Content Strategist Jess Bruno
About this podcast episode…
CONTENT STRATEGIST JESS BRUNO
When Jess Bruno left her corporate job in marketing, to help with managing her chronic illness - she had no idea freelancing was even an option.
It was her mum that made her realise all the free marketing advice she was giving to her friends should be worth paying for. The next time they called asking for help, it would cost £25.
Since then, Jess has built a six-figure freelancer business.
And what's more, she's built it on her terms: around her health, around surgeries, around grief.
The past five years has packed in a lot for Jess.
And we pack a lot into this episode:
- How chronic illness shaped her business model
- Rebuilding from grief, surgery and burnout — twice
- How she grew her business without posting perfect content
- The shift from doing it all to coaching and strategy
- Why her content converts, even with 30 likes a post
- What Netwerking is, and why it’s worth every penny (even in the red)
- How she’s planning a sustainable new version of her business
It’s bold, honest and brilliant — just like Jess.
Available as a video podcast too - Watch here on the site, on YouTube, or Spotify.
Read a full transcript & get Links in the tabs.
More from JESS BRUNO
Jess’ website
Jess on Instagram
Jess on LinkedIn
Jess on TikTok
More from Steve Folland
Transcript of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland and content strategist & coach Jess Bruno
Steve Folland: We’re off to London to chat to freelance content strategist and coach Jess Bruno. Hey Jess!
Jess Bruno: Hey Steve!
Steve Folland: Thanks so much for doing this. As ever. How about we get started hearing how you got started being freelance?
Jess Bruno: Sure. So my business started in 2020. I'm one of the business COVID babies, but I was working from 2019 and before in marketing. So I did in-house marketing for events agency, a big like, really fun, event company that did all these like fun, like boozy brunches. I worked with Picturehouse cinemas and all these different cool people doing marketing and then in 2019, my health started to, decline a bit.
I'd been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis for a really long time, since I was 22. But 2019 it kind of hit a bit of a brick wall and I found it really difficult to work in a corporate environment.
And then the pandemic happened, and so I was like, well. Okay. And so I, handed in my notice to my work and I had to move home and live with my mum and my grandma in a tiny, teeny, tiny box room. I hadn't been living at home. I moved out when I was 17. So it was like a big culture shock for me.
Because of the nature of my work, marketing, and the nature of the world. My friends who knew what I did were all starting businesses. They were creatives who also ran out of work. A lot of my friends are in like.. Musicians and dancers, and they suddenly had no work at all, and so they'd start a side business, like a postbox brownie business or like a resin ashtray business or a coat...
They were all coming out the woodwork and I was getting loads of texts being like, Jess, what should I write in the Instagram caption, Jess... And one day my mum said to me, 'I bet you could charge for that'.
And I said, what? You are having a laugh mate? No way.
I had no idea you could do marketing freelance. It was, it blew my, I had no, I, I couldn't fathom the freelance world.
And she said, 'yeah, next time someone messages you asking for advice, tell them it's gonna be 25 pound please'. I said, all right, and within about an hour, kid you not someone message me for help, and I said, yeah, that's fine. We can jump on a call for £25.
And then they said, yeah, that sounds great, when do you wanna have a chat?.
And that's how it started.
And I had no idea how to do an invoice.
I was like, mum, how do I get the money? She was like, 'I dunno', but I kind of worked it all out from there.
Steve Folland: I love it. But, but having had that sort of penny drop or the 25 quid drop, how did you, yeah. How did you grow it from there?
How did you sort of turn it into something where people kept paying you to do it?
Jess Bruno: They did. They did. So since then, since 2020 and my 25 pound year to 2024, I hit my first six figure year in business. So it was quite a, quite a leap from 25 pound to a hundred K. And how did I do it? Lots of things, Steve to be..
The penny dropped, the 25 pound penny dropped and I was like. Okay. Maybe I could market myself as I marketed the events companies that I used to work for. Mm-hmm. And maybe I can put all of that knowledge into me. And for some reason I'd never even thought about that before. So I started doing that. I started posting blanket Instagram and blanket content advice on my own personal Instagram, which was only previously used for, I'll be honest, boys on Tinder, it was like my Tinder extension page and maybe some friends from like primary school.
