Freelance Feels: Conversations about self-employed life: Recent Episodes
freelancefeels
Freelance Feels explores wellbeing and mental health for self-employed people. It's an informal chat about all the emotions of being freelance. The logo is a cactus because 'Freelancers are like cacti: We can survive tough conditions but we still need love and water'. Host Jenny Stallard - an experienced lifestyle journalist and founder of Freelance Feels - chats to guests about their freelance journey, their challenges, triumphs and advice.
As a global communications director working for the biggest names in sport, Kat burnt out. Her heart guided her to Antigua in the Caribbean where walking barefoot on the sand, floating in turquoise waters and eating mangoes from the tree brought her back to life. Then nature began feeding her with inspiration for a radical way of being in business - True Business. Instead of pursuing profit and growth at all costs your are invited lead with the wisdom and creativity of your heart and thrive in harmony with the earth. Her new book, Creative Happy Work: Follow your Heart to a Thriving Business, Life and World by Kat Byles is available now at Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble. R.R.P Paperback £14.99 and Digital £4.99. https://www.katbyles.com/
Karen Krizanovich is known in the film industry for her work on major studio feature films as a researcher.
As a journalist, she has been published in Wired, The Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian and Financial Times among others. Broadcasts include BBC1 Breakfast, BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, Woman’s Hour and BBC World Service.
For ten years the writer of Dear Karen, the quite popular comedy column in EMAP’s Sky Magazine, Karen’s career encompasses voiceover work (she was once the voice of a green M&M), TV presenting and books.
Karen has appeared on over 75 different TV shows, including CNN and Newsnight. Secretary of the London Film Critics’ Circle and a member of BAFTA, BIFA craft jury, BFDG and FIPRESCI for whom she was a Cannes jury member in 2023. Karen also conceived, researched and presented Whistledown Production/BBC Radio 4‘s groundbreaking original radio documentary entitled Svelte Sylvia and the Hollywood Trimsters, Tinsel Town’s first and arguably greatest fitness and beauty expert who was wiped from history before this documentary.
Penny Mallory was a homeless runaway teenager, against all the odds, she turned her life around and made the impossible possible to become a Champion Rally Driver. Her own life experience means she is well equipped to work inside and alongside many world class teams (including F1) to develop the qualities a high performing team needs to succeed.
Although her interest began with automotive performance, her passion quickly shifted to human performance and Mental Toughness. She became a TEDX speaker, delivering keynotes and workshops for organisations - including Google, Sky, Costa, Microsoft and Coca Cola as well as head teacher conferences - to help people to develop their confidence, commitment, focus and determination. Using her expertise she can advise on subjects such as stress, motivation, burnout, Imposter Syndrome, as well as how Mental Toughness can be used as a tool to help us all overcome life's challenges both in an education, business and personal setting. Penny’s book, 365 Ways to Develop Mental Toughness: A Day-By-Day Guide to Living A Happier And More Successful Life was published on 10th November 2022.
Natasha Devon MBE is a writer, presenter & activist. She tours schools, universities and events throughout the world, delivering talks as well as conducting research on mental health, body image, gender and equality. She campaigns both on and offline to make the world a fairer place.
Natasha is the founder of the Mental Health Media Charter, which scrutinises the way the media report on mental health. She works with a number of charities, is a Patron for No Panic, as well as an Ambassador for Glitch and the Reading Agency.
A Beginner’s Guide to Being Mental: An A-Z was published by Bluebird in 2018, and Yes You Can: Ace School Without Losing Your Mind was published by Macmillan Children's Books in April 2020.
Her debut YA novel, Toxic, was published by Uclan in July 2022.
Clicks: How To Be Your Best Self Online was published by Macmillan Children's Books in May 2023.
Babushka, a prequel to Toxic, will be published in August 2023.
Based in London, Samantha Lourie is the face behind Instagram page @butterfliesandpebbles, with 100k followers. She has been running journaling workshops and online self-love/self-healing courses since 2016, developing an approach that aims to make the difficult areas of life more approachable and facilitate emotional integration and self-healing
Samantha Lourie has an English degree from King’s London and a teaching and film industry background. She describes herself as a 'free-spirit poet/writer mama'. She has been running journaling workshops and online self-love/self-healing courses since 2016, developing an approach that seeks to make the difficult areas of life more approachable. She is not a professional therapist, but she is an advocate who is curious about the human condition and she uses her work to facilitate emotional integration and self- healing. She lives in London with her husband and three daughters.
A therapeutic way of approaching the difficulties in our lives, working through (the messy) aspects to discover a new sense of self and freedom, THE POWER OF MESS interrogates mess itself - why we are taught to hate it, whether it's an untidy bedroom, a chaotic divorce, or a change in career, but how important and unavoidable it really is - and offers a way of working through the messy aspects of life without it becoming a negative aspect of life. Lourie encourages us to own our mess, and see life as a journey in which we pick up the pieces along the way and make something from them. Although loss, hurt and mess are still there, our perception of them has changed.
thepowerofmess #powerofmess #butterfliesandpebbes
Anniki Sommerville is podcaster and freelancer writer. Her podcast'How To Be A Boss At Ageing' was released in June 2020. In eachepisode she tackles a different aspect of growing older, withinterviewees such as Cariad Lloyd and Sali Hughes.
She has her own monthly radio show on Soho Radio and regularly speaks on panels on topics such as motherhood, the changing nature ofwork, relationships and ageing. She has written for the Telegraphand the I and used to edit the successful parenting blog SelfishMother.
Her instagram stories are a brilliant take on parenting and midlife, and in this episode Anniki shares the highs and lows of her career, talks about why freelancing isn't for everyone and advocates for a good cry in the work loos.
There's a little bit of swearing at the end!
Find Anniki at https://www.annikisommerville.com/
And follow her on Instagram @annikisommerville
thebigquit #freelancing #selfemployed #annikisommerville
A freelance adventurer?! Yes, you heard that right!
You may recognise Levison Wood from his documentaries about walking such as Walking the Nile. He's supporting charity Walking with the Wounded and spoke to Freelance Feels about his own freelance work, the mental health benefits of walking and the parallels between freelancing and exploring.
Walking With The Wounded
Walking With The Wounded ‘WWTW’ deliver employment, mental health, care coordination and volunteering programmes in collaboration with the NHS to get those who served, and their families, whether mentally, socially or physically wounded, back on their feet and making a positive contribution once more. Why? Because those who served, deserve.
Walking Home For Christmas
This winter, thousands of people will be Walking Home For Christmas in support of armed forces veterans across the country.
The campaign, which runs from 9 to 20 December, is Walking With The Wounded’s annual nationwide fundraising walking challenge to support its work across mental health, employment, volunteering and care coordination.
An estimated 5 million veterans live in the UK. While most of the 15,000+ personnel who leave the forces each year have a successful transition to civilian life, a small but significant minority do not. Walking With The Wounded supports those who served, and their families, to thrive.
There are three key aspects to this year’s Walking Home For Christmas campaign:
-
WalkWithAndy Andy, a former military police officer, will be walking 350 kilometres from the Cenotaph in London to Manchester Cenotaph. He aims to complete this extraordinary challenge in just five days, leaving London on 5 December and arriving in Manchester on 9 December.
- Organised regional walks New for 2022, Walking With The Wounded has organised regional walks in London, Manchester, and Newcastle on the 9 December. Participants can raise vital funds – and their heart rate – at one of these fun large-scale events. Everyone is welcome.
- Walk your own way Participants can complete their own fundraising walk - of any distance and at a location of their choosing - between 9 and 20 December. Some participants opt to walk their children home from school, others walk between offices with colleagues, and there are those who undertake a walk in memory of someone special or between locations that mean something to them.
www.walkinghomeforchristmas.com
Research
- Research from the charity finds that fewer than 1 in 3 (29%) of the UK adult population walk every day in winter – and astonishingly 10% never go for a walk. But when it comes to improving health and wellbeing, 68% would consider trying to go on a regular walk - compared to 1 in 10 (11%) interested in group fitness classes and 1 in 5 (22%) who would think about joining a gym.
walkingwiththewounded #walkingformentalhealth #freelancing #selfemployed #levisonwood #levwood #walkingthenile #walkinghomeforchristmas
Gardening and freelancing is an analogy I've loved for a long time, and we (ahem) dig deep into it in this episiode!
Ellen Mary is a gardener, author, broadcaster, co-host of the plant based podcast and radio show host, promoting the wellbeing benefits of gardening, plants and the natural world. She writes a regular column in Grow Your Own Magazine and her first book The Joy of Gardening; the every day zen of mowing the lawn, was released in May 2021. Her second book How to Grow a Garden was release in July 2022. She also has horticulture training, many years of gardening experience, social and therapeutic horticulture, cognitive behavior therapy and wellness coaching.
Find her at ellenmarygardening.co.uk
gardening #wellbeing #wellbeingcoach #gardeningexpert #freelancing #freelancelife #mentalhealth #freelancewellbeing #gardenlife #gardenersworld #gardenfreelancers #freelancegardener #freelancegardening
Louise Shanahan is a freelance health copywriter who specialises in white papers, web copy, and long-form content, to help medical and biotech organisations spread the word about their latest breakthroughs.
She’s also the host of 15 Minute Freelancer, a podcast and newsletter for ambitious B2B and creative freelancers who want to build a business that works for them (and not the other way round!).
We talk about how and why she set up her podcast, dream guests, the realities of podcasting (including scheduling, getting started and choosing your topic/niche), and advice for people who are freelance and not feeling the 'happy feels'.
Find Louise at www.thecopyprescription.com
The podcast is at www.15minutefreelancer.com
Catherine Riley lives in London and is a writer and director of the literary festival Primadonna. Described as ‘books, with a little bit of rock ’n’ roll’, Primadonna showcases established and emerging voices that aren’t heard enough in the mainstream. They have previously published two works of non-fiction. IS THIS LOVE? is her first novel.
Primadonna Festival runs from July 29th - get your tickets at www.primadonnafestival.com and follow them @primadonnafest
Find Catherine at www.catherineriley.co.uk
The Primadonnas are Sabeena Akhtar, Joanna Baker, Amie Corry, Jane Dyball, Catherine Mayer, Kit de Waal, Shona Abhyankar, Jude Kelly, Lisa Milton, Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, Sonia Purnell, Monisha Rajesh, Catherine Riley, Athena Stevens, Cathryn Summerhayes, Sandi Toksvig and Sioned Wiliam. These 17 women got together at the start of 2019 with the aim of establishing a weekend of writing and ideas that gave prominence to work by women and spotlighted authors from the margins.
The first Primadonna festival was held in the summer of 2019, and featured names including Bernardine Evaristo, Elif Shafak, Luke Jennings, Diana Evans, Katy Brand, Sinead Gleeson, Louise Doughty and Konnie Huq.
The Primadonna Podcast (The World as it Should Be) is available on Spotify, Acast, Apple and all good streaming platforms.
Get ready for some inspiring chat and a big dose of positive energy in this episode with Faye Dicker, AKA Freelance Mum.
Faye is a Broadcaster, Voiceover and founder of the award-winning network Freelance Mum.
Faye set up Freelance Mum in 2013, when she struggled to find a network for fellow mums in business. If it didn’t exist then she’d just have to create one!
Freelance Mum was established and successfully run in Bristol for 7 years, before pivoting during lockdown to launch hubs across the country.
Faye has been named Top 100 Most Influential Women in The West for two consecutive years, awarded Freelance Ambassador of the Year Award and Covid-19 Success Story, for her work with Freelance Mum.
When she’s not busy running her businesses (or on the school run!) Faye can often be found swimming in her local lido and Clevedon Marine Lake.
Find Faye at freelancemum.co.uk
Follow on instagram: @freelancemum01
Andrea Wildt and Samantha Anderl are the co-founders of Harlow, an all-in-one freelance tool and community to help solopreneurs manage their business and reduce stress. As former marketing execs and freelancers themselves, they built Harlow because they value balance and autonomy and want to help others find it.
Remote working became the norm during the pandemic - but founders of Harlow, Samantha and Andrea, take that to a whole new level as they explain how they began - and run - a business from two different US states!
In this episode the business partners explain what led them to found Harlow, what it offers freelancers, their best working practices and how they fit self-care into their working days.
Find, follow and join Harlow...
Website: meetharlow.com
Twitter: @MeetHarlow
Instagram: @meetharlow
Freelancing For Journalists was founded by Emma Wilkinson and Lily Canter, and is now an online community, with workshops, webinars and more, as well as an award-winning podcast!
If you're starting out on your writing career, their advice is invaluable.
We talk about the 'pitching feels' as well as how they navigate their own 'freelance' with running FFJ - and actual running. All the links to their platform are below!
freelancingforjournalists.com
Listen to the FFJ award-winning podcast here Subscribe to their free newsletter Order the book Freelancing for Journalists Check out their Quick Guides Sign up to their online course or catch one of their webinars Join the Freelancing For Journalists Facebook community Twitter: @freelancingfor Follow on Instagram
TW: Trauma, addiction
For episode two of season 7 we dive into trauma therapy with Lucinda Gordon-Lennox.
Lucinda Gordon-Lennox, MSc, MBACP, is an accredited psychotherapist, writer and lecturer. She is a Consultant at The Recovery Centre, Belgravia and has a private practice.
She also lectures on trauma at the IESE Business School in Barcelona, helping students to recognise when and why they are triggered, and how to step back into their adult selves so that they can thrive. She lives in London with her two children.
www.lucindagordonlennox.co.uk
www.nobodyisbroken.com
Welcome back to the Freelance Feels podcast! Season 7 kicks off with Sian Meades-Williams, author of The Pyjama Myth and founder of the hugely popular Freelance Writing Jobs newsletter.
We chat about mental health, why Sian doesn't like the phrase 'side-hustle' and freelance interiors (watch out for the cuckoo clock!)
Sian Meades-Williams is an award-winning freelance writer and editor, with over 15 years' experience in writing emails and chasing invoices. She's creator of the media industry newsletter Freelance Writing Jobs, and co-editor of the lifestyle newsletter Tigers Are Better Looking. Her book, The Pyjama Myth: the Freelance Writer's Survival Guide, is out now.
Christmas spoilers! Don't listen with children! Time to talk letters to Santa... Louise is Head Elf at A Magical Letter and PA to Father Christmas. She helps the big man to write uniquely personalised, truly magical letters to children. Moonlighting as a VA for the rest of the year, she is also a Virtual Assistant at The Perfect Assistant. Louise loves nothing more than making people happy, whether that's making children's eyes light up that the big man took the time to write to them and knows so much about them or helping small business owners get the jobs that they hate crossed off their never ending list. Louise lives in Winchester with her husband, two children and cat Leela. She is addicted to cake, staring at her phone unsociably and listening to podcasts. Last day for letter orders is Monday December 13th!
www.amagicalletter.com Instagram - @amagicalletter Facebook - @amagicalletter
Festive warning: Christmas-themed spoilers! Probably best not to listen in front of the children
It's the first of this year's Christmas Specials!
Being a parent and self-employed is hard enough, but when you add in the festive period, Christmas holidays and clients who can feel a bit like having an extra child (or two) then it can be stressful.
