This is the year of the freelancer, with around 5.1 million people in the UK now classifying themselves as self-employed. As such, competition is steep and it has never been more important to stand out from the crowd to find work in the industry.

Meet Angelica, a freelance photographer who has turned her passion into a thriving career in a very short space of time. After completing the Rise, Freelancer programme in association with Xero, Angelica’s freelancing journey skyrocketed, proving that with the right support and determination, dreams do come true.

I jumped on the Tinder bandwagon a while back. Albeit a bit reluctantly, I should add.  As someone who had the phrase ‘don’t talk to strangers’ drilled into me from the time I could talk, the idea of dating strangers I’d met online seemed a bit dodgy. So, I put off downloading the app for ages. 

For some, freelancing is something extra on the side of full or part time work and it can be difficult to balance the two, especially if there is very little cross-over. While it may seem the more work you have, the better, it is important not to over-commit yourself, as you could risk jeopardising the quality and integrity of the finished product.

Freelancers and the self-employed are a significant part of the British workforce, accounting for over 13% of total employment. Recent data from the Office for National Statistics indicates that as of early 2024, there are approximately 4.3 million self-employed individuals in the UK. This marks a notable increase of 146,000 self-employed workers in the past six months.

It's official. Freelancing is on fire. More people and companies are hiring freelancers than ever before and there is a genuine opportunity for talented individuals to earn a living or generate extra income from their skills and passion. However, there's a problem and it's a big one that not enough platforms are talking about. One in five freelancers fail within their first year of business and 60% are forced to close their doors within 5 years. A worrying statistic and one that badly needs addressing. We delve deeper to find out what is going wrong and how we can fix it?

As a home for freelancers, we're always looking for ways to improve the lives of our members and AI offers an abundance of opportunity for us to do just that. The question, however, is how should we use AI to support our community? It seems like every other day, there's a new AI tool promising to revolutionise the way we work. 

Notice the word I use in the title?  I don’t say thrown into the deep end. I say jump. That implies it’s done voluntarily. It’s done with ownership and accountability.  Once you make that leap and enter the water — you have zero excuses. You are either a victim or victor to your own ego.  Nobody threw me in against my will. I threw myself in. I may have well ignored all the advice, all the warning signs…as I know I’m a good swimmer