Freelance Director and Editor Chiraag Parmar — BEING FREELANCE

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From CVs in Soho to CEO - Freelance Director and Editor Chiraag Parmar

Chiraag got his start in TV after handing out CVs around Soho in London. He landed an entry-level job as a runner and was soon promoted to assistant editor.

Chiraag moved to an advertising agency later, where he stayed for more than five years before setting up shop on his own. He planned it in advance, saving up a safety net of cash, updating his website and freelancing on the side to build up his network.

Today, Chiraag’s an award-winning director and editor running an independent production studio with a freelance team. He talks to Steve about how he’s learned to build relationships and understand the numbers so he can take care of business development.

Chiraag Parmar Being Freelance Podcast.jpg — “Procrastinate less.

“Get a website up and running early in your career and start putting things up there. You might not have the best body of work, so create the work that you want to do. Fill your portfolio with personal projects that show what you want to do more of.”
*- Chiraag Parmar, freelance Director and Editor*

Build relationships to find clients

When Chiraag began freelancing on the side, before going full-time, he reached out to companies he thought he could work for.

“I was looking at companies online thinking, "Oh, I've got similar work. I could be a good fit." I reached out to them with cold emails, showing them a piece of work that would align with their business. I got a few emails back saying they'd be interested, and then momentum built from there.”

Another avenue he tried early on was creative recruitment agencies.

“I wasn't heavily reliant on them because I find that a little bit scary, where I don't have any control over if I'm working or not. So I do my own business development. And even up until this day, 80 or 90% of my work I find through direct relationships. But the ad hoc time when you haven't got a booking, I find creative recruitment agencies really helpful.”

Know the numbers in your freelance business

Chiraag often works within a team, contracting other freelancers to collaborate on bigger projects. To make it work financially, he needed to have a good understanding of the numbers.

“I was always interested in the financial side of running a business. During permanent employment, I would ask questions to understand the way budgeting works. So from that knowledge, I understood, "Okay, I need a profit margin. I need to pay this freelancer but I need to put a little margin on top of that for my services."

Before getting started, Chiraag built a buffer of cash.

“I'd saved up six months’ expenses, bills and rent, just to have that buffer, which I recommend to any people that want to freelance in the future. It's good to have a healthy amount of cash reserves that can lend to you during the tough times.”

Get everything in writing and know your limits

Chiraag finds that it helps to have contracts and terms in place. He says he likes to be transparent with clients when it comes to money and payment terms.

“Have everything in writing, have a contract with the payment structure. The client pays, say 25% upfront, and then 25% before the shoot kicks off, for example, and then the remainder on completion or the first edit or wherever it may be.”

When it comes to negotiating day rates and overtime, he makes sure he charges for the time he’s working.

“I have a little buffer where I might give thirty minutes for free, for example. But anything after that, you should have it in place beforehand that these are your hours for your day rate and thereafter, you would charge X amount, either per hour or whatever it may be. That way, you're covered and they're not expecting you to work for free.
“At the same time, I'm happy to go the extra mile if it means the client is going to win the pitch or they're on a tight deadline. But from a business point of view, you're working too. You should charge if you're working, especially for long hours.”

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PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Transcript of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland and freelance director and editor Chiraag Parmar

Transcription by humans at Rev - try them for yourself!

Steve Folland: As ever, how about we get started hearing how you got started being freelance?

Chiraag Parmar: Sure. I'll take you to the early stages of my journey. I studied media studies at Sixth Form. I made my first ever films there and I thought I wanted to pursue a career making films. From Sixth Form, I went on to study Film and TV production at Anglia Ruskin University. From there, after three years, I fortunately found my first job back in 2009, which was a job as a runner, which is an entry level job just doing basic tasks. I was doing that for around six months, and then fortunately I was promoted internally to assistant editor in this company. And I worked on a variety of TV shows, but most notably I worked on the early series of Great British Bake Off.

Steve Folland: Oh!

