covering my ass....

[Pica]

Ok, so I work for a newspaper designing ads. We don't charge customers for design services and we even on occasion will design an ad that's not even running in our paper (if it's running in an affiliate paper that is, i think they still pay us something for placing the ad in the other paper), also we sometimes send customers pdfs of their ad that they turn around and use as fliers.

Today one of our customers asked his sales rep if I might be available to do some design work for a mailout they're doing. It's not going to be running in any paper, just as a mail piece. This is a service that we don't offer at the paper. The paper doesn't care if we freelance, as long as we're not competing w/ them or working on outside projects on the clock.

My question is are there any steps I should take to cover my ass... I'm going to ask the client to email their logos, etc directly to me rather than me getting them from our archives at work. I'm also planning on making it clear to the client that they're contracting me as a freelancer and that as such I'm in no way connected to the newspaper.

Anything else I should consider, make clear, etc. to avoid any problems w/ my boss and/or the client?

[D-Frag]

one word.... contract. best way to cover your ass, always

[Pica]

one word.... contract. best way to cover your ass, always

Yeah, I never work without a contract and only work without a deposit if I'm working with someone I know personally. I'm asking more about any issues that may arise from mixing my full-time job and my freelancing.

[morea]

^ definitely.

Also, I would be sure to work directly with the contact rather than retrieving anything from the archives at work... if you need to get something from the work archives, ask the proper person at the newspaper. The client may need to give written permission to the paper in order for you to access their stuff, if the newspaper even allows that.

[budafist]

Yes, make sure you separate it as your own freelance work. And be sure to give them a quote - they might think you're doing it for next to nothing!

[frankster]

Yeah, my guess is that as they are used to design services being free when they place ads in the paper they will not be expecting a freelance graphic designers fee for this job. Hope it works out.

[Pica]

Oh, they'll pay. They'd called me because the guy they already paid to do the job turned out something that "looked like a kindergartner did it"... Looks like it might turn into a recurring job. Cool!

[frankster]

Cool. Nothing like getting what you paid for to make you want to pay proparly!

[budafist]

For sure!