So I called on Steve Folland and Frankie Tortora, who run the award-winning Doing it For the Kids podcast, to chat about all of the above as well as much more. Jam-packed with honest advice, giggles and info on the Being Freelance Christmas Quiz, it's the perfect way to start your December!
About Steve and Frankie:
Frankie is a freelance graphic designer, mum of two and founder of Doing It For The Kids — a community by and for freelance parents. Through the DIFTK Facebook community, blog, face-to-face meetups and podcast, Frankie is proving that all sorts of good stuff can occur when self-employed parents are given the opportunity to connect.
Steve is a freelance video/podcast producer, running his business whilst also looking after his two kids. His other babies are the long running Being Freelance podcast where Steve chats to freelancers from around the world about their story. And co-hosting the award-winning Doing It For The Kids podcast - a fun Q&A for those parents freelancing 'with kids in the mix'.
Steve spends a lot of time hanging out in his Being Freelance Community where he brings together self-employed creatives for support, fun and biscuits. He’s also brought together his own experience and that of 250+ guests to help new freelancers with the course “How to get started being freelance”.
Links
Doing it for the kids: doingitforthekids.net
Being Freelance: beingfreelance.com
Course: https://school.beingfreelance.com/p/how-to-get-started-being-freelance
Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beingfreelance
** Photo of Steve and Frankie by Sian Parker @sianshoots
Helen Hill is a self-employed Digital Learning and Content Designer at Unlikely Genius Ltd. Having always been an eternal student, she fell into the eLearning industry by accident and found her place in the world – creating enjoyable learning for others. She works as a freelancer/contractor for clients in the UK and Europe, with a focus on physical and mental health, medicine, personal development, technology, and the environment.
Helen keeps getting herself shortlisted for awards such as Digital Women ‘Freelancer of the Year’, ‘Digital Woman of the Year’, and IPSE ‘Outstanding Freelancer’. She also appears on the Digital Women ‘Top 40 Digital Women to Watch list’ and won the ‘2020 Article of the Year’ award for her series of contributions to the industry journal Communicator.
During her squiggly career she ran her design business as a side hobby for 10 years, before launching herself into full-time self-employment in 2018. She has never looked back. Helen built a thriving business in less than two years, saving her sanity and health in the process. Her new book Falling Off The Ladder: Revamp your mindset and thrive in self-employment tells the story of that leap, how she (and 9 other contributors) did it and provides you with the tools to do it too.
Helen is also a co-founder of Be The Future - a project aimed at helping guardians to raise the eco-leaders of the future, through positivity, storytelling and humour. No doom and gloom here!
Helen lives in semi-rural West Yorkshire with the long-suffering Graham, and two extremely fluffy, diva rabbits Tiffin and Strudel.
Social links: Unlikelygenius.com and fallingofftheladder.com LinkedIn
Twitter: @unlikelygenius Instagram
To mark the week of the COP26 conference, I spoke to Tessa Clarke, founder of food sharing app OLIO. We talk about running a company with sustainability in mind, how much food we waste, sharing household items and the remote working world. There's so much to think about, from the food we chuck away to the things we buy such as fancy dress or seasonal 'tat'...
Tessa says:
The ‘lightbulb’ moment came on 17th December 2014 – I remember it well. I was packing up our apartment in Switzerland, getting ready to move back to the UK. Despite our best efforts to eat everything we had, we were still left with 6 sweet potatoes, a whole white cabbage and some pots of yogurt. The removal men told me that all the food had to be thrown away, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do this. And so – much to their frustration as we still had a lot to pack up – I got my new-born baby and toddler dressed and set off armed with this food to find someone to give it to. Unfortunately, the lady who I had hoped to give it to wasn’t in her usual spot outside the supermarket and I got quite upset. I thought about knocking on my neighbours’ doors to see if they wanted it, but the problem was I didn’t know if they would be in; and even if they were in, I didn’t really know them and it might be a bit awkward if they didn’t want what I was offering. Feeling thoroughly defeated I thought to myself – “This is absolutely crazy…. this food is delicious. Why isn’t there an app where I can share it with someone nearby who wants it?” And so the idea for OLIO was born…
I told some friends & family about my idea of a food sharing app, and they all thought I was crazy. But in February 2015 when I told Saasha, her eyes immediately lit up and we just knew that we had to work together to bring this app to life!
Find out more at olioex.com
Follow on Instagram @olio.app
T/W: Therapy, abuse, sexual assault
Boo Paterson joins me from her home in New York to talk about therapy, art, running away from the circus, battling poverty as a freelancer and joining Tik Tok...
An award-winning artist, writer, and creative director, Boo Paterson is most commonly known for her strong conceptual and political artwork. She was declared a winner in the American Illustration Awards 2021 and has been shortlisted in the World Illustration Awards twice.
Boo's fine art has been exhibited at the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy and she has two self-illustrated books out worldwide - First Art Kit and Papercut This Book - as well as an e-book called The Greatest Speakeasies in New York City. A journalist and editor for many years, she’s a regular cultural commentator on the BBC. The broadcaster has even produced a film about her fine art and a radio programme on her unconventional life and work. Extensive press coverage on Boo has appeared across the world, including The Guardian, The Week, The Sunday Times, and television and radio.
Paterson - who lives in New York - is also an experienced creative director, forging ambitious, spectacular concepts for festivals, circuses, theatres, and advertising. Her Art Nurse art/therapy subscription boxes are to be launched later this year.
Find out more at www.boopaterson.com
Instagram: @officialboopaterson
TikTok: BooPaterson Art Nurse
Being an entrepreneur is one thing - but what about when your husband or wife is, too? And you work together on projects including writing books? I find out in this episode, talking to Bianca Miller-Cole and Byron Cole. You might recognise Bianca's name - she was on the Apprentice in 2014 - we talk about how they navigated that experience as a couple, including the post-series experience and impact on mental health, as well as balancing work, life and marriage and... yacht networking!
Bianca Miller-Cole is an award-winning entrepreneur, global keynote speaker and ‘Top 10 Powerful Leader’ on Linkedin, using her experience to assist budding entrepreneurs through her platform and podcast, Self-Made. She started her personal branding company, The Be Group, in 2012 and works with clients including HSBC, AMEX, Google and King’s College London. In 2014 she founded a ground-breaking hosiery company, which went on to be the first to offer and inclusive range of colours on the high street. Byron Cole is an entrepreneur, public speak, investor, philanthropist and mentor to entrepreneurs and business students. He has been involved in 12 business startups as a director, investor or shareholder and is currently a consultant to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). He co-authored Self-Made with Bianca and is co-host of their podcast of the same name.
Follow the links to find out more and buy the book!
Self Made
biancamiller.uk
byroncole.uk
Sophie Cross and Ange Lyons work together to produce Freelancer Magazine. They chat about the moment Sophie had the idea, how that came together, working in their own freelance jobs and producing the mag, freelance friendships and much more.
Sophie Cross, a freelance marketer and writer at Thoughtfully.co.uk, came up with the idea of a quarterly business and lifestyle, square and glossy, print-first mag for freelancers at the beginning of 2021. She launched Freelancer Magazine via a Kickstarter campaign in February which hit 150% of its goal and sold 1000 copies of the magazine before the magazine even existed. It now has a rapidly growing community of B2B and creative freelancers and readers in 20 countries.
Angela Lyons is a freelance graphic designer who has been designing for over 20 years, and freelance for the past ten. She specialises in print-based designs but does digital, too, with clients varying from start-ups to established companies.
She lives in London and I was born within the sound of Bow Bells! "My heritage is West Indian both parents are St Lucian. I'm married and have 2 children who are now in secondary school. Oh and I have my 3rd child... my cat CoCo," she says. Find Freelancer Magazine, Sophie and Ange via these links:
Freelancer Magazine
Thoughtfully
Twitter @FullyThoughtOut
@freelancermag on Insta
@ange_lyons
Ange also mentions a charity she works with, find out more at storiesandsupper.co.uk
Time to talk social media and ALL the feels it gives us! Milla Richardson runs Pink Storm Social and is full of amazing advice on how to enjoy and use social media as a freelancer, from finding the right platform to putting yourself (and your face) out there...
