Founders, Freelancers & Rebels

Helen Jane Campbell

Description

Many creative founders and freelancers share a longing for connection, reassurance and motivation.

In this book I’ve interviewed inspiring, brave and creative experts across the UK and US, tapping into some incredible insights and pulling them together into this friendly guide, to offer that support which we all need from time to time.

This book’s for you if you’ve stopped feeling ‘hungry’ for new client work, you’re starting up for the first (or second or third!) time, or you’ve simply run out of steam. My intention is to offer a wealth of ideas and fresh perspectives to inspire you at any stage of your independent creative career.

Sujets

• Entrepreneuriat
• entrepreneur
• Emprendedor
• Business
• Economics
• Employabilité, métiers et formations
• Small Business

Informations

• Publié par: Business Expert Press
• Date de parution: 31 mars 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781953349774
• Langue: English

Extrait

Founders, Freelancers & Rebels
Founders, Freelancers & Rebels
How to Thrive as an Independent Creative
Helen Jane Campbell
Founders, Freelancers & Rebels: How to Thrive as an Independent Creative
Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2021.
Cover design by Tamsin Baker
Interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior permission of the publisher.
First published in 2021 by
Business Expert Press, LLC
222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017
www.businessexpertpress.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-95334-976-7 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-95334-977-4 (e-book)
Business Expert Press Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management Collection
Collection ISSN: 1946-5653 (print)
Collection ISSN: 1946-5661 (electronic)
First edition: 2021
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated to my siblings.
Description
Many creative founders and freelancers share a longing for connection, reassurance and motivation.
In this book I’ve interviewed inspiring, brave and creative experts across the UK and US, tapping into some incredible insights and pulling them together into this friendly guide, to offer that support which we all need from time to time.
This book’s for you if you’ve stopped feeling ‘hungry’ for new client work, you’re starting up for the first (or second or third!) time, or you’ve simply run out of steam. My intention is to offer a wealth of ideas and fresh perspectives to inspire you at any stage of your independent creative career.
Keywords
startups; business; entrepreneur; freelancers; freelance; creative; starting a business; self-employed; founder; thrive; coaching
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Prepare to thrive
Chapter 2 What do you stand for?
Chapter 3 Being productive
Chapter 4 Unleash your creativity
Chapter 5 Learn and grow
Chapter 6 Attract new clients
Chapter 7 Choose how you run your business
Chapter 8 Love your clients
Chapter 9 Work is not a place
Chapter 10 Fail forward
Conclusion
References
Recommended reading
About the author
Index
Preface
I’m writing the book I would have enjoyed reading more than a decade ago when I set up on my own as a PR consultant in London, UK. I’d run teams, managed budgets, been a spokesperson on behalf of eye-watering amounts of investment and worked with intimidatingly high-profile leaders. Unfortunately, that did not equip me for starting and running my own creative operation.
When I worked inside agencies on behalf of household names with big budgets, it felt natural—even easy at times—to negotiate contracts, have tough conversations and develop creative campaigns. Yet, the same things that had felt so natural at a corporate suddenly felt foreign when I had to do them as a freelancer. Now I work daily as a coach, supporting creative freelancers and founders to fulfill their potential and enjoy the journey too. My clients are all incredibly talented and resourceful, but many share a longing for connection, reassurance, support and motivation.
Over my two-year writing journey, I’ve interviewed inspiring, brave and creative people across the UK and United States, tapping into some incredible insights and pulling them together into this friendly guide, to offer that support that we all need from time to time.
This book’s for you if you’ve stopped feeling hungry for new client work, you’re starting up for the first (or second or third!) time or you’ve simply run out of steam. My intention is to offer a wealth of ideas and fresh perspectives to inspire you at any stage of your independent creative career.
I truly believe—like Julia Cameron—that all people are creative and can be creative. However, I’ve particularly aimed these pages at those of us who already feel the need and desire to put our creative ideas and work out into the world, or have somehow contracted ourselves into being creative on demand almost every day, which is a tough number. I’m thinking about the PR and advertising industries, actors and presenters, artists across all media, writers, makers and anyone who works in a slightly unconventional way. You know who you are.
