Freelancing: the journey so far 👩💻
From lockdown copyediting projects to chart-topping podcasts
Hello! This post is going to be detailed AF, so buckle up - it’s a play by play of how I came to be self-employed in the middle of a global pandemic and all the messy, anxiety-inducing, joyous stuff that came along with it. If you’re curious about freelancing or want to read a relatable experience that involves many, many mistakes, this one’s for you. Here’s what’s included:
University, first jobs and finding my community in Kent
Lockdown 1.0, furlough and the first inkling of freelance life
A work dilemma and deciding to go it alone
Mistakes, and lots of them
Finding my way almost four years in
I was never one of those people who dreamed of working for myself; I was absolutely terrified of the idea, to be completely honest.
When I left university, I wanted to work in marketing in the theatre/arts industry. I had done my three years training to be an actor, realised that it absolutely wasn’t what I wanted to do for a job, and quickly found a compromise where I was still involved in the industry I loved, without having to be onstage. I’ve realised over the years that adaptability is one of my key strengths - a classic Gemini (IYKYK).
The problem was, nobody wanted to hire me.
I was lucky enough to spend a month at the Edinburgh Fringe, followed by a 6-month arts marketing internship at a local theatre; I had all the practical experience, the glowing references and shiny portfolio, but unfortunately for me, I entered into this fiercely competitive industry at a time when arts funding was being cut and jobs were like gold dust. I was constantly on high alert, waiting for a phone call where I would be told that x theatre or arts venue would love to hire me. Suffice to say, that phone call never came.
After a particularly busy shift at my waitressing job in the summer of 2016, I caved and uploaded my CV to a job search site. Miraculously, a recruiter for an accountancy firm in London was looking for a temporary worker to do some admin, and I fit the bill.
Fast forward to 2018…
I ended up doing the corporate London commuter thing for about 18 months, eventually moving to Kent and renting my very first studio flat. It was an experience, to say the least: I learned a lot about myself, including the novel idea that, surprise surprise, I might not love working in an office, actually. It was the first time that I had allowed myself to consider the prospect that traditional employment might not suit me, and although I dismissed the thought as quickly as it came, it had already made its mark.
In January 2018, I packed in the commuter life and started working in marketing and events in Tunbridge Wells, where I still live now. I was tasked with doing admin, marketing, social media, networking and events management for local businesses, the ideal role for someone like me who bloody loves a good natter. I can’t tell you how much I loved this job. I spent a lot of time with people who worked for themselves; looking back, this was where my freelancing journey really began. The seed had been planted.
By the time I left in the autumn of 2019 to join a local creative agency, I had gone through several fairly dramatic life changes. My long-term relationship had come to a sudden and unexpected end, but I had also made new friends and found my community. After the raw heartbreak subsided, I realised that I felt powerful and in control of my future for the first time.
And then…the pandemic hit.
I was able to carry on working from home for the first couple of months, but just after my 26th birthday in June 2020, the call came from my boss to say that he had to put everyone on furlough. I remember feeling quite calm about the whole thing; the prospect of everything changing so abruptly felt scary, but in a weirdly exciting way. It was as if being furloughed was actually the best thing that could have happened to me. It forced me to reevaluate, to see my working life differently, to believe that it could be different.
I was quietly confident that things would work out for me, even if I did end up losing my job, so I hunkered down in my little one-person flat and hoped for the best. Just a few days later, I was taking my bins out when I spotted a familiar face across the road: it was Jenny, a freelance graphic designer who I had worked with in a previous job. We chatted, and she asked if I happened to do any copyediting. I said yes. Within 48 hours, I had my first ever freelance gig.
Things snowballed pretty quickly after that.
I had spent some time building a small Instagram following over the years and forging positive relationships with people locally, all of which played a part in curating my client base. One month after that first copyediting job, the owners of a local PR/events agency contacted me about providing copywriting and PR support, having met me the year before at an event.
It got kind of complicated at this point. Should I be taking on freelance work from a PR agency while on furlough, bearing in mind that my boss was making up the extra 20% of my salary so I wasn’t losing anything? Was it disloyal? Underhanded? Or was I just a young woman who was being offered an incredible opportunity that she really, really wanted to take?
I brought it up with my boss; suffice to say, he wasn’t too happy about it. He felt that I should be playing for the team and not taking work for myself, especially since the company was topping up our furlough pay. I felt that the work wasn’t actually his to take, and I didn’t really owe him anything, furlough or no furlough.
I can’t actually remember what the resolution was, but either way, I went ahead and worked with the agency over the summer of 2020. More copyediting work came through from Jenny. I joined some freelancing Facebook groups and went for a job writing a press release for a children’s dental hygiene initiative, which I got. By the September, I had to make a decision: go back to the creative agency, where my 9-5 job was waiting for me, or go it alone, knowing that I wasn’t yet making enough money to actually live on but trusting that I could make it work.
I chose the latter. I handed in my resignation. On 1st October 2020, I officially registered with HMRC as a sole trader.
The solo journey begins…
Going freelance, for me, was like realising what I had been working towards all along. All of my previous jobs, my degree, all of it had been leading up to this. It suddenly made sense. I had come home.
In my corporate London jobs, I inadvertently discovered that I need alone time to recharge. I work best when I am on my own. In the town centre management role, I learned that I am really good at making connections and being a cheerleader for other people’s businesses. In the creative agency, I learned that I can actually back myself, that I am good at what I do. During lockdown, I learned how to be self-sufficient, to glean joy from my own inner world, to be friends with myself. All of the failures and the transformations led me here, to this moment. It was time to reap the rewards.
There were plenty of rewards, but plenty of mistakes and messy moments, too. I miscalculated how much tax I would need to pay in the first year and ended up having to take some of it out of my savings; I spent Christmas of 2020 at my parents’ kitchen table working tirelessly on my first big charity copywriting job, eventually having to recruit my sister to share some of the workload because there was so much to do; I spent more money than I was actually earning travelling to and from a London-based mum and baby group because I had set my day rate too low and felt like I couldn’t back out.
Freelancer facebook groups were my best friend during this tumultuous period while I was figuring it all out and trying to get my name out there. I started out working project by project, and as my confidence grew, I offered retainers and managed social media for brands on a monthly basis. I said yes to anything and everything and set my rates as low as possible to stay competitive (so low, in fact, they were practically on the floor).
From 2021 to 2023, I went through a slow, sometimes quite painful process of trying everything and letting things fall away when they were no longer serving me, no longer enjoyable, no longer aligned with where I saw my career going. At times my fledgling business felt like a large, unwieldy object that kept tumbling out of my arms, unwilling to stay in place, and sometimes it felt as light as a feather, neatly ensconced in my pocket like a good luck charm.
And now?
Well, as you will know if you’ve been here for a little while, the spring of 2023 brought with it a life-changing chance encounter with an author and podcaster who I had admired for years.
To cut a long story short (you can read the full version here), she hired me to manage social media for her podcast and then very generously recommended me to her equally talented friends and colleagues. At the time (and still to this day), it was beyond my wildest dreams, an unbelievable, remarkable thing to happen to someone who had always struggled to feel truly liked and accepted by the world and her peers.
Since that moment, I have found myself walking a very different professional path, one that I would never have expected to traverse. I help authors to promote their brilliant selves and their equally brilliant books on social media; I work on chart-topping podcasts with incredibly talented podcasters; I create content for brands, and when I can, I find time to write this newsletter that you’re reading right now.
I feel like I am a million miles away from the secondhand table that I used as a makeshift desk in my old flat, and yet I can still feel the polished wooden surface, the sacred place from which I sent my first invoice, completed my first tax return, ordered countless Wagamama takeaways that were always eaten in a hurry as I raced to hit the next deadline.
For me, the last four years have been about proving to myself that I can do hard things. I have been braver and more rebellious than I could have ever imagined. I have embraced softness and self-compassion and flexibility. I have given myself grace and kind words when things felt difficult and I have thrived under intense pressure and deadlines. I am stronger, more capable and more resilient than I give myself credit for.
I rarely think about what’s next for me - I have a few things that I would love to do, like writing and publishing a novel and getting an article or essay printed in a glossy magazine, but I’m happy just letting the chips fall where they may. Becoming self-employed was like releasing the lid on a pressure cooker for me and finding out how I actually want to spend my precious time, and I’d like to keep the chill vibes going for a little longer, please.
Questions? Please ask them 👇
If you have ever considered freelancing, this is the newsletter for you. I talk a lot (some may say too much) about being self-employed in the UK, so follow along if you’re interested! Thanks so much for reading.
Lauren x