Being Freelance

What happens when the way you've been finding freelance work no longer works for you? For illustrator Becky Prinn, it was time to try something different. And rather than spend hours trying to get noticed on LinkedIn, she decided to put her artwork directly into the hands of the people she wanted to work with.Becky has been freelancing since 2016, following a decade working in-house in the greetings card industry. For a while, things worked well. Her artwork was being picked up online, particularly through Pinterest, and she had a steady relationship with an agency. But after having two children, juggling work around school and nursery calendars became increasingly overwhelming. Her online presence faded, the work changed, and she found herself feeling a little lost.A chance meetup with other freelance parents helped her realise how much she'd been missing the company of people who understood what freelance life was really like. A creative business course called Mastered brought new connections, fresh confidence and a willingness to be a bit more vulnerable and less concerned with getting everything perfect.That new confidence also prompted a different approach to finding clients. Which is how she finds herself personally writing and sending 100 Christmas cards in the height of summer to to businesses she wanted to work with. Her offer? Bespoke illustrated Christmas cards featuring their premises, with the option of having her write and send them too.It's a thoughtful approach that considers what the businesses actually need - what their pain points are, rather than simply asking them to commission an illustration. And it's already led to new projects, and given her valuable feedback as to what to try next.We chat about finding your freelance community, making time for connections, getting comfortable with being imperfect, experimenting with different ways to find clients and discovering that your skills as a creative are only part of what makes you good to work with.Plus, why sometimes the best thing you can do for your freelance business is simply get out there and meet people.In this episode:How Becky went from in-house design to freelancing in 2016.The impact of having children on her workload, confidence and creative business.Finding a community of freelancers who understand the messy reality of working for yourself.How a creative business course helped her embrace imperfection and vulnerability.How to identify a potential client's needs and build an offer around them.Tracking outreach, following up and learning from the businesses that say no.Building relationships with other creatives rather than seeing them as competition.Finding new opportunities by getting out there and meeting people.JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.

Moving from Brazil to London to learn English in 2016, Andre De Almeida didn’t just pick up the language - he picked up the Being Freelance podcast and studied a new way to live and work too!After being made redundant from an in-house role, he used what he’d learned from listening to jump headfirst into full-time freelancing. The key to his growth? In-person networking, vulnerability, and a constant willingness to experiment -from the events he attends to testing titles like CMO vs. Fractional Marketing Manager.In this episode, Andre shares how stepping away from "corporate polish" helped him find his voice, build long-term client relationships, and win through collaboration over competition.And we're not joking when we say he found a friend and a client collaboration on his very first Being Freelance Community event - Mini Golf! You can see him and Cat (and Steve!) in this video of our day.In this episode of the Being Freelance podcast, Andre shares:Vulnerability builds genuine connections: Showing up authentically and admitting when work is slow resonates far more with people than pretending everything is perfect.   Positioning makes sales easier: Replacing titles like "CMO" (which sounded out-of-budget) or "Freelancer" with "Fractional Marketing Manager" made prospects immediately understand his availability and offering.   Collaboration over competition: Connecting with peers in community spaces doesn’t just bring you friendship and support, it can result in long-term client sharing and referrals.Networking extends beyond the room: In-person networking starts the conversation, but consistent 1-on-1 follow-ups on LinkedIn build the long-term relationship.JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.

Photographer and creative facilitator Celie Nigoumi shares her journey from severe burnout and chronic health challenges after university to building a thriving freelance business that works for her in a way normal employment and fluorescent offices never could. Celie talks about navigating neurodivergence, merging multiple niches into a single authentic personal brand, and using boundary-setting tools like quarterly planning and bi-weekly 'buffer' days to safeguard her well-being. We also get deep into pricing/packages her freelance business, and her About page messaging that spills across her website steeped in her core values - this helps her attract ideal clients while turning away the wrong fit.Topics Covered include:Transitioning from in-house corporate photography to full-time freelancingManaging ADHD, chronic fatigue/ME, and burnout in a self-employed careerMerging wedding and personal branding photography into one personal brandUsing Instagram, story-led email newsletters, and SEO to generate client leadsEstablishing clear core values on your website to attract the right clientsHosting community photo walks and collaborating with purpose-led organisationsStructuring personal branding packages and conducting discovery callsUsing support tools like Toggl and the UK Government's Access to Work schemeImplementing bi-weekly buffer days, quarterly planning, and extended time offHow a mentor and community have helped focus her and encourage her forwardYou can find Celie's website at celienigoumi.comMore details on the UK Government's Access to Work scheme: get support if you have a disability or health condition.JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.

