A wandering journey - Graphic Designer and Web Designer Iain Cameron

Iain’s on his second stint as a freelancer now and he’s enjoyed a varied career in between. He regrets nothing about his wandering journey, he says, because he’s met good people along the way.

Iain chats to Steve about how he taught himself on Lynda.com, built up his website, learned to work better with clients and found the time for personal projects.

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A marathon, not a race - Motion Designer Hashmukh Kerai

While he was still at uni, Hash thought he’d landed an unpaid internship but it turned out to be paid contract. He’s been freelancing ever since and he hasn’t looked back.

He chats to Steve about finding time for side projects, pushing for remote working, how Instagram has changed his career over the past couple of years, and what it’s like to work with an agent.

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Silicon Valley and standup comedy - Copywriter Sara DeForest

Sara started freelancing in 2018 after she was laid off from a VP of Marketing role in Silicon Valley. When she’s not working for clients, Sara spends her time doing standup comedy. There are plenty of links between the two, Sara says, and she’s spoken at the SXSW conference about how standup comedy can make you a better writer.

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Be a good craftsman - Audio Producer Matthew Walker

Matthew went freelance full-time in 2016 after doing it around a full-time job for years. He had plenty of good contacts and some work in the pipeline, and things snowballed from there. He chats to Steve about how he manages his time, balances work with family life and the plans he has for the future - including working from a shed at the bottom of his garden.

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Putting in the non-billable hours - Brand Strategist and Educator Melinda Livsey

To grow her brand identity business, Melinda thought she needed to hone her craft. And then she met Chris Do, founder of The Futur, and learned - through on-camera coaching sessions - how to market herself and her work.

By treating herself like a client and working on her business, Melinda’s found a way to attract the kind of work she loves doing.

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Don’t let frustration stop you - Illustrator James White (Signalnoise)

James built a name for himself by creating things he loved and sharing that work online. He did it on the side for a while and then went freelance full time when he was attracting projects from big-name clients who liked his style.

He’s always worked on his own projects but it took him some time to find his creative vision. “Time is everything,” he says. “The more you do, the better you get.”

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Self-care Wednesdays - Web Designer Diane Laidlaw

Diane became a web designer by accident after setting up an online shop for her first business. She started getting enquiries from people who loved the site she’d built, and now, 10 years later, she’s running her own design business alongside an educational YouTube channel.

Diane’s struggled with work-life balance in the past, but she’s worked hard to put boundaries in place and find time for herself.

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Own your job title - Copywriter and Content Marketer Rose Crompton

Rose has been freelance twice now and she’s doing a much better job of it the second time around. She chats to Steve about the mistakes she made during her first stint, the steps she took in between to develop her skills and learn on a job, and how she’s putting everything she learnt into practice now to make freelancing work for her.

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There is no magic formula - Illustrator Ruud Hendriks

Ruud (aka Momo) launched an illustration studio after finishing university in the Netherlands. It took some time to get it off the ground and he lived off pot noodles in the not-so-sunny Scotland for years. Despite the tough times, he held strong and he’s now enjoying the heat in Portugal, with a steady flow of commissions coming in via word of mouth and social media.

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Relentlessly helpful - Technical Copywriter John Espirian

John’s been freelance since 2009, and while he relied on referrals and old contacts for work during the first five years, he’s now built a personal brand and an online presence. He talks about some of the biggest lessons he’s learnt along the way, including how sharing as he learns as helped him get to where he is now.

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Being a geek about what you do - Email Developer Anne Tomlin

Anne freelanced on the side for years before launching her business, Emails Y'all, in 2016. She's active in 'Email Geek' communities online, and that's where most of her work comes from. Anne's good at her managing her time, but often works weekends because she just “cannot say no to an email in peril.”

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