Secrets of a drifter

As a former drifter myself that used to design on the road for income to get from city to city, I figured I would share a few tips with everyone. It's my hopes that the below segments will help others understand what a drifting designer is, as well as help others interested in drifting themself get started.

Getting started

The very first thing you should know about drifting is that it's not for everyone. Most drifters travel alone because it's easier to only have to worry about themself when times get rough. Naturaly there are also families that drift, each pulling their own weight in order to keep everyone safe. For now though I'm just going to focus on the single drifter.

Once you decide to start drifting you'll need a few basic things set up & supplies.

1.) You need to have a bank account somewhere, it can even be an internet bank like FirstIB
2.) You need to set-up a paypal account as this is a popular online payment processor.
3.) You need to have a working Laptop.
4.) You need to have a design software, I suggest Adobe illustrator or Serif DrawPlus, but a free one like Inkscape works to.
5.) You need to have a wireless wifi adaptor so you can connect to the internet.
6.) You need to have a road map like an Atlas to help you find your way.
7.) You need to have a billing address somewhere, This is so you can have checks mailed to you, have an address for online applications, and to have your Bank & paypal debit/atm cards sent to. Make a deal with someone you trust or get a post office box for a few bucks a month. No worries, this is something you normally only have to swing into town and check once every few years depending on when your debit/atm card expires and need to have new ones sent to you.

Your primary set-up and supplies is very important as it will make it easier to drift with less stress if you already have everyhting in place before you start your journey.

Your first hop

Now that you have all your supplies it's time to make your first wifi hop. Make sure you have this website bookmarked on your laptop so you can easily get to the free wifi page and the freelance page later. Now is the time you'll decide where you want to go next while consulting both your road map atlas and the free wifi page. Chart out your route in the atlas from your current position to the target wifi spot you chose. No matter how you've decided to travel (E.G. plane, train, bus, car, foot, hitch hicking, etc.) it's important that you always get to another wifi spot before your money runs out for food.

Freelancing on the road

Now that you have made your first successful hop and re-established internet connection again, it's time to get started on the freelance sites to generate some more traveling cash. Again, I can never stress this too much, you NEVER want to run out of emergency travel cash, so always try and participate in a few freelance sites every time you establish a connection, even if you don't think you need to.

You'll have lots of selection on the freelance page, however I would suggest participating in a few different categories at once (E.G. Classified Jobs, Reverse Auction Jobs, Contests, etc..), that way you don't have all your eggs in one basket so to speak. The larger paying projects will more than likely come from job boards, classifieds, & reverse auctions, but may prove to be a little more of a wait. Your instant or fast cash will come from the contest and moderated contest categories. Depending on your skill level you could technically win 3 to 20 small $10.00 to $30.00 contests per day depending on the deadline times. Or you might have a better skill set to tackle the $100.00 to $2,000.00 contests which are a bit more time consuming and rack up 1-3 wins per day. Again, it all depends on your skill level, If you are not very good yet at designing you may find yourself stuck in the $5.00 to $15.00 contests for a few months till you get better with the hannds on experience.

For those of you reading this for the first time thinking contests might be easy money and a cake walk, I can assure you that they are not for everyone. A designer needs to at least have some basic skills to win in the contest categories. The key is to use contests only when you have to, as over time you'll start to develop repeat and referal business from clients that loved your contest work so much that they want to contract with you one on one. These types are your bread and butter and the main reason you should always strive to do your best as well as provide optimal customer support.

The Budget

Thats right, even drifters need to set budgets, pinch pennies, and become bargain hunters. so here are a few things to keep in mind when your budgeting.

1.) Always make sure you have enough for fuel to get to your next wifi spot.
2.) Always make sure you have enough for 3 days rations (Food, water, etc.).
3.) Always make sure you have enough for at least 1 backup wifi adaptor. (Easier to have one onhand)
4.) Always make sure you have enough for a few cups of coffee (Or equivilant) in case you have to sit in a coffee house to use the wifi and they have a rule that wifi users must be paying customers.

