When the pandemic first hit, we were flooded with worried messages from freelancers who feared they would lose their clients and be forced to pause or close their business. Our first instinct was to support our members on a local level by offering one to one support, the option to freeze membership fees and opening up a lot of the premium benefits to all members. On a broader level, we felt the Government was ignoring the self-employed community and added our voice to demand financial support for freelancers.

The self-employed community can temporarily breath a sigh of relief as Rishi Sunak announced an extension to the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme. The Scotsman spoke with Matt Dowling, founder of the Freelancer Club to get his immediate reaction.

Promoting and marketing your service online has always been an important aspect of every freelancer's business but during lockdown, it might be the difference between surviving or going bust. Pour yourself a coffee and join us for a unique breakfast workshop with Digital Marketing specialist Emma Goode of 24 Fingers and the Micro Business Mentor, Kathy Ennis for a business workshop on digital marketing delivered in a casual environment. 

Ask Me Anything video series with Ross Stirling, the Founder and Creative Director of Studio Juice, an independent design studio who have spent the last decade building purpose-driven lifestyle campaigns for brands such as Ugg, Camden Town Brewery, Adidas, LaCoste, Major League Baseball and Vans along with music artists including Mumford and Sons, Tom Chaplin and Craig David to name just a few.       ​@ross_juice studiojuice.com omearalondon.com

There’s no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has caused tremendous disruption and confusion. We all know this well by now. What’s more, the social and economic ramifications are continually developing and hard to predict. Whilst the UK has been in lockdown for what feels like a very long time, settling into “the new normal” still remains a struggle.

Adding new projects is an important way to showcase your work to the club, appear higher up on the Freelancer Club directory and present your portfolio to potential clients. You can add images, video, text, links and gifs. You can also format your project in many different ways to showcase your work exactly how you'd like it to be presented. This is critical when pitching for new freelance work.

Philip King, the Small Business Commissioner and Matt Dowling, founder of Freelancer Club, on the impact the coronavirus has had on freelancers, their reaction to the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and the campaign to end the scourge of unpaid invoices.

Ask Me Anything video series with Ivan Weiss, Portrait Photographer. Check out our recorded session where Ivan answers questions from how he lights his subjects to finding new clients. To connect with Ivan, enquire about mentoring or to admire his work, click here.     Browse our full event program.