Being Freelance

From Freelancer To Studio - The Power Of Positioning

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 decisive shift. She stopped calling herself Rizby Designs and became Rizbee Studio instead - a small but powerful change that reframed how clients perceived her work. And how she saw herself and her business.Laura began positioning herself as a studio, using “we”, and gradually building a trusted team of contractors around her.Over time, Laura discovered what she truly loved: designing brand systems, particularly for consumer packaged goods in the food and beauty industries. Finding her niche was the next big change.Laura’s growth has been fuelled by intentional networking. From women-led business groups locally, to major industry expos across the US. Laura shares how she approaches events, follows up thoughtfully, and builds genuine relationships that often turn into work, even if it’s months later.Laura also shares why she’s invested heavily in her business over the past few years: hiring a business coach (who’s helped her double revenue year-on-year), bringing on a social media manager, fractional CMO, director of operations, CFO, and freelance designers - all while remaining the creative heart of the studio.Beyond client work, Laura has created something rare: a true client community. Including hosting a client appreciation dinner (first time we’ve heard that on the podcast!). She explains how fostering connection between clients has become a defining part of her business.It feels amazing the difference defining herself as a ‘studio’ instead of a freelancer has made. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou'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 MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

Cold Outreach: What Actually Works for Freelancers

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 on the Being Freelance podcast, freelancers have shared how proactive outreach - in many different forms - played a huge role in getting their business started, or getting it moving again when things felt quiet.This episode is a little different from the usual Being Freelance format. Rather than a single guest interview, it’s a reflection on conversations with freelancers who’ve taken a deliberate approach to outreach.You’ll hear how copywriter Adri Kopp refined her cold email process, worked out who she should actually be reaching out to, and set herself daily outreach targets - discovering that volume and timing mattered just as much as personalisation.You’ll hear how fintech copywriter André Spiteri approached cold outreach as a simple, repeatable habit, deliberately avoiding emotional attachment to individual emails so he could keep momentum going.Designer and illustrator Iancu Barbarasa shares how sending hundreds of emails wasn’t about asking for work, but about starting conversations - conversations that later led to some of the biggest projects of his career.The episode also explores outreach beyond email. Sustainability copywriter Raymond Manzor talks about cold calling, sending physical letters with samples, and following up by phone. Standing out simply because hardly anyone else was doing it. Whilst visual storyteller Ashwin Chacko shares how self-publishing a book and proactively sharing it opened doors to workshops, conversations, and paid work.Alongside the tactics, there’s plenty of honesty about rejection. Most people won’t reply. Some will say no. A few might tell you to get lost. And that’s all part of the process. The freelancers featured here talk candidly about learning not to take it personally, separating their identity from their work, and trusting that being in the right place at the right time often comes from showing up consistently.What comes through most clearly is this:Cold outreach doesn’t have to be spammy, pushy, or salesy.And while outreach often becomes more selective as a business grows, it never completely goes away.So even if your work mostly comes through referrals, word of mouth, or SEO, this episode is a gentle nudge to ask:Is there still a place for cold outreach in your freelance business?Featuring insights from these brilliant freelance guests, whose full episodes you should absolutely check out:Copywriter Adri KoppFintech Copywriter André SpiteriDesigner & Illustrator Iancu BarbarasaSustainability Copywriter Raymond ManzorVisual Storyteller Ashwin ChackoConservation Illustrator Stefán Yngvi Pétursson JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou'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 MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

How Katie Chappell Built (and Unbuilt) a Scalable Freelance Illustration Business

Katie Chappell is a freelance live illustrator based in the UK - and her story takes some unexpected turns.After being sacked from a graphic design job, Katie slowly built a freelance illustration career through side jobs, teaching guitar, working in retail, and even becoming a nanny abroad. A 100-day drawing project helped her find confidence, momentum, and visibility - and eventually led her into live illustration and graphic recording.Things really took off during the pandemic, when Katie adapted quickly to online events and found herself booked solid. At one point, she scaled the business into an agency-style setup with salaried staff and 24 illustrators on the books.On paper, it looked amazing.In reality, it nearly broke her.In this episode, Katie talks honestly about scaling up, scaling back, pricing, niching, marketing, work-life balance, and the moment she realised something had to change. We also get into the practical stuff: working with a virtual assistant, setting clear prices, and why “make work, share work” is still the foundation of her marketing.Katie is part of The Good Ship Illustration - an education and community space for illustrators, that she founded with two of her friends. If you enjoy Katie on here, do check out The Good Ship Illustration podcast!   JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou'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 MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

How These Freelancers Work ON Their Business All Year

As freelancers, it’s easy to spend most of our time in the business - delivering client work, meeting deadlines, keeping things ticking over. But if we never step back, time has a habit of running away from us. We can be swept along on a current of what people ask us to do, not thinking about if it's where we want to be heading.This episode is a little different from the usual Being Freelance podcast format. Instead of a single guest interview, it’s a reflection on conversations with freelancers who consistently make time to work on their business - not just once a year, but regularly.You’ll hear how different people approach this in their own way:Some take themselves off on solo business retreats - sometimes to a hotel, sometimes just to a different room in the house — with no client work allowed. Others hold quarterly CEO retreats, stepping away from day-to-day delivery to review what’s working, what isn’t, and what they want more (or less) of.One even does a 'Weather Report', seeing what's on the horizon for their work, personal life, creativity, and the wider world -  treating their business like something that moves in seasons.What they all have in common is this:They don’t leave their freelance business to chance.Regular reviews help remove mental load, bring clarity, and often make client work feel more enjoyable - because you’re no longer carrying half-finished thoughts about marketing, pricing, direction, or next steps in the back of your mind.You’ll also hear a very practical reminder: if you want thinking time, you usually have to put it in the diary first. Two or three hours, a half day, once a month or once a quarter - it all counts.This episode isn’t about grand five-year plans or fancy frameworks. It’s about creating space to ask better questions:Is this still working?Am I enjoying this?Is this profitable?Is this taking me where I want to go?Because freelancing doesn’t have to be something that just happens to you. With a little regular reflection, you get to design it - deliberately.Featuring the insights of these fantastic freelance guests, whose full episodes you should totally check out.Follow these links for their podcast conversations.- Writer Rebecca Rosenberg- Designer Brennan Gilbert- Writer & Editor Melanie Padgett Powers- Voiceover Emma Clarke- Market Research Consultant Katie Tucker  JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou'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 MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland

Graphic Designer & Illustrator Itzel Islas

From an overworked designer posting “a visual diary” on Instagram to running a multi-stream creative business, Itzel Islas has built a freelance life entirely on her own terms.After almost a decade in apparel design, she started illustrating for fun - and quickly realised people loved her colourful, playful style. “Little by little I started creating art… and then I started getting clients through it.”Today she runs YAY Itzel, blending branding work, her online shop, Patreon sticker club, brand partnerships with Adobe and Wacom, murals, workshops and even organising pop-ups, all rooted in her Mexican culture. “I’m just chasing whatever is fun for me.  And if it sounds fun, I’m all in.”She talks building a business organically, finding clients who share her values, and why being authentic is her biggest asset. “I’ve always seen everything I do as a big package of what is my business and how I sustain myself as an artist.”Hosted by freelance podcast and video podcast editor Steve Folland. JOIN THE COMMUNITYYou'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 MERCHGet Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shopLike VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelanceYouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland