getting a second job may enable you to learn new skills or a new trade, and gain extra experience that can be utilized to secure a better career in the future. Think about what jobs are currently hot right now and may be suited to your skills or personality. Freelancing at a second job in that field, even if it is an entry level job, affords you more opportunities when job searching in the future.

3. Improving Your Network

Another benefit of freelancing is that a savvy worker will find a second job in which they can grow their network. Many individuals already have a set plan and clear goals in mind for where they want to be in the future, and finding the right contacts and building a strong network is key to securing their position and achieving their goals. By choosing a second job that will allow them to make new contacts, they will already have a network in place when it comes time to advance their career.

4. Finding a New Career

Some individuals choose to find a second part-time job because they aren’t too certain about their initial career choice anymore. Working part-time at a second job enables them to test the waters of a new career before leaping in head first, so that they can make a more informed decision. Depending upon the nature of the position, a second job can also enable individuals to keep up to date with new software, technologies, or advances in other trades. If these opportunities aren’t available at your current job, this is a great way to both learn and get paid while learning.

5. Paving the Way for Entrepreneurship

If you feel like you’d like to have your own business so that you can be your own boss, then freelancing in a second job that is similar to your desired plan for a business can provide you with important information and experience that can be used later on when you begin the journey into entrepreneurship.

About the Author:

Valerie Cecil writes on career advancement for Outbounding.com. In her spare time she’s quite handy and is currently working on the 40 hour hazwoper online at Etraintoday.com.

While here at Students That Freelance we write about topics important to student freelancers, there is only so much we can do through the article format of the site. Keeping this in mind, I have spend the last nine months working on a project to help student who want to start freelancing get started on the right foot. Also, within the last several months I have been working on other things that will surely bring freelancing as a student to the forefront and help all student freelancers succeed!

Student Freelancing 101: A Start-to-Finish Course to Becoming a Student Freelancer

The biggest announcement today is the prelaunch of my book, titled “Student Freelancing 101.” Today you can start preordering the book that will be released January 1, 2013. I spend much of this year on a project to help students go from start to growth in their new freelancing business, and the outcome of that project is this book!

I structured “Student Freelancing 101” more like a course that takes you from learning about freelancing, through the planning stages of your freelance career, to launching your business and making it grow! Hard-hitting topics like how much to charge, where to find your first client, and much more is covered in the over 200 pages of the book!

The book is available in three different formats: ebook (PDF, ePUB and mobi), paperback (8.25 inches by 6 inches, color gloss cover, black and white pages), and bundle versions (paperback and ebook). Prices range from $10 for ebook, $15 (plus shipping) for paperback, and $22 (plus shipping) for bundle versions.

Learn more and purchase the book at the new site: Student Freelancing 101. For all those that preorder between December 11, 2012 and December 31, 2012, you will get a coupon code for a free special goodie announced at the end of this post!!

New Students That Freelance Site coming January 1, 2013

That’s right! I have designed and developed a brand new site for Students That Freelance. I know what you are thinking, the site has changed already once this year. However, with the advances in technology and trying to keep with the target market of this site, many changes needed to be made.

The new site will feature a brand new design and logo and will be fully responsive so you can enjoy it on any device you use to connect to the Internet. More focus is being put on the readability of the site, allowing you to browse the categories and read up on the newest articles for the site.

Be prepared, as the new site will drop January 1, 2013!! This brings me to my next announcement…

Brand new posts start back up on January 1, 2013

It’s been a little quiet around here with no new posts in a few months. I hate doing that to my readers, however hopefully with the new book and a new site, readers will come back and will be excited about all new content to be posted on the site three times a week! I will be adding new articles to the site on a regular schedule focusing on new content! All of these new articles will start appearing on the site starting with the new site launch on January 1st!

Since there is only so much you can cover in an article, and only so many topics you can cover in a book, this leads me to my final new announcement!