It was, it was not a business page at all. I hadn't, I didn't think to start a new one. I just said, I'll just do this. In hindsight, I wish I did start a new one because when I was posting my 'five ways to get more engagement', the boys from Tinder were just like hemorrhaging outta my followers
Steve Folland: Hey, who needs them?
Jess Bruno: Who needs them? Who needs them? But initially I was like, why am I losing? I'm losing followers every day. I don't understand, I'm just being helpful. I was like, oh my God, it's Tom. And it's like, it's like Gary, That's fine. They can go.
And I started marketing myself organically sharing this blanket advice. And then the next step to that was I need to pitch myself to work with people and where, where are, where are these people that I wanna work with? Who do I like?
And I sent a DM to a community called Found and Flourish. It's run by Lara Sheldrake. She found a community for female founders and I just, I just really, I pitched my shot. I was like, Hi, I see you do events. I've got loads of experience in marketing events. If you ever need any help, I'd love to get on board.
And this was right again, right in the beginning. So I, I started doing little bit of freelancing for her every month. It was not a lot of money, but I, I, , I pitched her myself and I think she might have felt a bit like, not sorry for me, but like, oh, this is sweet. Yeah, she can jump in and have a go at it.
That's how it started. That's how I started growing it, and then got a little bit more revenue in the business. Started freelancing with other one-to-one clients from organically promoting myself. And I then invested in business coaching. I've invested very heavily in learning how to run an online business, and then I expanded my offer suite, low ticket item, mid ticket item, and high ticket, and revolving around around those three things.
Steve Folland: And that was as a consultant, as in you weren't doing the thing for them?
Jess Bruno: Initially, I was doing all the things. I was social media manager. I was just kind of figuring out what I liked. I, I just, I started saying, yes, I can, I can do that. So I will, I did content creation, social media management, consulting, all mushed into one until I realized I shine best in coaching and strategy.
So now what it looks like, and that's why I kind of developed these three different offer suites. So like you can have templates in my membership where I have all of these like strategic templates that you could implement yourself, DIY, I've got a group program where we co-create your strategy for you.
I consult every week on your business and your content, and then you can come to me and I'll like do live feedback on your, on your stuff. And then one-to-one, which is a little bit more hands-on. I can edit anything you've created. I can recommend stuff. But yeah, I moved away from social media management quite early on.
Steve Folland: So that's where you are today. What was it like as you started to find your way there?
Jess Bruno: Horrific for the first two years of my business. As I told you earlier, in 2019, I got sick and I didn't... I wasn't thriving. I was really, really sick for the first two years of my business, and so I couldn't do anything apart from like type on the laptop and then sleep.
I was like stuck in my house figuring everything out. My brain worked, but my body didn't.
I had no energy. I had nothing I, I had nothing to give apart from, I really, really enjoyed posting on Instagram and talking about content. And so for the very , the first beginning, I think I said yes to all the things because I didn't, I didn't know...
I, I just thought I'm just gonna take whatever comes my way.
It was in 2022 where I had a surgery to remove my large bowel. And after that surgery and after I healed, I gained a lot of strength and energy back, and that's when I could start moving a bit more. I had the brain capacity to not do everything in fight or flight.
I could start moving more strategically and think about my offer suite and everything a bit more.
Steve Folland: When you had that surgery Mm. Like were you able to work then?
Jess Bruno: No.
Steve Folland: Or did you have to.. right.
Jess Bruno: No. In 2022, I had two unexpected long breaks from the business where I had to unplug, and twice, both times I lost the majority of my clients and lost pretty much all of my money.
In February, 2022, my mum died on my 30th birthday, and then I had four weeks off of business, and then kind of like two months of just being so cloudy.
And then October, 2022 when I had the surgery, it was an eight week recovery. And then I didn't actually start really being back in business until probably January, late January. Yeah,
Steve Folland: That is a lot.
Jess Bruno: I know.
Steve Folland: And I mean, some people would think. I don't.. Do I have the energy to rebuild this. Now I'm feeling better could I just go and get a job? Had the running your own thing bitten?
Jess Bruno: I just don't believe... I don't think I could ever go back into corporate marketing.
If I was to get a job I think. I, I always, my brain says, I'll just have a lovely job in Tesco's or a lovely job in like a corner shop down the street from me because I don't think I would want to work in a, a marketing, nine to five environment again, because of my body and because of my, even though I've had Stoma surgery, there's still loads of things that come with that.
