8 Summary of Week 1
Now that you’ve finished the content for this week, you might find it useful to revisit the introductory video on the course description page to listen again to the experiences and opinions of our freelance interviewees.
If you want to know more about their businesses, the optional video below gives you an introduction to each interviewee and the field they work in. You’ll see a useful spread between those who are creating a product to sell, those who are providing a service, and those for whom the two overlap. A special thanks to Cassie Leedham, Matt Katz, Garima Dhawan, Jessica Rowe, John Simpson, Lucy Marcovitch, Rebecca Harling, Terri Brown, Zakia Rashid, Vanessa Cooper and Craig Spivey for sharing their experiences for this course.
Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2
Transcript: Video 2
CASSIE LEEDHAM:
My name is Cassie Leedham, and I'm a multi-disciplined creative. I think I always worried about having a focus and not knowing what I wanted to do, like, when you growing up, what do you want to be? But I didn't really have one thing. I just knew that I wanted to have flexibility and be able to do lots of different things.
MATT KATZ:
My name is Matt Katz, and I am a composer and sound designer. I can one day be recording a voiceover for an ad, the next day be doing sound design and mixing a short film, and the next day doing songs for kids telly. And it keeps it fresh and keeps me interested in what I'm doing. And so that for me is being a creative freelancer.
GARIMA DHAWAN:
My name is Garima Dhawan. I came from a background of fashion in India. Now, I do printmaking that works with textiles products, anything that can take a pattern. I think for me what's most exciting is that every day I can learn and I can set my own path. It's not by default. It's a very purpose driven life.
JESSICA ROWE:
My name is Jessica Rowe. I'm co-company manager of the theater company, the Fabularium. And I'm also a freelance practitioner and actress. I love the flexibility, I love the creativity, I get to do lots of different things and meet lots of different people. It's also something for me, as well. I'm doing it because I want to do it and not because somebody told me to do it. I'm doing it because I want to create my work and I'm passionate about creating work.
JOHN SIMPSON:
My name is John Simpson, and I'm an artist come recycler. It's stuff that people throw away, but I don't want it to be as if it's you've picked it up from the street and then you made something out of it. I want it to look as if it's come from some design agency, and it looks absolutely fantastic. That's the aim. For me, it didn't happen overnight. You have to persevere with it. And yeah you have to-- it's networking that sort of thing and a bit of luck. You need a bit of luck, as well.
LUCY MARCOVITCH:
You know what, it's really interesting because until you said, until you said you were looking for creative freelancers. I would never have described myself as a creative freelancer. I would just say, I'm a freelance writer. And then when you said that, I thought, oh, I am a creative freelancer because I write and I edit and I have loads and loads of ideas all the time. And I'm having to think of new ideas off the top of my head constantly. I give somebody what I think is the thing that they need to have and that they want et cetera. So I'm in control. I love that.
REBECCA HARLING:
I am a graphic designer primarily, but I'm also an artist and illustrator. The moment I decided I wanted to do it, it's probably actually when I was four years old sat at the dining table, getting dirty in all the paints and things. I've kind of been exposed to creativity my whole life, my mom is very creative and she started working within a marketing environment when I was 12. And I was exposed to all of that design for marketing purposes.
So it wasn't really a surprise to me that that's what I wanted to do as I kind of evolved and developed. I did have a much larger business and then made the decision that actually, no, I feel a lot more comfortable just looking after myself and giving myself that freedom and flexibility to be able to do what I want, when I want, really.
TERRI BROWN:
There is masses of competition at the moment for voice acting. The way that I set myself apart, I've made sure I've got the proper equipment. I have a little recording studio in my house. I've learned up on everything I need to learn about how to make sure my sound is good. And you just have to make sure you do what you say you're going to do at the time you say you're going to do it, at the price you say you're going to do it. And keep yourself relevant in the market.
ZAKIA RASHID:
I'm Zakia Rashid and I run Hijinx marketing. And Hijinx marketing specialises in branding. It means that I can build my portfolio in a really structured way and give myself a little bit of a niche into the area that I want to work in. I want to work with partners who are interested in being sustainable and that they have a passion for conservation. And just align myself with those sorts of companies rather than just going for the money.
VANESSA COOPER:
My name is Vanessa Cooper, and I'm a folk and canal artist. If I haven't painted for a while, I can feel that something going on and more frustration. And first, sort of 5, 10 minutes in the studio. It's like, oh, gosh, this is what I needed. But I love it when people look at what they've done and it's, like, oh, I can't believe I've done that. That is such, such a buzz. And to know that they then go away and do more of it at home and will post things on Facebook and say, look what I've done Vanessa. That's just a real joy.
CRAIG SPIVEY:
Well, my name is Craig Spivey, and I'm an independent creative director. When I started, I was a graphic designer, now I'm a content creator. But I still do the same job. My kind of show stopping client on my client list is Chelsea Football Club. I mean I've got clients from big corporates to little coffee shops. And on one end of the scale, I work for coffee. So you can probably guess which end that is. It's the freedom. That's the freedom that freelance gives you. And if you are in a position to explore that, do it, you know? I love it. It's great.
Video 2
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By this point, you should have a better understanding of what a freelance career is about and how it can work within the creative arts sector. You’ve considered some definitions and terminology and you’ve viewed a range of case studies with useful learning points for any freelancer. You’ve also briefly looked at the perspective of the employer and what can be learned from that.
You should now be able to:
- explore the context of freelancing within the wider economy
- describe a portfolio career and reflect on whether that approach could work for you
- recognise the benefits to employers of working with freelancers
Next week, the spotlight will be on you, as you reflect on your own needs and goals.
You can now go to Week 2 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .