Being Freelance

Ben's on a mission to make a difference to global warming and that's what drives his business. He's always taking stock of what he's done and planning his future. He's built a niche video content business serving the construction industry, laid the foundations to a membership site by building a successful podcast and soon aims to build his own house. It seems like planning, investing and hiring other freelancers are the keys to growth. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, subscribe to the podcast and to the newsletter. You'll also find key takeaway points and useful links for this episode. That's beingfreelance.com Who the hell is Steve Folland? You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be? Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at www.stevefolland.com Track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

Hear how a journalist with a passion for the outdoors and walking made her own route to being an award-winning Outdoor writer. With 18 books under her belt, she shares how she's found herself where she is today and the importance of joining a trade guild to her career, skills and sanity. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, subscribe to the podcast and to the newsletter. You'll also find key takeaway points and useful links for this episode. That's beingfreelance.com Who the hell is Steve Folland? You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be? Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at www.stevefolland.com Track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

Redundancy helped push Mike into a freelance career. Since then he's evolved, learned, focused, launched his own products, developed his own personal brand and formed his own design studio... and yet still regularly questions whether being freelance is right for him. Why? Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, subscribe to the podcast and to the newsletter. You'll also find key takeaway points and useful links for this episode. That's beingfreelance.com Who the hell is Steve Folland? You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be? Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at www.stevefolland.com Track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

You're 17. One of your stop motion films goes viral. A major TV channel calls with a commission. What do you? Start university as planned, or seize the moment and begin a freelance career for some of the biggest brands and broadcasters? For Graham, all of his tiny precise filmic movements led to a sudden leap forward. 4 years on, he's still having huge success. We chat creativity, finance, isolation and becoming a business straight out of school. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, subscribe to the podcast and to the newsletter. You'll also find key takeaway points and useful links for this episode. That's beingfreelance.com Who the hell is Steve Folland? You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be? Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at www.stevefolland.com Track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

London agency life was turning Laura into a zombie. Over long days were filled with meetings and politics instead of being creative. Now, she's carved out a remote freelance career. Out of the rat race, out of the city and into doing the work she loves. Finally, not only could she start her own business, but she could start her family too. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, subscribe to the podcast and to the newsletter. You'll also find key takeaway points and useful links for this episode. That's beingfreelance.com Who the hell is Steve Folland? You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be? Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at www.stevefolland.com Track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

Freelancing has enabled Kelly to work around her family doing something she loves. Starting by selling Wordpress themes on etsy, she now offers an evolving range of branding services in amongst a generous supply of free resources. From Brazil to a noisy New York City, we hear her story. And a few sirens. And planes. Drowned out by passion for her business. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, subscribe to the podcast and to the newsletter. Key Takeaway Points Kelly began by selling wordpess templates on Etsy, people then started asking her to customise designs She also has a shop on her own site so she can sell under her own brand and without fees Using a company name helps her appear bigger: clients couldn't understand that one person could do design, code... etc - it makes people feel more secure buying from you Kelly creates free resources like cue sheets, work books, templates that she gives away for free when guest posting on other blogs, on social and in the 'resources' section of her site Sharing her free resources on Twitter brings people to her site where they stick around and see what else she does Some clients discover her via Pinterest where all she does is shares things she's into, so her personality shines through She's picky about what she shows on her portolio: only the work she wants to be known for, to attract similar clients She outsources some work like coding but finds it hard letting go of control She added photography to her services when she realised most stock photos weren't unique enough for her clients More from Kelly Kelly's site Kakee Studio Kelly on Twitter Kelly's Etsy Shop Who the hell is Steve Folland? You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be? Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at www.stevefolland.com Track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

From an officer to a gentleman's go-to-freelance photographer. Andy left the army and soon found he had enough orders for capturing images of bespoke, tailor-made products, lifestyle and more. He shares his story on making a name for himself, making face-to-face connections and even making his own magazine to create his dream work. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, subscribe to the podcast and to the newsletter. Key Takeaway Points When you start freelancing make the most of your existing contacts If you're not using social/online techniques to promote yourself and make connections you're cutting off a potentially lucrative source of work, however... Press the flesh: don't hide behind email, actually meet people, pop in and make a real connection as you show an interest in them and their business Re-evaluate your freelance site every 12-18 months: what's working? what isn't? does your portfolio reflect what you're doing now or want to do? Andy started his own magazine - he could create the work he wanted to, keep his portfolio fresh and make new contacts that evolved into leads for paid work Is there anything else you can offer your clients? Andy joined forces with a videographer in order to offer a stills/video package From Andy's experience in the military: planning is key, but no plan ever survives 'contact' - the reality; also take time to debrief yourself after a project, what lessons can be learned? When it feels things are going bad in your freelance day, take time out, literally leave the house, go for a walk, grab a coffee, get a fresher view and you'll see they're not as bad as they seem More from Andy Andy on Twitter Andy's portfolio site Riddle Magazine Who the hell is Steve Folland? You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be? Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at www.stevefolland.com Track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

