Louisa listened to every episode and here's what she learned...

This post is by BFF (Being Freelance Friend) Louisa Ellins.
Find her at
Line 29 Editorial


I was late to the world of podcasts, but in one year I binged every single episode of the Being Freelance podcast.

In its 8th year, that’s currently more than 280 episodes.

And in listening, I noticed something.

Every guest is a successful freelancer, but all of them have achieved this in their own way. No two stories are the same, and there is no such thing as a right or wrong way to do things. Let me show you what I mean…


Becoming freelance

Alongside employment

“I still have a full-time job… that can be quite challenging at times but I know my limits and how many projects I can take on at a time.”

Ian Paget, Season 2

Building a business on the side

“And after two and a half years working there, freelance work just got in the way of things, and I've found myself going to client meetings in lunch breaks … and I just decided to just give it a try.”

Kingsley Nebechi, Season 11  

Taking the leap

“As soon as I got back from the holiday, I handed my notice in and went freelance … I didn't have a business plan. I hadn't checked whether there was a market for the kind of work that I do.”

Marge Ainsley, Season 11

 

“As long as you have a safety net behind you. It doesn't have to be anything crazy. Just be sure that if it doesn't work out after a month, you won't be homeless. Just do it. You're probably good enough to do it...”

Vic Giménez, Season 15

 
 

“You’re probably good enough…”

Vic Giménez

 


Working hours

Office hours

“I really do prefer to work during the daytime…”

Raydene Hansen, Season 16

 

“I'll now try and organise my life so that I have a fairly normal working week, so I can actually have a work life balance.”

Martha Williams, Season 6

Flexibly

“…My working hours are not conventional. They’re not Monday to Friday nine to five.”

Suz Bird, Season 15

 

“But I'm also very kind to myself. I find that working Saturday and Sunday, I just take it easy Monday and Tuesday, to kind of give myself a little bit of balance.”

Kingsley Nebechi, Season 11  

Specialism

Generalist

My father has always said to me “Just always apply yourself to different things and experiment with things.”

Kingsley Nebechi, Season 11  

Niche

“And I just thought, well, I really enjoy this. Other people seem to really be enjoying this. So this is what I want to do. And initially I was a little bit scared to niche down, because I guess you worry that you're going to lose out on work. But I found it's gone really well.”

Eman Ismail, Season 11

 
 

“Follow your own script”

Lo Harris

 


Based…

At home

“Something I prefer doing is being at home by myself. I get far more done.”

Paul Sutton, Season 11

At a separate building / co-working space

“And so now I work in a coworking space, which, I love it. You come in and you instantly feel inspired, and just happy to be in such a nice space.”

Eman Ismail, Season 11




Charging…

By project or product

“I come up with a rate, I usually sit on it overnight and think about it a little bit.”

Melanie Padgett-Powers, Season 14

By the day

"There's just something about talking about it in days, seems to work better for the clients that I have. But in my head, it's always projects. I'm always thinking in terms of projects, but I also need to roughly map out how long they might take.”

Nick Parker, Season 17




Keeping company

Work on your own

“I structured it from the start, like I was running a business and it just so happened that I was playing all of the employee roles.”

Nick Parker, Season 17

 

“I don't want to manage a team. I don't want to develop a strategy. I want to do the nice stuff. I want to get paid for making things look great. And I've got no interest in managing people. I'm terrible at it.”

Andy Clarke, Season 13

 

Take on others

“I’ve got ambitions to grow the business further… the downside of being a freelancer is the opportunity cost: if you’re doing one gig you can’t do another. Whereas if you’ve got a larger organisation then you can take on those multiple jobs, you can enlarge your client base.”

Neil Waddington, Season 1

Work with other freelancers

“I started building a freelance team that I work with and that's actually opened up other opportunities in other jobs … so being able to work on a project with other people, not only sparks creative ideas but on a really practical level, it means you're not on your own.”

Wayne Sables, Season 15

“It just gives me an energy that working by myself doesn't always offer.”

Raydene Hansen, Season 16


 

“My name is my brand”

Adrian Best

 

Naming

Own name

“My name is my brand.”

Adrian Best, Season 13

 

“I went for Chad Michael because when I started, I was like, ‘Uh, I want to make a name for myself. I want people to know who I am for my work.’”

Chad Michael, Season5

Brand name

“I wanted to appear bigger from the outside.”

Christian Tait, Season 11






Last words

“Follow your own script. I don't need to follow someone else's career trajectory in order to feel like I'm doing something or I'm being somebody.”

Lo Harris, Season 15

 

And the quotes above don’t tell the whole story – with each freelancer adapting to circumstances:

“You tend to morph and change over the years depending on where the business is and what people are asking for at the time.”

Neil Waddington, Season 1

 

One thing I love about freelancing is having the opportunity to build my own business, on my own terms.
I’m sure I’ll continue to be inspired by many more guests on the Being Freelance podcast while I do this.

 

By Louisa Ellins, September 2022

Louisa Ellins is a freelance writer (grants, bids, and copy), proofreader and editor
Find her at Line29 Editorial
.


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