Being Freelance

David developed an array of skills studying multimedia at university in Ireland, and he’d freelanced on the side of full-time gigs for years, as well as going solo for a while before one of his clients took him on as an employee. He didn’t stay long though. By then, David had caught the travel bug. From Ireland to Central America and everywhere in between, he’s spent the past couple of years travelling the world. He never intended to work while he was away, but the jobs kept coming in, and David soon found himself living the digital nomad lifestyle. Now settled in Mexico, where he fell in love, David’s freelancing full-time and building up his one-person studio. This is his story so far. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Lo

After working as a creative in an ad agency, where he developed concepts for big brands and worked across a range of media, Robbie was ready for something new. His work was fun and exciting, but it left him with no time for his own projects. And, while he admired those ahead of him in the industry, Robbie didn’t want to be them. He knew agency life wasn’t for him. Robbie now works remotely, living in places like Thailand and Bali, where he’ll often spend the morning surfing before he starts work. He chats to Steve about how and why he made the move, what life is like when you’re on the road, and how he makes freelancing work as a digital nomad. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love learning from other freelancers like this

Sian started freelancing on the side 12 years ago, with one gig leading to another. When a job came along that was enough to cover rent, she left the security of employment without giving it much thought. 6 months later, Sian’s client folded and she was out of work. She bounced back and found her niche, built relationships with clients, and grew and edited her own successful website. She now writes emails for a living and is crowdfunding her first book. Sian chats to Steve about the lessons she's learned along the way, the fear she still feels sending pitches, and that one time the tax office threatened her with bankruptcy. If you want to support Sian’s book, The Pyjama Myth, use the code BEINGFREELANCE for 10% off any pledge up to £100. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-mont

He’s now based in Amsterdam, but South African born Devon’s freelance story kicked off in New Zealand, where he worked as a motion designer and videographer for a church. After one of the congregation offered him his first freelance gig, Devon was hooked. “It’s like that first taste of bacon…” he says, “I got the bug.” Devon freelanced on the side for years while working full-time at Xero in Wellington. When he and his wife became restless, they decided to hit the road and move somewhere new. They spent a year in Australia, where Devon finally took the plunge and went freelance full-time, and then settled in Amsterdam. Devon chats to Steve about how the move affected his client base, how he balanced his time while freelancing and working a full-time job, and how he finds clients and makes time for fun now that he’s working for himself. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to

We've had some amazing Live Q&As in the Being Freelance Community this year. So as a bonus here's just some of the amazing answers Paul Jarvis and Kate Toon gave to questions poised by freelancers in the group. These are just SOME of their answers, but you can catch the whole replay of each in video, in the group. Here we cover topics such as personal brand versus business brand course creation audience building getting speaking gigs product creation email marketing for freelancers SEO for your freelance content Google My Business for freelancers Don't miss out, come and join us for more great Q&As and the friendship and support of other freelancers from around the world in the Being Freelance Community. Following the link at beingfreelance.com 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 y

When a two-year stint in Hong Kong inspired Mel to pursue illustration, she put her fine art degree to good use and began teaching art workshops to top up her income. Mel soon bought a Mac and taught herself how to use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, setting up a website and building a portfolio over time. Mel’s earned money in a variety of ways since then, experimenting with workshops, commissions, products, and collabs. “You’ve got to be open to having conversations with people,” Mel says, “Your confidence and ability will grow with every project.” This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, be part of the Being Freelance Community! You'll al

Working in a job he didn’t like with a bully for a manager, Leif was desperate for a way out. But, nearing 30 and expecting his first child, he didn’t have many options. After discovering copywriting and feeling drawn to it, Leif began freelancing on the side; going to networking events, building up his portfolio with “friend of a friend" gigs, and launching a website, all alongside his full-time job. It’s 11 years later now, and Leif’s made a career out of copywriting. The late nights and weekend-working might be (mostly) a thing of the past, but work still comes with its struggles. As well as being freelance, Leif’s the director of ProCopywriters, a small professional association with over 850 members. He chats to Steve about the story behind his successful side project, including how it runs without a single employee and takes up far too much of his time. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK ba

“Be the best boss you ever had,” says Stefano, and he’s trying to live up to that himself. From not letting an employer’s limits hold him back, to re-imagining work-life balance on his own terms, to developing a portfolio that’s not just about winning work, but about showing his journey too; Stefano tries to make his professional development and mental well-being a priority. With an “umbrella of skills” and a professional title that doesn’t tie him to one specific job, Stefano’s able to build deeper, longer-term relationships with clients. He chats to Steve about he got started, how he finds clients, and how he’s worked on his mindset and well-being throughout his freelance career. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love lea

After moving from her small island town to the big city of Brisbane, Australia, Emily set her sights on a job as a copywriter. She interviewed for positions but the market was tough, so she took on some nannying work to tide her over. As luck would have it, the dad from the family Emily worked for was a web designer, and he just so happened to need a copywriter. Emily partnered with him on some projects, building her freelance business from there. She chats to Steve about how she got to where she is now, the ups and downs she’s dealt with along the way, and what freelance life is like for her now that she’s moved to the US to be with her husband. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love learning from other freelancers like th

After leaving high school in LA, where he was born and raised, Storm toured as a professional musician for five years before transitioning to photography. When a friend passed on a lucrative job shooting for Nike, Storm knew right away that this what he’d keep doing. He soon found that the best gigs aren’t usually so easy to come by, and when a friend told him “Don’t get mad, get better”, it stuck. Storm now has an agent and a substantial portfolio, and he’s working on jobs that give him lots of room for creativity. And how does he keep the work coming in? “If you can be cool to hang out with for 10 hours,” Storm says, “the 10% of talent is a plus." This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love learning from other freelancers

