For the self-employed, your career can often depend on the community you surround yourself with. Whether it’s the family member who encouraged you to start a business, the first client you gave to your friend or the colleague who recommended you for a career-altering project; freelancing is all about giving and gaining from who you know.
A real sense of community is an essential part of our mission as a members club. We want to clear the way for our members to connect and chat with each other, meet like-minded people and develop meaningful relationships. Our original discussion board wasn’t quite fit for this purpose, so we decided to go back to the drawing board.
A NEW LOOK
We’ve redesigned the look and feel of the entire discussion board and relocated it under a new Community menu option. Now, you can include full-width images, videos and GIFs in your conversations to help them stand out from the crowd and please the almighty algorithm.
We’ve also overhauled the search bar, adding a keyword search and the ability to filter your results by a specific profession like photographer, model or hairstylist. These changes should make it much easier for you to engage in conversations with like-minded members and get the answers you need.
COMMUNITIES
The biggest upgrade will be the launch of our new Communities feature. A bit like groups on Facebook, communities will give you a dedicated space to discuss a particular topic with other members for advice, opportunities and answers.
Do you want to get some feedback on your portfolio or meet other make-up artists in Manchester? Or maybe you want to sell some of your old equipment or find an experienced mentor? Learn how to get started as a new freelancer, introduce yourself to other members or share your favourite freelancer memes.
There’s a whole host of communities waiting for you to join, from the general to the super-niche and you can even make your own community if one doesn’t already exist. Anything and everything is possible, so long as it adheres to our safe content rules. Communities can be made open to everyone, created for specific professions or even kept invite-only if you’d like to keep it more private.
THE BENEFITS
There’s nothing like being able to discuss your work with other knowledgeable professionals in your industry. Our new format will give you access to a wealth of experienced freelancers that are readily available to answer all of your questions and give you that bit of honest, independent feedback you’re looking for. We firmly believe there’s no such thing as a stupid question, so all questions are welcome in any of our communities.
Take a look through any of the communities and you’ll be able to find like-minded individuals to chat with if you need a fresh creative perspective; accomplished professionals to learn from if you need some sage advice, and trusted people to recommend for jobs that fall outside of your skill-set. You can even swap skills with other freelancers if you’re fed up with doing Trade-for-Print!
You’ll get a space to float your new ideas for concept shoots to a target audience of your fellow creatives, or to ask for impartial and objective reviews on that new piece of kit on your wish list. Our updated discussion board should be a space where you feel comfortable giving us valuable feedback about your general priorities, thoughts, concerns or ideas for the site. Our grand vision is a virtual town square of micro-communities chatting all things freelance!
OVER TO YOU
We’re so excited to see the many discussions you’ll be having, the connections you’ll be making and the communities you’ll be creating.
If you have any questions or feedback on the new discussion board, please feel free to make a conversation post about it! We’d love to hear from you.
Photographer Credits:
Preview Image: Matheus Bertelli
Image 1: Freelancer Club
Image 2: Freelancer Club