Like me, she's a self-confessed lover of Instagram and is all about helping businesses and brands build an engaged following on Instagram to promote their services and products.
Find her at https://www.pinkstormsocial.co.uk/
And follow on Instagram @pinkstormsocial
Do you find comfort and support in freelance communities?
It's time to talk about the why and how of founding one, as well as what you can gain from taking part - and how to build up your confidence, too. Matthew shares his thoughts on mental health as a freelancer, being lonely even when you're in a co-working space and advice for anyone thinking of setting up their own freelance community.
Matthew Knight is an award winning independent creative strategist and innovator who helps businesses figure out what to do next. His recent clients include LEGO, P&G, Klarna, adidas and Accenture. He's also Chief Freelance Officer at Leapers: a project supporting the mental health of the self-employed. He lives with his two daughters in West London.
Find him at www.thinkplaymake.co or linkedin.com/in/thinkplaymake
Join Leapers for free at www.leapers.co
Jack Williams is the founder of UnderPinned and a seasoned creative, editor, and writer with experience working with brands such as HarperCollins, 4th Estate, The Week, Intern Mag, and Screen Shot Mag; through his role as COO at UnderPinned, he has pushed for freelance rights and education while working with the government to improve rights for the self-employed. Jack spends his weekends combing London's bookshops for second-hand deals and sleeping in. We talk about branding, choosing a business name, building a community and campaigning for freelance rights, as well as loads of advice, as always, for freelancers and their mental health. Find out more at underpinned.com
There's new music and we've ditched the biscuits - too noisy!
Welcome to Freelance Feels: Conversations about self-employed life. This podcast is for anyone who is self-employed, freelance, an entrepreneur, small business owner or thinking of making the leap.
Each episode is an informal chat about freelance life, with advice, experience and tales from the 'freelance front line'.
Find out more at @freelance_feels on Instagram and www.freelancefeels.com
To celebrate the Big Feastival 2021, I had the honour of talking to Ralph Rolle, freelance drummer and founder of the Soul Snacks Cookie Company. Ralph will be at the feastival playing with Nile Rogers and CHIC as well as demonstrating his baking skills!
We chat about money as a driver for success, seeing a project through to completion, passion for what you do, hanging up on the New York Times (oops!) and the joys of playing and watching live music.
Ralph's CV includes playing with Bono, Dolly Parton, Sting, Biggie Smalls, John Legend and of course, Nile Rogers and CHIC.
You can find out more about him and his work at https://www.ralphrolle.com/
Follow Ralph on Instagram @drumrolle
For Cookies, head to https://eatsoulsnacks.com/
The Big Feastival runs from August 27 to 29 at Alex James' farm, Kingham
@thebigfeastival
Ruth Kudzi is a MCC accredited and award-winning coach, coach trainer, business mentor, speaker and best-selling author. She is the CEO of two successful companies: A coaching and mentoring business helping entrepreneurs build and develop their businesses and a coach training school which helps people to train as certified coaches and develop their coaching skills. She combines her background in sales and school leadership and education with over 25 years of study of Psychology and Neuroscience including MA in Psychology & Education, BA in Psychology & Management, PGCERT in Coaching (Psychology), PGCE in Business Education and numerous coaching qualifications including diplomas in Neuroscience,Positive Psychology, NLP, Performance Coaching and Business Coaching. She is a DISC L3 accredited trainer, a Spiral Energy Coach and is working towards her NLP Master Practitioner. Her coaching business is well regarded and successful and she has been featured in The Guardian, Vogue, Psychologies, Good Housekeeping, ITV, Women&Home Times Radio, spoken at NatWest, UCL, Allbright and General Assembly. She is passionate about evidence-based approaches to coaching and personal development and helping people integrate their learning so they can live purposeful lives and run successful businesses.
Find out more at https://ruthkudzi.com/
Chef, author, pub owner, festival organiser... Tom Kerridge has a lot of strings to his self-employed bow. In this episode, recorded in the launch week of his new book 'Tom Kerridge's Outdoor Cooking' we talk about the stresses of chef life, finding balance with exercise, being a Dad to his son Acey, and how cooking helps our mental health.
Tom Kerridge worked as a chef in restaurants across Britain before deciding to set out on his own and take over a rundown pub in the quiet Buckinghamshire town of Marlow. He opened The Hand & Flowers with his wife Beth in 2005, and it went on to become the first (and only) pub in the world to be awarded two Michelin stars. Near to the pub they also have The Shed, a private dining room by The Hand and Flowers team. In 2014 he opened The Coach, his second pub in Marlow, which within its first year of trading received three AA Rosettes, was voted third best pub in Britain by the Top 50 Gastropub Awards, and was awarded a Michelin star in 2017. In September 2017 Tom opened The Butcher’s Tap in Marlow which is a fully operational butchers and pub under one roof. In October 2018, Tom opened Kerridge’s Bar & Grill, his first restaurant in the capital at Corinthia London, and this was followed by The Bull & Bear, in Stock Exchange Hotel, Manchester, which opened in November 2019.
As well as hosting various BBC television series, most recently Lose Weight & Get Fit, Tom has been at the helm of the BBC’s Bake Off: Crème de la Crème and Food and Drink, and has also hosted Saturday Kitchen and Spring Kitchen. His previous bestselling books include Proper Pub Food, Tom Kerridge’s Best Ever Dishes, Tom’s Table, Tom Kerridge’s Dopamine Diet, Lose Weight for Good, Fresh Start, Lose Weight & Get Fit and The Hand and Flowers Cookbook.
Tom Kerridge's Outdoor Cooking, £22, is out now (launched on May 27), published by Bloomsbury. Photography by Cristian Barnett.
Find Tom on Instagram @cheftomkerridge
Twitter: @ChefTomKerridge
Find out more about his businesses and books at tomkerridge.com
Helen Jane Campbell works as a life and business coach for ambitious and creative entrepreneurs. Clients seek her help to bring more joy, energy and abundance into their lives, to create space and reconnect with their self-worth and creative freedom. Prior to becoming a coach, Helen spent two decades of her career in PR and comms strategy, with a focus on building and leading effective teams and working directly with decision-makers and CEOs. She lives in the famous book town of Hay-on-Wye on the Welsh border and enjoys working with artistic clients around the world, bringing her authenticity and energy to all she does. As well as writing and coaching, she also enjoys being in nature, festivals, food, music and art. Helen is the author of Founders, Freelancers & Rebels: How to Thrive as an Independent Creative https://www.businessexpertpress.com/books/founders-freelancers-rebels-how-to-thrive-as-an-independent-creative/
You can claim 20% off if you order the book via Eurospan and use the code CAMPBELL20 https://www.eurospanbookstore.com/founders-freelancers-rebels.html Twitter: https://twitter.com/CoachingByHelen Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachingbyhelen/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachingbyhelen/ To join Helen's free workshops and free events, head over to her Facebook Group: Founders, Freelancers & Rebels
It's another double interviewee episode! And two more sisters who went into business together. We talk productivity, 'tech hygiene' and what it's like being business partners with a sibling.
Well & Truly are specialists in work productivity and wellness brought to you by sisters Kathryn & Sarah Phillips. Launched in 2019, but 7-years in the making, Well & Truly is a company inspired by their own health setbacks and family grief.