Student Freelancing 101: The Mini-Guides

I discovered while writing “Student Freelancing 101” that there is only so much you can cover in an article about a particular topic and still keep within a decent length for the format you are writing. Also, in a book format, you have so many other topics to cover that if you spend a large amount of time on all the topics, you will start to have more of an encyclopedia than a book.

So, with those two realizations come a brand new feature starting in February 2013: Student Freelancing 101 mini-guides. Released bi-monthly, these guides will give you an in-depth look about specific topics relating to freelancing as a student, such as building your portfolio, contracts, how to find clients, and much more. These will be released as a PDF download on the Student Freelancing 101 website as well for a very low fee. Look for the first guide to be released in February 2013!

As an added bonus, if you preorder the “Student Freelancing 101” book between December 11, 2012 and December 31, 2012, you will receive a coupon code good for one free mini-guide of your choice during the year 2013!

Here is to a fantastic 2013 and all the exciting opportunities for student freelancers!

Client Involvement

Throughout the “getting to know you” phase of the potential client project, how much was the client involved? There are several signals that could clue you in to how involved the client will be during the project after they hire you. For instance, how many meetings have you had with this potential client? Or how many phone conversations have you had so far? Do you feel like you have had to talk to them many times to get information? This could be a clue as to how involved they will be once they hire you.

Another clue that you can watch for is how many and what kind of questions did they ask you? Did they tend to ask you more questions than they gave you information about their project? Did they seem like they were very “hands-on” and wanting to be overly-involved? Or did they give you info as needed and seemed to trust you and your knowledge?

If the client seems to be overly involved at the beginning of the project (or in this case, before the project even gets off the ground), chances are they will be overly involved after they hire you too. This often translates into more of your time needed to work with the client than with others in the past with similar projects. You may find yourself on the phone more often, emailing them more often than anticipated, even having more than necessary meetings to discuss the project. If your client is showing signs of over involvement, then you may want to add a few extra hours to your estimate to cover your time involved in working with them (be it meetings, phone calls, or emails).

Admin work

What I call “admin work” is the work that you have to do that is more on the business end of things. Invoicing, putting together estimates and proposals, getting the contract in order, handling email, having phone calls with the client, etc. are all administrative tasks that are often forgotten or not considered part of the project. Not sure about you but just getting a project going requires at least three hours of my time, maybe even more. Between estimating the cost of the project, getting the invoice together, prepping the contract, and sending it to them alone is a couple of hours, not counting the hour-long phone conversation or several days back and forth emailing to get client specifics.

For admin work, I often include a set amount of hours in the project that it often takes me to handle these admin tasks. Then, depending on other aspects of the project that may be needed (extensive project planning), I will add more to it to help make up for the time it will take for me to “run the project.” If you don’t include this time, then you could be working for free for a couple of hours or even more on projects, and who wants to work for free?

Potential for future business

Now, I have to admit, this is a new thing I evaluate when estimating new projects. How well will this project bring me future business? There are several things to consider here: Could the client become a repeat client? Does the client have the potential to share your name with others? Does the project give you a great portfolio piece? Is the project in a field you want to gain more business in?

Evaluating these factors and others related can help you determine how well the project could bring you future business. As for how it can affect your estimate, that is a bit more in the grey area. You can’t really charge an additional set of hours or any measurable difference to the estimate. How you make the impact on the estimate is up to you. If I think a project could bring me great potential for future business, I will maybe lower the estimate a little bit (maybe give them the admin time for free) or maybe not even impact the estimate at all. I may just go out of my way to try to land the project in other ways by either putting together a stellar proposal packet or offer great customer service and make them my top priority.

With these things considered, what are things do you consider when estimating your projects?

While this fact isn’t meant to discourage student freelancers and young professionals, it is an unfortunate fact of life that I think many people our age struggle with today. With that being said, in what ways can students earn the respect that they should from their fellow peers, friends and family, and the others around them?

Act professional

There are only a handful of people in the professional world that can act like jerks and be disrespectful and still be seen as “professional.” While I don’t think anyone reading this post is one of them, student freelancers and young professionals alike can gain the respect of those around them by simply acting professional.

