Do you consider yourself to be a creative or business person? Can you be both? The relationship between art and business has always been tenuous - many artists see what they do as an endeavour of the spirit rather than a means for capital gain and as a result, expressions such as ‘sell out’ are all too often chucked around.

The idea of spending money on a mentor, particularly when starting out or freelancing part-time may seem like the last thing on your shopping list but it may just be the one investment that saves you the most money in your career.

The idea of not setting an alarm in the morning and working in my dressing gown all day really aided in my decision to become a freelancer. But when my workload went from eight to nine to ten hour days and I was dragged from pillar to post by new clients wanting to meet in person before working with me, I soon realised that freelancing wasn’t going to be such a breeze. And there’s plenty of other misconceptions to being a freelancer, here are a few you may have encountered:

Most of my friends think I wake up at noon, tinker on the laptop for an hour before sauntering down to my local cafe for a Skinny Cappuccino. They are of the mind that the most stressful part of my day is when a splash of Almond milk finds its way onto my copy of Stylist magazine. When I tell them I clocked in over 80 hours this week and haven’t had a weekend since last year, I am met with a raised eyebrow.

What is the difference between an Editorial Shoot and Commercial Shoot? We get asked this question a lot and, although many of you may have heard the term or even shot in one or both formats, there is still plenty of confusion around the terminology, format, and outcome. Here's the lowdown.

In the era of #MeToo, we are all becoming more aware and empathetic of sexual harassment in the workplace. A recently published personal anecdote detailed the horrific story of one female freelance journalist who experienced being sexually harassed by a famous man while attempting to interview him at his flat. The incident made her realise that “most (women) do not take legal action,” and she puts this down to “cost and lack of evidence” as well as the “he said, she said” aspect that accompanies cases that “often take place behind closed doors.”

Here at the Freelancer Club, we understand that freelancers are constantly on the move. Whether traveling across town for a meeting, shooting on location, or attending an event, freelancers rarely have a minute for their business. In reality, freelancers miss a lot of opportunities when on a job or out of the 'office'. That's all about to change.

Being a freelancer is not always a breeze. Yes, you can work from bed in your pyjamas, but those long hours can get lonely, and where do you turn to when you want to receive adequate support, training and guidance that in-house creatives regularly benefit from?