"You have the chance to carve the career of your dreams, so dream!" Amy didn't just settle for regular copywriting gigs. She didn't just settle for speaking/training around the world. She kept 'checking in on herself' and tweaking her career path. Today she regularly hits publish on blogs, videos, podcasts and her own 'scalable' income (rather than passive) online course - alongside the client work she loves. Here Amy shares the lessons she's learned from regularly hitting publish, using content to make her, erm, content. (You kind of have to say that out loud, then it's clever huh?) Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, subscribe to the podcast and to the newsletter. Key Takeaway Points Focus on the work you like to do Keep 'checking in' on yourself to make sure you're happy and figure out how to evolve Need new skills? Learn them: if there's an area in your trade (for her sales/marketing copy) you'd like to work in, read up and then practice Skills swap: early on to help build your portfolio, do work for free for other freelancers who likewise give you their skills When clients come to you they'll be more engaged than if you pitch to them, so put yourself out there as someone they need Speaking/teaching proved her expertise Podcasting - keep going, encourage engagement with your audience Podcasts/videos on weekly basis show you have a commitment to your particular subject Be consistent with your publish days (for blogs too), you'll get better returns There's a delay to you seeing results when publishing content - keep hitting publish, stick with it, you'll get better quality clients If after a time you still don't see results, don't stop publishing, but look at what/how you're publishing and change that Making videos is closely tied to your personality - so it can really open doors to clients and speaking gigs, people feel they know you Amy makes videos with humour - it makes viewers more engaged when learning and makes them more likely to share Don't think 'passive' income, think 'scaleable' income Amy took her training resources and created a course and membership site She didn't create a community around it because that takes a lot of actual time to manage (whereas the course takes care of itself) Sometimes you have to just trust you're on the right path, stick with it Ask yourself: 'what do I really like doing?' If you follow and persue that, do what you love and work hard at it, you will rise to the top Avoid 'compare and despair' - sure, look at what others are doing, but don't let it distract you or make you feel negatively Knuckle down, keep going - You have the chance to carve the career of your dreams, so dream! More from Amy Amy on Twitter Harrison Amy site Amy TV Hit Publish Podcast Write With Influence Useful Links Rainmaker Platform Rainmaker.fm Who the hell is Steve Folland? You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be? Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at www.stevefolland.com Track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

Rachel's found inspiration, support, friendship and even clients in the communities she's joined online. Be it through courses she's paid for, Twitter or private Facebook groups she's joined (or started!), she's realised you don't have to freelance alone. She shares her story: from finding her niche - the wake up call to her business, to finding herself in hospital - the wake up call to herself. Love learning from other freelancers like this? Check out the website beingfreelance.com, subscribe to the podcast and to the newsletter. Key takeaway points importance of friendships and relationships (including those made online) in supporting you and even referring work be prepared for a quieter period at first when knuckling down to your niche she's happiest when she's doing work that excites her for passionate people she likes (entrepreneurs, not big businesses) Rachel invests in courses to devleop her business skills; as well as tangible ideas, she's inspired by the community that comes with them and even finds clients that way community really is important, you don't have to freelance alone Rachel likes private Facebook groups with a friendly, non judging atmosphere, find one that works for you (she even started her own!) don't just sell to people, be genuinely helpful can you create 'passive' products or courses to make the most of your skills and even out your cashflow? nothing is more important than yourself, than your health More from Rachel Rachel on Twitter Rachel's site Rachel's Facebook Group for Freelancers Useful Links The Conquer Club B-School Who the hell is Steve Folland? You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be? Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at www.stevefolland.com Track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

After struggling to find work after uni, with a year of bits, bobs and benefits, Kristian finally found the real benefits of a mentor, working for an established freelancer. Now, he balances 2 jobs. One with a full time employer, the other: his freelance career. Kristian's experience of breaking out in to his freelance dream is full of ups and downs. Lots to learn. Oh. And a daredevil cat. Here’s some of the key takeaway points: network with your creative peers, they're not your competition make the most of your location, you're surrounded by potential clients don't be afraid to learn from a more experienced freelancer/business mind stand up for yourself when seeking delayed payment More from Kristian Duffy Kristian on Twitter Kristian's Tumblr Kristians' site Useful links Stanley Chow Pale Blue Dot Kilogramme Fraser Davidson's Being Freelance episode Who the hell is Steve Folland? You know how everyone bangs on about how powerful video and audio content can be? Yeah, well Steve helps businesses make it and make the most of it. Find out more at www.stevefolland.com Track him down on Twitter @sfolland or lay a trail of cake and he'll eventually catch you up. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!The Being Freelance course is made for you!Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland