Welcome to this issue of The Freelance Collective.
This newsletter is an extension to the 2,300+ strong freelance force we have congregating at @FreelanceCollectiveUK. If you donât already follow us there, come on over!
How to move forward when you feel stuck
This last week, Iâve been thinking a lot about how Iâve instinctively known how to recognise those moments when I needed to make a change. Either in a work situation or personally, I will often have moments where I feel as though - whether gradually, or suddenly - Iâve burned too many bridges and everything is on fire. In these situations, the first person I blame is myself.
Quite often, though, itâs an exaggeration, something my anxiety-prone brain will cook up and throw at me at inopportune moments, but recently, I have finally begun to recognise when Iâm catastrophising and when something just⊠doesnât sit right. Some people might call it the âgut feelingâ or intuition. Perhaps itâs a combo of both. But itâs probably about time we stopped procrastinating over it and learn to address how to unstick ourselves when this kind of feeling crops up.
Sometimes it can feel impossible to move forward from a place of discomfort, until youâre able to establish exactly what it is that feels wrong. You keep working away at it, thinking that if you can just get through it, youâll feel better at the end - whether thatâs the end of the day, the month, the year or even by the time it takes you to work out whatâs really bothering you at the core.
Perhaps the type of work youâre doing isnât really fulfilling you anymore, but you have no idea where to find the work youâd prefer to do. Maybe you really want to change careers but thereâs a fear there holding you back - how do you know if youâll be successful? Is imposter syndrome cropping up and suggesting that this is all youâre good for? Maybe a client is overstepping your boundaries, the scope of work has steadily crept up and you feel undervalued or, youâre feeling an unnerving sense of pressure during a stressful project, which usually youâd breeze through without a worry. Maybe, and worst of all, the work just isnât there and youâre having to compromise heavily to get through this difficult period of time and feel as though youâre being taken further and further away from the life youâd envisaged for yourself. The unease can feel endless, especially if you canât easily pinpoint what a potential solution would be. You feel like youâre stuck in a spiderâs web, just hanging in there waiting for things to improve, but not sure how to trigger the spark to make it happen.
It stems from control - or lack thereof. We love to feel in control. As business owners and entrepreneurs, itâs quite a lot of the reason why we find ourselves where we are. We donât want to surrender the control over our working lives to someone else, but can still find ourselves feeling so out of control in many other ways.
So, I would recommend writing a list, split into two columns. The first - things you can control. The second - things you canât control. Get really granular with it and be ruthlessly honest with yourself. Clarifying what you truly can and canât change will allow you the space to spend that energy and effort on things you would otherwise invest on fruitless battles, but instead, can now act upon and use to focus your mind. Right there, in front of you, are the ways that you can now move forward.
Hereâs a hint: top of your list should be celebrating your achievements. Especially the small things. You have total control over how you respond to good things and itâs time you gave yourself the space you need to savour these moments⊠before you rush on to the next thing.
I hope you enjoy this weekâs newsletter. If thereâs anything youâd like me to share in a future issue, or ideas for what youâd like to read about, just drop me an email me at graceamymaud@gmail.com.
Until next week, with love,
Grace x
Grab your copy of the Profitable Side Hustle Workbook
Have you thought about starting your own side hustle but donât know where to start? In this 15 page interactive PDF workbook, I tackle why having a side hustle is a great idea, how you can launch one in 5 simple steps and what the implications on your tax situation are (itâs not as complicated as youâd think!)
What Iâve been appreciating this week
âWe often donât feel good about ourselves because we look to our left and our right, and we see somebody else doing better. But the thing is, in life, thereâs always going to be somebody else who does it better than you. Doing it at your own pace and not comparing yourself to other people is the key.â Vogue hits the nail squarely on the head in this piece about reducing the relentless âneed to succeedâ on social media.
6 freelancers share how the last 6 months have affected them financially - with many self-employed people falling through the cracks of the governmentâs grant scheme, itâs been tough to say the least.
We can never escape ourselves⊠but hereâs to the art of caring less!
This article was written by a robot. Perhaps the next thing they could do is start running the country? That would be handy.
Iâve always been a bit of an awkward turtle, but I dread to think what my first date out of lockdown will be like, because Iâve forgotten how to be a person, as has everyone else, apparently.
What do a treehouse, a miniature farm in a cupboard and an ironing board have in common? Theyâve all become ingenious work from home set ups!
In London, where a house formerly designed for the local council can sell for more than a million pounds, this article looks at âmiddle class modernismâ and how the surge in popularity for âgrittyâ and brutalist backdrops is coming at the expense of those who they were originally intended to house.
The Art (of freelancing)
Katie Smith is a freelance illustrator based in Glasgow. This week she posted this glorious sunflower woman and I just had to share it with you. Thereâs something about the combination of the sunflowers and the jazzy trousers I need to emulate. You can check out more of Katieâs work here!
If youâre a freelance artist, illustrator or designer and would like to be featured in the art of freelancing, reply or DM me!
The Freelancer Conundrum #2
Every week I tackle a question a freelancer has sent in. Hit reply or drop into the DMs over at @FreelanceCollectiveUK if you have a freelancing question I can help you with!
Q: Iâve just started freelancing (as of this week!) and Iâve been approached to illustrate a graphic, which would be sold on a garment. I am unsure what to charge the client, what my rights are in relation to my designs and Iâm also wary that the client wants to work without a contract. Itâs so tricky turning down a job when youâre new, but also, I donât want to get ripped off. How do I know what a reasonable charge for my work would be?
A: Congratulations on getting your first piece of potential work within your first week of freelancing - thatâs a great achievement in itself! First and foremost, whatever youâve thought to charge, itâs not enough. Youâre not just billing for the time it would take you to complete the illustration, youâre billing for the years of experience that got you to this point, your unique style (which they clearly love as they want it on their products) and your care and attention to detail. As an artist, it can be difficult to turn down paid work, but you have to be careful here. This is your way to make a living now. You need to draft up your own contract and insist that they sign it. It gives an air of professionalism that you now need to exude and it also ensures that you are protected, should the relationship go south (and quite honestly, this will probably happen at some point with a client, as it does to us all!) In your contract, you need to stipulate your terms - e.g when you will invoice and what your payment terms are (14 days tends to work best I find), a timeline of when they can expect the first draft by, how many revisions of the work you will allow (to ensure that endless revisions donât create a second entirely different piece which your client has access to as well as your first iteration) and any additional costs like expenses or rush fees. Separately, you asked about copyright. This is a complex matter that I would recommend you research thoroughly, but I would like to point you in the direction of this post here, which summarises your position as a designer well. Essentially, the copyright to your work is yours as your IP (intellectual property) unless you sign it away to the client, which should incur an appropriately hefty fee. Assuming thatâs not what you want to do, your contract should outline the âlimited usageâ terms for the client and let them know that should they wish to develop other products, they will need your permission again, and pay you, to use your art. Good luck!
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The Weekly Atty
This week Atticus kept trying to eat my grapes, no matter how high out of reach I put them, so hereâs a picture of him looking drunk on grape juice.
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Thanks for subscribing! I'm Grace, Iâm a career coach in training and the person behind this newsletter. I am the founder of the freelance community, The Freelance Collective (thereâs a theme, I know) and you can also follow me on Instagram here, and Twitter here.