Being Freelance

Épisodes

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  5 Ways AI Could Be Tripping Up Your Freelance Business - Bonus - with lawyer Ingrid Fernandez 23.08.2026 32min

  AI is already in your freelance business, whether you invited it or not. The usual Being Freelance podcast is on its summer break, but here's a bonus treat for you: a replay of a live LinkedIn session Steve did with lawyer Ingrid Fernandez, part of the Being Freelance community, looking at what AI means for freelancers legally - not "will it take my job" but "how does it change my contracts, my responsibilities, and my relationships with clients?" Ingrid walks through five areas that c...
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  The Blogs Became Books... Became Clients - David Airey 19.07.2026 49min

  David Airey is a freelance graphic designer based in Northern Ireland, self-employed since 2005. He's the author of several best-selling design books including Logo Design Love and Identity Designed - both of which started life as blogs, before turning into books... before turning into a steady stream of client work. In this episode, David talks with us about: Persuading his former employer to be his first freelance clientWhy his early "business blog" flopped, and how switching to writi...
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  Freelancer BTS - Not rushing on 12.07.2026 3min

  New full episode coming soon. But in this super short one - Steve Folland explains why he's not publishing a new interview this week. Too often we rush on from one thing to another. But by doing so we don't do justice to the thing we just finished. With the Being Freelance podcast, that can mean not promoting an episode with clips, socials and emails. That doesn't help the podcast, the guest OR the listener who could have benefited. Same in our freelancing businesses. If we don't reflect, get...
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  Freelancing Through Every Tech Shift Since the 90s - Lisa Emmington 05.07.2026 46min

  Lisa Emmington is a freelance instructional designer (or as her newly SEO'd website puts it, a training course designer) based near Milton Keynes. She's been freelance almost her entire career, starting out as an IT trainer back when Apple Macs were a mystery box on people's desks, and has reinvented her business every time the market has shifted underneath her - from face to face training, to early e-learning software, to mentoring individual course creators today in the face of AI. In...
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  Chase the Happiness: Meaningful Freelancing - Filmmaker Zoe East 28.06.2026 46min

  Zoe East has never had a proper job. A work experience placement at a big TV channel that felt old-fashioned and sexist put her off the traditional route before she'd even graduated, so she went freelance instead and never really looked back. That was over ten years ago. She started with whatever work came along. The niche found her gradually: charities doing meaningful work, heritage and culture projects, things that will matter just as much when someone watches them in ten years' time. This...
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  The Recipe Is Always the Same: Reach Out, Follow Up - Émilie Chen 21.06.2026 50min

  French creative Émilie Chen had what she calls her dream job: senior designer at The National Theatre in London, working on posters she'd dreamed about since university. Years later though, it had turned sour in the studio, her mental health took a hit, and she gave herself 8 months to start saving money and figure out her next Act. What got her there wasn't a clever strategy. It was people. Co-founding the London chapter of Ladies, Wine & Design gave her the confidence to start ask...
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  Freelancing as an Unpaid Carer - Adrian Ashton 14.06.2026 48min

  Adrian’s been a successful freelancer for 21 years. But in the past 7, his definition of framing success has changed. For the last seven years, Adrian has also been an unpaid carer for three immediate family members. He talks honestly about what that's meant for his business - the travel he's had to give up, the networking events he can't get to, the inquiries he's had to turn away, and why he deliberately caps how much work he takes on (and how much money he can make). But he also talks abou...
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  Her Niche Is Fishe - Becoming The Ocean Writer - Melissa Hobson 07.06.2026 59min

  Melissa spent over a decade in PR & Comms. She was good at it but she was drawn to the ocean. So she started pitching dive magazines on the side, moved to Mozambique to volunteer with a marine conservation charity, and when the pandemic sent her home, decided to go all-in as a freelancer rather than look for another job. Still it was PR work she was picking up but frustrated by. “I just want to write about fish” she told her mastermind friends in the Being Freelance Community....
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  Becoming a Freelance Illustrator for Marvel, Disney and DC: Doaly 31.05.2026 50min

  How does a creative side project turn into a decade long freelancing business working with the biggest names in pop culture, like Disney, Pixar, Marvel, DC Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros and Sony Pictures? All good super-heroes have an origin story. And this interview tells the series of events that took Doaly from working for a company in Birmingham, England, to the front page of comic covers seen all over the world. Signing at Comic-con events. It's quite the transformation. Tarlochan Doal,...
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  Business Name vs Your Own Name: Which is Better for Freelancers? 24.05.2026 22min

  It's a question Steve Folland gets asked a lot: as a freelancer, is it better to have a company name or use your own? In this compilation episode, Steve digs deep into 11 years of the Being Freelance podcast archive - pulling together voices from guests including brand copywriter Mark Grainger, branding expert Bhavini Lakhani, copywriter Graeme Piper, illustrator Dan Bailey, social media consultant Alison Battisby, marketing agency founder Ross Simmonds, and more - to try and get to the bott...
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  Becoming the go-to freelancer in your niche - Jessi Illustrates 10.05.2026 43min