I’d love to hear from you all, and continue to document and share your inspiring stories and insights. This is, for me, just the start of an ongoing two-way conversation, and it’s one I’d like to keep alive every day. I’m looking forward to meeting you all.
Acknowledgments
Anne Brichto, you are an unending source of inspiration, food, literature and laughter.
Sharon Wheeler. My warmest thanks and appreciation to you for reading every word of my draft manuscript and offering objective and thoughtful edits. I am so grateful to you. I understand you were paying forward a similar favor and I hope to be able to pay forward your support very soon to another author. Let’s keep this going.
Becky Matthews, I truly value both your friendship and insight.
Charlotte Bailey, for your ongoing encouragement, support, good heart and cat pictures.
Eleanor Goold, for motivating me with sound and inspiring advice, when I lost my mojo.
Peter Beckett for telling me what my book was about when I wasn’t entirely sure, and organizing my messy thoughts into a coherent structure.
Fiona Chow for your perfect combination of surrogate tiger mom and shoulder to cry on as required.
Dan Simon for letting me delve into your incredible brain and for your high levels of enthusiasm.
Gina Cobbold for creating space for me to write in beautiful Alicante and recommending Big Magic to me (by Elizabeth Gilbert), you really got me unstuck.
Mark Southern for somehow getting me to write 1,000 words a day for a month in addition to my day job.
Amanda Holly, who transcribed the majority of these interviews, you are amazing.
Tamsin Baker, for being magical.
My clients for encouraging me and cheerleading me on this journey.
Zoe Hawkins and Gillian Maxwell Carter, for holding my head together. I am very lucky to know you both.
Becky Slack, who’s been a wonderful informal mentor to me through this process, thank you so much.
Introduction
Seeking freedom: Find flexibility, balance and your sense of purpose
The freelance market and gig economy are growing and thriving, with the annual Freelancing in America survey 1 offering optimistic findings and predictions 2 for an industry that it values at almost one trillion U.S. dollars—nearly 5 percent of U.S. GDP.
While working for yourself can be associated with uncertainty, there’s also a tremendous amount of flexibility, freedom and opportunity for those bold enough to grab it. There’s the lure of remote working, control over your client base and the chance to build the lifestyle you aspire to, so it’s an enticing route for those brave and savvy souls who embrace it.
For the creative individual, freelancing or running your own business can offer the freedom to allow creativity to flow and to nurture and cultivate it—whether that’s about exploring and experimenting with different media, seeking inspiration in fresh places or the chance to choose clients whose ethos resonates with your own. All of this can be extremely empowering. And yet, left to our own devices, we can sometimes find ourselves too far off course, and that’s where a little coaching—or a few timely tips—can help us refocus and regroup.
Having worked with hundreds of freelancers and founders over the years, and set up online communities connecting thousands of freelancers—with one another and with clients—I have brought together some of the key ingredients needed to create a thriving independent, creative career. I have also interviewed experts on some of the vital issues facing creative freelancers and founders, both the practical and existential factors, which may influence artists, writers and other creatives forging their own path right now.
Firstly, I know it helps to have an appetite and hunger for working in a different way to the default employee role that most of us are raised to expect.
That hunger and drive can help you through the lean times as well as the busy, abundant months. The term feast or famine is often associated with freelance life, and while a creative spark and appetite can drive your career, developing strong boundaries and a calm confidence will be your armor in the long term.
You may be coming to this book as a long-time freelancer or founder who wants to begin a new chapter, or maybe you’re flirting with the idea of setting up on your own and not even sure if it’s for you. Some of us find freelancing and consultancy because we got made redundant, or are looking for a lifestyle change, other times, it finds us and we begin our freelance life around a project or client request. Whichever path you took to get here, I’m glad you’re here, and I hope you never look back and are able to build the life you truly want and deserve.

1 https://upwork.com/blog/2019/10/freelancing-in-america-2019/
2 https://upwork.com/press/2019/10/03/freelancing-in-america-2019/
CHAPTER 1
Prepare to thrive
Hunger, curiosity and creativity
Creative people who are driven by their passion, curiosity and hunger can make amazing freelancers. We can also make very insecure freelancers who strive to create the most beautiful art, write an incredibly moving piece of pros