Being Freelance

Adapting her services to what her clients need. Meeting them. Listening to them. Partnering with other freelancers to collaborate or refer work. While finding community and support in these relationships. This is the studio of Fork & Dram - tuck into the freelance experience of Tara Sura. Oh. And it can't hurt when you're marrying an accountant. All adds up. Love learning from other...

After starting out portraying himself as an agency that covered everything graphic & web design, Matthew's discovered a) his natural niche of web development and b) that clients prefer knowing they're working with an individual. He's stripped it back: dropped the 'everything' offering, refocused, rebranded and revoiced as 'I'. When Matthew started out he soon...

Since leaving university Emmeline has been freelance, building her online presence and her business. In 2016 she was named as the UK's Freelancer of the Year by IPSE - here she chats about her side projects, making the most of the quiet spells and how she enjoys being every role in the business. Even the accounts. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfree...

Rachel always wanted to work for herself. Once she decided to' take the plunge and make a success of it' there was still plenty to learn, like pricing, getting paid, client relationships and, you know, helicopters. Hear how she fits work around life, instead of the other way round. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com , subscribe to the...

Second time round at freelancing Jimmy knew he needed to put himself out there and found a use for Instagram. Since then, people around the world have found him and his work - and he's found his voice. Hear the lessons he's learnt as he set out to diversify his income from band merch to his own products and beyond. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website bei...

US digital marketer Josh took his skills, took his definition of success and took his passport as he travelled the world on a journey of epic freelancing. Currently in Bangkok he shares how acting locally whilst thinking globally transformed his business. Doing the little things every day of creating, networking and... living. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website b...

After years of agency and in-house experience, Luan stepped out into being freelance. A story of spotting opportunities, maintaining relationships and self development underlines her solo career. She shares her experience hiring coaches, writing a book, speaking, making courses by herself and alongside LinkedIn - and above all, thinking like a business. Love learning from other freelancers like th...

Tokyo based illustrator and painter Tatsuro has been freelance since leaving art college 25 years ago. Working remotely with clients around the world long before the internet made it the norm. He chats about adapting his style to get the work he wanted, being fine with being a workaholic and the need to look after ourselves. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website bei...

In 2000 Jason and (his now wife) Hannah started 'Bouncing Fish'. Working first as freelancers it grew into an agency with a big team, big office and when the financial crash at the end of the decade came... a big problem. Hear how Jason bounced back as a freelancer vowing never to let it happen again. Working from home with his four children (and a Tardis toilet) not too far away - we ch...

Jess spent the first decade of her career in the corporate world. She did branding, marketing and advertising for global businesses . Now, she's a freelance illustrator, documenting her creative business journey on YouTube as 'Studio Jess' in Austin, Texas. Hear how she finally managed to make the move into following (and earning from) her passion whilst still drawing on her experie...

Bryce is the freelance writer behind the Clients From Hell blog and podcast... but how the devil did he get to where he is today? He takes us through the isolation, the daily marketing habit of reaching out and how actually - maybe getting a job with an agency might have been a good idea. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com , subscribe to the po...

Ran is a designer working amongst the start-up community of Tel Aviv. As part of that he also works on his own start-up and products. For a year Ran's been documenting his freelance life with a daily YouTube vlog purely for the joy of creating. What really brings him work... is making friends. And a lot of lunches. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfre...

Paul shares his journey from agency life, to freelance life... to forming an agency... to losing it... to going solo as The Code Guy and becoming IPSE Freelancer of the Year. And that's not even all of it... did we mention the digital product yet? So grab a cup of tea (it's what he'd want) and enjoy! Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelanc...

Faye is a radio presenter turned freelance voiceover artist. Borrowing money to build her own studio, she's since built her reputation, her business and now her family too. With that she's also created 'Freelance Mum' - part of which is networking events where it's okay to bring your kids. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance...

An offer of a freelance project whilst Emelie was still at uni kicked off a 7 year journey. From managing Social to strategising and forming a 'networked agency'. From Stockholm, to Tokyo, to London. Exploring the world, expanding her business. Learning to not always be 'so available' - there's more to life than work. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check o...

Paddy spent 10 years in agency life working his way towards the top... and then looked down at the view and decided to take a leap into being freelance. He'd grown too far from the actual creativity. He couldn't control what his day looked like. He wanted to grow a beard. A really big beard. Through dedicated learning, taking action and, well, working 6 days a week - Superlogoboy is soar...

Hear how Amy went from being the person in town who knew about Facebook... to being a YouTuber, international speaker, video consultant and influencer. Look, when Gary Vaynerchuk is giving you a quote for the front of your book - you know you're doing something right. She shares her freelance story including the latest chapters of forming a company with her fiancé and writing 'Vlog Like...

Having started out as a freelance motion designer, creating videos in the San Francisco Bay area, Adrian realised all the things he didn't like about the industry and set out to create a studio of his own that would change that. Putting people and process at the heart of his team's creations. From there he sought 'passive income', building digital products - Adrian thinks every...

Katrin has used life as a freelancer to travel from her native Germany and is currently based in Sydney, Australia. Having founded her own Startups she now treats herself as the product, herself as the Startup. Katrin shares her journey and lessons learned in her work as a UX Designer and Startup mentor. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com , sub...

Having trained in computer science, Kirk came to realise it was the visual design of software and sites that he most enjoyed. So he rebooted his career - self-taught how to develop as an illustrator, designer and businessman. He shares his journey including the results of experiments with working space, social media and pricing. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website...

Femke manages to fit in a lot alongside her full time remote design job. Freelance clients, a podcast, speaking, blogging, conferences, a social life. And a cat. She shares her story: from New Zealand to Amsterdam, forming a 'studio' with her boyfriend, dispanding a studio with her boyfriend, growing in confidence, growing an audience. The power of connection. The power of reflection. Ma...

In 2010 Andy started a blog exploring his passion for data visualisation. It led to a huge multi-national knocking on his door as his first client and that gave him the confidence to visualise life being freelance. Hear Andy share his story, discussing the value of his service and the pressures of pricing, the value of hiring others and the value of writing books on your subject. Good value in thi...

When a 16 year old Emma started sharing her artwork on her blog, she had no idea how quickly she'd turn from teenager to freelancer and ultimately from freelancer into 'influencer'! Hear the way she's diversified her income, copes with an RSI and shares tips on social marketing (including great success with Instagram Stories). Love learning from other freelancers like this? Che...

How does a builder from Jersey end up photographing a future King? Hear how Matt took the plunge, followed his passion, knocked on doors and took every job that came his way. Nowadays Matt's joined forces with other freelancers to form a studio that allows them to be creative and take on even more work. His passion for travel and underwater photography still shines through and it's all g...

A year before he went freelance, Austin started blogging. Not only did it give him a space to document and reflect on his progress, but it brought him connections that referred him for work. Since then expanding his network through conferences has done the same. He continues to think big, experiment, grow and develop his business chops. His passion for hand lettering animation has brought him a ne...