  Jessica Hartshorn was trained as an illustrator, but unable to get work as one she went in another direction. Jessica spent the next 16 years working in museums and galleries. But the itch to illustrate never went away. So she set up a secret Instagram account and started painting again without telling a soul. Seven years on, she's a successful illustrator, freelancing with museums, galleries, heritage sites and parks across the UK. And her 16 years behind the scenes at the museum? Turned o...
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  Freelancer BTS - Some things are more important 03.05.2026 3min

  New episodes with fresh freelancing stories coming very soon. But as Jess Bruno said on her episode of Being Freelance: "Content can always blood wait". JOIN THE COMMUNITY You're not alone being freelance. Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends). beingfreelance.com/community NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU! The Being Freelance course is made for you! Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership. FREELANCER MERCH ...
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  Stop Waiting for Clients. Start Making - Charles Commins 22.03.2026 1h 6min

  Charles Commins handed his notice in at his pub management job with no plan and no business. His partner gave him one month to figure it out. All he knew was that he wanted to love his job. Seven and a half years later, he's an award-winning freelance podcast producer whose almost entire client chain traces back to one decision: making a football podcast about Northampton Town. That podcast would act as his show ground and his playground. Testing and ultimately proving to clients tha...
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  Field Trip Fridays and Four Bank Accounts - Illustrator Perryn Ryan 15.03.2026 47min

  Perryn Ryan didn't set out to become a freelance illustrator. After a degree in computer information systems (to keep her parents happy), years in tech,, and a long stint in the fashion industry, she eventually gave herself permission to just... draw stuff she liked. Nothing serious. Then a stranger with a million followers re-shared her work, the enquiries started flooding in, and a freelance illustration career was born almost overnight. In this episode of the Being Freelance podca...
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  Chase Those Late Payments - Graphic Designer Laura Whitehouse 08.03.2026 55min

  Laura Whitehouse didn’t follow the usual path into graphic design. While studying archaeology and anthropology (told you) at university, she started designing posters for student theatre shows. At first for free, then for £20 here and there (or sometimes just a pint). What began as a creative outlet quickly became the foundation of a freelance career. Thanks to word of mouth clients and the help of various mentors, she built skills and confidence. Until five years on, one of those me...
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  How to Find Your Freelancing Niche 01.03.2026 19min

  In this short compilation episode, Steve revisits conversations from across 11 years of the Being Freelance podcast archive to explore what actually happens when freelancers specialise in a niche. Full of stories of how these freelance creatives found their niche and the impact it had. You’ll hear: THE IMPACT OF NICHING How specialising can make marketing simpler and sales conversations easier Why expertise can lead to higher-value opportunities HOW TO FIND YOUR NICHE How to choose a ...
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  When Freelancing Goes Quiet: Getting Proactive with Mark Grainger 22.02.2026 40min

  For years, Mark Grainger’s freelance business ticked along nicely. Referrals. Word of mouth. Repeat clients. And then… things went quiet. In this episode, we explore what happens when the reliable stream of freelance work slows down. And what it really takes to respond proactively rather than panic. Durham-based freelance brand copywriter Mark shares how he: - Repositioned himself from a company name back to his personal brand - Niched by service rather than industry - Started experime...
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  Freelancer BTS - What happens when they click? 16.02.2026 6min

  This is the first time I've done this as an episode. A quick behind the scenes of what I'm up to with my own freelancer business - as a freelance video and podcast editor. If you'd like to go even more behind the scenes, check out my freelancing life vlog on YouTube. If I'm going to pay for an advert for my services, there's something I need to do first... And you can do this too. It's not about a major overhaul of your website. Instead sit with a fresh cuppa and fresh eyes and se...
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  From Freelancer To Studio - The Power Of Positioning 08.02.2026 56min

  Laura has been a professional graphic designer for over 20 years, but her freelance journey began in 2008 after the birth of her first child. With daycare in Manhattan costing more than rent, Laura started piecing together freelance work from home; juggling projects from a tiny dining table in a fourth-floor walk-up. Freelancing wasn’t always smooth. But eventually, after settling in Massachusetts, it clicked. After a particularly harsh freelance interview left her devastated, Laura made a de...
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  Cold Outreach: What Actually Works for Freelancers 31.01.2026 15min

  Cold outreach can often get a freelance business started. But in this episode I propose even those of us years down the line don't give it the cold shoulder. When you need to bring in clients, maybe a period of cold outreach, or even a consistent long term pattern of it, could be exactly what warms our business back up again. Cold emails. Cold calls. Reaching out to people who didn’t ask to hear from you. It can feel awkward, uncomfortable, and very easy to put off. But again and again...