Even though you are just going to class, take pride in the way you present yourself to those around you. Get up early enough in the mornings to shower and dress appropriately. I don’t mean a suit and tie, but you can put on clean pants and a nice shirt, and dress presentably. This was probably the number one thing in school that instantly gained my respect when it came to my fellow classmates. When they took the time to come to class prepared and well-presented, I took them more seriously and respected them more.

It’s not only the way you present yourself on the outside that is important, it is also the way you conduct yourself that is just as important. Yes, you are in college and yes, you are supposed to have fun. I’m not saying that you should stop these things, but you should conduct yourself in a manner that if a prospective client was watching you, would they be turned-off by your actions or what you are saying, or be intrigued and want to know more about you? You don’t know who is around you at any time who could be your next client.

Help your fellow classmates

It’s one thing to talk to talk, but can you walk the walk? For student freelancers who are designers, are you well versed in software that your fellow classmates are just now learning? If you see a classmate struggling, give them a helping hand. Ask them if you can help them with whatever task they are struggling with.

Be careful, however, that you don’t appear to be a “know-it-all.” Approach a fellow classmate who needs help in a manner that puts both of you on the same level – a classmate helping another classmate. Staying humble and helpful not only can gain respect in your skills, but it also shows that you are interested in others’ successes as well.

Show how much you care about your freelance business

This covers various things, but you should care about your freelancing just as much as a business owner cares about their business that puts food on their table. While freelancing and having an open schedule of when you do work is great, having structure in your work schedule can show your family and friends that you take your freelancing seriously enough to dedicate a set amount of hours to it every week.

Simple things such as not working in your pajamas, not letting yourself fall behind in client work, being very professional on the phone when you talk to clients, and waking up early and at the same time every day can help gain respect of those you live with. When they see you taking yourself and your business seriously, they will start to show you more respect in what you have chosen to earn a living at.

Conclusion

While it appears easier for those in a 9-5 to gain the respect of those around them when it comes to their careers, students and young professionals often have to work a little harder to gain the same respect when they are working from home and in their own schedule. Unfortunately with age and student status playing a large factor in respect given and earned in today’s world, student freelancers can do simple things to help them gain the respect from their friends, family, and peers and be taken more seriously as a professional even though they are still obtaining their degrees.

It seems to be a never-ending race to learn all of the newest things since the last time (probably since winter break or even last summer) you took the time to learn the newest things. Be it new trends in the industry, new software or operating systems, new hardware, or just new terminology, it is tough for a student freelancer to stay on top of all of the changes constantly going on.

Take for example a student web designer: they spent all year working on really great projects for both school and freelancing, but this summer they noticed tons of changes in the web design industry, such as the popularity of responsive web design and the growing use of HTML5 and CSS3. Not to mention, if they haven’t learned WordPress before the last school year started, chances are they are feeling pressure to learn that too. How can a student freelancer stay caught up with everything while still going to school, without waiting until the summer to start learning new things?

Take time every week to learn something new

Easier said than done I know, but if you could just set aside one hour every weekend to go through a tutorial online about an area that you don’t know, then that is roughly 25-30 hours of learning time you don’t have to catch-up during the summer time. If you could even set aside more than just an hour, then more power to you!

Stay up-to-date with current news in your industry

It is much easier to stay up-to-date with the news then to try to read about it later. One of the best ways to stay up-to-date with what is going on in your industry is to follow well-known sites on Facebook and Twitter, and actually read their links. I recommend following them on Twitter more than on facebook so that you can cut down your distraction with other things going on on Facebook.

Over time, you will start to see a pattern in the things that are talked about and focused on. Those things that are repetitively brought up in the industry are the ones that you should spend the most time learning about. Like my example above, responsive web design is a huge thing right now with tons of articles and tutorials being published every day. This is something that you could pick up following web design sites and tech industry sites and just casually reading their updates on the daily basis.