Chiraag Parmar: Yeah. I was in this company about a year and I said to myself, "You know what? I want to shift a little bit and get out of broadcast television." I was really interested in working in advertising and TV commercials, so I left the company I was in and I went in to an advertising agency. This was around 2011, there for around five and a half years, and I grew and progressed tremendously, actually. Firstly, I was an assistant editor and then internally I was promoted to become a video editor. Then the last two, two and a half years of my time at this company, I was directing and editing. It was a hybrid role, so I was filming, and directing, and editing.

Chiraag Parmar: In total, as I said, I was there for around five and a half years. At that point it was around late 2016. I loved the company, I loved the people, but I thought it was time for me to push myself and have a new challenge, and I thought freelancing would be a good fit. So I planned a few things in advance, updated my website, updated my show reel, signed up to a creative recruitment agency so that I can get new work as a video editor, just as a backup. I'd set up a limited company as well. I spoke to an accountant to do that. That was at the end of 2016, and that was how I started my career in freelancing, and I've been freelancing ever since.

Steve Folland: So you set up as a limited company, did you trade as a company name or were you Chiraag Parmar Ltd, for example?

Chiraag Parmar: Yeah. I've got a company name. The company name is called Parmar Pitchers Ltd. Obviously it's my surname, and then pictures obviously in regards to obviously making films.

Steve Folland: No, it works. Yeah. So for example, I have a company called Folland Co, but really most of the time I just work as Steve Folland, but when it comes through an invoice it's on there. Did you put yourself out there as Parmar Pictures or as Chiraag?

Chiraag Parmar: Oh, okay. Yeah. So yeah, as a freelancer, I put myself out as Chiraag Parmar, my main website is chiraagparmar.com. Obviously on the invoices, you'll see my limited company name. But as a freelancer, yeah of course, I just refer to myself as my name, and my main body of work and my website is chiraagparmar.com.

Steve Folland: Just to back up slightly, because obviously... Well, not obviously, but it always seems to me anyway, that the broadcast TV, advertising, all of that, working in film and TV, a lot of that is freelance anyway. So when you had studied and you were going for work, were you ever tempted to go freelance then?

Chiraag Parmar: To be honest with you, it was such an alien concept to me back when I'd finished university. When I was at university, we fortunately had some good lecturers, one of which was quite senior in BBC early in his career, and we obviously had really good advice and tips from him. Another person was a director of photography, he was basically the most senior cameraman that you can get, that's what director of photography is. He was active as a freelancer in making TV commercials and music videos and all sorts. But from my point of view, they'd given us some advice.

Chiraag Parmar: They said, a lot of the TV companies like the ad agencies and things like that, are based in London, in Soho. Especially from a London point of view, a lot of those companies are based in and around Soho and around those areas. So I just went out, back in the day when we were handing out physical CDs and things that, and I went around the Dean Street and Wardour street and Poland Street and handed out my CV and a few days later, next week I fortunately got a call and I was asked to come for a trial day as a runner, which is an entry level role, as I mentioned before. And that's how I started. So freelancing never had crossed my mind, to be honest with you, at all.

Steve Folland: I suppose that's the great thing, actually, isn't it? Thinking about it now, as you mentioned going in as a runner, working in house gave you a chance to gain so much experience and learn from others.

Chiraag Parmar: Totally. To be honest, working as a runner, you're exposed to the whole business. Obviously I'd done a lot of editing at university and even whilst I was at Sixth Form, but working as a runner, the benefit is you're exposed to the whole business. So you learn a bit about motion graphics, you'd be looking at people that do that, you'd be looking at people that do editing, you'd be looking at people that do high-end color grading or high-end online editing or finishing, which is these really expensive editing suites and visual suites. And you'd be learning about 3D and CGI, because you'd be done up and down around the company and around the building and looking at the different areas of how the business actually works. So from that point of view, to be honest, a lot of runners might have come in after uni thinking, Oh, they want to be an editor, like a lot of people do. And then there may ended up have been doing 3D or even producing or something completely different.

Steve Folland: So how about when you finally did go freelance, how did you go about getting your first clients? I know you said you signed up for an agency.

