This week I ticked off one of my 2023 goals – giving a coworking space a go. After 9 months of working from home, apart from the odd meeting or event, it was about time. I’ve heard of a really lovely space near me, so a freelance colleague and I decided to spend…
Tag: Self-employment
Week in the Life
This week is a continuation of the balancing act, with three active clients taking up roughly 4 days total each week. I’m doing different roles and work for each and sometimes I’m able to keep the work very boundaried to specific days, and some weeks I end up doing bits for all of…
New Year Commitments (Belatedly)
I don’t know how I feel about new years’ resolutions. There’s something exciting and daunting about a whole new year, and the ability to use it to mix things up, set a new challenge or change direction completely. It’s a good time to take stock, something about doing it in the cold/dark/rainy-ness of…
What Work’s Out There
What is it that freelancers do? Most of the time I get asked the question, people presume I do fundraising because I work for charities. It’s interesting that a lot of people can’t conceptualise a charity as a whole organisation, with all the internal and external functions needed to run it effectively. To…
How to Say Goodbye
I’ve got a very new and uncomfortable conundrum – how to break up with a client. Given how much time I’ve spent worrying about whether there’d be enough work, there’s a huge irony to this. And I think the conundrum is two-fold – it’s a debate about whether I actually want to go…
The Generosity of Freelancers
Something I’ve been struck by since going self-employed is the openness and generosity of the freelancing community. It’s jam-packed with knowledge, a sense of humour, camaraderie and support. I’ve had a month that’s been so full of great conversations and connections it’s made me reflect on why it feels so different in the…
Probation Review
Who was it who said talking to yourself is the first sign of madness? When you’re all roles wrapped into one as a freelancer, you don’t have a lot of choice. Since January marked 6 months of freelancing as my only job, I thought it was high time I sat myself down for…
Progression Isn’t Always Up
Is the only way up? One of the things that made me consider freelancing was because going up the ladder stopped appealing. I’ve always been quite ambitious. With each job move I’ve sought a better role, and apart from one sideways move, that always meant a better title, better wage and more responsibility….
Overcoming Scarcity Mindset
I wonder if everyone shares the same fear starting out – that the work suddenly dries up? That even if you’ve been successful for months, or even years, that at some point, some day, you face the abyss. With a mortgage payment looming, a nursery bill in your inbox and a red warning…
Taking Someone Else On
I’ve started the new year with an interesting conundrum. When, or even if, is it right to take someone else on? Are there ways of partnership, collaboration, subcontracting or just plain asking for help when you’ve got more work than you need? I can’t believe I’m saying that it out loud, but I…