“I love the freedom, flexibility, variety and potential of freelancing, but the places I used to get work don’t need me anymore, and I’m struggling to find a new service/niche that works. So I’m wondering whether a job might be a better option for a while. How do you know when it’s time to stop freelancing and look for a job? What would you take into consideration?”

“I’m a photographer specialising in analogue family photography (as in film, from the olden days when we were the kids!)… maternity, newborns, families etc. I’ve been in business for 15 years and have often struggled with the concept of “speculate to accumulate” when it comes to business growth. Or in the case of freelancers — personal growth! Do you subscribe to this theory? Obviously as freelancers we don’t often have the big budgets that larger corporations have to play with, so decisions around investing in further professional education, coaching, fancier equipment etc. take a bit of thinking about. It’s sometimes hard to know what will ‘move the needle’ in your business. Do you have a set of rules you apply when making decisions like this or do you follow your gut? Do you have any examples of times when the outcome of an investment in your own business growth has made it worthwhile? Or times when you’ve got it totally wrong and thrown your money down the drain?!"

"My question is around how to know where to draw the line between what you’ll give away for free vs what you’ll charge for in your business? In the crafting world there is so much free information available online. I’ve learnt lots over the years from generous free content that others have shared. I’m more than happy to share my own content for free but there does need to come a point where you start to charge otherwise it’s just not a business! I’d love to hear your thoughts on this."

“I’m eternally curious about how people tackle the summer holidays once they’ve got school age kids. It’s an impossible equation and there’s no one answer, but I feel like we can maybe come closer to our own personal truth by hearing how other people do it — to try and glean some inspiration."

"I’m writing this while feeding my baby in a sensory room. True story! Anyway, I’m going to be rebranding and renaming my business in the autumn, and wondered if you had any advice for what steps I could take between now and then to make it land with a bang? The rebrand has already been done with a designer (Mad About The Brand) — it’s all ready. I just want to make sure it cuts through the noise and makes some waves. I’m also coming back from maternity leave very soon — so it’s all a lot of change at once!"

“I’m subcontracting on a project with a fellow freelancer. I like them, and working with them has been great. The project however, has been anything but. The clients are difficult, their working patterns don’t fit with mine, and their constant changes have added to our workload many times. My question is — How do I maintain my relationship with the freelancer (with the hope of working with them again) while telling them that I don’t want to do phase two of the project? I only signed up for phase one, but the client is acting as though phase two is a done deal, so I need to extricate myself without the other freelancer feeling like I’ve left them in the lurch! Help!”

“How do you tell clients ‘I don’t want to attend that bloody meeting’!? I know meetings are needed (could have been an email though!) but my clients are now adding me to monthly all staff meetings, staff outings etc. I don’t even think all the staff realise I’m a freelancer?? It just ties up so much of my time and I also don’t actually care about holidays/xmas dos etc as I'M SELF EMPLOYED. Help!”

"I was asked by an organisation recently how much I’d charge to redesign a publication they produce three times a year, with a view to then designing that along with other publications for them going forward. Problem is, I sent the price in and now I’m convincing myself I’ve undercharged for the amount of work it will be… Kicking myself for letting the imposter syndrome voices in. What would you do? Suck it up because it’s your mistake, or go back to them and correct yourself so you don’t kick yourself each time you work on it (providing I get the job)? Have you ever revised a quote after sending it?"

“Dear Frankie and Steve, A retainer client of mine gave notice over the weekend (her business is quiet and she can’t afford to keep us on) but it’s got me thinking and feeling a bit stuck. I feel like *something is going to happen* — like a shift is coming? — but I can’t quite put my finger on it or work it out, and I’ve decided I want to do this myself rather than doing some coaching etc. I suppose my question is… What do you and Steve do when you feel like this? Do you ever feel like this?? Any tips or advice for working things out on your own? Thanks!”

“Hi Frankie and Steve! I have a childcare question for you… With our first born, we never considered putting her in nursery. I reduced my hours at my (employed) job and my partner and I shared looking after her by working alternate days. This time around I’m self-employed, and with my partner now working 5 days a week, I’m only able to work after 4pm which is really hard. I’m getting work done, but it’s incredibly difficult to get motivated to work at that time. Our youngest is now 2 and therefore qualifies for the 15 ‘free’ hours a week. But we both feel incredibly guilty about thinking of using a nursery, even for a couple of afternoons a week. I personally feel like I’m being selfish, because we are making it work at the moment without formal childcare, and the number 1 reason we’d put him in a nursery would be so I can work during the day a bit more. Sooo, can I have your pros and cons for using paid-for childcare when you’re in a situation like mine? When you don’t NEED to. Thank you Ps. I’d like a detective name please”

“Hi Frankie & Steve, I'm at a stage with my business where I know what I want to be doing and where it is going, but I need to get myself out there more. With 3 young kids, 3 small businesses, a dog and a tortoise ... I don't need to tell you, but I really don't have the time to be doing the marketing that I need to be doing. Especially as I am useless at it and don't really know what I'm doing! So I'm thinking about hiring some PR help but this doesn't come cheap. I'm sitting on the fence, umming and ahhing over it because I know that I *can* do it myself, but I don't want to get it wrong. But I also don’t want to spend money on something that might not work (which has happened in the past). So after my very long intro — my question is this: How do you know when the right time to be spending money on a business is? Are there certain markers I should be reaching financially, or audience wise before I consider signing up to what is likely to be a minimum 3-month contract? What do I do? My brain is going round and round in circles! Thanks, Katie”

“I’m struggling to get back into the rhythm of creating content consistently. This isn’t just an after-Christmas thing, this is an after-the-summer-last-year thing. I used to create every week without fail and I know people like what I do. And I even know it made a difference to my business, but I struggled with even once a month for the second half of the year. What do you think? How can I get my making mojo back?”