Chiraag Parmar: Yeah, so fortunately for me, prior to me being freelance, I had a few clients that I was doing ad hoc, filming and directing. And I'd built up a relationship over 12 months prior to me leaving my permanent employment, so that was one client I had. And then I knew at that point I had a reasonable amount of good quality work and I updated my website to market myself and put myself out there. And then on top of that, people that I used to work with that maybe had left the company I was working with, I reached out to them. People that I know that work at other companies and I had a good relationship with. So I contacted them, I said, "I'm freelance now, if anything comes up in due course, please get in touch." Unfortunately for me, actually, when I left the company I was at, and then the following week I was actually working in a job with someone I used to work with.

Chiraag Parmar: But the only reason I got that job is because I contacted him and told him that I'm going to be freelance. And he thought of me and I was literally working for the week. And that tide me over for the rest of December because I'd left to go freelance in mid December, and I worked throughout December with this client. So I was quite fortunate in that respect. And the following year, I had one of my previous clients that I was doing a bit of freelance work with and we had a 10, 12 day shoot where we were filming around UK. So I was really fortunate to start my freelance career on a high, and also I think I started my freelance career at a time where inherently freelancers can be busy because December can be a time where permanent editors can be off on holiday and things that. So I was fortunate to be honest with you, that I had a good run at the beginning that boosted my confidence.

Steve Folland: And then how did you capitalize on that run? How did it continue to grow?

Chiraag Parmar: My first client was obviously, as I mentioned, someone who used to work with. The other client was an existing freelance client. And then I thought, "Okay, I need to market myself obviously and try and build my relationships and try to do some hard work and do it." So I was looking at companies online thinking, "Oh, I've got similar work. I could be a good fit." I was trying to reach out to them, cold emails and things that, showing them a piece of work that would align with their business. And to be honest, I got a few emails back from clients and saying, they'd be interested, and one of the clients that took me on kept me busy throughout February, and then momentum built from there.

Chiraag Parmar: And I was doing my own business development and I had, as I mentioned before, I went freelance, I had signed up to a creative recruitment agency. I wasn't heavily reliant on them to get me all my work because I find that a little bit scary where I don't have any control with if I'm working or not. So I to do my own business development. And even up until this day, 89% of my work, I think I find is through direct relationships. But the ad hoc time when you're haven't got a booking, I find creative recruitment agencies really helpful. And during that time, after February for example, they helped me out and I got a few gigs working through their clientele. So that's how it developed to be honest with you.

Steve Folland: And what's work for you, is it working on something, like you say, for a month? Or is it a few days here a few days... How does it look for you?

Chiraag Parmar: So to be honest, Steve, it varies tremendously. I would say, I've been freelancing three and a half years, four years now. A lot of my bookings have been say a week or two weeks, sometimes even a little bit less. For the most part, obviously COVID is a little different topic, but for the most part, generally I've been very consistent throughout the year. And I found year on year, my freelancing capacity and the level of bookings I've taken on has got busier and busier. Obviously this year is slightly different because of COVID has affect a lot of people, but generally year on year I've found myself to be busier and busier. With that said though, last year, for the most of last year, I had a three month rolling contract with one of my clients where I was literally there permanent and I was there three months and then they'd renew another contract for another three months. It was just the way they work.

Chiraag Parmar: And this particular company, their model was essentially to have less permanent staff. And they are a massive company, but they would have more freelances. So that was one client, which was nice where I was just there for the most of year, the people are lovely, we get free breakfast, lunch and dinner. That was really cool. Obviously all good things come to an end, and obviously their work flow changes, things change from their point of view. They obviously have to hire more permanent staff and things that. But with that said, as a freelance, you always have to adapt. So there's been some clients which, I would say, have taken up a good part of my revenue, but I've always dug deep and found different clients to replace if the other client say, for example, highers permanent editors or permanent in-house directors or shooters. So you have to always be on top of business development and kind of make relationships with new clients, I think is really important.

Steve Folland: Yeah. I was going to say, that's the danger, isn't it? When you're in a long contract and you're feeling comfortable, you can forget to be putting yourself out there. And equally, you might put yourself out there and you get offered a job and you're like, "I've already got one." But yeah, you got to keep going.