Like, I get dehydrated really easily. I get headaches all the time. I have to empty this bag and it bursts.. Like there's too many variables of me being out of the house anyway, so. When the unexpected, when the these breaks came along, it didn't really cross my mind that I needed to, that I wanted to go back into a nine to five.
I just got back on the business wagon because I got such a taste for it, and I get a thrill and I get a bit of dopamine out of this business because it's been there for me in my darkest times as well.
Steve Folland: Yeah.
Jess Bruno: Is that a toxic relationship with the business? Yeah, probably a little bit, but. It's something that I'm really, really working on this year is looking at the relationship I've got in my business differently and seeing... 'cause after 2022, 2023? I fucking went for it mate.
Like I really, really went for it. I really just focused 2023, 2024, and 2025 has been all about this business and it's, it's wonderful and it's working out, but I'm slowly realizing what I've built is not sustainable for, for myself.
I can't do this on my own anymore. I don't really wanna run an agency, so I'm, I'm, I'm in the, it's gonna... my business is gonna go through another kind of amalgamation very soon.
Steve Folland: You said, you know, is it a toxic relationship? In what way do you feel that though? Because it sounds sounds pretty good.
Jess Bruno: It's wonderful. It's wonderful, but it's, it, it... it takes the majority of my time. Mm-hmm. Which is fine, but I'm working very, very hard and I'm so tired and I feel like I'm prioritizing this business over the majority of things in my life.
Where the beginning of the business, I prioritized it because it was the only thing I could do. I couldn't leave the house. I couldn't really see anyone. I, I found it difficult to do anything remotely human.
But now I've got more of a human body back. I can start going out more. I can start doing these... I don't know, like going on holidays, like that wasn't an option for me before.
It's an option for me now, and that's what I wanna give my life more space to do. But the business that I've built, unless I was to bring on a whole team, I haven't got capacity to do any kind of pleasure projects.
Steve Folland: Mm, I get it. Yeah. Yeah. You've worked bloody hard and created this amazing thing. But the work life balance...
Jess Bruno: Oh, there's none.
Steve Folland: Is, isn't there? Yeah.
Jess Bruno: It's, it's, it's, it's very much leaning towards work. I'd say like 90% work, 10% balance. Mm. But because I have my body back, I want to flip that scale. I don't ever wanna, like... There's seasons, like people are very much like anti hussle culture, and I don't think what I've done is hustle per se. I've just... I don't wanna bitch on hustle culture because a lot of people do and what it may, what it sounds like I have done, I, I, I'm horrible by myself about it a lot. I'm like, oh, you work too hard. You need to go out, you need to go on more holidays. And often people say to me, oh Jess, you really deserve, you work so hard, you deserve to go out.
And I do deserve to go out, but I've worked really hard and I'm really proud of what I built. And I am switching. I am slowly switching it and I can't, I don't just wanna pull the rug out of all my clients, all the responsibilities that I've signed up for.
So, Steve, I've got this like plan. The responsibilities that I have signed up for. Everything's kind of quieting down end of September. And then I'm gonna pause, and be building in the background October, November, December, January, February is when I'm gonna be building this new business model and then rolling it out from March. So I'm not just gonna like cancel the membership and stop the group program and close my one-to-ones.
I've seen a lot of content from people like burn down their businesses 'cause they're burned out. But what I'm gonna do is, well hopefully, this nice slow transition behind the scenes. So. that's the goal anyway.
Steve Folland: And has that come through, working it through with a coach, with other people?
Jess Bruno: I've had consistent business coaching since my business started.
It was on Clubhouse where I found my coach and I really, really got on with her. Her name's May James. She's incredible. I resonated with her because she also lives with chronic illness. Yeah. It's through her and through like, putting myself in communities, I, I look after a lot of people. It's difficult for me to... I've not really ever found a space online, which felt like my community, like a group where I could just be present, be honest, where about my business, because I position myself as such a leader and a lot of these spaces online also have my clients in there as well.
So I'm scared to be like, oh, I'm business changing... like, it's difficult for me to find safe spaces to be honest about business. But I found a few of them and it's in those spaces and with my business coach, I get to work all of this stuff out.
Steve Folland: When you were in hospital...
Jess Bruno: Yeah.
Steve Folland: And you said, you know, you lost all your clients.
Jess Bruno: Yeah.
