Freelancer Spotlight with Sabrina Polanco

Our team chatted with Sabrina Polanco to learn about her freelance journey and what helped her find continued projects with high quality clients!

For the most part, I enjoyed the projects I worked on in my previous jobs—they gave me a lot of creative freedom, and I loved my Creative Director. However, I was burnt out from constantly attending meetings and juggling multiple projects simultaneously. Towards the end, I didn’t feel very aligned with the clients we were working with. Even though we preached wellness to our clients and their consumers, that wasn’t true for us employees. While my agency charged thousands for a project where I was mostly working independently, I only saw a fraction of that. I quit my job to start freelancing so I could have more freedom in selecting clients that I truly loved and resonated with, and to do it in a way that celebrated wellness for everyone—not only because our most creative work happens when we’re happy, but because there needs to be a change in the industry as a whole.

I actually studied psychology and am mostly a self-taught designer. For me, branding is the perfect combination of my two interests: psychology and creativity. I felt a bit selfish for making the switch, choosing something “fun” over helping others. When I switched over to design, I wanted to make sure that I was still making a positive impact with my work. Becoming a supportive partner for small brands and founders who truly care is incredibly fulfilling. I feel very lucky and excited that I get to play a part in their success, which will eventually create a cultural shift.

I’m currently working on rebranding a pet brand—a dream, I know! 😍 Their entire mission is to make the pet world more inclusive and to support pet owners in advocating for their dogs. I’m also working on translating the branding I did for a skincare brand earlier this year into packaging concepts. Lastly, I’m offering some consulting to a previous client on their new website before they launch in a week! Things are a bit slower than usual this month, so I’m using this time to work on my marketing and business as a whole. There are a lot of exciting things I’m working on in the background!

I’m usually the target audience for most of my clients, so I naturally interact with a lot of bold, mission-driven brands as a consumer myself. Following the journey of many of these brands gives me great insights into the space. Plus, as a nomad, I bring variety to my work from my travels and unconventional life in general. For example, last month, I was in Oaxaca, falling in love with all the street art, woodcut designs, and colorful hand-drawn lettering, and now I’m in a small beach town with a strong surf and skate influence. Lastly, being surrounded by creative people and their work constantly inspires me—from my creative friends back in NY to the Contra Slack channel, and the accounts I follow on social media. Being immersed in creativity from different mediums is probably my best source of inspiration!

Luckily, I’m entering a phase where clients are starting to find me. They are either referred by other clients or contact me directly after finding me on Contra or Behance. Also, a lot of my clients tend to have or start several businesses, so they usually reach out to partner with me to help them craft the branding and website for their new brands.

It has changed drastically since this was my first year of freelancing! 🥳 I made the jump to freelance in an impulsive move—I was so burnt out that I just quit my previous agency job after flying back from a photoshoot in LA. I took some time off, and when I realized my bank account was almost at zero, I had no more excuses but to start! I wouldn’t recommend doing that to others, lol, but to some extent, putting myself in that scary position helped me get over all my fears and quiet my impostor syndrome. I was so unsure about everything with my first client, spending the very little money I had to buy connects so that I could apply to job listings on Upwork, hoping someone would hire me. Eventually, someone did. It was a small project, and even though they didn’t pay me much, I still felt like I didn’t deserve to get paid. Then I found Contra and started bringing those clients from Upwork onto Contra (shh! Don’t tell them 😈). I was short on money, and I wasn’t going to pay what little I had to them. That first project was $1K, and one year later, my latest branding project was $10K. I also get to have one of my closest friends help me a few hours a week as a project manager, and I also get to hire a copywriter to help offer a more holistic list of services to my clients. But I think the biggest change is just feeling a lot more confident in my skills and my worth, and the overall excitement of doing what I love and realizing that people are willing to pay me—ME!!

I bring all my clients to Contra to help me manage all payments, contracts, and invoices because, let’s be honest, I’m still figuring it out. I think using Contra adds a level of trust for my clients, knowing that their money is safe. It makes me look more professional, having a clear and super intuitive tool and system that fits perfectly with my process, and a place where they can keep track of our due dates and know exactly what to expect as we move forward with our project!

Check out Sabrina's Contra portfolio website: https://sabrinapolanco.contra.com/

Hi! 👋 Our monthly freelancer spotlight is one of our favorite ways to celebrate the stories of exceptional independents on Contra. If you're interested in being featured next, here are some things we look for:

Availability and Response time: Are you reliably and promptly communicating with your prospective clients?

Status and Optimized profile: Does your Contra Profile showcase your Top Independent badge, and projects you're proud of?

Activity on Social Media: Are you a storyteller and Contra advocate?

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