Chiraag Parmar: With that said, last year, it was great being with one client for the most part of the year, but there was times where a lot of my existing clients were reaching out to me and I was having to turn them down a lot of the time. But to be honest with you, I was trying to keep an open dialogue with them and trying to show him some work I've been doing and things that to try and keep me in their mind, so they don't forget about me all together.

Steve Folland: Is a lot of your work last minute bookings, or do you tend to know what you're doing quite a long way in advanced?

Chiraag Parmar: I would say, if it's a filming with directing job, I would be involved a little bit earlier. For example, in pre-production where you're trying ideas and concepts, there might be an overarching idea, but you're fleshing those out and creating a treatment, and obviously shot lists and storyboards and things like that. Where you're heavily involved in the pre production prior to even shooting. If it's an editing job, it depends. There have been a lot of my jobs have been, I would say last minute. Yeah, for sure.

Chiraag Parmar: Other times, if it's a commercial, they may get you a little bit earlier, because obviously they've worked with you before, they know you're a good fit for the job. Or it could be, if I was working on a movie film, they may just get me a last minute and say, "We need a movie film idea to work over the weekend and into the week, maybe long hours and things like that." But I would say there's a fair amount of my work, which you may get booked a week in advance or you may get booked two days before, for example. But generally speaking, if you get used to that, generally you can still be busy.

Steve Folland: Because that's the thing, I was just sitting here thinking, do you ever wake up one morning, you go do your last day on the job, come home, wake up the next day and think, "Huh, got nothing in the diary." On a day like that, what do you do?

Chiraag Parmar: Generally, as I said, freelancing has been pretty steady, I've been fortunate in that respect. But if I am offered a set period of time, I would dedicate some time to, "Okay, let's reach out to new clients", there's things to do. for example, during coronavirus periods, I hadn't updated my show reel since I left to go freelance. And I had a good body of work that I developed during the last three and a half years, but I had said to myself at the beginning of March, mid to late March, "I have to create a new show reel, which is relevant to where I'm at right now." So that was the first thing I did in downtime for example. The other thing I did, I be like, "Okay, I've done loads of cool work recently", which I haven't had the opportunity to put on a website the things that.

Chiraag Parmar: So I thought, "Okay." And actually in fact, with my website, I thought, "You know what? I want to refresh the website a little bit, I want to change the template and things to keep it interesting, visually interesting." So I thought, "Okay, that's another thing I can do in my downtime, which is productive." And it's going to help me, so I changed the website. I did obviously more work to it too. So I try and like to have a to-do list and keep myself productive, especially in downtime. And if I'm coming to the end of a booking I'll reach out to a certain list of my clients that I have, that obviously I'm going to be available very soon, if you have anything coming up, please get in touch. Also send them relevant work that they may think will be a good fit as well.

Steve Folland: I'm conscious of the fact that people could be listening to this years into the future, but I think it's interesting to consider how people have coped with the pandemic, and it's great to hear you doing all those jobs which are always on our to do list but we don't do. But did you feel okay doing it given that you weren't able to film?

Chiraag Parmar: To be honest, it was going to be, I think a fairly good year. Up until I say mid March, I was booked relatively frequently, pretty solidly. And then mid-March, just obviously everyone's watching the news and obviously things are getting worse and worse in the UK. And then I think advertising just stopped all of a sudden. And then from that mid March, the end of March, it was super quiet, obviously reached out to clients, but everyone was in the same boat. April was the same situation. And then fortunately, since May work has picked up and I've been on some jobs which have kept me busy up until this day.

Steve Folland: Did you have a buffer of cash? Did you feel all right in that respect?

