“Hi Frankie & Steve! I am giving a 10 minute talk next week and I need your help. Public speaking is something I never do, so I had a little practice and filmed myself doing my talk and my voice is soooooo wishy washy. I hate it when I ‘ummm’ a lot so try to actively pause instead, but then the flow of the talk is all wrong? I just feel like my voice has no authority! How do you both make your voice sound so clear and confident? Have you always been good at speaking or have you just...

“I work with corporate clients around workshop facilitation and keynote speaking. My question is around pricing transparency. I am finding that I am getting lots of enquiries (which I am very grateful for!). Most of the time I respond via email with my fees and the potential client doesn't have the budget. I would say this happens three quarters of the time. My fees are probably higher than average but I'm happy with the price point and the value I offer and I have lots of repeat clients...

“I had a situation recently where I responded to somebody who I know really well offering to help me with something. I said yes, appreciated the service they did for me and I paid them for that service. Afterwards, they asked if I’d be happy to give a testimonial and I said, ‘sure — how about you draft something and I’ll tweak it?’ They sent me something. I tweaked their words so it was more like me and shortened it so it wasn’t so gushy because… you know how some services just go the...

“As well as my work as a freelance project director and manager, I have a blog on the subject of everyday joy (in life and work), which I write on every now and then. I’d like to do more with it, but am afraid I could easily spend all of my time doing that instead of paid work, which of course isn’t really sensible! How do people who have similar side projects (blog, podcast etc) manage to balance it with paid work (or even manage to get paid something for doing the side project)?”

"I see a lot of freelancers ‘doing good’ with their business, donating x % to the planet or to another good cause. I really like this idea, but — with two small children, one of which is still in a private nursery — I feel like I just don’t have the spare money to do this? Should I just suck it up and do it anyway??"

“Hi Frankie and Steve I’ve worked for a company (employed) for over 12 years. It’s grown from 50 people to a 5,000+ strong agency. I work with digital technology as an Account Director and I’ve managed some decent clients. My key skills are listening to, understanding and challenging client requirements, and then translating them into actionable, achievable outcomes. I have the soft skills of technology, but I don’t code. I’m now fed up with the increasing internal hierarchy, unnecessary...

“To cut a long story short — I’m a seasoned freelancer who is just getting back into working evenings as I’m caring for twins during the day. My problem is this: As I do not have the capacity for project work, I’m now taking on small tasks from one agency whose fingers are in many pies. I have a set of ethical views which are privately held. These tend to overlap with what this client does, but not always. Therefore, I need some tips on turning down work on topics which are icky for me...

“You know when you stumble upon someone fab, and your brain goes ‘ooh, collaboration potential’? Perhaps we meet on LinkedIn and then organise a cuppa or intro call. We chat, we laugh, we bond over work joys and woes... and then we part with that cheerful, 'let's collaborate soon' but then… often our busy lives take over. I'm on both sides of this — an instigator of these types of calls and also someone who people reach out to. So, I'm wondering... How can we make these cuppa-time...

To celebrate 100 episodes of DIFTK, Frankie & Steve answer a bunch of quick fire questions!

“I use Canva A LOT. My clients find it super simple (mostly!) so it just makes sense. I’ve never learned how to use Illustrator/Photoshop etc but I feel like I should…? I think it would be a good skill to have and could be a benefit to my business in terms of being taken seriously with design/graphics/socials work. But I haven’t a clue where to start! Or if it’s even a good idea or not. It probably also stems back to being told I wasn’t very creative when I was younger… hello imposter...

“Hello freelance friends! I'd like your opinion on an email I’ve received from one of my longest and most favourite clients… After months of no work and no contact, she asked me last month if I have any availability in the next few weeks. I said ‘yes’ and also told her that my rates had gone up since we last spoke. Here is her reply: "So I'd love to be able to put some work your way but the hourly rate is a bit high — is there any flexibility? I know you don't really do full days because...

“I can't go on like this — I think I need to give in and ask for help! I am inundated with work and the enquiries keep coming, which is a great problem to have, but I don’t know what to do about it. Previously I've mitigated large volumes of work by quoting higher or asserting my unavailability — ultimately turning work away. For a "busy period" that works well, but for the past 6 months I've been consistently (too) busy, and I now accept that I need to try something else. I just don't want...

