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.

Contacts are the lifeblood of every freelancer, whether you're looking for more work or in need of some support from someone who's going through the same challenges. If you are new to the industry or your address book is looking a little sparse, it may be time to start to building our your network. Easier said than done, building your contact list takes time and perseverance. Knowing where to look, how to approach and managing your list will save you a lot of hassle. Here are our top 5 tips on building a useful contact list. 

Kimmy Lee decided that freelancing was the life for her straight out of University. Since then, she has battled the hurdles that she faced when starting out to become a one-woman design powerhouse. Today, Kimmy has the pleasure (and the balancing act of managing her workload) of designing the branding and visual identity for a variety of diverse clients that cross industries.

Stef Ivanov, UX/UI Designer, had worked for a number of companies as an in-house designer before diving into life as a freelancer. Today, his favourite part of the lifestyle is the freedom it brings, despite knowing next to nothing about being a freelancer to before becoming one! We talk about his previous jobs, his working day and his biggest career break yet. 

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:

Considering the number of column inches dedicated to Brexit, we are still no clearer to understanding the true impact of the most divisive decision the UK has made in decades. Freelancers have been largely overlooked in conversations about how British businesses and workers will be affected post-Brexit. Taking into account the number of freelancers who have clients in the EU, regularly provide professional services throughout Europe and contribute billions to the UK economy, it’s no wonder the self-employed community are a little on edge. 

Founder of Freelancer Club and voice of the #NoFreeWork campaign, Matt Dowling, was interviewed for RTE Radio 1 for the Business Show.