Chiraag Parmar: Yeah. So I guess being in a limited company structure, I guess it's different to being a sole trader, where you're not really meant to take all the money out, so the money stays in the business. So fortunately, because freelancing has been decent over the previous years, there's obviously some cash reserves in the business. So I wasn't immediately worried, which is fortunately a nice position to be in. But at the same time, I didn't want to rest on my laurels and think, "Okay, burn though cash", or whatever. So I was pushing, I was trying to do small things that would take off your to-do list, small wins that make you feel better. Just little things you haven't done, and just little admin tasks. Even for example, reaching out to five clients in a day, just find some clients that you think could be a good fit, reach out to them. You may not get a response, you may do, but at least you're doing your bit to help you and your cause.

Steve Folland: Yeah. You said it's obvious you have reserves built up in your limited company, but you could take it all out. You've had three really good years, every year you could pay yourself a really good... I think it makes it easier to leave it in there, but you did the sensible thing. That's what I'm saying. It's a sensible business thing.

Chiraag Parmar: I think I was listening to my accountant, because he said, "Okay, what do you need?" I'm like, "Okay, I need this." And he said, "Okay, unless you want to pay additional tax, and you're necessarily going to spend the money right now, then it was better off just to leave it." To be honest, it's been a blessing in disguise because obviously now, I've never not worked for this period of time.

Chiraag Parmar: In the whole three and a half year of freelancing, I've never been off for a month consistently. Might've been off for a week or two weeks or something here or there. So it's been a new experience in that respect. So it was good that there was money in the business where you have that little buffer and that little bit of peace of mind. With that said, when I started freelancing, prior to me freelancing even, I'd saved up six months expenses and bills and rent or whatever have you, just to have that buffer, which I recommend to any potential people that want to freelance in the future. It's good to have a good amount of cash reserves that can lend to you during the tough times.

Steve Folland: Yeah. So you have an accountant. Do you work with anybody else within your business?

Chiraag Parmar: A lot of my clients, obviously I'm freelancing as a director or ad. But there're certain clients that I've worked with and done, which is an end to end process where I'm basically managing the shoot. I'm directing, I'm filming, I'm editing. I'm not necessarily doing all those tasks, in those kinds of jobs, I'll be hiring a camera assistant, I'll be hiring a runner. Editing wise, I look after a lot of it, but I may hire a motion graphics person or someone to do some titling or just something that. So in those kinds of jobs, I definitely hire additional crew, and obviously I budgeted for that accordingly. In terms of running my business, obviously I have my accountant, but otherwise I look after my invoices when invoices are due to be paid and things of that nature. I haven't got a bookkeeper or anything like that, but I reach out to my accountant often, I have telephone calls with him. And if there's any niggling questions or anything, I'll just reach out to him and he's been really helpful.

Steve Folland: How did it feel the first time that you decided to, presumably somebody approached you with a job and it was bigger than just, "Can you come and direct this? Can you film this?" They needed the whole package, they needed a production company that you looked as Palmer Pictures, but actually it's just you. How did you feel that first time taking on that job and the responsibility of finding the team and paying for team and pricing that whole thing?

Chiraag Parmar: To be honest with you, when I was permanent, obviously I wasn't doing all those things. But say, if I was directing the shoot, I was always interested in the financial side and the running of a business. So even producers I work with, I ask questions, just to understand how that works and how the way budgeting works and things that. So from that knowledge, during permanent employment, I understood, "Okay, I need a profit margin. I need to obviously pay this freelancer, but I obviously I need to put a little margin on top of that, even for my services." Because I was charging myself as a freelancer, I need to put a little bit on top. And I understood the resources involved in managing a shoot in terms of how many crew we need, how many editing days I'm going to guesstimate we're going to take, a little bit of contingency. Obviously food, travel, things that. Some people run away from the financial side of it, especially if you're not from a producing side, if you're from more just a creative side, I would say. But for me, I enjoy that side a little bit.

Steve Folland: No, that's good. Yeah. You learned it and you embraced it.

Chiraag Parmar: Yeah. I wouldn't say obviously I'm experienced enough to do a shoot with 20 people, a massive full-scale shoot. But a shoot with a small group of three to five people, I'm confident enough to manage it and understand the risk assessments and the different things that we need, permissions and obviously insurance and things of that nature.

Steve Folland: Yeah, insurance must be quite a thing for you.

