Being Freelance

After leaving college and landing in a job that wasn’t right for him, Jared realised that he didn’t want to spend his whole life working at something he wasn’t passionate about. He launched a blog, began learning Squarespace, and the rest, as they say, is history. He now runs two Squarespace design companies - Brevity and the cleverly-named WebsiteByTonight. From giving away a couple of freebie de...

Jae never imagined she’d pursue a freelance career - or even a creative one, for that matter. After graduating and then missing out on a job she’d set her heart on, Jae began exploring her creative interests and started work on a couple of personal projects. Before long, she’d developed an eye-catching and memorable brand - The INKtrovert, and was winning gigs on the back of putting her work out t...

He started out where many drummers did in his day; responding to magazine adverts for unpaid work with bands. Over the years, Kari’s built a successful career for himself as a freelance musician, finding plenty of ways to diversify his income. He’s learnt so much that he now teaches others how to turn their passion into a profession. So how did he get there, in an industry where it’s notoriously d...

When she found herself knocking back freelance opportunities every week, Cath left her full-time job behind to start a business. Her only regret? Not having done it sooner. Cath’s been lucky in that she’s not had to search for work. Through SEO, website strategy, and word of mouth, she’s moved from one job to the next and worked with an array of international clients. And one of the biggest benefi...

It could be argued that Jan’s doing things differently. He’s not on social media, he’s had long stretches of time out of work, he’s committed to maintaining his work-life balance, and he invests a lot of time into personal development. It all started with an unpaid work placement when he was almost bankrupt. Now, Jan’s built the kind of flexible freelance business that allows him to live life on h...

When Stephanie's employers were refusing projects she'd have loved to take on, she set up her own business on the side and began teaching people about the importance of the work she was doing. Seeing how popular the idea was, Stephanie's employers soon asked her to shut down her business and bring the work in-house. Stephanie said no. She's since had a book published on the sub...

After leaving agency life behind in search of autonomy, Alex built up his freelance web design career around a full-time working from home gig. His goal was to run his own agency, but he was stuck working on client-led projects that he didn't really believe in. Alex knew he could do a better job for his clients if only they'd let him take the driving seat. He re-positioned himself as a m...

After walking away from a diverse career to have a family and live abroad, art graduate Xanthe was reluctant to return. Her children had started school and she was ready to work again, but office life was no longer appealing. She had this passion for taking pictures of her children and documenting her life, and after discovering Flickr and connecting with like-minded people online, she was hooked....

Dave’s always been freelance. First as a musician while he was studying, and more recently as a web designer working mostly with independent business owners. After starting out designing websites for musician friends, he built a solid reputation for himself on Upwork, gaining clients in the UK and overseas. When he began networking with other freelancers online, Dave soon saw the value in communit...

After leaving agency life behind to go freelance, UX designer Mariana found herself yearning for more. Despite still working from home, she now runs her own small agency, Fruto. Missing the benefits of working closely with other people, Mariana wanted to create the perfect environment for great work. A team where the responsibilities are shared, the skills are complementary, and the opportunities...

After falling into freelance life accidentally in the late nineties, Paul Jarvis has helped to shape the way many freelancers work. He started out designing websites for professional athletes, working from his parent’s basement on a self-built computer. And now, 20 years later, Paul is a writer and published author who helps entrepreneurs build businesses that are better, not bigger. Through his w...

From spinning tunes in a gold sequined dress as DJ Super Kat, to organising a national conference for people in the blog and creative industries, Kat Molesworth has a lot going on. She’s a mother of three and a freelance photographer and blogger. She speaks at events, consults with brands, and runs a YouTube channel and podcast. She’s also the founder of Blogtacular - a London-based annual confere...

Digital nomad Kelly landed her first freelance writing gig while she was on a working holiday in New Zealand. Broke and struggling to find work locally, Kelly was introduced to the online world of content mills and freelance market places. After falling in love with a zombie-clad Brit she’d met in a haunted prison (true story!), Canadian-born Kelly found herself living and working in the UK. She s...