Prioritize and Conquer

It’s impossible to know everything. It’s impossible to learn everything too. Don’t focus on every single new thing that you come across. The best way to do it is to figure out what is mentioned the most or is the most pressing to learn, and go from there. Prioritize the things you want to learn based on it’s relevance to you and your freelancing, the amount you already know about the subject, and how popular and/or or pressing it is to learn based on your industry.

Start integrating it with school projects

Want to stat using a new technique but can’t find the time to learn it? Find a school project in which you can use that technique. This not only forces you to learn it for your school project, but also helps you stay caught up in being one less thing you need to learn later. Plus, in the academic setting, you can always get help when you need it if you find yourself having a hard time learning it.

Do you find yourself always playing catch-up when you get a break from school? In what ways do you play catch-up in your field of freelancing?

Although for me this only lasted a year before I finally decided that freelancing and owning/running my own business was what I wanted to do, it was a very rough time trying to keep everything balanced. I am sure my situation then is like many student freelancer’s lives now. This is probably because while many student freelancers have a job to help pay the bills, they probably became highly interested in freelancing and started getting client projects without wanting to lose the incomes of their jobs.

Inevitably, piling on more and more to your schedule could ultimately lead to disaster: very little sleep, bad grades, not enough free time or down time, and potentially start messing up relationships with your family and friends. Not good. So with these types of student freelancers being extremely busy, what can they do to help restore and keep a healthy balance of all in their lives?

Know Your Limit

I put the most difficult tip first for one reason: it is vital. For most student freelancers (myself included), knowing your limit comes way after you have crossed your limit unfortunately. However, crossing your limit on just how much you can actually do can lead to dangerous things, for instance, not getting enough sleep for several nights in a row then get behind the wheel and drive long distances. Another? Not taking care of yourself by eating very bad foods, not drinking enough water, and not exercising, all of which can lead to malnutrition and dehydration–events that could put you in the hospital.

Don’t let those things happen to you! Learn how much you can actually take on before you take them on. One way to find this out is simply take a few moments and analyze your current situation. Ask yourself: are you constantly saying “I’m too busy to do that,” is your grades starting to slip in some or all of your classes, am I getting enough sleep during the week? If you are answering yes to a couple of those questions, then you are probably extremely close to your limit on how much you can handle, and should probably start refocusing on certain things, be it working less hours at your job, turning down uninteresting freelance projects, or start dedicating more time to studying.

While no two student freelancer’s situations are exactly the same, the advice still holds true: evaluate how you currently feel and what you are currently doing. If you feel you can’t possibly take on anything else, not even a group project, paper, additional hours at work, or another freelance project, then you have discovered your limit.

Also it is important to note, by no means am I advocating student freelancers to jam pack their schedules to reach this limit. Everyone on this planet who does anything should have some down time and time to spend with friends and family. If you do have this time and you can still accomplish everything in your life, then congrats! You have achieved some form of balance in your life. If you are feeling stressed and so busy and you feel like you are close to your limit, then now is the time to pull back and start getting everything back in balance.

Above All, Your Health Is The Most Important Thing

I’m sure you see this as a running topic throughout this site, but keeping your health in check is extremely important as well. You should strive to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night, if not at least every other night, in order to make sure you are alert for the next days’ tasks. Also, eating properly will help you feel a lot better too as you start tackling client projects and school projects.

While it is easy for me to sit here and ramble about keeping and staying healthy, you should be listening to what your body is telling you. If you are gaining weight or losing weight abnormally (and without a clear reason), there is a good chance that you are not taking care of yourself. It is difficult to eat healthy and find time to exercise when your to do list is calling your name, but taking a few extra minutes to get something healthy to eat to go, or taking 20 minutes out of your day to find a treadmill at your school’s fitness center while you do some reading for school can add up in big ways. Above all, take the time to treat your body well and it will help serve you while you are super super busy.

Plan Ahead and Know When To Quit Your Job

For those of you working at a job in which you plan to (or want to) move on from later, work up some type of plan on when to quit that job and focus on freelancing (if that is what you want to do). This time came for me when I started getting steady projects and discovered that I was making four times my hourly rate in freelance projects, could do them whenever I wanted, and was actually working less hours!

