Being Freelance

Charlie started taking photos when he was 8 years old, but it wasn't until he fell and broke his back in 2017 that his current freelance journey began. With no insurance and a long recovery ahead of him, Charlie was left with zero income. He chats to Steve about how he slowly bounced back from the fall and built a new freelance business in the process.   This episode is sponsored by the very...

From designing for his buddies to speaking at events all over the world, Aaron’s been riding the freelance wave for more than two decades now, and it’s going well. With speaking gigs, his ‘Big Three’ retainers, a stream of other freelance work, his own merch shop and the thriving product business he co-founded, Aaron’s got a lot on his plate. There wasn't a lot of balance, but he was determin...

Salma made her first $3 online by selling a digital planner on Etsy. As she worked to grow that product-based business, Salma fell in love with design and began developing her skills. In time, she built a portfolio and a second, service-based business. Salma chats to Steve about setting up processes, staying organised and using content and social media to demonstrate expertise and bring clients to...

When his wife became ill and his employer wouldn’t offer paid leave, Adrian gave up his job to care for her and their two young sons. And that’s where his freelance journey began. Now with more than a decade of experience behind him, Adrian knows that there will always be challenges ahead. But with passion, joy and a determination to provide quality work, he’s confident that he can weather those s...

Her background is in marketing and fundraising but Vic knows that she was born to be a radio superstar. She stopped working for “The Man” in 2017 after redundancy and a particularly bad interview left her ready to set out on her own. Today she’s using her audio production skills to help organisations that do good. Vic’s set-up her business as a social enterprise, which means that the profits she g...

Hope woke up one day to realise that she hadn’t accomplished even half of the things she’d envisioned for her career. Motivated to recover from the low-grade depression she’d been in, she began making time for creativity again. Hope set out to find more purpose and meaning in her work, to connect with other creatives, and to explore her own interests and creative projects. She shares her story wit...

In 1998 Andy gave up a comfortable position — “£35,000 a year to answer the phone about three times a week” — to start his own thing as a freelancer. It was the early days of the web and he didn’t have much of a plan, but he was keen and enthusiastic about doing better work. Two decades later, Andy and his wife Sue, who handles the business side of things, are still going strong. He chats to Steve...

Karmen was selling hair extensions online when she first got into web design. After designing a site for her own business, she began building on her skills and eventually developed a portfolio of demo sites to show what she was capable of. With part-time work in insurance to back her up, Karmen launched a web design business. She chats to Steve about finding clients through content marketing and s...

Austin wants to be the dad who goes on all the field trips. The dad who’s around so much, the kids get sick of him. He’s been self-employed for 12 years now, from freelance to fledgling agency, and while it’s been a bumpy road, Austin says he’s learned to embrace the mistakes and change the wrong turns into right ones. From his first client — the agency who’d made him redundant the week prior — to...

After spending seven years studying architecture, Sharm Murugiah realised he didn’t want to be an architect. He wanted to be an artist instead. And so, six months out of university, his freelance journey began. Since then, Murugiah’s worked with high-profile brands such as Wired, Vans and Adobe. From learning to manage clients, to finding the best places to share his work online, to booking projec...

Liz had been working as a newspaper journalist for two years when she began helping her husband set up his freelance photography business. With her own freelance journalism work on the side as well, it soon got too much and Liz left the newspaper to focus on the businesses. It’s more than 15 years later now and both businesses are still going strong. Liz chats to Steve about how she’s learnt to fi...

  This episode is kindly supported by With Jack! With Jack help keep you in business by supporting you financially or legally if you have problems with a client. Get the freelance insurance you deserve. Visit withjack.co.uk and be a confident freelancer. John’s first client was his mum, a teacher in need of a website so she could offer one-to-one tutoring. Today, after spending four years learning...

Alex studied film at university but soon found that the immediacy of photography suited her better. She worked part-time on the side for years while building up her skills and portfolio, often shooting for free or a small amount. These days, with a strong portfolio including some famous faces, Alex says that she will still work for free sometimes because it pays later on. She chats to Steve about...

Chiraag got his start in TV after handing out CVs around Soho in London. He landed an entry-level job as a runner and was soon promoted to assistant editor. Chiraag moved to an advertising agency later, where he stayed for more than five years before setting up shop on his own. He planned it in advance, saving up a safety net of cash, updating his website and freelancing on the side to build up hi...

Working in insurance and ready for a change, Shelly gave it all up after her fiancé encouraged her to find something she’d love doing. She began to pursue a career as an artist, slowly at first alongside a back-up study programme, just in case it didn’t work out. By the time she’d finished studying, Shelly was ready to take her art full time. Since then and with many lessons along the way, Shelly’...

When Graeme made the decision to go freelance, he changed his mindset completely and started saving every spare penny he had. He stayed in a full-time job, freelancing on the side until he had enough in the bank to cover him for six months. It’s around five years later now and introvert Graeme is in a good routine, happily working from home for clients new and old. He chats to Steve about how he g...

For Tom, the guy behind the illustrations on the Great British Bake Off, freelance life was years in the making. After studying illustration at university, Tom worked in a series of full-time, temporary jobs while pursuing illustration on the side. Tom’s break came when, by chance, he landed a role as an editing assistant on a TV show. Tom was honest about his situation: “I’m not interested in a c...

Innocent began developing his graphic design skills when he was working in a printing press during high school. He’d watch and learn from a colleague and then practice with YouTube tutorials. Today Innocent’s studying full-time, in his third year of university in the city of Kumasi, south Ghana, while building a freelance business and an online following on the side. He chats to Steve about how he...

Sharon has always known that she wanted to do her own thing. Her freelance journey began back in 2010 when she was in her mid-twenties, restless and ready for a change. After six years freelancing and with plenty of successes (and some failures) under her belt, Sharon felt that call again. She needed something new, or a break at the very least, and so she moved to the middle of the English country...

For Jonathan, who was a software developer before he became a business coach, freelance life began after an epiphany. While working with a team as an employee, Jonathan realised that many of the problems they faced were caused by hourly billing. And so Jonathan started his own shop offering software consultancy with fixed prices based on value rather than time. Today, after a successful career in...

Bhavini didn't want to be freelance. When she came back from maternity,  her role was no longer available and so she had a choice: retrain or take voluntary redundancy. Bhavini took the redundancy and started out with one freelance client. When the work kept coming in - mostly through friends and family on Facebook - she soon fell in love with the flexibility. She chats to Steve about finding...

Previous podcast guest John Espirian (friend of the show), joined us for a Live Q&A in the Being Freelance community in May. John is widely known for his “Relentlessly Helpful” approach and he was indeed very generous during this chat. As a content marketing expert and self-confessed LinkedIn nerd, John answered questions from the community around building a personal brand, making quality conn...

Sarah’s been freelance for more than twenty years now and she says it’s taken her “a damn long time” to get to where she is. She’s gone from saying yes to everything and trying to do it all herself - including raising two children as a single parent - to taking herself seriously as a business owner and finding boundaries, balance and a way to do more than just survive. These days, after turning fi...

Ross started freelancing on the side of a full-time agency job back in 2013. Fast-forward to today and he’s running his own agency that employs over a dozen people. Ross was living in his parents’ basement in Nova Scotia when he began building up a roster of small, local clients. Over time, Ross’s portfolio grew to include Fortune 500 companies and some of the fastest-growing startups in the world...

After she hit the ten-year mark in her freelance career, Marge took a step back to reassess. She hired a business coach and began reflecting on her values, her ideal clients and the way she structures her time. In the process, she discovered the power of choice. The choice to work with clients who share her values. To take a month off every summer. To start a second business that fills a creative...