Monday 17 September 2018

One day one photo - 17: Freelancing

In my new life as a freelancer I am learning to deal with the variety that it brings. Every day and every week is different. Hell, learning!? There's nothing to learn. Variety is what I have always wanted, and have always strived for. That has been one of the things that has excited me most about going freelance.

Really honing that multi-tasking, multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary aspect of myself and challenging myself to be in the driving seat and to think outside the box.

A few healthcare communications agencies in London
Venues change - working in different parts of London, be it on-site, hot-desking or just being at home. I get to have a leisurely breakfast but I refuse to work in my pyjamas though!
Then of course on those light days I can always go for a bike-ride or run, or do other bits of reading - or even get out my crochet.

Sure, like most other things freelancing involves doing a few humdrum things like the billings, the monitoring (and sometimes chasing) for payment, as well as pitching for business.

But there's a certain amount of adrenaline that I get from my new function - almost like doing competitive sport. The planning, the training, the execution, winning and losing, and ultimately learning to get up the next day to do it all again, possibly with tweaks so you can do it better.

So as we enter another week I have a new place to work, funnily enough on Bankside - right where I was for the first time in ages just a few days ago, on a visit to Tate Modern. This time I will be at a healthcare advertising agency, as opposed to a medical education agency. To a layperson there's probably no difference in these places - just writing about healthcare and pharmaceutical drugs, but to us on the inside, there are different slants on the same thing, so different mindsets are needed. You also get a different ambiance when on-site in the agency. One is definitely more creative and slightly zany (no prizes for guessing which).

So yes, as the weeks go by I am finding new places, new challenges and new people. And that's what continues to drive me and help me enjoy my work.

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