Redundancy, Freelancing & Fury.
I get a bit ranty.
LISTENING
I was invited on to the NDA podcast to talk about freelancing. Episode just dropped.
We covered:
the reasons behind why people go freelancing (and how increasingly it’s not by choice).
why do businesses use freelancers?
who ghosts more, freelancers or agencies?
the importance of the experience of freelancing with you
penciling and last minute cancelations
proactively building a bench and the importance of chemistry
the importance of internal accountability and communication
isolation and community
asking your freelancers for feedback
late payments (me ranting and practical tips)
NDAs
being proud of your freelancers
It’s a meaty one - have a listen.
REDUNDANCY
Right now, there's a huge amount of cutbacks and headcount losses across many industries, and unfortunately this means human casualties - people losing their jobs, often without any warning, in a challenging economic climate.
And it's fair to say the perm jobs market is too, in disarray - with no shortage of people looking for work for months on end, with little or no success.
So many folk in this situation may consider freelancing - either taking the redundancy as the prompt to do what they'd been thinking about for a while, or perhaps as a stop gap to generate income whilst looking for something more long-term, or to see what it's like and whether it's right for them.
You may be reading this because this is you right now.
When I talk to people who are considering freelancing, my advice is always the same - make sure you're clear on your finances, make sure you have some emergency funds saved up, and make sure you do the prep work to get ready for moving into self-employment.
But if you've just been laid-off - you don't have the luxury of planning and preparing.
So in order to try and support as many people as possible I’ve created a PRAGMATIC guide is designed to help you RAPIDLY understand what you should be aware of and what you need to start doing, in order to get started as a freelancer.
No fluff or faff, and no hard sell on freelancing as the right thing, just advice on the things that matter most.
This ISN’T necessarily a useful guide for people who have time and space and capacity to plan ahead for freelancing, as it doesn’t include the things you should be considering before you take the leap into self-employment - and honestly, I wouldn’t wish it being forced upon anyone, as doing it without a safety-net and time to research is stressful.
But, if you’ve found yourself in a situation where freelancing might feel like the only option you’ve got right now, or if you’ve been considering it for a while, and this was perhaps the nudge you needed - this could help.
And if you’re not new to freelancing - please share this widely, with your network or friends who are facing this situation. It could help them out.
That’s all for today.
mk