Freelancer In Focus for October - Charlie Wilson

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Description How have you found working freelance? What are the highs and lows, the frustrations and the bonuses? Taking the plunge to go freelance is the best decision I’ve ever made. I love the freedom and flexibility of my work, and I find I am far more challenged now than I ever was working in-house. The variety of my projects makes each day different and interesting, and I read/write on so many different subjects these days that I’m in demand for the local pub quiz! Of course, freelancing comes with its challenges. The work can ebb and flow: one day I may be quiet and focus on marketing, then the next I’ll be flat out for 14 hours and barely manage to fit in a quick sandwich at my desk. I’ve got used to this over time, and learnt to be flexible in terms of the hours I work. Freelancing also demands the ability to balance multiple diverse projects and deadlines at any one time. In one day I may be working on projects for four or five different clients, so adaptability is essential. Each client requires a different style of copywriting, copy-editing and proofreading, which means throughout the day I adapt my work to fit clients’ needs, sometimes jumping between styles all day. This is challenging, but I find good organisation and planning help me to stay on top of things. Has being a member of Freelancers In The UK helped you? We’d like to think so but how? Yes – Freelancers in the UK forms part of my online marketing strategy. My online presence here and links to my own website have boosted search engine rankings for Perfectly Write, and I’ve seen a healthy growth in new business enquiries as a result. I also find the work bulletins useful for picking up new business leads. What are the biggest challenges for you for the rest of 2007 and into 2008? My business plan for the rest of 2007 includes writing an online course. The planning and preparatory work is complete, but I now need to find time to sit down and write it. Once the course is written and approved in a pilot, the challenge will be designing a new website to deliver it. I will enjoy the writing side of this, but the design side is immensely challenging for me. By nature I’m a creative person, but this doesn’t necessarily extend to being skilled in design. However, I enjoy developing new skills and working to learn things that don’t come naturally to me. I hope to have the course online in 2008, then the next challenge will be writing and designing more courses to create a series. 4. Where's your favourite place in the UK and why? The Natural History Museum in London. It’s the most beautiful building I’ve ever seen and never ceases to awe me. As a little girl I used to go on school trips to the museum and I can remember being five years old and utterly enthralled by the huge, majestic building and the dinosaur bones within. I would stand in front of the huge diplodocus skeleton in the main hall and look up, up, up and feel so very small and fascinated by this huge creature that had once lived. For a long time, I was determined to be ‘a dinosaur bones lady’ so that I could work at the museum, then writing took over and the dream changed to one day getting married in the main hall. Sadly, I don’t think that’s possible, so I have to settle for visiting regularly. See Charlie's entry at www.freelancersintheuk.co.uk/products.php?productId=1332 and take a look at her own site at www.perfectlywrite.co.uk