Mea Culpa

Dear Readers, 

It's been a while since my last post and you may be were wondering where I was.

Before I give you an explanation, I would like to apologize for my absence and my silence. I'm sorry.

There was a lot going on. There have been a lot of changes in my life lately: place, job, friends, etc. Everything has changed. My last internship came to an end and I found myself at the crossroads. This time, I really had to decide which way I wanted my life to go. I have been hiding behind my circumstances for too long. I've never found myself smart enoug, bold enough, beautiful enough, creative enough (and many other adjectives) to dare going at the pursuit of my dreams. I've never even been courageous enough to voice them aloud.

But there are moments in life when you feel time has arrived, when your guts scream "Go!" and you can't do anything but follow your instinct and take the big dive. My moment came one month ago, when jobless and broke, I had to decide what to do next with my life. I realized that although I've learned a lot, I've never been  fully satisfied with all my internships. I've never practice my job the way I wanted to nor did I work into the field I really wanted to. I was afraid to be myself. I was afraid of my own dreams.

You know what Marilyn Monroe said : "Sometimes good things should fall apart so better things can fall together". I think I now understand what she meant. The ad agency I interned for had promised to hire me at the end of the trial period but they didn't. I was very disappointed. I didn't have any back-up plan. I wasn't expecting that swing. I was quite disgusted.

After a period of wavering, I had to decide and I did. Readers, I'm going entrepreneur. Yes guys, I've decided to launch my own project. I've teamed up with an amazing company to launch a startup that target freelancers. The unemployment rate is steadily increasing here in my country. I believe I can do something to help curb it with a platform that connects job seakers to small companies.

Instead of waiting to my dream job to come to me, I've decided to create it. I'm really thrilled by the days ahead of me. I can't wait for the whole project to come to life. It's taking shape and it's exciting.

I'll be telling you my journey as an entrepreneur in my posts here. I would like to share this experience with you. 

To end this post, please let me thank you. For everything. For being there, silent and invisible presence in my life, listening to me and encouraging me to go forward, to go further. I like to imagine that you're beside me,   cheering my success and wiping my tears, high fiving me or simply smiling to me.

Thank you very much. To each and every one of you.

xoxo

MillyJody

Going Freelance

I've recently been contacted by a friend of mine who runs a young fashion brand. He thought it was  time for his company to start caring about its image and get some promotion. I was flattered he thought I could help.

We had a discussion about how he was considering the overall thing, his objectives, the budget, etc... After that, I seriously started thinking about going freelance. I'm already giving (free) advices to former classmates and friends on PR and Communication. I'm may be not an experienced professionnal with 10 or 20 years of in-house/agency work but I own a degree in Public Relations since two years, I did a bunch of internships, I was a good student with good grades and I graduated with honors. Plus, I like to think of myself as a smart and creative girl, so why not?

But I had a concern: what does it takes exactly to go freelance?

I went online to document myself and read some writings about freelancing. I found some helpful links and I learned a lot. Before going freelance, there are some questions you should ask yourself and while in the process, there are some essentiel things you need to know. Here's is a résumé:

•  Why do you want to go freelance?

For me, this is the most important question. Answer it first before doing anything else: Is the (relative) freedom of freelancing appealing to you or are you a job seeker who thinks it's the only way to work in these times of recession? May be do you imagine freelancing will allow you to unleash your creativity. Whatever your reasons, make sure they are good.

• Who are your clients? What do they need?

You need to know who you want to work for. Do you target little companies, agencies in your neighbourhood/town? The bakery of your neigbourhood, young and talented artists, etc..? Make a list of potential clients and figure out what you can do for them.

• Figure out your services: what do you bring to your clients?

How can you help your clients reach their communication/economic objectives? Can you be an asset for them? What are your skills and how can you make them profitable for you?

•  Be aware of the legal issues

How to write a contract, to avoid the non-payment of fees, etc... Make you sure you get everything in writing.

• Build your own brand

You want to promote other people? Start with you. Get yourself a good website or blog (or both), some good business cards. Be active on social networks.

• Forget the paycheck's comfort

This if you want to go fully freelance. Money uncertainty is the first worry of the wannabe freelance. You better have some money kept, enough to live six months until your first incomes.

• Network

 You need some good contacts in companies, agencies, press, etc.. Call your college mates and let them know what you do, join a local business network, use social media to make some new contacts.

• Make sure the freelance lifestyle is for you

 Helen James, founder of Freelance UK,  recommends to work out what's important in terms of your lifestyle too. Freelancing may not be a steady stream of work, especially as you get your business off the ground. One of the benefits for employers is that they can often ask a freelancer for last minute work, over the weekend perhaps. So bear this in mind. Plenty of freelancers take on evening and weekend work initially before leaving their permanent job.

• Have a good plan

Draw a good plan. Write everything down with a lot of details: time management, services, clients promotion, your plan to get clients, the number of projects you handle at a time, etc. Be organized.

I still have some fears but I think I'll give freelance a try. I'll keep my actual job and work on some little projects on my off-work hours. Wish me good luck. If you have some advices, feel free to share on the comments section.

Here are some useful links about freelancing:

• 9 questions to ask before going freelance
• Freelance Marketing and PR
• Going Solo: A guide to working freelance in fashion PR (this can be applied in any field of PR)
• The A to Z guide to PR entrepreneurship
• Ten tips for going freelance