Thoughts after a month or so of freelancing

I’ve been freelance for well over a month now. It’s gone fast and it’s been busy. I thought I’d be sitting around twiddling my thumbs at first, but I’ve had work to do, meetings to go to, and people to chat with since day one.

It’s in large thanks to my ‘network’. I don’t like that term — it feels a bit cold and mercenary — but I’m very grateful for the excellent, thoughtful people in mine. They’ve sent me leads, made time to talk and given me great advice. I’m grateful to my past self too, for overcoming my introverted tendencies and putting in the effort to go to meet-ups and events and chat to people.

I’ve been flitting between feeling very: ‘I AM BEHOLDEN TO NO ONE! I AM A POWERFUL WOMAN IN CHARGE OF MY OWN DESTINY!’ and a bit: ‘Oh. This is a bit lonely’. I miss my former colleagues and having someone there to bounce ideas off. But I can see that I’m thriving on having more autonomy and a different kind of challenge.

Writing my first solo proposal and winning the work has been my biggest highlight far. Even more so because it checks all the boxes on the ‘ideal project’ brief I set for myself: it’s for a charity, it’s using content to make a meaningful change for the people in the organisation, and it’s with open and collaborative clients.

If you’ve made it this far, I have a favour to ask. If you’ve worked with me — as a colleague or as a client — I’d be really grateful if you could tell me a bit more about what that’s like. I’m going to use it to help me do a better job of selling myself, and — if it’s okay with you — as a testimonial on my website. It’s just five short questions and can give me your answers here. I’ll be eternally grateful (maybe not actually eternally, but definitely for a while).