Founder of the Freelancer Club, Matt Dowling, and CEO of Dribbble, Zack Onisko sat down to discuss the role creative networks play in the freelance sector, manage their teams remotely, the art of collaboration and the future of work.

I’ve seen some pretty poor graphic design briefs during my time working in ad agencies.  As an account executive, I was the point of contact between clients and our design team. When a client wanted a new piece of content made, they’d send me a brief which I‘d pass onto to our designers. To be fair, most of the clients I worked with supplied plenty of useful information in their briefs. However, we received a fair chunk of pretty awful ones too. 

If Covid-19 has taught us anything, it’s the value of human interaction. Whether it be in person or through a screen, it’s something many of us craved during lockdown.  What can startups learn from this? That creating a strong company culture based on positive, regular communication amongst staff is extremely important.

Job interviews on Zoom can feel weird, awkward and disjointed. We’re all used to sussing the client’s vibes in person and adjusting our behaviour accordingly. That said, Zoom interviews are the future of freelance employment (whether we like it or not!). This means that adaptation is key. With these simple 10 tips, you should be on your way to nailing your next freelance job interview on Zoom!

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” - This has long been a regrettable reality for freelancers seeking to develop their career.

To help get businesses off the ground, many start-ups hire freelancers with specific skill sets (app developers, web designers, content writers etc.) for a short period of time. We really wanted to understand the process of hiring freelancers from the perspective of a startup. What challenges do they face? What could freelancers do better? How can startups and freelancers work together more harmoniously to support each other? To find out, we spoke to three startups, Petal, 1001 Stories and Big 7 Travel, who told us about their experiences of employing freelancers.

Client: I wonder if she got my message. I sent it a few minutes ago and still no reply. Look, I’ll send her one more just to be on the safe side… Freelancer: My god, if this person messages me one more time. Does she not understand that she’s not the only client on my books? Sound familiar?

For those of you who have been struggling with heavy, negative thoughts, nagging anxiety or even if you’re wondering why the heck your brain is taking you on an emotional rollercoaster during these weird times, this Masterclass will prove helpful in unpacking these emotions.