Steve Folland: Were you there like saying, Hey, I can't do this anymore. I'll be back at some point, but they just had to go and find other people?..
Jess Bruno: There's two things we can talk about here, because I think the second one, when I was in hospital. I got my head around that so much easier than when my mum died.
So when I was in hospital and I had to kind of, I had just started the membership I think a few months before, and I already had someone supporting me there, so I gave some more responsibility to the person that was helping with the membership. Some members left, some stayed, but I didn't... That was okay.
My one-to-one clients either paused indefinitely, so all their payments paused or they had the option to cancel. Most just canceled 'cause I didn't know when I was gonna come back. Mm-hmm. and then I was just living in overdraft, but it wasn't, it wasn't really anything... It didn't, didn't feel like a big deal. And I was so high off of all the morphine when I was in hospital I was like, is everything's gonna be fine!
Prior to that, I was so poorly. So, so sick. At that point, it was okay if I died. Because I was like, I can't be in this much pain anymore. Maybe it's just my time to go.
I was really like, I was fine.
And so when I came outta the other side and I survived the surgery, I was like, everything's great. And I was living in la, la, land for a long time.
But when my mum died, completely different story.
I had two retainer clients and I had, yeah, I had two retainer clients at that point. I lost them both.
My mum had... was really sick. She was sick for a long time. She had cancer. And then for the January, February, it was all going downhill. I had decided to push through and I told my retainer clients, I just can't do anything. Like on Zoom, like face.. client facing, but I can still like help in the background and do admin and I can... not admin, I can still like hand over content and stuff like that and I could still... But I couldn't.
And that's probably one of the biggest regrets of my life, like sitting in the hospice whilst my mum was in her, her last, her last time with us. And I'm just sat there making content calendars. But I think when you are grieving and when you're going through that process, nothing makes sense.
And one of the clients that I was working with, she just said, look, Jess, I I, I really appreciate everything you're doing. I just... it's just time for us to stop working together. And I think it was a lot to do... and she... i, I was on a Zoom call with her in a cab on the way back from the hospital. And then I very quickly afterwards, rage quit the second retainer client I was working with. She had this agency that I would help her clients with, and I just...
She had to sort out that fire. But I completely rage quit and then ghosted her. And we've spoken about it since. But, and it also really ruined my relationship with her because I, every time I see her, I pull back to the time with my mum. Mm-hmm. And I'm... Biggest regret, but I get to tell this story. And I, I've worked with people since and coached clients since who go through these big life changes and I say you'll regret this if you are not present in that moment. 'Cause I regretted it and content can always bloody wait.
So yeah, two very different versions of how I lost them all.
Steve Folland: Thank you for sharing by the way. yeah, especially so soon after. But you did build it back up. And also, I love that your mum helped you see your potential as well at the start of this story.
Jess Bruno: Yeah.
Steve Folland: And she got to see that it was, it was working. So you do rebuild though.
Jess Bruno: Yes.
Steve Folland: Was that just by going back to the trusted sort of marketing that you were doing, putting yourself out there? Did you do anything differently?
Jess Bruno: Yeah, I can... If there's anything that I've got, it's motivation.
I came back and I was like all bells and whistles. I had my branding redone. I started posting like three times a day. I was putting myself out there. I launched my group program, so I'm on the fifth round of it now. It's called Watch Us Grow. I onboarded people into that and I just started like all guns blazing.
I call it, 'fuck it posting'.
There's power in imperfect visibility and volume. It's the only way I've built my business.
Steve Folland: And so what would this have been like, stories or reels that were helpful still? Or did you change anything?
Jess Bruno: Least path of resistance. So I've got this depth of marketing experience. So I, I make my content calendar, I set my pillars, I set my goals.
So like right, looking at a bank account, looking at what I need in the business. I'm gonna launch this group program. I set a Good, Better, Best goal. So, Good: I wanna onboard five people. Better: eight. Best 10.
And I would post content, launch style content around this new program. Why it's great, who it's for, on the grid. And then I would celebrate the people that join the program in the stories. People are sheeple. If they see that someone's joined, it'll give them a bit of courage to join as well.