Both sisters have trained and worked with some of the world’s leading businesses which include Hermes to Jamie Oliver Group, with experience of working in Paris to New York to London. Today Well & Truly helps ethical organisations all over the world from Zoopla to Gravis offering workshops to one-off training sessions to transform team productivity and wellbeing in the workplace. Based in London - Well & Truly are rapidly becoming known as the leading experts in adaptability and resilience in the workplace. This year Well & Truly has plans to not only grow the number of companies they can support but also grow their visibility and credibility in the media.
Find them at https://www.wellandtrulyworkshops.co.uk/
Time to talk self-sabotage! Lucy Orton is a certified positive psychology coach, podcaster and expert on self-sabotage. Her popular weekly podcast 'Self-Sabotage To Success' is in the top 5% of podcasts globally and has reached no.7 in the UK Apple Entrepreneurship charts. We talk about her challenges as a freelancer, how we can try and manage self-sabotage and podcasting. Lucy empowers female, purpose-led entrepreneurs to step away from mindset gremlins and a critical inner voice and into their rightful space in the world. Lucy is passionate about championing women so they are able to completely shift how they see themselves, creating huge and lasting impact for themselves and others. You can find out more at https://www.lucyorton.com/
Two words really stuck with me from this chat: ‘Emotional Tax’ – the feels of dealing with all the ‘things’, especially finances, as a freelancer.
It’s one of the many brilliant insights from Anna Codrea-Rado, who joins me to talk about freelancing, her new book ‘You’re the Business: How to build a successful career when you strike out alone’ and her ways of managing the challenges of freelancing on our mental health.
Anna Codrea-Rado is a journalist, podcaster and campaigner. She writes about business, culture and technology with a particular focus on working life, and has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Guardian, BBC, Wired, the Paris Review, and New York Magazine.
Anna launched the #FairPayForFreelancers campaign in 2019. The campaign calls upon the media to pay its freelancers fairer, better and faster.
Alongside the writer Tiffany Philippou, Anna co-hosts the hit weekly podcast Is This Working.
Twitter: @annacod | Instagram: @annacod | Website: annacodrearado.com
Time to talk marketing! I chat to marketing consultant Shona Chambers who is also founder of The Self Employed Club. She talks about making the leap from redundancy to freelancing, putting yourself out there in the self-employed world.
We talk about real-life networking vs online networking with new connections (virtual coffee, anyone?), with lots of advice on how to go about it, and why Shona believes we need to connect with other humans especially when we live and work alone.
From the idea of competition as a freelancer and focusing on your own work to comparing on social media and ‘failing’ on Instagram, she shares her insight and experience. Oh, and I learn about using Pinterest for business, too!
Shona Chambers is a freelance marketing consultant with a career spanning over 20 years, working with both large and small companies. Shona has also created her own businesses, including a networking group for the self employed and freelance community, Self Employed Club.
Find Shona and get in touch with her about work collaborations at www.shonachambersmarketing.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/SEmployedClub/
@selfemployedclub
This episode I speak to Steve Keith, AKA The Branding Man, all about his journey from teaching to self-employment, and his passion for helping young people. We chat about the impact of lockdown on work, the feels of coming out of lockdown as a self-employed person, the nerves we might be feeling about socialising and networking, as well as dealing with anxiety and moving to a new city when you’re freelance and finding time for new friendships as well as work connections.
Steve is an employer brand consultant on a mission to help more young people, regardless of their background, to access the world of work by supporting employers in creating memorable brand experiences that both recognise and celebrate difference. He hosts the My Career Story podcast, a weekly conversation during which he learns more about the inspirational career stories behind the guests featured. As a cisgender gay man he is an advocate of the LGBTQ+ community and recently launched The Queer Student Awards. Find out more about his work at thebrandingman.co.uk and follow him on Instagram @thebrandingman
To mark World Bipolar Day, I spoke to Sarah Owen, co-author of 'Bipolar Disorder - The Ultimate Guide'. Lots of advice here for those who wish to better understand Bipolar Disorder as well as those who manage it alongside freelance life.
Sarah started at Cosmopolitan in 1994 (health & beauty intern/assistant/editor) for three years before going freelance. Over three decades she has written health features for a wide range of publications (including The Sunday Times, The Express, The Daily Mail, Marie Claire and Psychologies) and created lots of online content (for, among others, Boots, Aviva, Asthma UK and British Heart Foundation).With her cousin Amanda Saunders, she co-wrote 'Bipolar Disorder - The Ultimate Guide' in 2008 (published by Oneworld Publications) and fully updated it in 2020). Four generations of their family have/had bipolar - their shared grandfather, Sarah's dad, Amanda's mum, Amanda (who has cyclothymia, a milder form of bipolar), Sarah's sister and Sarah's son. The book was recently featured in the no1 spot on Bipolar UK's 'Top 10 good books about bipolar'. Sarah and Amanda are panellists at Bipolar UK's online conference on World Bipolar Day (30 March).
Time to talk pitching! Heidi and Hazel run Museflash, which runs pitching courses and workshops as well as training and bespoke mentoring and now virtual retreats! Is there no end to their talents? They're both full-time freelance journalists, too.
I've taken part in Museflash webinars and pitching course, and love the community they've created. So for this second 'double guest' episode I ask them all about setting up a company with a friend, pitching (just don't call your pitches your 'babies'!) and staying balanced when you're also making a living from pitching ideas.
Find out all about Museflash at museflash.academy, or follow them on instagram @museflashmedia
Fiona Thomas is an author and freelance writer with work published in iPaper, Grazia, Happiful Magazine and Huffington Post. Her most recent book Out of Office: Ditch the 9-5 and Be Your Own Boss is a guide to freelancing.
We dig deep into the feels of using social media, running a business online, following and muting, making time for your mental health, the feels of finances and how being in control of your rates can help your mental health as well as exercising on Instagram...
As always there are loads of practical tips from personal experience to help you on your own freelance journey.
Talking of which, find her on Instagram @fionalikestoblog
Twitter: @fionalikes
And her website is https://fionalikestoblog.com/
Buy the book at https://amzn.to/3cR14Qa
And listen to her podcast here: https://fionalikestoblog.com/out-of-office-podcast/
Co-founder of Audrey Online, Marina was not only launch editor of Sugar magazine, she was also editor of More! magazine, so I was delighted when she agreed to speak to me about her journey from editor's office to freelancing and co-founding Audrey Online.
Audrey is a members club and community for women who consider themselves 'Generation Restart' - "an online magazine full of inspiration and advice, plus a community for women who want to explore hopes and dreams, share tips and resources and ‘cheerlead’ each other along the way."
Marina co-founded Audrey with strategic business consultant Faye Watts. Find out more at Audreyonline.co.uk
You can read Marina's full career journey at http://marinagask.com/a-brief-history/ (Or listen to the podcast!).
Season 5 begins with a chat all about managing your alone time when you're self employed with Francesca Specter, founder of the 'Alonement' movement with blog, podcast and online community.
As always there are lots of practical tips in the episode, and Francesca talks about how she created the concept of Alonement, even trademarking it.
Francesca Specter is a London-based journalist and founder of the platform and podcast, Alonement. Prior to launching Alonement in 2019, Francesca was the deputy editor of Yahoo! Lifestyle. She has formerly worked as a reporter at the Daily Express, and her work has appeared in the Guardian, the Telegraph and Grazia. She holds an M.A. degree in Magazine Journalism from City University, London, and she has been nominated for several awards for her work, including the PPA Digital Rising Star award. Alonement is Francesca’s first book.
Find the book, pod and social links at https://www.alonement.com/
It's the first two-interviewee episode! I speak to sisters and business partners Alice and Madeleine Weightman, who founded online freelance platform for marketers, The Work Crowd in 2016.
They talk about working together as siblings, the family 'exercise' what's App group chat, and have loads of advice for anyone starting out in the freelance world as well as how they make time for self-care as business women.
