Being Freelance

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...

Steve began learning his craft in 2008 and took it professional in 2011. His ambition, back then, was to build a name for himself as an action sports photographer in the world of Parkour (freerunning). Depsite knowing there wouldn’t be much money in it, Steve gave it a go anyway. And he invested his time into a second niche, too. Calling on his background and contacts within the food industry, he...

Rafal taught himself design and started freelancing around his schoolwork at age 16. When he moved from Poland to the United States at 18, and with zero contacts and no design qualification, he landed a full-time job as a developer. Rafal progressed within the company, designing for some of the biggest websites and blogs out there, all while continuing with freelance work on the side. Until, event...

Eman was working as a production assistant at a local TV station when she realised she wanted to write. She began applying for jobs while at the same time setting up her business and brand. Eman took a job offer and became the communications manager at a charity. A necessary experience, she says now, even though the commute was a killer and she barely saw her young son. These days, Eman’s found he...

Christian spent the best part of two decades working in agencies before eventually going freelance. He’d had a couple of trial runs before but this time he wanted to do it properly. To Christian, that meant bringing in his own clients rather than setting up in the corner of an agency. And it’s working. These days, Christian gets most of his work via social media or word of mouth. He talks about ta...

Lina spent a year working at an agency before going to design college. When she did, the agency offered her a first freelance client - the United Nations, Sweden. She picked up other freelance work while studying and soon founded a feminist communications agency with a friend, bringing together a network of freelancers for shared projects. A year out of college, Lina went freelance full-time on he...

Reuben left the life of full-time employment behind when he jumped in a van and started chasing athletes around. He’d graduated from photography school during the 2008 financial crash and, with no apprenticeship or staff job, he was finding his own way, meeting new people as he went along. He talks in detail about how he found work and clients at the beginning and now, including through networking...