And I also love a DM. Now, I never cold pitch anyone. It's always permission based. I will, before I'm launching something new or I haven't done this in a while 'cause I haven't launched anything new in a while, but something that really helped me before is writing a list of people in my community who I often see, about 10 of them, as like my, I would love, I think this program would be really good for them. And so they're already in my sphere. We already talk a little bit. I'm going to send them DM and say, a week before the doors open, just to let you know this is happening, I'd love for you to have a look at the sales page before I send it out to anyone. I think this would be really good for you because... That's really been beneficial as well.
Steve Folland: And so the content is helpful. This 'fuck it posting'.
Jess Bruno: Yes.
Steve Folland: Is helpful. Is it personable? Like...
Jess Bruno: It's, it's cha... it changes every year, but depending on what's working well. Before I'd say 2023, 2024, it was, 'here's how you can', this is three ways that you can do this.
Now, end of 24, 2025, what I've noticed myself and my one-to-one clients is 'here's how I...' talking people through how you in your business, especially if you have a business that there's crossover, so anything kind of service based, or like coach based. 'Here's how I landed three clients last week' and walking them through the process of that.
That's working bloody well. And so for me, doing content, 'here's how I...', my whole thing is, growing a business on low engagement and getting sales on low engagement. So here's how I built a six figure business on an average of 30 likes a post. And walking people through my method, or 'here's how I...', and if you don't have a business that is related to your target audience, you share the social proven testimonials.
Here's how I got these results for this client. And be very specific in that. Just switching the YOU to an I, I found is really helping with a quicker conversion. And that is across the board. It doesn't matter where you do it. Reels, carousel, story, text post.
Steve Folland: Interesting.
Jess Bruno: Yeah. Might change.
Steve Folland: Obviously you, you, you wanted to build a business, you had to build a business that you could run from home.
Jess Bruno: Yes.
Steve Folland: Has that changed? Do you get to go out to events? Do you go to a co-work space? Like has any of that changed?
Jess Bruno: Yes. I always kind of tango with coworking spaces because on paper they sound so great. It means I can get out of my house. But even still, my body, I... Instead of being like a member of a coworking space, I'll do a day pass if I need to get outta the house because my body is still a bit unreliable day to day. But I will love a day pass.
I now go to networking events and I love them and I run my own networking events as well, but I try and limit it to like two per month maximum because I get wiped out quite quickly. And they're so fun and I love it. . But I did, I did all of it online previously.
Steve Folland: Yeah. Tell me about your networking event.
Jess Bruno: My networking event is basically, as I told you, I worked in the events industry prior to this, and I specifically worked in brunch parties, and last summer I really missed going out and I hadn't had an urge to go out and have like party in a really long time. And I put up a Instagram story, just word vomiting that, oh God, does anyone else miss going out? Like, I don't, don't wanna go clubbing. I don't really want, I don't drink alcohol and I don't really wanna go to like a brunch party like that, but I just, I'm looking for something fun and I got inundated with messages being like, yeah, same.
And then I came up with this word. 'Net-twerking'.
Steve Folland: I love it. I love it.
Jess Bruno: And I started, in August last year I hosted my first netwerking event, which was, it basically feels like the best, the good bit at the end of a wedding. You know, when the DJ comes on and everyone's just like laughing and dancing with like the people you know from table number four, you're on table 12, you're together on the dance floor. It feels like that.
I, I love going to networking events where there's, where there is a keynote and there is this kind of learning experience added onto it. But I was like, there's so many amazing ones of those I don't, don't need to add into that industry. But I do think there is a gap in the party industry for business owners.
And so I've just made a day rave for business owners. You come in, you get a name tag, the DJ's playing from the beginning. There's a twerk lesson halfway through, and it's fun!
Steve Folland: Love it
Jess Bruno: It's just fun. Tax, tax deductible. Fun.
Steve Folland: And, and has that, has that had an impact on your business? Yeah, I mean, I would, I would just love the fact that it's made an impact on people having a great time.
Jess Bruno: Yeah.
Steve Folland: As well. But on, on your business?
Jess Bruno: People have a great time and they talk about it. And at Atomicon, people came... were coming up to going, 'that's the twerk girl', Uhhuh. And I was like, oh, I dunno if I'm the twe, I'm not. I'm not, I'm not the twerk girl. I'm not. I'm not. There's a girl that comes Tamaram, she'sincredible. She runs that session. I just I'm host. But has it made it, it is... it's cost me money.
Not made a penny on it. I make a loss on every event. On the spreadsheets of netwerking, we're in the red, but for my one-to-one group program and membership, there's been a knock on effect there. If someone's been to netwerking, they're more likely to work with me in that kind of more... in a content capacity.
The way I've weaved it together in my business is my spiel is I help small business owners show up unapologetically online with content and offline at day raves. And so there has been this kind of long tail effect, but on paper, on the netwerking spreadsheets. We're in the red. I don't see any, I don't see me going on Dragons Den and being like 'netwerking'.
They'd be like, No,
Steve Folland: No, but I'd like to see Deborah Meaden and the rest of 'em get up.
Jess Bruno: They need it, man.
Steve Folland: And give it a go.
Jess Bruno: They bloody need it.
Steve Folland: Yeah, that miserable one on the end really needs to get up and do it,
Jess Bruno: Honestly.
Steve Folland: But that said, you could look at it at the other end and say. A lot of forms of marketing. If you were to place an advert somewhere that would be in the red. Yeah. But it serves a purpose.
Jess Bruno: Yes.
Steve Folland: One thing I did mean to ask you, 'cause you mentioned getting your, you know, getting your branding done. Oh yeah. All of that.
And I love it. Your website looks amazing.
Jess Bruno: Thanks.
Steve Folland: Did that make a difference to yourself, to your business when, when you had it done with the photos, the logos, all of that sort of stuff?
Jess Bruno: Yeah. Yeah. It did. It, it does. But they say it does. And you think, no, it doesn't. It does. I think it's not the be all and end all to have a business.
I'm very much about like messy action. But when you can invest in headshots and you can invest in branding, it's only gonna elevate. And as I've grown the business and had more capital to do it. It has had a knock on effect. It has. I've changed over the years. If you scroll back right down to my Instagram and be like, this girl's been through so many things, but I feel really comfortable in it, and it does really feel like a reflection of me right now.
I think the issue a lot of people have is that they'll brand too quickly. Well, and it's a version of them that isn't gonna be around for very long because they don't have the words to hand over to the person doing their branding and to the person doing their website to tell them how they wanna show up.
If I invested in this in the beginning I would've had like a Barbie, marble, pink, perfect gold writing website, and that's so not me, and I would've tried to like keep up with that and that would've been exhausting. But having a photo shoot with my stoma out and using that as marketing content has been wonderful.
Steve Folland: Mm. So I saw you speak at an event, so is that something you've done a lot of or..
Jess Bruno: No, Steve, that was my first one.
Steve Folland: Get out of town!
Jess Bruno: That was my first one. I've done a lot of online and I've done training, but I've never done a talk like that.
Steve Folland: Well, it was bloody brilliant. It was so good. You just look so natural, like you owned the stage. So you weren't nervous or anything like that.
Jess Bruno: I was a bit nervous, but I try not to take these things... I take them very seriously. Like I put all the work in. Mm. But on the day, I think, because I've been through so much shit, Steve, I'm like, if I could go through all that, I could do this.
Steve Folland: Is that something you think you'll do more of? Did you get a taste for it then?
Jess Bruno: Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Mm. And I want to do more of it, but I do not have... Part of the reason why I'm changing my business model, I right now, absolutely no capacity to do stuff like that, but I'm like, that makes an impact. I could get paid to do it. And I felt like I was pretty good at it. Yeah. And I really enjoyed it.
So that's why I am gonna change my business model to give myself more space in the business so I can start pitching myself to do more. 'cause I could start pitching myself and get talk to do more now, but I'm like, not with the responsibilities I've signed on for.
Steve Folland: Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. And especially because, well I find anyway doing a talk, even if it's a talk that you, you know, you can redo again and again and again. 'cause I always idiotically seem to do a different talk every time. Even if you do that, it still takes a lot out of you in the lead up to it. The thing itself afterwards.
Jess Bruno: Yeah.
Steve Folland: Like energy wise, even more so I'm imagining in the situation with yourself that you've described.
Jess Bruno: Yeah.
Steve Folland: Yeah, we, we, we don't get to go back to our Winnebagos and then get our private jet home. Unfortunately,
Jess Bruno: No. Even still, I think I'd just be knackered on the Winnebago.
I was so tired.
Steve Folland: Yeah.
Jess Bruno: So tired. I tell ya, you have to really carve out a lot of time for it.