Chiraag Parmar: Yeah, you have to have insurance, you have to have risk assessments, obviously contingency as well, because you don't want to go over budget and then be out of pocket as well on a shoot. So these things are all super important.

Steve Folland: And do you have a set contract that you use?

Chiraag Parmar: Yeah, so we have a contract and a scope of work, which I sent out. So I don't to slap dash things, I try to do things properly, if that makes sense. So invoicing is a given, but by prior to that, having everything in writing, having a contract where this is the payment structure, you pay say 25% upfront, and then you pay 25% before the shoot kicks off for example, and then the remainder on completion or the first edit or wherever it may be. But I like to have all those things in place and I like to be very transparent with clients regarding that. And also I like to do a proposal as well, as opposed to just an estimate. I like to do a little proposal and allow a little pitch almost, if you have it.

Steve Folland: And so you started that way from day one"?

Chiraag Parmar: Yeah. I'm the kind of person, I don't like to take shortcuts, if I'm going to do something I want to try and do it properly, to the best of my ability that I know of. So just research things online and give them my knowledge from previous employment and things that. I don't want to take shortcuts if I'm going to try and do this, I want to try and manage it like a real business. And these things are really important to get into place.

Steve Folland: So that's awesome from a business side of things, how are you from a life side of things? How's your work life balance?

Chiraag Parmar: So generally working normal hours, I could say nine to six, but actually in this period during the coronavirus, there was a client I was working with, we were working really longs hours. I was working until about 11 o'clock, sometimes 12 o'clock. But I charged for that, so if you're freelance in this thing, and if you're working, I'd say have a little buffer where you might give that your minutes for free, for example. But anything after that, you should have it in place beforehand that these are your hours for your day rate and thereafter, you would charge X amount, either per hour or wherever it may be. That way, you're covered and they're not expecting you to work for free. But at the same time, I'm happy to go the extra mile, if it means the client is going to win the pitch or they're on a tight deadline, and I understand that.

Chiraag Parmar: But you have to respect to from a business point of view as well, you're working too, so you should charge if you're working, especially long hours. But prior to lockdown, I was enjoying going cinema, eating out, obviously socializing with friends a lot more. But now there's not that many things we can do. So mainly I've been going for a lot of walks, to be honest with you. And reading actually.

Steve Folland: Oh yeah, me too.

Chiraag Parmar: Reading and meditation in the morning, but just 10 minutes a day, which I've been doing for a while.

Steve Folland: Nice. You mentioned not having more than a month or for maybe a week or two here and there. Does that mean you get to take holidays as in proper holidays? Forgetting the whole coronavirus thing, in general.

Chiraag Parmar: I've been fairly consistent the last three and half years of freelancing, but I always take aholiday every year. So last year my partner and I we went to Santorini. And year before I went to Canada and I went to Corsica, which is an Island in France. So every year, regardless, I would always say, "Okay, this month in July or this January or whatever it may be, I'm going to go on holiday regardless of how busy work is." And I think it's important to rejuvenate and recuperate and take some time off, because obviously earning money is good, but you need time to enjoy and to unwind. And as a creative, you need time to creatively reset, I would say. So I would say always take time off.

Chiraag Parmar: And whether it's a staycation or you're going abroad, and if you're freelancing, you're worried about obviously cashflow and things that. I would say if you're worried about that, but you still want to go on holiday, I would say take a holiday when you would inherently be quiet. So for example in my industry, January could be a quiet month, the beginning of January. So that could be a perfect time for you to go to a warm country. That way you're not losing out too much revenue because inherently there wouldn't be that much work in the first place.

Steve Folland: And when you're away, do you properly manage to switch off?

Chiraag Parmar: Oh, totally. I just enjoy myself. Just have a cocktail on the beach or just jet ski or whatever, if it's somewhere warm anyway. Just relax. Yeah. Totally, totally, totally relaxed.

Steve Folland: And how important, when it comes to marketing your business, what would you say are the main things that you do?