What happens when the industry you’ve worked in for a decade gets shut down overnight? In this episode, host Steve Folland chats with Helen Carrie to talk through her complete freelance overhaul when COVID hit.   Helen worked in UK television production: traveling the world, interviewing celebrities; before the pandemic brought it all to a stop. Forced to evaluate her skills, she decided to try her hand at writing, starting at the very bottom.   Over a five-year gradual transition, Helen phased out TV production and built a thriving, sustainable B2B copywriting business focusing on brand copy, executive ghostwriting, and conversion copy. Keen to keep her skills and clients diverse to protect herself. In this honest, funny, and practical conversation, Helen reveals the exact numbers behind her cold pitch strategy, how being intentionally "weird" on LinkedIn transformed her client base, and why setting boundaries gave her a much better quality of life. In this episode of the Being Freelance podcast, Helen shares:The reality of TV "freelancing" – Why traditional television production contracts often trap self-employed creatives in high-burnout, all-consuming feast-and-famine cycles rather than offering true flexibility.   Rebuilding a creative career from scratch – How an industry-wide shutdown forced a 5-year pivot from TV into B2B copywriting, starting with content mills paying fractions of a penny per word.   The power of "weird" cold outreach – Why sending highly personalised, quirky connection requests and emails generated a reliable 1% conversion rate to build her client base.   Finding your authentic voice on LinkedIn – Moving past corporate posting habits to turn social media into a steady inbound client lead generator.   Securing recurring revenue with retainers – Smart strategies for structuring ongoing client work, from fixed monthly project fees to quarterly brand strategy reviews.   Beating the "bad boss" mindset – Practical advice for us busy being our own boss, on setting firm boundaries, taking time off, and designing a business around your life instead of your life around your business.   Website>  B2B Copywriter Helen CarrieJOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.

AI is already in your freelance business, whether you invited it or not. The usual Being Freelance podcast is on its summer break, but here's a bonus treat for you: a replay of a live LinkedIn session Steve did with lawyer Ingrid Fernandez, part of the Being Freelance community, looking at what AI means for freelancers legally - not "will it take my job" but "how does it change my contracts, my responsibilities, and my relationships with clients?"Ingrid walks through five areas that could be tripping freelancers up:Putting client information into AI - what counts as personal information, why transparency with clients matters, and why your privacy policy needs to name the tools (including AI) that touch client data.Clients handing you AI-generated materials - the IP risk when a client passes over AI-made brand elements, logos or source material without saying so.Using AI in the services you deliver - the reputational and trust risk of client-facing work that's gone through AI without disclosure, and why it's worth putting in your contract.Clients putting your deliverables into AI - what happens to your IP once a client feeds your design, copy, or podcast into their own AI tools to create derivatives.Confidentiality clauses and AI - how modern confidentiality clauses are increasingly naming AI specifically, and why redacting a client's name doesn't necessarily get you off the hook.Ingrid's steer throughout: this isn't about being anti-AI, it's about being transparent, thinking about where you stand, and then getting your contracts to reflect that - so you can stop worrying about it case by case.Find Ingrid at herlegals.com.Catch the full library of Q&A replays in the Being Freelance Community.This was originally a LinkedIn Live - so come find us on LinkedIn:Steve Folland on LinkedInBeing Freelance on LinkedInIngrid Fernandez on LinkedInJOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.

David Airey is a freelance graphic designer based in Northern Ireland, self-employed since 2005. He's the author of several best-selling design books including Logo Design Love and Identity Designed - both of which started life as blogs, before turning into books... before turning into a steady stream of client work.In this episode, David talks with us about:Persuading his former employer to be his first freelance clientWhy his early "business blog" flopped, and how switching to writing about design (not just his own) changed everythingLaunching logodesignlove.com in 2008, and getting an out-of-the-blue email about a year later from a US publisher that led to his first book dealHow that one book grew into four published titles, translated into multiple languagesNiching down into logo and identity design after realising it was the part of the job he loved mostThe costly early lesson of doing design work before securing payment upfront - and how he gets paid nowWhy he's deliberately kept his business to just himself for 21 yearsHow those same blogs, barely updated these days, still bring in client enquiries years laterWhat makes a good client relationship, and why he pushes back on purely subjective feedbackWhy he doesn't set long-term goals and prefers to stay focused on the presentFind David at: davidairey.com logodesignlove.comand identitydesigned.comJOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.

New full episode coming soon. But in this super short one - Steve Folland explains why he's not publishing a new interview this week.Too often we rush on from one thing to another.But by doing so we don't do justice to the thing we just finished.With the Being Freelance podcast, that can mean not promoting an episode with clips, socials and emails. That doesn't help the podcast, the guest OR the listener who could have benefited.Same in our freelancing businesses. If we don't reflect, get testimonials, build case studies, share... we don't help do justice to the project we just finished. We don't do justice to ourselves, to our client... AND we don't help potential new clients know what we're capable of, so weirdly, we're not helping them either.If you find yourself rushing; pause. Try and build in some buffer to big up your business.JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.

Lisa Emmington is a freelance instructional designer (or as her newly SEO'd website puts it, a training course designer) based near Milton Keynes. She's been freelance almost her entire career, starting out as an IT trainer back when Apple Macs were a mystery box on people's desks, and has reinvented her business every time the market has shifted underneath her - from face to face training, to early e-learning software, to mentoring individual course creators today in the face of AI.In this episode we talk about:How the desire to be freelance came before Lisa knew what she wanted to be freelancing inSpotting the shift from face to face training to e-learning, and moving with itWhat happened when she and her husband became a limited company for three years, and why it made her invisible in the marketRebuilding visibility from scratch with a social media VA and an SEO overhaulWhy "instructional designer" doesn't bring in enquiries, but "training course designer" doesFiltering and pacing leads using nothing more high tech than a paper diaryThe balance between promoting decades of expertise and the very real ageism facing freelancers in their 50s and 60sHer three income streams: templates, done with you mentoring, and done for you course creationPensions, retirement planning, and why she's planning to keep freelancing well past 67What 60 actually looks like now, versus what she expected it to look likeSo much great advice and things to think about in here around change in our careers - brought about by the inevitability of developing tech and age.---EPISODE SPONSORED BY ECAMMFor years people have asked how Being Freelance live shows look so good. Well, this is the secret.Ecamm is a video studio for your Mac. Give anything you do with video, a pro look in real time.Presentations, screen shares, webinars, video calls, demos. Plus livestream/record in landscape & vertical at the same time, perfectly designed for both formats.Try Ecamm for free. Use code BEINGFREELANCE to save 15% on your first payment.JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.

Zoe East has never had a proper job. A work experience placement at a big TV channel that felt old-fashioned and sexist put her off the traditional route before she'd even graduated, so she went freelance instead and never really looked back. That was over ten years ago.She started with whatever work came along. The niche found her gradually: charities doing meaningful work, heritage and culture projects, things that will matter just as much when someone watches them in ten years' time.This episode of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland covers:Getting started by networking and taking whatever came alongWinning six months of free studio space in a creative co-working community, and why staying there for ten years shaped the career around itBuilding a niche in charity and heritage filmmaking - and why charity budgets are often better than people assumePutting "win an award" on a vision board in January, and winning by AprilThe adventure filmmaking strand: films about running adventures across Iceland, Tajikistan and Patagonia, and getting into Kendal Mountain Festival and the London Mountain Film FestivalWhy cold outreach has never worked for her, but word of mouth has - and how sharing only the work she wants more of has quietly shaped her client listDropping Instagram and going all-in on LinkedIn as the one social platform where her clients actually areMonthly goal-setting sessions with a freelancer friend: yearly goals, monthly focus, and the accountability that comes from having to report backThe rate spreadsheet that makes quoting consistent and takes the stress out of pricing decisionsBuying almost everything secondhand, having all her kit stolen as her biggest low point, and using a post-COVID grant to buy her first ever brand new cameraMoving into the She Who Dares Wins studio with Michelle, and the documentary series and production company they're building together ---EPISODE SPONSORED BY ECAMMFor years people have asked how Being Freelance live shows look so good. Well, this is the secret.Ecamm is a video studio for your Mac. Give anything you do with video, a pro look in real time.Presentations, screen shares, webinars, video calls, demos. Plus livestream/record in landscape & vertical at the same time, perfectly designed for both formats.Try Ecamm for free. Use code BEINGFREELANCE to save 15% on your first payment.JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.

French creative Émilie Chen had what she calls her dream job: senior designer at The National Theatre in London, working on posters she'd dreamed about since university. Years later though, it had turned sour in the studio, her mental health took a hit, and she gave herself 8 months to start saving money and figure out her next Act. What got her there wasn't a clever strategy. It was people. Co-founding the London chapter of Ladies, Wine & Design gave her the confidence to start asking the freelancers she was meeting, how they'd done it. Someone she cold emailed, handed her a contact sheet of art directors across publishing. And the recipe, she says, never changed: reach out, follow up, and keep doing it even when nothing happens for months.This episode of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland covers:Co-founding the London chapter of Ladies, Wine & Design - starting with eight women in a theatre lobby - and how it built the confidence to ask near-strangers for advice, and to end up on speaking on stages (that got bigger and bigger over time)Pushing back on a client who wanted her to create pitch work for free - and how that one conversation led to every freelancer being offered a fee from then onBuilding a niche almost entirely from her old National Theatre colleagues, who took her name with them to new venues Waiting after a talk for the room to empty, then walking up to introduce herself Mailing a physical pack of postcards to The Guardian's creative directors and the years-later payoffSurviving lockdown eleven months into freelancing, when her entire theatre client base vanished overnight, and the online directories that kept her busy until theatres reopenedThe WhatsApp group of independent theatre poster designers who share contract terms, rates, and overflow workWhy the hardest part of freelancing isn't finding clients - it's learning to be a good boss to yourselfThis episode is available to watch in video on Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Spotify.The generosity of others shines through in this conversation. And how Émilie herself is passing that kindness on. You can hear how important having a community around her has been for Émilie - you can have that kind of thing too - if you’re freelancing solo, come join us in the Being Freelance Community. You’re not alone being freelance.---EPISODE SPONSORED BY ECAMMFor years people have asked how Being Freelance live shows look so good. Well, this is the secret.Ecamm is a video studio for your Mac. Give anything you do with video, a pro look in real time.Presentations, screen shares, webinars, video calls, demos. Plus livestream/record in landscape & vertical at the same time, perfectly designed for both formats.Try Ecamm for free. Use code BEINGFREELANCE to save 15% on your first payment.JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFollandBeing Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.