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Being Freelance
Being Freelance
Steve Folland

Being Freelance

EntrepreneurshipBusinessCareersEnglish

Freelancing? Being boss of your own life and business can be tough and isolating. But it can also be totally rewarding. Pick up tips, advice and strategies on how to make it as a freelancer, a solopreneur, a fractional this, a self-employed that, as the owner of your own independent creative business - by hearing other freelancers share their experience. 


Hosted by fellow freelancer Steve Folland. Serving the world's self-employed with episodes and support since 2015.


Come join us in the Being Freelance Community - You're not alone being freelance. www.beingfreelance.com/community

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Episodes

Networking Can Work! How Andre De Almeida built his freelance business on conversations
19 October 2026

Networking Can Work! How Andre De Almeida built his freelance business on conversations

Moving from Brazil to London to learn English in 2016, Andre De Almeida didn’t just pick up the language - he picked up the Being Freelance podcast and studied a new way to live and work too!After being made redundant from an in-house role, he used what he’d learned from listening to jump headfirst into full-time freelancing. The key to his growth? In-person networking, vulnerability, and a...
From Burnout to Balance: Pacing Your Business as a Neurodivergent Freelancer with Celie Nigoumi
12 October 2026

From Burnout to Balance: Pacing Your Business as a Neurodivergent Freelancer with Celie Nigoumi

Photographer and creative facilitator Celie Nigoumi shares her journey from severe burnout and chronic health challenges after university to building a thriving freelance business that works for her in a way normal employment and fluorescent offices never could. Celie talks about navigating neurodivergence, merging multiple niches into a single authentic personal brand, and using boundary-setting...
Embracing The Weird: How Quirky Outreach Built a Copywriting Business with Helen Carrie
05 October 2026

Embracing The Weird: How Quirky Outreach Built a Copywriting Business with Helen Carrie

What happens when the industry you’ve worked in for a decade gets shut down overnight? In this episode, host Steve Folland chats with Helen Carrie to talk through her complete freelance overhaul when COVID hit. Helen worked in UK television production: traveling the world, interviewing celebrities; before the pandemic brought it all to a stop. Forced to evaluate her skills, she decided to try her...
5 Ways AI Could Be Tripping Up Your Freelance Business - Bonus - with lawyer Ingrid Fernandez
23 August 2026

5 Ways AI Could Be Tripping Up Your Freelance Business - Bonus - with lawyer Ingrid Fernandez

AI is already in your freelance business, whether you invited it or not. The usual Being Freelance podcast is on its summer break, but here's a bonus treat for you: a replay of a live LinkedIn session Steve did with lawyer Ingrid Fernandez, part of the Being Freelance community, looking at what AI means for freelancers legally - not "will it take my job" but "how does it change my contracts, my...
The Blogs Became Books... Became Clients - David Airey
19 July 2026

The Blogs Became Books... Became Clients - David Airey

David Airey is a freelance graphic designer based in Northern Ireland, self-employed since 2005. He's the author of several best-selling design books including Logo Design Love and Identity Designed - both of which started life as blogs, before turning into books... before turning into a steady stream of client work.In this episode, David talks with us about:Persuading his former employer to be...
Freelancer BTS - Not rushing on
12 July 2026

Freelancer BTS - Not rushing on

New full episode coming soon. But in this super short one - Steve Folland explains why he's not publishing a new interview this week.Too often we rush on from one thing to another.But by doing so we don't do justice to the thing we just finished.With the Being Freelance podcast, that can mean not promoting an episode with clips, socials and emails. That doesn't help the podcast, the guest OR the...
Freelancing Through Every Tech Shift Since the 90s - Lisa Emmington
05 July 2026

Freelancing Through Every Tech Shift Since the 90s - Lisa Emmington

Lisa Emmington is a freelance instructional designer (or as her newly SEO'd website puts it, a training course designer) based near Milton Keynes. She's been freelance almost her entire career, starting out as an IT trainer back when Apple Macs were a mystery box on people's desks, and has reinvented her business every time the market has shifted underneath her - from face to face training, to...
Chase the Happiness: Meaningful Freelancing - Filmmaker Zoe East
28 June 2026

Chase the Happiness: Meaningful Freelancing - Filmmaker Zoe East

Zoe East has never had a proper job. A work experience placement at a big TV channel that felt old-fashioned and sexist put her off the traditional route before she'd even graduated, so she went freelance instead and never really looked back. That was over ten years ago.She started with whatever work came along. The niche found her gradually: charities doing meaningful work, heritage and culture...
The Recipe Is Always the Same: Reach Out, Follow Up - Émilie Chen
21 June 2026

The Recipe Is Always the Same: Reach Out, Follow Up - Émilie Chen

French creative Émilie Chen had what she calls her dream job: senior designer at The National Theatre in London, working on posters she'd dreamed about since university. Years later though, it had turned sour in the studio, her mental health took a hit, and she gave herself 8 months to start saving money and figure out her next Act. What got her there wasn't a clever strategy. It was people....
Freelancing as an Unpaid Carer - Adrian Ashton
14 June 2026

Freelancing as an Unpaid Carer - Adrian Ashton

Adrian’s been a successful freelancer for 21 years. But in the past 7, his definition of framing success has changed.For the last seven years, Adrian has also been an unpaid carer for three immediate family members. He talks honestly about what that's meant for his business - the travel he's had to give up, the networking events he can't get to, the inquiries he's had to turn away, and why he...