This summer delivered a fantastic opportunity to work alongside a fellow freelancer on a co-design project, working to develop national policy asks for the upcoming election. I jumped at the chance – to build on my policy experience, to go deeper into co-design and to work in a freelance partnership. What’s Co-design? Co-design…
Author: Katherine Perrin
How LEGO Can Bring Play To Work
I recently fulfilled a year-long ambition: to certify in the Lego® Serious Play® method. Ever since I read Michael Fearne’s book last year, I knew I wanted to train in it. Fairly new into freelancing, and with a fairly hefty price tag for the course, I sat on it for a year before…
How to Be a Great Client
So, there are clients and then there are clients. I braced myself for a range of clients when I started out – the brilliant ones and the hair-pulling ones, because that’s life, right? Some people are clear, logical, structured and great communicators, and some people….less so. I’ve been looking back over the last…
The Freelancing Essentials: Accounts & Apps
After thinking about the top bits of equipment you might need as a freelancer, next up is the accounts and apps. There’s a whole host of options for almost every area of business (and life), so what are the real corkers if you’re starting out, whether you’re looking to simplify your admin or…
The Freelancing Essentials: Equipment
Starting out freelancing can be really daunting – there’s a whole heap of unknown unknowns. One of these unknowns is what do you actually need so that you only buy what’s really essential while you’re starting out? So here are my essentials from my start-up journey: Laptop (around £500) It may seem obvious…
The Power of Proper Childcare
After all my hopes of having this super flexible work schedule, the last year and half have proved that work still sometimes feels really incompatible with being a parent. There’s days when you feel you’re neglecting work, and days when you feel you’re neglecting your children, neither is great and the guilt can…
How to Have Good Conversations
Stephen R. Covey was pretty damning about people’s ability to listen and listen well – his famous quote claimed “most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” Is he right? This month I finally started my coaching qualification, something I’ve been wanting to do…
How To Freelance Through Maternity Leave
Balancing parenthood and freelancing is something I write about pretty often – it’s probably my biggest daily challenge, and one that doesn’t have a sense of an end date any time soon. A number of people I know are starting a family while freelancing, and it’s got me thinking – what would I…
How to Start Freelancing
It’s a question I’ve been asked so many times since I started. I hadn’t appreciated how many people were looking for something beyond employment, had a side-hustle they wanted to turn into a full-time job, or really wanted to zone in on a niche by working for themselves. Starting out freelancing is the…
Lessons in Interim Roles
I’ve recently completed an interim role as a freelance – not something I’d anticipated when I started but I was lucky to secure it last summer when I started out. It’s been something completely different to all my other contracts, so what did I learn? Flexibility on Both Sides Freelancers are a great…