This week, we’re LIVE in London at IPSE’s annual event, National Freelancers Day. Steve chats to past IPSE award winners, Iona Bain (Freelancer of the Year 2018), and Harvey Morton (Young Freelancer of the Year 2018). Taking part in a school enterprise competition aged only 13, Harvey was given £25 to start his own company. He launched the IT Support business that’s been his side hustle throughout GCSE’s, A-Levels, and university. He now runs Harvey Morton Digital, a marketing agency based in Sheffield. Iona Bain is the founder of Young Money, an informative blog that helps young people understand personal finance. When a piggy bank theft left a 22-year-old Iona with no savings, she committed to getting serious about money. She launched the blog as part of a portfolio career, also taking on work as a journalist, speaker, radio presenter, and consultant. Hear how both Harvey and Iona have got on since winning last years’ awards. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes man

After graduating in 2008 during the Great Recession, Tatiana found herself looking for a next step that would make sense financially. Calling on the design skills she’d picked up as a kid, she started out freelance, sending personalised “Do you need a designer?” emails to everyone she knew. Tatiana’s come a long way since then, finding her focus as an independent designer who works with accessibility and inclusion in mind. Hear her talk about speaking internationally, working in a way that allows her to protect her health, and her approach to providing content that’s free to all, but still helps to bring in some cash. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website bei

Cathy only needed 3 days work when she first started out as a freelance social media manager, and she was lucky enough to fill those slots without too much effort. When she lost a client later down the line and found herself exploring lead generation strategies, Cathy retrained as a Facebook Advertising specialist, re-positioning herself and her services in the process. Cathy talks about her experiences of training, finding clients, pricing her services, taking on associate freelancers, and partnering with other women in business to co-found a new company. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, be part of the Being Freelance Community!* You

“We don’t become freelancers to sell,” Nick says, “we become freelancers to do.” Nick tried the entrepreneurial route of scaling and managing people, but he soon realised it wasn’t for him. And yet, despite his reluctance to build an agency, Nick’s still going after those big money clients where budget is no issue. Find out how he positions himself in order to win that kind of work, what his take is on Brexit in relation to freelancers, and hear some helpful tips on things like planning, pricing, and finding clients. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, be part of the Being Freelance Community!* You'll also find useful links for this epi

Paige got her start on Upwork after moving to Finland for love. Struggling to find work in a country where she didn’t speak the language, Paige jumped into freelance life without much of a plan. She’s levelled up several times since then, using a mix of courses, mastermind groups, and authority building content to establish herself as a trusted expert. These days, Paige plans everything. She talks in detail about the 90-day planning process that helps her meet her goals, and chats about the weekday schedule she’s set herself to make sure everything gets done. With Marketing Mondays, Content Wednesdays, and “Fiddly-bit Fridays”, Paige is doing her best to keep her weekends work free. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love l

How do you find clients when you hate sales? Steve’s built his business through networking and word of mouth, and despite being an SEO consultant with the skills to drive traffic to a website, he prefers to work with people he’s connected to. Steve chats about managing his workload alongside a chronic illness and two kids under 5, and shares some of the techniques he’s used to find new clients, including co-working, speaking, networking, and running a meet-up. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, be part of the Being Freelance Community!* You'll also find useful links for this episode. That's beingfreelance.com Like VIDEO? - Check out the

Finding the right price for your services can be a tough one to crack. We’ve heard about all sorts of pricing models on the podcast before, but Steph’s the first to tell us she charges on a sliding scale. Steph tells her clients: "This is the least amount of money that I can make this project on, and this is the most amount of money that I would charge to do this project. Whatever you can afford to pay me in between those two, please do." Interesting, right? Steph tells us how that works in practice, as well as sharing her experiences of speaking at a conference, networking, finding clients, hiring a team, managing people, and keeping on top of the whole work-life balance thing. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1-month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance L

If you discount the 3 consecutive Saturdays he spent at Waitrose, Tom’s a thoroughbred entrepreneur. He started out knocking on the doors of local businesses at 16 years old, and then went from freelance to founder when he launched Design Cuts - a global marketplace of resources for designers. Tom loves his company, but he’s learnt some hard lessons along the way. He talks openly about his experience of burnout that led to serious illness, and how he’s still dealing with the effects of that today. This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1 month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, be part of the Being Freelance Community!* You'll also find useful links for this episode. That's beingfre

Here's a bonus episode of the podcast, recorded live with IPSE at a WeWork in Manchester, UK, on 6th March 2019. It features previous guests Kelly Gilmour-Grassam (2016 guest) and Ian Paget (2015). How have they grown their businesses in the years since we last spoke? When we last left her Kelly was hiring her first employee. What happened next?!Ian was working full time at an agency whilst becoming an authority as Logo Geek on Twitter. It’s like lining your kids up on a height chart to see how they’ve grown. ”I remember you, when you were this big!’ This episode is supported by FreeAgent - online accounting software that makes managing your business finances a breeze. With an award-winning UK based support team on hand to help out, it’s easy to stay on top of your expenses, invoices, banking and tax. To claim your 1 month free trial, visit FreeAgent.com/beingfreelance Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, be part of the Being Freelance Community!* You'll al

Lucas says that setting up on his own was like discovering himself again. Learning to know himself, what his goals are, and how he wants to live his life. Right now that means trying to stay balanced in the Brazilian countryside, managing the graphic design work he does for clients alongside building his illustration portfolio. And as for the piece of advice he’d give his younger self, it’s one we haven’t heard before: “Don’t be a bad boss to yourself,” Lucas says. That’s good advice, right? But how many of us can say we follow it? 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/beingfreelanceYouTu