After studying Graphic Arts at uni and leaning towards the more experimental forms of art, Martha found herself working in an in-house graphic design role that left little room for creativity. Now two years into her freelance career and living between England and Spain, Martha has built herself a flexible business where she has plenty of variety in her work. And, more than that, Martha is now able...

35 side-hustles into a freelance career, with a book, a podcast, and a growing reputation as a keynote speaker, Jay has many strings to his bow. Watch him give a speech or hear him talk and you’d be forgiven for assuming he has it all figured out. Jay oozes confidence, but he’ll be the first to tell you that he’s making it all up as he goes along. Only this summer, in fact, Jay thought about leavi...

Despite working full-time and freelancing on the side, Caitlin’s made a big impact. From being a finalist in IPSE’s Freelancer of the Year Awards in 2015, to designing her own range of clothing to combat the stigma around mental health issues, Caitlin’s side hustle is impressive. Caitlin’s a self-taught designer who tasted her first slice of the freelance pie aged just 16. We talk about finding cl...

Chris O’Shea first started freelancing straight out of college. After teaching himself web development with a library book, Chris had a phone line installed in his childhood bedroom in the family home. From there, 18-year-old Chris ran his own web design company in what was his first stab at self-employment. Sadly, (or luckily, depending on how you look at it) that one didn’t work out, and so Chri...

Web developer Jason Resnick had a big life goal. When he started a family, he wanted to be home to see his kid’s first steps and hear their first words. To him (and to most of us, I’d imagine) that’s what’s important. Jason wanted to be able to shape everything else around that. Rewind a few years to the late nineties and you’d find him ditching economics class to take casual HTML lessons from a f...

How is it episode 150?! But it is. Thanks so much for listening and sharing! Kirsten set herself a goal. To create a better work/travel balance. To see more of the world without giving up her job. And that's where we find her, on the road - more than happy to NOT set a new goal, but instead enjoy living this one. We chat about collaboration, remote working, making opportunities, digital nomad...

Let's be bolder. Let's push ourselves forward. It's certainly working for Jon Enoch. Bold enough to make and seize opportunities. From entering competitions, awards, knocking on doors, filling in for people and then maximising the opportunity, pushing forward to be known for the work you want to do. Jon chats about becoming more productive in co-work/office spaces, hiring help, regu...

Sarah and her husband always wanted to retire and go cruising around the seas and oceans. They'd work hard in the construction industry, save their money and one day set sail. Then when the financial crisis hit 10 years ago things changed. Forced to sell everything and start living on a boat they realised maybe they didn't have to wait until they were older. Maybe they could do this now!...

Leaving a successful high-level radio job behind, Vicki went freelance when she became a mum. But you won’t hear say “Hi, I’m a freelance photographer”. Instead it’s, “I run a photography business”. From the outset Vicki’s always put business before art. When burn out threatened she hired other photographers to work with her. She’s diversified into teaching both online and in person. She organises...

For years Nathan’s been freelancing on the side of his full time jobs. It’s given him an extra income but also a reason to learn extra skills that have then got him better full time positions. Nathan’s constantly learning - self taught, via groups, a Masters to a mastermind - digesting, discussing and sharing it with others in the freelancer community. He’s even realising what it is the companies...

There’s so much in this conversation. What will you take from it? It could be how Kate built up her SEO reputation to rank number one as a copywriter in Australia. Always spending 25% of her time marketing herself. It eventually paid off. It could be the transition from trading her time for money, to a more scalable ‘passive’ model. Switching 10 clients a month for 300 - maybe it’s not quite so pa...

When you love what you do, it’s no chore to put in extra hours on the side to create something special of your own. Your own creative project. It can help you experiment and evolve… and it can help you get known. And when it’s the likes of Steven Spielberg who has noticed you, you’re doing something right. The very animated James Curran, better known for his colourful looping GIFs as Slim Jim Stud...