Chiraag Parmar: Being a director, it is obviously all video work. So I keep my website up to date, I upload videos on Vimeo and then I can embed it into my website. From a website point of view, I make it on Squarespace, which I've been using for over five years, I think, highly recommend it. But I often my marketing is a lot of the time I point clients to my website. So I would email them more often than not, prospective clients, or existing clients I reach out to them on email.

Chiraag Parmar: Now and again, if you've got someone you used to work with or someone that you think may be a good fit, working with, also LinkedIn is really powerful, but I don't get that much work from my LinkedIn, I would say. But I know it's a powerful, powerful tool, but I have got some work from that. And also obviously as you work and people move on, you still have them on LinkedIn so it's always good to reintroduce yourself to potential clients. So LinkedIn is really good in that respect because as you get older and as you work more, your LinkedIn followers and connections are going to grow. So I would say those are the kinds of tools I use for marketing.

Steve Folland: Obviously when you're filming, you're out and about, but where are you based normally? Do you just stick at home or do you have an office somewhere?

Chiraag Parmar: Obviously filming, we're obviously on location, whether that's an outdoor shoot or a studio or a client's office or wherever it may be. But when I'm editing, because I work with a lot of advertising and those kinds of clients, they often have their own editing facilities in-house. So they would obviously hire me to come in-house most of the time. So I would say actually, I'm probably working in-house with clients about 90% of the time. I actually rarely work from home, so for me being home during lockdown has been quite a strange experience editing at home all the time. I'm not sure if I'm a hundred percent used to it yet.

Steve Folland: So actually that means as well, often a problem for freelancers is isolation, but actually presumably going into places, that's not been an issue for you.

Chiraag Parmar: I love going into places. So for me, I don't mind anything at home because I've saved obviously on travel time and things that, because obviously working in the city it's to take me a little bit longer to get into. But yeah, just working from home is something I'm not used to, at all. As opposed to a lot of freelancers, I imagine most of the time they are working from home and they're not necessarily in client offices. But I'm the other way, because my clients often want me to come in and collaborate with other creatives or a creative director and art director or copywriter or wherever it may be, your producers of course. So yeah, so they expect me to come in most of the time.

Steve Folland: That does have an advantage as well, in strengthening those relationships where those people go off to other places and they may well think to hire you in the future.

Chiraag Parmar: Possibly yeah, because it's nice to put a face to the name and have that face to face interaction. I also find the whole process of editing and video approval was a little bit quicker, because instead of you exporting something to Vimeo and then sharing with a producer, for example, they can watch it on your screen and say, "Actually, can you just change these things before we send an export?" So that workflow in that respect is a little bit quicker doing it face to face. but now with technology, things are still not slow, they're still fairly quick to get things up online and share your videos with your clients.

Steve Folland: What would you say has been the biggest challenge to you being freelance?

Chiraag Parmar: The biggest challenge for me really, even though I've been fairly consistent in my career, I'd say the biggest challenge is still always the uncertainty of where are you going to be working next. And that diminishes a little bit as you get more experienced in your freelancing career, but it's still obviously, it is a feast and famine environment, I would say. Because obviously a client will hire you for a set period of time, and then obviously then you won't be working with them, and then you got find the next gig. And obviously in my line of work, a lot of my stuff is short form. Meaning the gigs are a week or two, or it could be three, four days for example. That all is managed to fill a lot of those gaps, but I find that is probably the biggest challenge I would say.

Steve Folland: Now, if you could tell your younger self one thing about being freelance, what would that be?

Chiraag Parmar: I would say to procrastinate less, get a website up and running early in your career, start putting things up there. And obviously as you're developing, you might not have the best body of work, but what I wish I'd done more of was create the work that I wanted to do working with other clients. So create my own films, my own little documentaries, more of that stuff. I did quite a bit of that, but I wish I'd done a little more of that. And now obviously it's more accessible than ever, a lot of people, the barriers of entry picking up a camera or a laptop with an editing software is getting cheaper and cheaper in some respects. So I would say those things are things that would've helped me earlier in my career.

Steve Folland: Chiraag, thank you so much. And all the best being freelance.

Chiraag Parmar: Thank you very much, Steve. It was great speaking to you.