The above are the basics, other than those you can add as you see fit. Some people are a bit more materialistic than others and always need to be in a motel or hotel room every night or eat expensive foods. These are expenses that will drain peoples accounts really fast, so be careful and try not to be to materialistic when drifting. If you have a vehicle, try parking at a rest area to catch a nap here and there to help save money.

Cheap Food and beverages

Thank goodness for $1 menus. When you're drifting and money gets tight the fast food industries $1 menus hits the spot every time. Thankfully you can pretty much find $1 menus all across America now, even in small towns. If you are looking for a bigger meal and good bang for the buck stop into a Casino, they normally have really cheap food to try and lure in people to gamble. Be smart though, NEVER gamble at a casino, Remember, you are already a winner by getting the great food deal and getting out before they milk you on the tables and machines. Drifters can't afford to gamble more than they already are each day out on the road. Unless of course it's a one time treat to celebrate a big project payoff, then maybe, but make sure you budgeted for it and NEVER go over the budget.

Believe it or not, Truck stops don't have very good food and beverage deals. Most the big corporate chained truck stops (E.G. Loves, Flying J, TA, Petro, Etc.) have high prices targeted at the tourism industry. Your best bet to find great deals at a truck stop are the smaller independantly owned ones, which most of those are easy to identify because they look run down and poorly maintained.

Your first sale

Congrats on your first design sale or contest win. ALWAYS make sure that the client sends you the money first before you release any master files. Releasing master files before payment confirmation is just setting yourself up to not get paid. Most internet users these days that use freelance sites are familiar with Paypal, make sure to use the paypal account you set up before you started your journey. Once payment has been confirmed, make sure to render the design they purchased in multiple formats (E.G. .Ai / .Cdr / .Dpa / .Psd / .Eps / .Png / .jpg) as well as privide a few differnet sizes in the Raster files for them (E.G. .jpg small, .jpg Med., .jpg Lg.). Once you have all the files rendered, stick them in a new folder and compress/zip it. you can then use a free file sharing site like megaupload or rapidshare to host the file and give the client the link to download it. Alternately you could attach it to a free e-mail client like Yahoo or hotmail.

Make sure to always be as polite and helpful as possible with your clients and provide great after sale support. That means if a client contacts you a few days after the sale & asks if you can make a very minor change, do it and then remind them you have a 10% referral program if they refer someone that makes a purchase. Remember, you're repeat and referal business will be your bread and butter, you always want to focus on building a repeat client list and not just doing half cocked work on freelance sites all the time. As your repeat and referral business builds, you'll notice the less time you'll have for freelance sites, thats when you know you're starting to get good.

Funds transfers and withdraws

It's important to have a little bit of money in paypal at all times that you can use for promotional, subscription, or other online purchases for your business. However you NEVER want to keep too much in there, or any one place for that matter, especially when you are drifting. If one source has technical difficulties, you need a backup funds source to survive. So, set your amount for paypal, maybe a min. of $100.00 or $200.00 in at all times and then set a mental transfer goal every time the balance hits say $500.00. When you hit that goal you then transfer $300.00 to your bank (which takes 3 to 5 days normally). Do the same thing with your bank funds, maybe set a minimum mental balance of $1,000.00 or $1,500.00 for your minimum and use your atm card for additional cash. These amounts are purely for example purposes only, I'm sure you'll be dealing with very different amounts. Always keep in mind the 3 to 5 day transfer delay from paypal to your bank and budget for it so you aren't left with no money for food and water.

In Conclusion

Drifting isn't for everyone. I've seen drifters that have been doing it for 30+ years way before digital design on the road was an option and then I've also seen guys that got out there, fell flat on their face, couldn't make a sale, and practically starved to death before they either called a familly member to rescue them, or found a homeless shelter to become a resident of.

It's important that everyone knows that drifting isn't easy, it truely takes a special kind of person that dosen't get home sick, has discipline, survival skills, a passion for traveling, and creative talent for design. It's a VERY dangerous world out there for people that have been sheltered most their life and oblivious to what really goes on. So before you make the decision to drift, be sure it's the right move for you or that you are truly out of any other options.

And for those of you that fit the bill, Welcome to Drifter Designs. We like to keep our listings as up to date as possible, so if you want to suggest adding/removing a free wifi spot or adding/removing a freelance site, please use our suggestion form.