Find the work crowd at www.theworkcrowd.com
It’s another bonus episode! For #Veganuary I spoke to Lucy Watson (yes, THE Lucy Watson!) all about her vegan lifestyle and being a businesswoman in the spotlight. Lucy – who you may well know from Made in Chelsea – runs several businesses, including a Vegan food company, Feed Me Vegan, and has a new book, Awakenings: A guide to living a vegan lifestyle. She explains how she came to be self-employed, why she loves it, and how a vegan lifestyle helps her mental health. Is it harder to be an entrepreneur when the world - and media – are analysing your every move? Is it easier to be self-employed when you’re well known? She talks about the parallels between the vegan lifestyle journey and freelance journey and how things often change and we need to adapt to the changes self-employed life brings. Lucy started her vegan journey in 2015, having been pescatarian from the age of six. She is a PETA ambassador and animal rights campaigner. Lucy, who formerly featured in the BAFTA winning series, Made in Chelsea, is committed to animal activism. She encompasses this with everything she does including her two bestselling vegan cookbooks, Feed Me Vegan and Feed Me Vegan for All Occasions, as well as her vegan food range Feed Me Vegan. Lucy also runs an ethical & sustainable jewellery range, Creature Jewellery, founded in 2014. Find out more and buy the book via Amazon or all good online bookshops. Find Lucy's site at www.lucywatson.com and follow her @lucywatson
Sound baths, gongs and meditation - we're diving into a rather alternative freelance life this episode as I speak to Leo Cosendai, a meditation master and sound bath expert who runs Third Ear.
Leo has held over 2330 sound baths, and the app is a self funded, creative family affair led by Leo Cosendai (Sound Gong Bath) and his sister Julie Cosendai (Designer), with friends Charles Vila and Julien Rosamund.
Leo came to sound meditation after suffering with acute anxiety since childhood. Sound meditation helped heal his anxiety and panic attacks, he now helps thousands of people transform their own mental health via sound meditation.
He shares his daily routine, advice for dealing with self-judgement and how and why sound baths can help you in your daily freelance life. Find out more about Leo at https://www.leocosendai.com/ and the app is at https://thirdear.com/
It's a bonus episode! I speak to Millie Gooch, who founded The Sober Girl Society and now has a book out on Jan 14th 2020, The Sober Girl Society Handbook.
We discuss her journey to sobriety, how it affected and affects freelance life, and she shares lots of tips for those looking into mindful drinking and Dry January.
Blending memoir with practical survival tips, this empowering self-help book is The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober for the Gen Z and Millennial generations. Millie uses her own story to offer a supportive, arm- round-the-shoulders approach to show readers that sobriety can be fun and fulfilling.
Millie Gooch is the founder of The Sober Girls Society, a hugely popular Instagram community (currently 100k followers and growing) and one of the leading voices pioneering the sobriety movement here in the UK. High-profile followers include Sam Smith, Bryony Gordon, Zoe Ball and Jameela Jamil's iWeigh. As a journalist, she has written for a range of publications, and her campaigning work has been featured everywhere from ELLE and Stylist to the BBC and Evening Standard.
Find out more @sobergirlsociety "An empowering space for sober & sober curious women to make friends & celebrate being hangover-free" and www.sobergirlsociety.com
Rebecca Seal is a journalist and broadcaster - you might recognise her name from Channel 4's 'Sunday Brunch'. She's also written a brilliant new book called 'SOLO', all about working alone. She shares advice on how she manages the work from home juggle - including having a partner who also works from home - as well as why pot plants are the best thing you can get for your home office!
Find the book in all good bookshops and via her site (where you can also find out more about her work) https://www.rebeccaseal.co.uk/
Gemma Bray created The Organised Mum Method (TOMM) 13 years ago when her first baby was born. Overwhelmed as a new mother her anxiety manifested itself as over-cleaning and she soon found herself cleaning for hours each day. Determined to stop cleaning from taking over her life she sat at her kitchen table and developed a method that took only 30 mins each day, she freed herself from the never-ending to-do list in her head and created a method that gave her cleaning free weekends. You can find Gemma on Instagram (@the_organised_mum); Facebook (@theorganisedmumUK; and YouTube (The Organised Mum).
In this episode, Gemma delves into how that can help us as freelancers, as well as her own solutions for daily juggling of working life, parenting life and, well, a pandemic.
From fish and chip shops to influencer life, she opens up about freelance highs and lows, and how the washing machine can help you with your self-employed life.
Tom Chapman is a barber with a difference - he's founded The Lion's Barber Collective which supports men with their mental health. In this episode, he speaks openly about how he's worked to help other men open up about their emotional wellbeing, as well as his freelance journey through inspiration from self-employed parents to working in the hairdressing industry.
He talks about juggling all his commitments with being a dad, and reveals the key way he gets all his plans and ideas out of his head in the office (clue: it's not a spreadsheet or a notepad!).
Tom founded The Lions Barber Collective in 2015, becoming a charity late in 2017 after losing a friend to suicide in 2014. BarberTalk has been developed by Tom and former psychiatrist of the year and lead for suicide prevention in the SW, Dr Peter Aitken and trained well over 1500 hair pros globally in the last 18 months.
Their mission is to create non-clinical non-judgmental safe spaces where people feel comfortable to open up and talk about mental health, being able to signpost them to support and information. This is achieved through pop up barbershops in public spaces, public speaking, events and BarberTalk training.
Find out more and follow Tom at www.thelionsbarbercollective.com and @tomchapman_hair
Recorded during the UK's Lockdown#1, this episode I speak to Maddy Shine, who makes it her freelance business to help you get YOUR freelance business seen!
Maddy Shine is a coach who helps ambitious female entrepreneurs get more sales by increasing visibility.
Known as the SEO & Visibility Queen, she has helped hundreds of clients get to page one of Google, as she teaches no-fluff strategies that focus on business growth. In 2020 she launched the High Vis podcast, your biz bestie for visibility and has used lockdown to help thousands of entrepreneurs with her downloads, group courses and Visibiliyay members’ community.
She firmly believes that life is literally full of opportunity, and it’s up to us to find and get booked by those who want to work with us.
Specialising in the creative industries, Maddy has been featured on many industry stages, podcasts and events in the UK and around the world. Based in London, Maddy is easily spotted by her ever-changing hair and large and colourful earrings. Her love of naming inanimate objects (Gladys is her hair and Penelope is her drinks trolley) entertains people daily over on Instagram and Sandi Toksvig once called her a clever girl, a fact she cherishes daily.
You can follow her on Instagram here - @maddy.shine and check out more about her here - https://business-shine.co.uk/
Rachel Spencer is a freelance journalist writing for national newspapers and magazines in the UK, specialising in animals and the pet industry. In 2020 she launched a membership programme for pet business owners teaching them ways they can win media coverage and stand out online. Time to talk all things pet! And how to perform a freelance pivot... Rachel is the founder of award winning The Paw Post pet blog (https://www.thepawpost.co.uk/) and lives in Newcastle Upon Tyne with her rescue Patterdale Terrier Patch. We talk about her journey to freelance, performing a freelance pivot, launching a podcast as lockdown1 began in the UK, and how having a dog gives her better balance when it comes to wellbeing. Find her on social @rachelspenceruk
Welcome back to the podcast! It's Season 4 and we're kicking off with a fantastic episode, where I speak to Rob Law, founder of Trunki.
Rob speaks about his journey creating the product and brand, the rejection he experienced on Dragon's Den and how he also manages Cystic Fibrosis alongside his work and family life.
