A Book Club for freelancers? That’s us. Part of the Being Freelance Community. The author of this book, Rachel Rodgers, was due to speak at a conference a lot of us were going to… would we have read it otherwise? Most agreed that the title would have actually put us off.  It didn’t sound like it was for us. “We Should All Be Millionaires: A Woman’s Guide to Earning More, Building Wealth, and Gaining Economic Power” Hmm… But... earning more? Building wealth?  Hang on. Let's give it a chance... WHAT Is ‘We Should All Be Millionaires’ actually about? At the heart of this book is a dri ..read more

You’ve heard it countless times — newsletters are where it’s at, especially for a small business with an even smaller marketing budget. But where do you start? The book club met again in July to review David Hieatt’s Do Open: How a simple email newsletter can transform your business. Hieatt’s grown a global jeans business with a marketing strategy that’s based around a simple email newsletter. In this book, he promises to teach you how to build your own brand and drive long-term growth via email marketing. Hieatt is the co-founder of Hiut Denim Co. and The Do Lectures. This book is one of man ..read more

The book club united for another in-depth chat in May, this time to discuss Anti-Sell: Marketing, Lead Generation and Networking Tips for Freelancers Who Hate Sales, by freelance SEO Consultant Steve Morgan. As well as delivering SEO services to businesses, Steve organises an SEO meetup in Wales and runs the long-standing blog SEOno. He wrote the book after 6 years of freelancing when he realised that he was still uncomfortable with the sales side of running his business. Anti-Sell is Steve’s first book, self-published in March 2019. “I may not know every savvy, schmoozy sales trick in the bo ..read more

The group met for our 7th book club at the end of March, and up for discussion this time was Seth Godin’s This is Marketing. Seth Godin is the author of 20 books, he created the altMBA workshop, among other training programmes, and he’s spoken on podcasts, videos and at events all around the world. The book we’re reviewing this time was Seth’s 19th. His 20th, available now and titled The Practice, is based on his workshop Akimbo, which focuses on getting unstuck and finding the courage to make and share creative work. This is Marketing promises to show us the way to doing “work that matters f ..read more

Our book club met before the Christmas break to chat about The Freelance Introvert, by Tom Albrighton. Subtitled ‘Work the way you want without changing who you are’, the book promises to help introverts build a thriving freelance career. Tom Albrighton is a copywriter and the co-founder of ProCopywriters, a professional membership organisation for commercial writers. The Freelance Introvert is his second book, and his third, Cash Money Freelancing, is out now. In The Freelance Introvert, Tom covers getting started as a freelancer, managing your time, working with clients, marketing yourself ..read more

This time from the Being Freelance Book Club, a review of The 20% Rule by Catherine Gladwyn, who mentors virtual assistants and business owners. After her own business survived without her — and with no loss of income — when she took four months off after neurosurgery, Catherine took pen to paper once more to write this, her second book. In it, she promises to help you ensure that your business is safe, sustainable and profitable.   Buy the book   The Being Freelance Book Club reviewS The 20% Rule, by Catherine Gladwyn We found the book to be a light, accessible read, practical and ..read more

Our summer read was Survival Skills for Freelancers, by Sarah Townsend, who’s been a freelance copywriter for more than two decades. Sarah was a guest on season 11 of the podcast, where she told her story of being freelance and gave us some insight into how the book came together. What started as a blog post became a book when Sarah hit the twenty-year mark and wanted to share what she’d learned. Buy the book “I don’t think we help one another by putting this little rosy tinted sheen on self employment. It’s much more helpful to share the reality and how to tackle it because then everyone kno ..read more

The Book Club got together for our third team read early in June, this time to talk about Hype Yourself, by fellow freelancer Lucy Werner. The book, subtitled A No-nonsense PR Toolkit for Small Businesses, is Lucy’s first. Most of us whizzed through the first two chapters, which Scott described as “Fundamental. The rest, you can just skip back to when you need it.” It’s a practical book with plenty of examples and activities. Olivia appreciated it for the tangible takeaways and the details that showed the mechanics of what goes on behind the scenes in the PR world. In particular, the section ..read more

Celebrating 294 EPISODES In 294 Words Being freelance doesn’t mean you’re alone; there’s a huge community of freelancers waiting with a cuppa, a cookie, and a pair of ears to help you grow.  Everyone’s journey is different, and after listening to 294 episodes - you can literally make it up as you go along. Sort of. You need some sort of plan. Even if it’s on a napkin. A way to get from A to C and not get lost at B. But even if B gets a bit wobbly, don’t panic, ask for help and keep going. Indulge your passions. Just because you started in one field, doesn’t mean you can’t move into anoth ..read more

This post is by BFF (Being Freelance Friend) Louisa Ellins. Find her at Line 29 Editorial I was late to the world of podcasts, but in one year I binged every single episode of the Being Freelance podcast. In its 8th year, that’s currently more than 280 episodes. And in listening, I noticed something. Every guest is a successful freelancer, but all of them have achieved this in their own way. No two stories are the same, and there is no such thing as a right or wrong way to do things. Let me show you what I mean… Becoming freelance Alongside employment “I still have a full-time job… that c ..read more