Talking to Unicorns

Hayden is a freelance copywriter from Wellington, New Zealand. We had a chat about his journey as a copywriter, the challenges of writing for yourself and plenty more!    This was an amazing chat with a lot of fantastic takeaways.   https://www.unicornfactory.nz/profiles/hayden-maskell  https://www.haydenmaskell.com/

Today, I talk to Grace Potter who is a part-time freelance web and brand designer from Wellington, New Zealand. Grace is currently contracting full time for a design agency but does freelance gigs on the side. We talked about her journey and experiences working in the agency world and other fun things.

Tim Hunt is a freelance Storyboarder and Animator from Wellington, New Zealand. He has been in the industry for the last 20 years and we had a chat about his journey and learnings from working in the creative space.  Links: https://www.unicornfactory.nz/profiles/tim-hunt

Phil Cox is the co-owner of Avalon Marketing and Web Design based in the beautiful Wairarapa.   We had a chat about his background, how he finds and works with local councils and some of his strategies when hiring contractors.   Links:  https://www.unicornfactory.nz/profiles/phil-cox  https://avalonmarketing.co.nz/

Nick is a freelance brand designer from Auckland, New Zealand. He is currently working as in-house designer for an Auckland branding agency but has recently started picking freelance projects on the side.   We had a chat about his career path, how he splits his time between his full-time job and freelance work, how he selects clients and heaps of other practical insights for anyone considering freelancing on the side.   This episode will be particularly useful to anyone who has considered freelancing but has been held back by having a fulltime job. Nick on Unicorn Factory: https://www.unicornfactory.nz/profiles/nick-walker

Ashley Boyd is a freelance brand designer from Auckland. After spending the last 4.5 years in Sydney working as a brand designer in social enterprises and agencies, she has now returned to NZ and made the leap into freelancing.   We talked about why she primarily works with social enterprises, her cold emailing strategy (putting a 100% effort into 10 emails, rather than a 10% effort into 100 emails) and some branding tips for social enterprises.  I highly recommend reaching out to Ashley if you need some help with spreading the word about your social enterprise, charity or other NFP organisation.    Ashley on Unicorn Factory: https://www.unicornfactory.nz/profiles/ashley-boyd  Ashley's website: https://www.ashleyrosedesigns.co/

In this video, I share my thoughts on how to charge for your first freelance project.    I cover:  - The different types of pricing models used by freelancers  - What pricing model to choose for your first project  - What I consider the freelancer minimum wage  - What pricing model to work towards if you want to build a business   Unicorn Factory is a freelance directory in New Zealand. Our community of 500 freelance designer, marketers and developers work with Kiwi businesses of all sizes.  Visit us at https://www.unicornfactory.nz

Maddy is a freelance Shopify Developer from Auckland. I was really excited to talk to Maddy because she the freelancer that has closed most clients through Unicorn Factory over the last few months.  We had a chat about Shopify, how COVID changed how Kiwi business owners think about digital and how her past job is helping add value to her clients beyond just her web design and Shopify services.  Highly recommend.   -------------------------------------------   Maddy on Unicorn Factory: https://www.unicornfactory.nz/profiles/maddy-croft   Croft Creative: https://www.croftcreative.com/

Nikolai Bain is a freelance Webflow developer from Wellington, New Zealand. Four months ago, Nikolai made the leap into freelancing full-time after working as an in-house graphic designer for various businesses for the past three years.   We talked about his journey to becoming a freelancer, early learnings, Webflow and heaps of other fun things.   This is episode will be particularly useful to anyone who is considering freelancing fulltime, but not quite sure where to start.   -------------   Nikolai on Unicorn Factory: https://www.unicornfactory.nz/profiles/nikolai-bain   Nikolai's website: https://www.nikolaibain.com

Hey everyone, I made a video recording for our freelancers explaining if it is better to position yourself as a generalist or specialist on Unicorn Factory. I decided to upload this here because a lot of these learnings are equally applicable to freelancing in general.