Tag Archives: being a freelancer

Freelance writing in Carlisle

As any entrepreneur will tell you, businesses don’t always evolve in predictable ways. The founders of Morrisons probably didn’t envisage their egg and butter stall becoming one of the country’s biggest supermarkets – not least since supermarkets didn’t exist in 1899. YouTube started life as a dating website, Peugeot originally manufactured hand tools forged in their own steel foundry, and early LEGO toys were made out of wood. How times change.

From Lanarkshire to the Lake District

When G75 Media was founded in 2007, I expected my fledgling copywriting agency would be a local company for local people. I named it after the suburb of East Kilbride I lived in, to entice Lanarkshire-based businesses away from national agencies with little understanding of our local community. Yet things didn’t turn out that way. Today, G75 Media is a multidisciplinary content production agency, still handling copywriting but also producing journalism and digital content on a daily basis. A third of our clients are American, and only two companies on our books are based in Scotland – on the east and west coast respectively. We have no clients in Lanarkshire.

It was partly for this reason that the decision was made in 2021 to relocate G75 Media to England, where most of our clients are based. We’ve retained a physical office in Glasgow’s IFSD, but our day-to-day activities now revolve around the Great Border City. Our timing was perfect – Carlisle is midway through a multi-faceted investment masterplan which will see transformation in almost every sector. The 14th century Citadels will underpin a new university campus, while the neighbouring train station is being rebuilt from the inside out to cope with rising passenger numbers along the West Coast Mainline. The largest of England’s 14 approved Garden Villages will be built along the £220 million Carlisle Southern Link Road which is scheduled to complete next year, while recent investment-led takeovers are transforming the fortunes of Carlisle Airport and Carlisle United football club.

All clients great and small

In a buoyant local economy, G75 Media can offer our award-winning copywriting and journalism services to a growing number of local businesses. As well as established Carlisle employers like McVities, Pirelli, Story and Esken, there are numerous startups and small enterprises requiring freelance writing in Carlisle. From microbreweries to jewellers, the city’s Historic Quarter is packed with artisan businesses and boutique stores, while one of England’s largest industrial estates is home to innumerable logistics and manufacturing companies. While we don’t offer local discounts for freelance writing in Carlisle, our services have already been engaged by IT companies and publishers based in the city.

Whatever your industry, and irrespective of your content needs, G75 Media is here – in every sense – to provide freelance writing in Carlisle and across the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland. Local knowledge underpins much of the work we do, and we always welcome new opportunities to showcase our expertise. Get in touch with us for more information on how we can assist with content production, journalism and freelance writing in Carlisle.

How many clients should I have?

For freelancers, there’s a perennial balancing act between finding enough work and becoming overwhelmed. If you haven’t got enough clients on your books, the days can become frustrating and drawn-out in equal measure.  Attract too much work, and the only way to meet the constant barrage of approaching deadlines is to start working in the evenings and weekends – or let your quality control drop in the interests of getting work out of the door. Since these options will respectively lead to burnout and lost clients, it’s far better to seek the Goldilocks solution – just the right amount of work to keep you busy without precluding holidays or a good night’s sleep.

The problem many freelancers face is knowing how many clients to have on their books at any given time. It’s a tightrope act every self-employed creative or company director will wrestle with on a regular basis. To help people who want to be a freelance writer set realistic targets, and to benefit people already struggling with this thorny problem, we’ve shared our thoughts based on our own experiences. These are the key factors to bear in mind…

Frequency of work

Firstly, review your existing client portfolio (assuming you have one). How many of your accounts are regular, as opposed to sporadic or seasonal? G75 Media produces weekly blogs for a leading Ofcom-approved price comparison site, and a biannual newsletter for a national chain of opticians. The latter is more time-consuming, but the former requires several hours dedicating to it every week. Get a year-to-view planner and map out the level of work you can expect in the rest of 2024, which will highlight gaps in your schedule and indicate how many clients to have.

Existing commitments

Next, think about your own lifestyle. Do you need to finish at 3pm every day to do the school run, or take a few weeks off every summer for childcare? Do you go abroad every December to escape Christmas, or struggle to work regular hours due to unpredictable caring responsibilities? Many companies don’t care when or where freelance writers produce content providing it’s supplied by a certain deadline, but some firms might expect you to be available at set times. And that’s before we get into the thorny issue of whether you’re allowed to work from a home office or expected to attend client premises…

Complexity of assignments

Every client has varying expectations. We have clients who are happy to receive Word documents, and others who want articles uploaded into a CMS like Wix or WordPress. Some clients want copyright-free images supplying, while others expect pull-quotes and meta descriptions. This affects the amount of time each piece of work requires – in turn affecting how much free time you have. Spend a week compiling a timesheet at 15-minute intervals to get an idea of how busy you really are. This will reveal the proportion of your week being wasted on procrastination/social media/coffee breaks/chatting.

The risk of losing clients

In G75 Media’s first full year of trading, we had two clients who provided 75 per cent of our annual turnover. Today, we have a dozen clients, none of whom individually contribute more than 15 per cent of our income. Consequently, the loss of any one client wouldn’t be catastrophic. It’s easy to put all your eggs on one basket, especially early in your freelancing career, but always think about how you’d fill the working week (and pay the bills) if you suddenly lost your biggest source of income.

Your personality

This is far too diverse a factor to sum up in one paragraph, but essentially, it relates to how you cope under pressure. If you’re a single workaholic, burning the midnight oil enables you to increase turnover, whereas a fifty-something parent may be less keen on weekend working. Everyone copes differently with pressure, impending deadlines and project management. Being organised also makes it easier to juggle multiple projects; Trello boards are a great way of highlighting key deadlines and ensuring you don’t forget anything.

Although G75 Media has a healthy roster of freelance copywriting clients, we’re always happy to discuss new assignments and projects, from one-off commissions to regular work. Contact us to discuss how our award-winning copywriting services could benefit your brand or business.