Rob's new book, 65 Roses and a Trunki: Defying the odds in life and business tells the extraordinary success story of entrepreneur Rob Law - designer and inventor of the Trunki, the award-winning children’s ride-on suitcase that’s sold millions of units worldwide. Born with cystic fibrosis (children often call the disease ‘65 Roses’), and told he could not expect to live into his twenties, he made a promise that he was going to defy the odds and live a long and successful life.
Find more about Trunki and Rob at www.roblaw.com and follow him on Instagram @trunkidaddy
For the final episode of season 3, I speak to 'freelance' vet (AKA locum vet) Nat Scroggie, all about her work before and during lockdown. She shares her challenges - including office politics and dealing with pet owners during lockdown - as well as how she manages to find a work/life balance.
Nat blogs at This Vet Runs (https://thisvetruns.com/) and also writes on mental health in the vet profession.
Find Nat at http://www.thisvet.co.uk/
This episode I talk to leadership coach Sue Belton. Sue swapped life in news broadcasting and documentary making for coaching. She talks about anxiety and depression, leading to voluntary redundancy and moving to the freelance life.
We talk about working through your relationship with money as a freelancer, and how a buffer buys you more than paying the bills. (She has advice on building a buffer, too!)
Talking about the work word of the moment – pivoting – as well as the dream of a portfolio career, we go into values, what they mean and how to try and define yours.
Sue’s book, change your life in 5, is out now - find out more and follow her via her website at www.suebelton.com
This episode I speak to Gavin Oattes, a motivational keynote speaker and author – he shares how he began his career as a primary school teacher, and now has four books to his name including his latest, ‘Life Will See You Now’.
We talk about loving freelance life and the wobbles that come, tempting us to get a so-called ‘normal’ job…. and how we as freelancers have a responsibility to take charge of our freelance happiness and goals – including how we set goals, and how that goal setting can affect what we do and how we feel in business.
There’s chat on the love/hate of social media and having competition as a freelancer, as well as dealing with anxiety.
Find Gavin at https://gavinoattes.com/
This episode was recorded in July 2020
This episode I speak to Hannah Read-Baldrey, co-founder of craft subscription service MakeBox+co.
Hannah speaks from the heart about her journey to setting up the company – a segue from freelance to company owner – a trigger warning here as we discuss baby loss.
Her co-founder is her husband, and we talk about running a business with your partner, crafting as a coping mechanism for loss and for wellbeing, as well as lots of tips for standing out as a business.
Hannah shares insight from her experience of running the business in lockdown, and how her children are the inspiration for her craft designs.
This was recorded in June 2020
Find Hannah at www.makebox.co/ and www.instagram.com/makebox.co/
Welcome to Freelance Feels, the podcast for humans who work for themselves.
This episode I speak to James Withey, founder of mental health project The Recovery Letters, and author of new book How to Tell Depression to Piss off.
He shares how he moved from working in addiction as a counsellor to writing, and how being a freelancer has actually helped with balancing mental health challenges.
James has amazing advice from personal experience in mental health services and his own journey for those of us who struggle with the highs and lows of freelance life, and he also talks about self-praise, celebrating the ‘little wins’ and why he likes to wear unusual socks.
This was recorded in June 2020
This episode I speak to luxury wedding planner Sarah Haywood, who also has her own TV show, The Wedding Fixer.
Sarah talks about the impact on the business since the pandemic – going from her best year ever to knowing she’ll trade at a loss.
Employing lots of freelancers is part of Sarah’s working world, and we talk about the wedding industry during and after the lockdown, managing client expectations and increased anxiety during the pandemic, as well as exploring the pros and cons of pivoting, and being careful not to move too far from your own core services and diversifying for the wrong reasons. Oh, and the reality of working on self care when you’re a busy freelancer!
This was recorded on the first of July 2020
Find Sarah at https://www.sarahhaywood.com/
This episode I speak to Sarah Townsend, a copywriter who has just published her book Survival Skills for Freelancers.
We delve into burnout, having 'lots of mini bosses' as well as outsourcing and, of course, looking after our mental health.
Find out why Sarah is a fan of the Ampersand, as well as her advice if you want to write a book, too.
Find Survival Skills for Freelancers on Amazon, Kindle, or via her website (Where you can also find out more about hiring her as a copywriter!)
https://www.sarahtownsendeditorial.co.uk/survival-skills-for-freelancers/
It's another bonus episode! To celebrate IPSE's National Freelancers Day 2020, I spoke to Jess Hayden from IPSE and sister website Freelance Corner.
We talk about how freelancing is like being a student, whether virtual networking and socialising could - and should - continue post-lockdown, and whether freelancers were prepared for the work from home life we now live.
Jess is also a freelance rugby writer, and offers tips for self care and protecting your mental health during lockdown, as well as revealing an unusual concept - virtual co-working.
Find IPSE at https://www.ipse.co.uk/ and Freelance Corner at https://freelancecorner.co.uk/news
Follow Jess @JessFreelance
It's also the first birthday of Freelance Feels - woo hoo!
Why not celebrate by rating and reviewing the podcast :)
This episode I speak to PR and fellow podcaster Helen Croydon. From beginning her career in accountancy, she went through roles as a journalist, author and PR, and now specialises in helping individuals get themselves out there in the press and raising their profile for her company Thought Leadership PR.
Helen talks about saying goodbye to one ‘freelance’ and embracing another, but using the skills from the first to help you go forward, as well as the benefits of trying out a few new things before you settle on your new ‘freelance’ or extra freelance ideas. Helen talks about why she set up a podcast what she’s learned from it and we chat about online networking, too.
This was recorded in May 2020.
Find Helen at https://www.helencroydon.com/ and her podcast at https://www.themediainsider.fm/
Welcome to season three of Freelance Feels, the podcast for humans who work for themselves. We kick things off with a chat with Tova Leigh, a content creator, comedian and who has recently published her book F*cked at 40.
Outspoken and hilarious on Instagram, Tova shares what it's like creating content during lockdown as well as juggling self-employed life alongside motherhood.
We explore life as a freelancer post-40, and why being assertive is a key part of freelance life.
Find Tova at https://tovaleigh.com/ and on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/tova_leigh/?hl=en
If you like the podcast, please do rate and review it!
I've added an explicit warning sticker as there's a little bit of swearing in this episode, but not much!
Welcome to Freelance Feels, the podcast for humans who work for themselves.
This is a bonus episode to mark Mental health awareness week 2020, which runs from May 18. The theme this year is kindness, and I was lucky enough to chat to Chris O’Sullivan from the Mental Health Foundation, which founded and runs the initiative. Kindness is on all our minds right now, during the coronavirus pandemic, and one of the week’s themes is to be kind to ourselves, too.
Chris talks about his own mental health challenges as well as those we face in freelance life and staff jobs – including the ‘lure’ of freelance work which often rears its head (I’m sure it’s tempted many of those listening, too)
We explore the concept of kindness for freelancers in particular, looking at the challenges we face and how kindness isn’t synonymous with doing too much for other people and burning out!
Find more about the week at mentalhealth.org.uk and you can get involved using the hashtag #KindnessMatters
It’s the final episode of season 2 and I chatted to Psychotherapist and author of The Phone Addiction Workbook, Hilda Burke, about our relationships with our smartphones and screens, especially during lockdown.
Hilda shares practical advice for anyone wanting to change their amount of phone use – now and in the future (yes, it includes turning your phone off before bed time!) – plus zoom fatigue and adapting to her business going completely online during coronavirus lockdown.
Hilda works with inmates at Wormwood Scrubs prison in London, and has written about a project with prisoners and rescue dogs which is a fantastic read: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/apr/19/pets-in-prison-the-rescue-dogs-teaching-californian-inmates-trust-and-responsibility
Find her other work and details of her business and the book at http://hildaburke.co.uk/
This episode I talk to Nicola Slawson, a journalist who also writes a weekly newsletter, The Single Supplement.
