Jobless, becoming Freelance, where do I go from here? please!

[Sonnet]

I would very much apprecate your views on my situation and your thoughts on where I should go from here.

Right, I am soon to be jobless and really need to earn money (and indeed want to work)

i have been in the marketing field for 15 years, taking on a number of different roles.

I would really like to be freelance - I suppose freelance marketeer would be a good start. I also feel like a new challange and a change and am interested in college lectoring ( marketing, advertising etc.) where would I start with this. I expect I would have to do a teaching qualification?

I feel "cut a drift" and could do with some words of wisdom and encouragement from any other freelance mumnsetters please.....

Hi,

RE: Teaching/Lecturing in Colleges - Link here.

I have absolutely nothing useful to suggest about freelance marketing but the link above is about going into volunteer work for lecturing in schools, colleges and universities. You do really need to do volunteering before you can move into getting paid work for this.

There are courses too on this, sure they are called "Teaching in the lifelong learning sector" - not sure on that, but google it and it should come up.

If you are going to plan on going freelance, get into as many websites that host freelance jobs and just start emailing, have a CV to send over and consider making a website about yourself, your accomplishments and previous experience too. I have found that having my (free hosted) website has been the most time saving step I've yet come across.

Just a quick thought... I did Business Management and we had loads of "guest speakers" coming out to us at the time. Maybe it could be an idea to look into setting up a company where you can take on marketing work for clients, but also host workshops within schools and colleges, for a fee.

Most schools now have an "Enterprise Week" (or month) so there probably is space in the market for this.

Sorry! Turned out much longer than expected LOL. Good luck!

re lecturing/teaching at college level - I would suggest first of all looking at all the local colleges and the courses they offer - identify some that strike a chord with your professional experience, identify relevant department heads and then email them asking them if you could call them for a chat. you might want to attach your cv - or possibly just include a very quick summary of who you are in the email.

re other freelance work - my starting point would always be your existing contacts - do you current employers use freelancers? have you used any? i would recommend as much networking as possible - phone people to get an idea what's possible. meet people for coffee. find out about professional organisations/websites/netwroking events (in my field freelance consultants often work through small partnerships) then, once you've got a better idea of what's out there you can start being a bit more targetted with speculative letters and your cv.

I guess what I'm saying is that your first step is research. lots of it.

Check if you have a local Business Link service in your area. They are a government funded operation that offers you support, advice and mentoring in setting up on your own. They can help you write a business plan, identify training needs and put you in touch with the right services. Most of this is free, though there is a nominal charge for some courses they run. I've just attended my local "PR and how to write a Press Release" course and found it really useful. Next week I have an appointment with an advisor to talk me through issues surrounding Importing products. So theie knowledge and experience can be really varied. I suppose it's a bit like having a careers advisor again!
Might be worth a try to set you on the right path. Good Luck.

Hi again,

Just thought I would give you this link People Per Hour if you haven't come across it already. It is a UK based and I was just looking through it for some work, and noticed there are a lot of marketing/PR jobs on there.

Also agree with tinytalker - Business Link!

And lots of trial and error!

Thank-you all so much - just got time to log back on to this.
I haven't read all your posts in detail but will do so later on this morning.
Thanks again

Go for it Sonnet! What have you got to lose? You have experience so utilise it to your advantage. I imagine the hardest bit will establishing a client base but you may already have contacts. If not, networking is the way to go. Business Link, Chamber of Commerce can all help with events in your area.

Agree that Business Link is great place to start. It can all seem a bit daunting at first but they will help set you off on the right path with business plan etc.

People Per Hour is good for picking up odd bits of work - it's a bit like ebay but for business. The disadvantage is that people want to pay peanuts for your service and you get stung in charges if your bid is accepted. Worth looking at though.

Good luck with it all.

elance might be helpful tho i haven't really quite got to grips with it

elmosworld, who do you get your free website though - i want to set up a 2 page site for myself - and dont want to pay at this stage as i have no income whatsoever at present! thanks

Go for it Sonnet. If you are in marketing or comms you should have now problem. There are agencies who specialise in placing people with marketing experience and you should be able to command a reasonable day rate with 15 years' experience. You could also look to lecture on CIM courses. When I did my CIM it was basically freelance marketers than ran the lectures. Good luck

Sonnet - I echo what Choogirl says, local freelancers run CIM courses. Our local Chamber of Commerce also did a 10-part marketing course for small business run by freelancers. Our rural development agency also does them - but you need a frightening level of public liability insurance. Our local college also does short marketing courses for small business.

The catch if you are from the big business sector is you may find that what you think is important is not what small businesses want to hear, and you will have to do a lot on the fashionable, 'sexy' end of marketing like SEO. They often don't want to hear about marketing that costs money, like advertising or branding.

AND there is also the dilemma - every time you run a 'do it yourself' marketing course, you've taken away potential customers for your freelance marketing work. How much of a problem this is will depend on your local area and its business profile.