Being Freelance

When Kingsley landed a job as a creative director, he learned the business skills he’d need to make full-time freelancing work the next time around. After two and a half years, the freelance work he’d continued to do on the side was taking over. The second time Kingsley freelanced for Nike, a dream client, he realised “I can’t stay in this job any longer. I just want to be home, focusing all my en...

After the agency she worked for lost its major client, Helen took her first business full time. Later, when she found herself “slogging away not making enough money”, it was time for something new. Next, she set up her second business, a marketing and PR consultancy, and since then, she’s found a niche in coaching entrepreneurs to write authority-building books. Helen does some ghostwriting, too....

Paul finally took the plunge and went freelance five years ago, with a solid 18-month gig lined up but no savings. With a young family to think about, it was a big decision. These days, alongside his consultancy work, Paul produces a weekly podcast, runs an annual conference and hosts a Slack group. He talks to Steve about how each drives new business for him and how he manages his time with so mu...

Nadieh was working full-time when she launched a personal project with a friend. They documented the process closely, sharing in-depth blog posts that explained the hows and whys behind their decisions. Six months later, Google reached out to them and became a first client. And so Nadieh’s freelance story begins. She talked to friends, read books, got an accountant and started putting herself out...

Iain’s in his fifth decade now and freelancing for the second time around. During his first stint, he painted blackboards for pubs, restaurants and shops. He started from scratch with a small portfolio and went door-to-door until he’d built a full-time business. And then, in 1996, Iain moved to Copenhagen with his Danish girlfriend. These days, he’s designing graphics, websites and illustrations f...

Hash landed his first freelance gig by accident while he was still a student at uni. It’s seven years later now and he’s never looked back. He got some studio space from that first client in return for the odd bit of work, and through word of mouth and meeting people, he was able to build up his contact list and bring in a steady flow of work. Hash has learnt as he’s gone along, bouncing back from...

Sara started freelancing in 2018 after she was laid off from a VP of Marketing role in Silicon Valley. Since then, she’s relied on her network and word of mouth referrals to keep the work coming in. When she’s not working for clients, Sara spends her time doing standup comedy. As well as gigging regularly, she’s spoken at the SXSW conference about the links between standup and marketing and how pr...

Matthew left uni in 2009, right after the financial crash. Ready to find a way to combine his love for music and games, he started freelancing immediately, picking up small projects and commissions, getting involved with whatever he could outside of his full-time job.  But it wasn’t until 2016, after he was made redundant, that Matthew went freelance full-time. He had plenty of good contacts and s...

What if you could find a mentor who’d teach you everything they know for free? That’s exactly what happened for Melinda when she connected with Chris Do, founder of online education platform, The Futur. After talking one on one and realising they could learn from each other, Chris invited Melinda to co-host a series on his YouTube channel, where they’d talk about the real-life issues she was havin...

James started freelancing in 2010 after spending a couple of years building a name for himself online. He was still working for an agency during that first couple of years. He’d spend his days working on whatever landed on his desk, and his evenings creating exciting things for clients like MTV. Eventually, the balance tipped and James went freelance full time. By working on his own projects and p...

Bored at home when she first became a mum, Diane decided to launch an online shop. She didn’t have money to invest so she got to work DIY-ing the website herself. She barely sold a thing, but she did start getting questions from people who wanted the name of her web designer. And so a new business was born. It’s ten years later now and, as well as running her own web design business, Diane’s teach...

Rose is on her second run being freelance after things didn’t work out the first time around. After realising she’d underestimated the amount of work she’d need to put in, Rose took a job at an adult store in London. She’d been a writer at a magazine for years before going freelance and then ending up in retail, so when she found out her new employers were launching a magazine and website, she put...

Ruud launched an illustration studio straight of university in the Netherlands with his then-girlfriend. It started well but the work didn’t keep coming, and he soon took a job as a web designer to help pay the bills. After a move to Scotland, where his girlfriend landed her dream job as a game developer, Ruud took another shot at building the studio. He set up in a co-working space and made frien...