Steve Folland: But one thing in, in your talk, 'cause you've, you mentioned your stoma and your operation, your bag. But in your talk, you mentioned the fact that there was a point where you didn't use to talk about it
Jess Bruno: No.
Steve Folland: Online or...
Jess Bruno: No.
Steve Folland: But that changed.
Jess Bruno: Yeah. So first year of my business, 2020, I made that 25 pound, but I didn't make any money after that. And I was posting a lot of like, this advice content that I was looking at other business owners and other people do and thinking I should do that 'cause it's worked for them. And it was all very like safe and pink.
And not that I'm not pink now, but it was very like, I used like a, like marble and I used things that I thought looked how it should, it didn't, it wasn't me at all.
And my health was the reason I started this business and I felt, it was getting too difficult not to talk about it. And I felt like such a fraud posting these like perfect graphics and blurred like brushed up, I was spending hours like blurring the bags out of my eyes and I was just like, urgh.
And I was like losing all my hair and I'd add extra hair on these pictures and I was just like, this is so hard. I don't wanna keep hiding myself. And so. I put this poll up on my Instagram and I said, would you still take me seriously as a marketer if I started talking a bit more about my health journey? Because I've been going through a bit of a journey. It's, but what part of my, like why, why I'm doing this?
And I expected everyone to be like, 'yeah, you go girl. Say what you need to say!'
And I had, I think like 57% of people said, No, we wouldn't take you seriously. And I did tell people to be honest. And so they were honest with me and I got paragraphs from people telling me why they wouldn't take me seriously and be like, Jess, I'll be honest, I wouldn't work with you 'cause I wouldn't trust you to be able to execute the work.
At this point I was positioning myself as social media management a bit. But I decided that it was just too exhausting to keep pretending to be something I wasn't and like hiding my story. And since I started sharing, I actually just posted a very vulnerable, I did a post about it today actually. I don't talk about it every day.
I'm not trying to be the 'content coach for women with stomas'. Like, I'm not, that's, and that's not been who I've been attracting, but it's a huge part of my why. And ever since I did start talking about my health journey, it's only helped me relate and resonate more. And I get messages like posted something very vulnerable, not very vulnerable, but just tiny, tiny, sliver of my story.
And it's always not, I'm not doing it for my ego, but I, I'm always, I'm doing it to show people like, you can, you can do this even though you, you've got shit and your shit might look different than my shit. But you can do anything might take longer.
'cause I often, I, oh God, I'm going on a tangent here, but I genuinely, I always fall into trap of looking at people who start at the same time as me and being like, God, they've got so many followers. God, they're making so much money. Oh God, look, all they've done, oh, their website looks amazing.
And my partner's always like, yeah, but they probably haven't gone through the same shit you have and they probably haven't done this and that. You dunno what their life looks like. And so, yeah.
Steve Folland: Wise words. 'Cause it's so true and I don't know, I wonder whether we all partly do the same.
Well, why do we do it to ourselves as well? Like, I do it, I, you know, I look at other people who have been producing podcasts or content and stuff like that.
Jess Bruno: What?! You're like the top dog!
Steve Folland: Now, Jess, if you could tell your younger self one thing about being freelance, what would that be?
Jess Bruno: Get an accountant from the beginning. 'cause you're gonna be fucked.
Steve Folland: Blunt advice to your younger self.
Jess Bruno: That's it. Genuinely. I don't wanna give her any content advice or heavy business advice, but you are gonna do great, but you'll be fucked if you don't get an accountant. Get a fucking accountant.
Steve Folland: At what point did you?
Jess Bruno: 2023. I invested in an accountant and best money I spend every month. She's not the cheapest, but she is incredible. And I'm dyslexic, like level 10 dyslexic. And so that stuff, the admin of the money... . It takes everything outta me. So she came on board in 2023 and it's been beautiful.
Steve Folland: Marvelous. Jess, it's been so good to talk to you.
Make sure you go to beingfreelance.com as there are for all of our guests. You will find links so that you can find Jess online, which you really must go. Give her a follow, go see what she's up to both now, and who knows what it will be like in the future as well.
And if you ever get a chance to see her on stage when she gets around to being back on one, make sure you go along.
And if you are in the London area and you fancy some netwerking, then get yourself along. But for now, thanks so much and all the best. being freelance!.
Jess Bruno: Thank you so much!
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