Simple math can help you when it comes to figuring out when the time is right. Are you making enough money freelancing to pay for your needed bills and expenses? Are you finding that you are spending less time working on freelance work but making more than you do at your part-time job? Can the time you spend commuting to your job used to actively seek new freelancing projects? A combination of all of these situations can help you figure out when you have reached the time where you are comfortable leaving the part-time job and have freelancing pay for your expenses. Just don’t forget to build up some kind of emergency fund in case your freelance starts to slow down!

Take on Only Projects You Are Excited, Comfortable, and Pay Well

Last but not least, one thing to help keep your life in balance is to take on only the freelance projects that you are excited about, pay well, and those you feel you can complete confidently and with great quality. Why? Because these projects will more than likely bring you some level of enjoyment, which not only helps relieve your stress level, but also helps your freelancing as you will be more eager to show this work in your portfolio and you have made a client extremely happy in the process!

So in what other ways do you help keep your school, freelancing, and part-time job in balance with your life?

Winners of the Five Prizes!

Let’s start off with the winners of the five other prizes, which includes a digital copy of “Student Freelancing 101” the day it releases later this summer, and a lifetime freelancer account to Myows (worth $60/year).

Those lucky winners are:

• Laci Morgan
• Daniel
• susie liberatore
• Brittney
• Philip Rau

Congrats you guys! I will be emailing each one of you with more information on how to redeem your prizes!

And the grand prize goes to…

There were six eligible entries. There was seven comments, but one double entry (comments #1 and #5). So in order to make it fair for all, I told the random number generator to pick a number between 2 and 7.

So the winner is:

candace gerard!

She was the third commenter, and according to the random number generator, #3 wins!

Congrats candace! I will be in touch with you to find out how to claim all of your prizes, which include a Lifetime Pro+ Subscription to Myows Online Copyright Protection, One Full Year of Membership to Tuts+ Premium, 50 Personalized Bottle Openers/Keychains from Amsterdam Printing, 250 Stickers provided by PrintRunner, and an advanced digital copy of “Student Freelancing 101,” which you will receive an entire week before everyone else is able to get it!

Congrats to everyone who won and thanks for entering!

So, what are the benefits of designing for a cause, working with non-profits, or doing pro bono design work?

Firstly, working for a good cause helps you to make a positive difference, when you may not otherwise have time to do so, as a student. If you have never done design work for clients before, or have never worked with a non-profit organization, freelancing for these organizations and causes is a huge networking opportunity (many supporters, organization board members and the public are involved too, and may also see your work). And of course, this all builds to experience and adds to your portfolio, while helping out.

A list of some of the plus-sides of doing pro-bono work was produced as part of RGD‘s (Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario) Designer’s Guide to Pro Bono Work. This document was created by members of their Ontario Provisional Committee in 2007 to assist designers and non-profits to work together on pro bono projects that benefit the community:

Creativity: It is refreshing and inspiring to work with dedicated staff who believe in what they do.
Networking: Non-profit or charitable organizations’ Board of Directors and other volunteers are great people to network with since some of them are business owners and prospective clients.
Philanthropy: What is better than using your talent and knowledge to help effect change and support something that you believe in?
Portfolio: It is a way to explore areas of design that are not yet prominent in your portfolio and develop creative and innovative new work

Although this is only one resource, and refers mainly to “pro bono” work, it is very relevant to the benefits of Designing for Good – whether it be officially documented for a registered charity or non-profit, or simply for the benefit of society and the greater good in general.

In many cases, school projects are set within unrealistic timeframes and lack real-world connection. Students should always be looking for opportunities to get involved while in school – with formal organizations or other groups, and there are many out there – to create something and practice the skills they are being taught. As a student freelancer, it is simple to use your skills (even as you’re still developing them – because even professionals are constantly learning) for the greater good.

A Designer’s Guide to Pro Bono Work is available for download at this link.

For more on Designing for Good, visit DesigningForGood.ca.