As guest experts 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. These are the highlights.
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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 his full time job and the way he and Olga work together on projects they really care about.
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Burnt out from teaching, Maddie took her love of illustration and stories and forged a new career for herself as a picture book author and illustrator. It began with one simple question from her husband: “What is it you really want to do?”
“I was always meant to be on this path,” Maddie says, “I just had to make the choice.”
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From freelancing solo to hiring an employee and co-founding an agency, Ketan’s tried it all. He moved from Manchester to Melbourne in 2016, where he’s now freelancing by himself once again. He chats to Steve about finding work, hiring staff, and the lessons he’s learnt along the way.
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From freelancing on the side while he waited tables, to running a full-time business from his home studio, Joe's freelance path has taken a few twists and turns along the way.
“Diversify as much as possible,” says Joe, and “Take every opportunity to grow creatively.”
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From being spotted when he was doodling on a bit of scrap paper in the chip shop he worked in, to illustrating for clients like The White Stripes and The New Yorker, Stanley’s learned that you can never be sure what’ll happen next when you’re freelance.
“If you’ve got the confidence in yourself, take the plunge,” says Stanley.
Otherwise you’ll never really know, will you?
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After working in admin for 20 years, Nik was ready for a change. And when she landed an internship with a local design company, her employer of 9 years supported her through the transition.
From there Nik took a lot of risks, and while her freelance journey hasn’t been linear, she knows it’s the failures that have taught her the most.
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Ira freelanced in the Philippines before moving to London, where he now runs freelance photography agency Ventana.
He chats to Steve about how he finds and keeps clients - by building relationships and being a great person to work with - and tells the story behind his rebrand to an agency.
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Hayley went freelance after working in-house at Google, and she’s since worked with the Bill Gates Foundation and the United Nations. She felt trapped when she first started out, but now she’s learnt how to curate a career she can be proud of.
Her side project, Motion Hatch, is an online learning hub for freelance motion designers and animators. Hayley chats to Steve about finding clients, building a community, taking part in masterminds and trying to get good at prioritising.
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Unhappy in an admin job, singer Rachel set out to change her life. She started teaching music on the side and soon found herself with enough work to leave the day job behind.
Now, 15 years later, Rachel’s been crowned IPSE’s Freelancer of the Year for 2019. Her career has taken her around the globe, seen her judge on a SKY 1 TV show, and meet Prince Harry and Meghan.
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Evan had always intended to work freelance full-time, having taken gigs on the side of employment for years. When he and his wife relocated to Argentina, it was time for Evan to make the switch.
With 4 daughters under 10 and not much of a financial buffer, it was a risk. Has it paid off?
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From undercharging and overdelivering, to high-end projects that give her the time and space she needs, Hillary’s sculpting a business that helps her live her own version of success.
She chats to Steve about how she got there; including learning from past mistakes, seeking out mentors and coaches, and building a small, proactive team, all while developing boundaries, confidence and self-awareness.
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David runs his freelance design business from a spare desk in an architecture firm in Mexico. He’s originally from Ireland, but when he fell in love on an around the world trip, the flexibility of freelancing meant he could relocate to be with his girlfriend.
He chats to Steve about how he got to where he is now, including freelancing on the side of full-time jobs and working on the road while he saw the world.
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Robbie swapped agency life in London for the beaches of Thailand when he upped sticks and set out on his own. He enjoyed his work and wanted to follow a creative path, but he needed more control over his time.
Armed only with a lump of savings and some marketable skills that he’d picked up at university, Robbie took the leap and figured out as he went along.
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Sian took a leap of faith when she went freelance 12 years ago, and things didn’t work out as she’d imagined. But, despite “learning a lot about getting it wrong,” Sian’s found a way to make freelancing work, and she’s ready to share everything she knows.
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Devon was hooked from the beginning. He worked full-time for several years while freelancing on the side, but eventually, the FOMO got too much.
When a friend’s mum told him “You can always make money, but you can’t always make memories,” Devon was convinced. He gave up his full-time job at Xero, moved to another country, and set out on his own. This is his story so far.
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