I've listened to every episode of Being Freelance and this is what I've learn
Contributor: Víctor Giménez is a freelance copywriter and transcreator based in Spain. What a fancy word for creative translation that is. He helps businesses who want to reach a Spanish audience get rid of language barriers. He says he prefers writing in Spanish and Catalan, but we’re not so sure that's true. Find him on LinkedIn.
I started listening to the Being Freelance podcast in September 2019. I’m quite positive Robbie King’s episode was my very first.
As of today, two days after Eman Ismail’s episode was released, I can say I’ve officially listened to every episode of Being Freelance. All 219 of them. It took me 9 months to listen to 5 and a half years’-worth of content and I’ll sure miss Steve and all his guests during my commuting time from now on.
It’s been quite a ride. I’ve seen Steve’s audio quality get worse every season. “As ever, how about we get started hearing about how you got started being freelance” is something he just stopped saying one day. He sounded younger as I kept going. Bless Spotify’s reverse release date sorting.
After listening to 5-years-ago-Steve speak with 5-years-ago-Tom Miles (what a lovely first episode, by the way) I messaged Steve on LinkedIn. I wanted to let him know I had listened to every episode. He told me that that was awesome, that I should probably revisit my life priorities and that I should write a post for this blog. I’ll let you figure out the lie.
I’ve gone through the list of guests. There are quite a lot of them, but I did remember some of their conversations vividly.
I don’t know if they are my favourites. But they are the ones that really had an impact on me. Enough of an impact to be remembered after 219 episodes of Being Freelance:
Know your personal value - Web Designer Dave Smyth
I spent some time looking for the episode I remembered as “The Upwork Guy”. In his episode, Dave Smyth goes through the process that led to him holding a 5-star rating on the platform, despite the hundreds of reviews.
Many people despise Upwork and the like, and I’m sure it’s not for everyone. I’m even sure it’s not for me. But it worked for him. It made client management, something many of us struggle with, much easier and “it removes some of the initial uncertainties about getting paid.”
The key lesson here has little to do with these platforms. I’ll leave you with his quote, though: “I asked the client if they could leave a five-star review and, if they couldn't, what I needed to do in order for them to do that.”
I recently read a post from one of my favourite branding experts, Samu Parra, talking about how, when designing a brand, not only you should have your ideal client in mind, but also your “most demanding client”.
We should aim to meet the highest of standards in our work and that’s what Dave Smyth did. He aimed to please his most demanding clients. And he did. Which led to the “recommendation snowball” he mentions in the episode.
No more spoilers. Go listen to it if you still haven’t. It’s a good one.
So is the next one.
Invest in yourself - Blogger and E-book Writer Samar Owais
A bit of time travel. We’ve gone from Season 7 to Season 1 to listen to e-mail strategist and copywriter Samar Owais.
When this episode was recorded, Samar described herself as an e-book writer and I remember her niching journey was very interesting. And quite bumpy.
The solution to the bumpy ride was pretty straightforward, even though it’s not always easy: invest in yourself.
She talks wonders about Commit Action, a remote accountability and mentoring membership that really worked for her. It’s not cheap, but it helps you find focus and improve your productivity. Isn’t that something most freelancers struggle with?
She also talks about the value of guest blogging. How writing for bigger names in somewhat-related industries helped her reach a broader (and better) audience, land new clients and progressively charge more.
Thank you, Steve.
Relentlessly helpful - Technical Copywriter John Espirian
When Steve asked me to write this round-up, I reached out to John Espirian. Should I do this now? Should I wait? Should I have a proper website and LinkedIn profile before I write it?
‘Do it ASAP,’ he said.
The relentlessly helpful copywriter has given me, and his hundreds of LinkedIn followers and readers, enormous amounts of free, sensible advice. His episode is no exception.
How LinkedIn can impact your freelancing career if done right and the importance of staying true to your brand values were two things that really resonated with me. His book, Content DNA, goes much deeper in the latter.
This was the first episode I IMMEDIATELY went to check the show-notes for. His website is the paradigm of good, clear and transparent website copy and his LinkedIn profile is a must-follow for anyone who wants to do all things LinkedIn a bit better.
But this wasn’t the first time I’d heard of the importance of personal brand on the show.
It works until it doesn’t - Copywriter Hillary Weiss
“Have a clear messaging and strategy that communicates who you are.”
Her insights into the visual aspect of personal branding were eye-opening. The 3 goals she pursued with her rebranding are something every freelancer should keep in mind when trying to find their visual identity. Using all four primary colours allowed her to meet all three:
Be unique: nobody was using primary colours.
Be yourself: she is bold and she is bright.
Let it convey what you do: in her own words, she was distilling people down to their core essence.
She even published a video roasting her old website, pointing out every mistake in her brand identity and, most importantly, having fun.
Speaking of fun…
Building from scratch - Copywriter Gareth Hancock
I’ve listened to Gareth’s episode 3 times. It could be that I really enjoy his accent.
And, a bit like Hilary, his episode also talks about the importance of building a strong, recognisable brand. But, this time, through tone of voice.
Steve: “Do you find that because of the way you've written your website, people say, "I want you to write this and I want it to sound like your website?"
Gareth: Yeah, I do get a lot of that work. I still do more formal pieces every so often, but a lot of my work is based on what they've seen on the website. That tone of voice does help me stand out online.
An online identity that resonates with the right kind of clients, leads to more work and allows you to stay true to who you are.
It also lets you screw up the 2-truths-and-a-lie bit and still have a random Spanish dude (me) come back to your episode for a second time. And then a third. Gareth, you’ll always be ‘El cuchillo’ for me.
His journey from being made redundant and losing his house, to writing articles on topics he had very little interest in for very little money, and then building a successful freelancing career from his shed in the garden was inspiring.
So it could be that it’s not just his accent. It could be that he is an authentic and genuinely fun bloke. It could be that this episode sums up how difficult and rewarding freelance life can be. It could be many things that make his my favourite Being Freelance episode.
BONUS: I know. I mentioned 5 episodes and four of them were about copywriters. What can I say? I’m a copywriter myself.
But remember, as Steve says: “It’s not about what they do. It’s about Being Freelance”.
If you’ve followed the podcast for a while, you’ll know that Steve always asks the same two questions at the very end. My favourite answers to them deserved an honourable mention in this post.
First up, “If you could tell your younger self one thing about being freelance what would that be?”
“You spend so many years slaving away, not really knowing what direction you’re gonna head in and then 10, 11 years down the line, you realise things have actually worked out really well.”
Making your own rules - Copywriter Robbie King
And Steve’s second question: “I always do this thing where I ask for three facts about yourself. Make two true and one a lie, and let me figure out the lie. What have you got for me?”
Back to the roots. As I said at the very beginning of this post, I think this was the first Being Freelance episode I ever listened to.
Finding the 2-truths-and-I-lie bit was one of the reasons it got me hooked. Back then, I was teaching English in a language school in Costa Brava and this was my favourite activity for introductory lessons. Knowing that Steve was doing these in every episode made me build a very personal connection with the show.
And Robbie’s facts were great.
No! I won’t spoil things for you here. There’s cows, royal weddings and superhuman memory involved. That’s all I’ll tell you. Now you go listen to the episode and try to figure out the lie.
Go listen to the other episodes I listed, too. Go listen to the 200+ I did not list.
And come join the Being Freelance community.