Becoming a freelance consultant is a dream for many. I’ve been lucky enough to have a successful freelance career as a social media and digital PR consultant for the last few years. There’s been some bumps along the way, but advice and encouragement from a wide range of people enabled me to go it alone … Read more
A friend recently asked if I knew of any upcoming London tech events, so I sent them back a list of the sites I use to keep updated with the latest Tech, Startup and Hack Day events in London. Some of these events listings are for membership-based organisations, such as TechHub and Campus London. Please … Read more
Ah, networking. Otherwise known as "talking to other people about what they do" or "collecting as many business cards / twitter / LinkedIn connections as physically possible". Have you ever read an article about networking that wasn’t full of common sense points and cliché? They mostly describe networking experiences as working something like this: In … Read more
!["2014]("https://benrmatthews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Screen-Shot-2014-12-26-at-18.52.00-720x265.png")
I’ve been enjoying reading various 2014 Year in Review posts, including Stephen Waddington, Nathan Barry and Patrick McKenzie, so thought I’d share my own mini review of the year, concentrating on this blog as my main source of online activity (outside of work).
Here are the main stats for this blog in 2014.
Travel Selfie by Seth Eckert As a freelancer and small business owner, I find it vitally important to take a regular step back and look at what I’ve been working on for the past year, to help shape the year ahead. I’ve had my head so buried in work in recent months that it’s taken … Read more
!["Tech]("https://benrmatthews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/tech-for-good.jpg")
One of the things I’ve been struggling with as a freelancer lately is focussing in on a sector that matches my own values and who the clients I work with give me work that I enjoy doing. Often when your values and your clients’ are aligned, your work will be better as a result. This has the added benefit of making your client happier too.
This is easier said than done.
I’ve been struggling because some of the clients I’ve been working with recently haven’t matched my values and so poor work, somewhat beneath my usual standard, has crept through. This hasn’t been anything to do with my clients, who are fantastic to work with and appreciate my work, but is more to do with me and the opportunities I take on.
I often chat to my better half about what kind of clients I want to work with. She says I need to focus on a particular group of clients I enjoy working with and match my values. I agree and resolve to do something about it, only to take on a non-value-matching client the next week, under the guise of a nice client and good money. C’est la vie.
That has changed though, as I’ve found the area I want to focus on: Tech For Good.
It can be scary making the leap from full-time job to being a freelancer. I remember how daunting it was to leave my job and start out on my own. I was lucky enough to have jobs at great places to work, with decent pay, good colleagues, and interesting work. By going freelance, I was risking all of … Read more
According to the UK Office of National Statistics, one in seven British workers, are freelance, while in America the Freelancers Union estimate it is as high as one in three, with Forbes predicting 50% will be self employed by 2020. It’s easy to understand why. The benefits of working from home, being your own boss and choosing your own hours … Read more
this is a three-part webinar series called bootstrap freelancing the first part is gonna be aa on how to start your freelancing business if you don’t know me my name is Chad Fullerton I’m from the Hamilton freelancers Association and run my own company my own marketing company called Fullerton media and also a website … Read more