Week 2: Spotlight on me

Introduction

Last week, you familiarised yourself with some relevant terminology and the wider small business context, and you explored the experiences of other creative freelancers. This week, you’ll turn your attention to your own experience, considering your current position and what you hope to gain from this course.

You’ll have the opportunity to reflect on the advantages and disadvantages of working for yourself and how you’ll maintain the work–life balance that you want. You’ll explore some of the key skills required for a successful freelance career, and finish the week by looking to the future and considering where you want to be in one, five or even ten years’ time.

Now watch this short introductory video where our creative freelancers describe the skills they have found most valuable and important.

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 1

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Transcript: Video 1

TERRI BROWN:

I think there are very distinct opposites in what you need would be in a creative freelancer. On the one hand, you need to be incredibly creative and you do need to because you need to stand out in the market. But on the other hand, you need to be incredibly disciplined because there's a lot of competition out there on the market. And these are very two for a lot creative people two very, very different aspects of personality. You do need to be able to split yourself down the middle.

CASSIE LEEDHAM:

I think you have to be very flexible and not mind change because things change all the time. And especially this past couple of years, we've really had to think outside the box.

JESSICA ROWE:

Networking is a really important part of what we do. You kind of have to sell yourself and get your business out there and get your work out there, and then somebody down the line will message you and go, oh, I've got this thing, would you like to come along? And it's just a big bounce off.

LUCY MARCOVITCH:

I think you have to be quite brave, but having said that, I wouldn't describe myself as brave because you just have to do stuff. You just have to.

CRAIG SPIVEY:

You need to have the self-awareness to know what you can take on and what you can't take on. What you can do in a certain amount of time. I mean, there are practical things.

GARIMA KHAWAN:

I think you have to be a happy person. [LAUGHS] Because it is full of challenges. And I think the other thing is you have to have a very growth mindset. I mean, every day you have to learn from filing your taxes, doing your books, contracts, pitching to people, putting yourself out on social media. Saying, yes, to things even though they might be completely out of your comfort zone.

JESSICA ROWE:

I guess just persistence [INAUDIBLE] say. Just keep going is quite important.

ZAKIA RASHID:

When you're in a team, it's easy to share jobs and actually and feel motivated by working with someone you know you've got that energy, that synergy with your teammates. When you're working on your own, you don't have that. You've got to be able to motivate yourself in all sorts of different ways and all the different hats that you have to wear.

VANESSA COOPER:

You've got to be very focused on what you're doing. So I will get up and get ready for work because then, it just changes your headspace as well. You're in work mode not just-- ooh I'll have a go.

MATT KATZ:

Delivering things on time, doing what you say you will do, being pleasant to work with, being reasonably sociable and then people want to work with you again.

LUCY MARCOVITCH:

You have to be pretty resilient as well because you do get knocked back and you do spend a lot of time reaching out to people and them not coming back to you. Or them saying, oh, yeah, we might do something in six months time or I'm sorry, your quotes too high.

ZAKIA RASHID:

You've got to be organised. You've got to be good at getting out of bed in the morning. You've got to be good at organising your diary, your organising your day, and holding yourself accountable.

CASSIE LEEDHAM:

Being organised isn't important, but being motivated is. And being able to finish things is important because you can be very creative. But if you can't hit a deadline, you're not going to be able to do it professionally. So you have to have that thing in you that says, I'm going to get this done on this date and it's going to happen and then you've got to see that through. Otherwise, you're just somebody creating work that nobody's going to pay for.

End transcript: Video 1

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By the end of this week you should be able to:

• explain your current ideas, products or services
• identify and reflect on key skills for a successful freelancer
• explore the potential advantages and disadvantages of working as a freelancer
• describe your freelancing goals.

You’ll start this week by asking yourself the questions: Where am I now? How does my idea measure up? And, do I currently have what it takes?