“Hi Frankie and Steve! I’ve been full-time freelance since 2020 (brave or stupid one month into a global pandemic?? You decide) and now have over 15 years of agency, in-house and freelance experience behind me. I charge by the hour and have some fabulous clients who trust the process and appreciate the timesheets I keep when I invoice them at the end of the month. I never quote up front, in fact, I refuse to do so because I am so bad at working out how long projects might take…! However, my question is — how do I know what my hourly rate should be? I never hear *anyone* discuss their hourly rate, and I am finding it quite a challenge to figure out if I am ‘doing it right’ or not? I currently charge £50 an hour for existing clients, and all new clients I have moved to a new rate of £65 an hour. I have had no one complain or question it, I have not lost a client from it, but at the same time, I don’t want to run the risk of losing a client or scaring away potential new clients if I am wayyyyyy off the mark in terms of pricing. How is everyone working this stuff out?? Thank you for the fabulous work you both do, keep it up! Kiemia”

Hi Frankie & Steve, With Wildling now at school, technically I have ‘more time’ available to me spread out over a full week. *Chokes on tea because we all know ‘more time’ is bullsh*t — have you seen the amount of school-related admin there is?!* Anyway. So far so good. But I need help managing this newfound time, and how to make the ‘best’ of it I suppose? I’m battling with setting boundaries, and how to approach and commit to new or potential partners/clients, as well as finding space for MYSELF too. I’m slowly finding a groove. But would love to know how you and everybody in DIFTK found this shift? Thanks! Louise”

“Hi Frankie & Steve! Do you think it’s possible to market yourself as a freelancer in 2024 without using social media? Particularly if you *hate* showing your face? Thanks! Ange”

“Hi Frankie & Steve, It's tough out there right now — what do you think is the quickest way freelancers can make something happen in terms of winning work? Thanks, Ayo”

“Hi Frankie & Steve! I am giving a 10 minute talk next week and I need your help. Public speaking is something I never do, so I had a little practice and filmed myself doing my talk and my voice is soooooo wishy washy. I hate it when I ‘ummm’ a lot so try to actively pause instead, but then the flow of the talk is all wrong? I just feel like my voice has no authority! How do you both make your voice sound so clear and confident? Have you always been good at speaking or have you just improved with time? Thanks! Esme”

“I work with corporate clients around workshop facilitation and keynote speaking. My question is around pricing transparency. I am finding that I am getting lots of enquiries (which I am very grateful for!). Most of the time I respond via email with my fees and the potential client doesn't have the budget. I would say this happens three quarters of the time. My fees are probably higher than average but I'm happy with the price point and the value I offer and I have lots of repeat clients that I work with closely. It's not a major admin task to respond to each enquiry individually but collectively over a month or so it can take up quite a bit of time. So I am looking at reviewing how I do things. I'm keen to understand what others do and why. Do they: 1. Display prices on your website? 2. Send fees in response to an enquiry, prior to setting up a meeting with the potential client? 3. Meet with the potential client first and then send prices after? Which approach do you think is best for maximising revenue, building relationships but also protecting time?"

“I had a situation recently where I responded to somebody who I know really well offering to help me with something. I said yes, appreciated the service they did for me and I paid them for that service. Afterwards, they asked if I’d be happy to give a testimonial and I said, ‘sure — how about you draft something and I’ll tweak it?’ They sent me something. I tweaked their words so it was more like me and shortened it so it wasn’t so gushy because… you know how some services just go the extra mile and they’re brilliant and you were wax lyrical about them because you loved them so much? Well, this wasn’t one of those situations. But nor was it a shit service. It was just… bang for your buck type stuff. Since then my endorsement has been used as a propeller for this particular service in online spaces and it’s just made me feel really uncomfortable. It’s made me really think about how we ask people for testimonials, but also, how we use those testimonials and how that lands with the person we’ve asked. Now I know it’s really important to get testimonials, and I know it’s really important to bang our own drums and promote ourselves — but is there a way to do that without making the people we’ve asked feel icky? I mean, should have I said — ‘happy for you to use this, but could you not plaster it everywhere, everyday, for 50 weeks of the year?!’ (which is how it feels at the moment) Because, if I’m honest, this experience is going to make me reluctant to give testimonials in the future and I would hate for any of my clients to feel like that.”

“As well as my work as a freelance project director and manager, I have a blog on the subject of everyday joy (in life and work), which I write on every now and then. I’d like to do more with it, but am afraid I could easily spend all of my time doing that instead of paid work, which of course isn’t really sensible! How do people who have similar side projects (blog, podcast etc) manage to balance it with paid work (or even manage to get paid something for doing the side project)?”