Julia spent 8 years designing greetings cards in-house at Hallmark and Moonpig before she was “forced into freelancing”. Turning away on-the-side gigs that she just couldn’t fit in around full-time work, Julia realised she was losing money. She went freelance full-time, securing guaranteed work from her former employer for the first year, and continued to teach the calligraphy classes that were he...

John’s freelance career began in 2009 after he was made redundant from his role as a software tester. Struggling to get an interview, let alone a job, he embarked on a new adventure as a technical writer. Work came via old contacts, family and friends for the first five years, and then John discovered the world of online marketing. He developed his website, began using his skills to create “Relent...

Anne got into web development in 2010 and eventually found that coding for email was her sweet spot. She worked in permanent roles for years while freelancing on the side, and then her cat got diagnosed with cancer and she went freelance full-time to be with him. It turned out to be great timing for Anne. She’d been involved in ‘Email Geek’ communities online, and by being active, helpful and enth...

Being Freelance returns on Sunday 12th January with our first guest of season 10, but for now, a bonus episode with Holly June Smith and Andrew and Pete. Both previous guests in the Being Freelance community on Facebook, Holly, Andrew and Pete all joined Steve for Live Q&A sessions, where they answered your burning questions about being freelance. Holly is a life coach who helps people find th...

Did you know Steve Folland from Being Freelance also co-hosts another podcast for freelancing parents? It's with Frankie Tortora from the Doing It For The Kids community.  Whilst Being Freelance is on its winter break, here's a chance for you to hear what the DIFTK podcast is like. Each episode is just 20 minutes, with a Q&A format. This episode is number 20, all about beating procra...

It's time for the 200th episode of the Being Freelance podcast. Recorded live at the Underpinned Freelancer's Christmas Party in London. Sharing his story is Kieron Lewis, otherwise known as 'Kay' of Olga & Kay - a collaborative freelancing creative duo. Kay from London, Olga from Latvia. Designer and photographer. Kay shares how he got started freelancing on the side of hi...

When she was burnt out from teaching and stuck in a funk, Maddie’s husband asked her “What is it you really want to do?” Suddenly it became clear - Maddie realised she wanted to create picture books for children. She phoned her boss that night to give notice and, within a month, she had an agent. Maddie hit the ground running from there, taking on small projects and saying yes to everything that l...

Ketan left his full-time role as a graphic designer with 2 or 3 freelance clients lined up. Within a couple of years he had enough work to hire a second designer, but when they lost a big client the following year, Ketan had to let his employee go. Ketan went on to co-found his own agency in Manchester before moving to Australia with his wife and son. He worked remotely for a year before the agenc...

Joe’s been making music forever, but his first real-world project came during an internship he took after leaving school. He freelanced on the side after that while waiting tables, and then landed a corporate sales job which he really, really hated. With help from a friend, Joe found his way back to music and began studying for his masters and picking up freelance work once again. He had a stint i...

Stanley’s first break came when he was doodling on a bit of paper in the fish and chip shop he worked in. The customer he was serving was an art buyer, and he set Stanley up with an interview that landed him an agent. Later, back in the days of MySpace, when Stanley first began building a profile online, he got a 3am phone call from The White Stripes’ management team. They’d seen his illustrations...

Ready for a career change in her mid-30s, Nik landed an internship with a local design company. She took a risk and went freelance soon after, with only 1 client on her books and no cash to back her up. It worked for a while, and then Nik ended up back in employment with a boss she didn’t respect. It didn’t take long for her to return to the freelance world, and this time she came to it with fresh...

When a 20-year-old Ira flew to the UK in search of his biological father, he had no idea a new life awaited him. Ira met his partner on that trip, and after 4 years long distance, he moved to London to be with him. Ira had freelanced in the Philippines before his move, and he now runs freelance photography agency Ventana. He chats to Steve about finding and keeping clients - by building relationsh...