“Hi Frankie and Steve, I've been running my own business since May 2020 (with a 5 month old in tow!) and I feel fairly well versed with the peaks and troughs of freelance life. However, over the past few months I've noticed a few clients who are on my smaller packages/retainers drop off because of financial reasons. All good, and all totally understandable. I thought I’d use this new gap in my schedule to put together some new packages and try something a bit different around social media...

“I’ve been approached by a local charity about a volunteer position. I’m interested in what they’re doing and definitely feel I could add value. But where on earth would I find the time?! And as a chronic over-thinker who always ends up taking longer than planned to do everything… And who already has a list as long as my arm of things to do for my own business… How would I keep it to just 3-4 hours a week? Will it add value? Or would I be better off working on marketing my business/...

“I recently invested in a rebrand of an online event that I run (Super Seconds Festival) — I worked with an illustrator (Vicky Hughes) and loved the process from start to finish. I loved setting a brief and having someone else be able to do the work a million times better that I could do it. Now I'm slightly addicted to the idea of getting people to support my business! So, my question is... What's the best thing you've ever invested in / outsourced in your business and what's on your...

“As an aspiring creative freelancer, what do you recommend as being the first steps towards generating paid work? How do you get those very first paying clients? I'm already on social media, putting my work out into the world (well, to all of my 25 followers!). I've also looked at platforms like UpWork and haven't found any projects that fit — either they're looking for much more experience than I can offer, or I have what they want but they'd like me to do it for less than minimum...

“I occasionally get the urge to approach a company who I think are doing their brand absolutely no favours and underselling what I know to be brilliant. I'm a designer, so approach this from a branding and design perspective (though of course their copy might also be shit!) This has never worked, and I rarely even entertain it these days, but I have a company that I am dying to approach as they are brilliant at what they do, have a great and friendly reputation and would even probably have...

I'm sitting here with a notepad. Two actually. One has my 'to-do' list on it that I created before Christmas (check me out for being super organised). The other has what to prioritise over the next 6 weeks, but here's where the overwhelm has come flooding in. When you're running your own business and need to do ALLLLL the things, how do you prioritise stuff when everything is a priority? The list ranges from loads of paid client work (editing and stuff), to updating the website and...

Are awards worth it? Do you get business from them? Is it worth the effort of entering? Do clients care about them? Should we be applying for as many as we can?! It seems like winning awards is a good idea, but I just don't know what to think.

“I’ve worked on two excellent projects for a really high profile client in the past year. When the projects finally went live I dropped them an email to say how great they were and how happy I was to have been a part of them. I got a lovely reply that ended with — ‘please do keep in touch for any future projects that might be up your street.’ But I don’t quite know what to do with that! How can I turn that vague and polite sign-off into something I can be proactive about? Do I send...

“After years of having a full-time job, I always knew exactly when I would be off for Christmas, when I would be returning and not having to worry about projects or answering emails while I was off. This is my first year as a full-time freelancer approaching Christmas and I'm worried about being able to 'switch-off' over the holiday season… What advice do you have about managing client expectations? When to set an out of office? And any other tips or tricks on how to switch off (not...

“I have a ‘boring’ business and make a ‘boring’ podcast. I’m okay with that — I’m an accountant so I am very familiar with DULL — but I struggle with how to market it. Via the podcast I answer common accountancy questions. This week’s episode is 7-10 minutes of me explaining payments on account, for example. How can I make the un-fun more memorable and/or appealing?”

"As much as I love my office in the box room, I keep hearing that co-working spaces are a great place to meet potential clients, and I sometimes miss the office chat from my employed days. I've decided to dip my toe into co-working spaces after the school summer holiday break, and I've found that there's several different options in my town. I wouldn't go full time, but it would be nice to have the option of a hot desk to work from sometimes. What tips do you have for making the most of my...

“I’m working alongside another freelance consultant on a project, and our client is a big corporate organisation. As a mum to a 5-year old daughter, I only work in school hours and during school term-time. However, none of the people I work with have children, so they work 9 to 5 (and more). AND the client has team members in the US who aren’t available until 2pm in the UK. A few times I’ve ended up having to work after 3pm, juggling work with looking after my daughter, because nobody...