We talk about living alone, being single and being freelance all at the same time, the joy of writing a newsletter and what they might bring to your career.
Nicola shares about her work with Press Pad, an initiative that helps find accommodation for trainee journalists on internships.
This is a great chat for anyone who is considering a newsletter and wants inspiration! It might also inspire you to move out of London or a big city - as Nicola has recently done!
Find The Single Supplement at https://thesinglesupplement.substack.com/ It's also a Facebook community -https://www.facebook.com/groups/thesinglesupplement/
It's another bonus episode! I talk mental health and exercise with trainer Julia, who is running weekday online workouts during the coronavirus lockdown.
She shares her insight on why we should try exercise right now, how to get started and the positives of being out in the fresh air every day.
Julia worked in local radio and at the BBC before moving into personal training, which is now her main 'freelance' and she's got loads of positive advice on exercising.
Find Julia's workouts at https://www.facebook.com/juliabuckley.co.uk
Jennifer is the creative brains behind the Freelance Feels podcast logo! We first 'met' on instagram and then in person at IPSE's National Freelancers Day, and she chats to me about networking, reaching out to new clients using good old snail mail, as well as how she's coping during Coronavirus lockdown by cooking pizza from scratch and thanks to the company of her two dogs.
Jennifer is an illustrator and lettering artist and her work is vibrant and fun - she can even do you a pet portrait! Find her athttps://www.jenniferhines.design/ or on instagram @abctypography
This episode was recorded just before Easter 2020, with TV producer Adeel Amini.
Adeel went viral earlier in 2020 after he posted an article about his experiences with mental health and working as a freelancer, and he’s very honest about his feelings on freelancing and how much help freelancers get in the industry. You can read his piece here https://medium.com/@adeelamini/on-the-border-of-34-a5154326cd9
He’s aiming to change things with his platform The TV Mindset, and talks me through his journey through depression and anxiety to being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder as well as offering advice for anyone struggling with anxiety, whether that’s financial, professional or personal.
If you'd like to know more on the TV Mindset, head to https://www.facebook.com/groups/thetvmindset/
This episode, which was recorded in late March 2020, is with Alison Grade, author of new book The Freelance Bible.
We unpack the working from home feels – when you’re a freelancer, and if it’s new to you as someone who is normally office based, and how working from home is like the first day in a new job and takes time to adjust.
Talking about how to value yourself - not just what you charge but the value you bring to a customer, too – we look at how to maximise your down time if you are in an industry that’s gone into hibernation because of the coronavirus pandemic and finding balance right now.
Alison is running webinars and you can find out more via Eventbrite or her website at alisongrade.com
Shahroo Izadi who is a behavioural change specialist, author of The Last Diet and The Kindness Method and does a lot of public speaking at wellness events. We met at an event called What the Health and I was so pleased Shahroo had time to chat to me about everything from freelance exercise and eating habits to the concept of a 'have done' list.
You can find Shahroo at https://www.shahrooizadi.co.uk/ and on Instagram @shahroo_izadi
Note: This was recorded pre government advice to stay at home and socially isolate!
I spoke to Ed Goodman for a special bonus episode during the coronavirus pandemic to discuss his platform Freelance Heroes, as well as finding balance when working from home, how we define success and how it's ok to shout about the wins as well as the losses.
Ed shares his isolation survival strategy and also talks about his work as a social media trainer.
You can find Freelance Heroes on Facebook (look for the group not the page) and @FHChat on Twitter where they do a weekly Q&A
Bonjour! Welcome to this international episode where I spoke to Rebecca from her Chateau in France - she and husband Tim are two of the stars of Channel 4's Escape to the Chateau DIY and she shared their journey to setting up as a freelance couple, the highs and lows of leaving 'real' life behind (she's never worked so hard!) and the joys of running a boutique B&B.
Find the chateau at https://chateaudelaruche.com/ and the new series of ETTC-DIY is on Channel 4, with old episodes on More 4. Be warned, though, you might end up buying a chateau!
Lizzie co-founded Hoxby in 2015, and brings together a team of remote freelancers through a unique way of working. She talks about using slack for business, heated blankets, fitting in exercise, defining ourselves as freelancers and remote working - and the need for it - during Coronavirus.
Find Hoxby at www.hoxby.com and @hoxbycollective
Welcome to season 2 of Freelance Feels: The podcast for humans who work for themselves!
To kick things off, I spoke to Zoe Perkins, an events planner, about her amazing organisational skills, making the leap to freelance and the joys of travel for work. Oh, and how she loved (loved!!) doing her tax return!
You can find Zoe at www.vodkaontoast.com and @vodkaontoast
Want lots of great advice on pitching as a journalist? Rosie has it! She's freelance following jobs at Cosmopolitan, where she worked for 9 years, and the Co-op food magazine and shares the idea of a pitching spreadsheet, the tenacity it takes to find new editors and email them as well as how she makes time for a proper home-cooked lunch and juggling work/life balance. Find Rosie at https://www.rosiemullender.co.uk/
Andy Cope spent years studying happy people and now delivers keynote speeches and training - he talks about the idea of pronoia (as opposed to paranoia), destination addiction, where we're always thinking 'I'll be happy when...' and how we need a 'to be' list as well as a 'to do' list.
Find him at www.artofbrilliance.co.uk on Twitter @beingbriliant and instagram @artofbrilliance
Louise founded the Homeworker Magazine, which explores everything to do with working for yourself - from home! It's an online magazine with a print edition, too. She talked about the decision to found the mag, as well as the balance of using your living space for your office or business, as well as the concept of a 'to-dont' list. Find her at https://www.thehomeworker.com/
For the final episode of 2019, I was joined by Bec Evans, founder of Prolifiko - a writer's mentoring company - and author of How to Have a Happy Hustle - and we talked about setting goals for the new decade, how to choose and pursue a side hustle, the love/hate of LinkedIn and moving out of London for a new life in Yorkshire and how that's helped her freelance feels. Find Bec at https://www.happyhustlebook.com/ and https://prolifiko.com/
It's almost Christmas and it's the first male guest for Freelance Feels! Steve - who runs two podcasts and a Facebook community alongside his day job as audio and video producer - talks about being positive, insurance and Christmas party feels as well as juggling life, work and parenthood over a mince pie. Find Steve at www.beingfreelance.com and @sfolland.
It's party season! So we put the biscuits to one side and had a glass of wine. Amy is a broadcaster and journalist as well as author of Confessions of a Single Mum. She's often on telly, and is very honest with her feelings. We talk about being your own cheerleader and the 'pitch abyss' (AKA Professional Ghosting). Find her on social media @solo.mamma
This episode I travelled down to Brighton to speak to Lisa, who founded Radish, a womenswear label, two and a half years ago. Lisa talks about her inspirations, challenges, the joys of travelling to LA for work (and why work travel isn't just a jolly!) as well as why freelancers still mop their own floors.
Bringing the freelance feels to a fiction thriller is all in a day's work for author Caroline, who shares her experiences of freelance life from moving out of the 'big city' of London, finding your freelance tribe and the realities of 'freelance maternity leave'.
Through the Wall is out now in bookshops, on Amazon, Kindle and Audible.
Writing recipes for a living might sound easy but for Felicity Cloake - columnist with the Guardian and New Statesman, it can involve a lot of feels. She talks cycling, croissants and how she didn't call in sick when she had chicken pox. Felicity's book One More Croissant For the Road is out now.
Author of self help memoir Help Me! Marianne Power talks networking, 'reaching out', walking to clear your mind and why we all need to pick up the phone more. Oh, and why Hob Nobs are a reliable biscuit!
Help Me: How self-help did NOT change my life, is published by Picador. Find Marianne on Instagram @marianne_power_writer