How to

I’ve made how tos that will save you time, money and headspace, because sometimes it’s just easier to follow someone else’s lead.

Create your own outreach strategy

In our first community cantina we'll cover how to create your own outreach strategy We cover how to create: - A target audience - An initial price - A retainer offer - An outbound strategy - A call to action - And a kick in the butt to send 1 email per day

How to

How to ask for a referral

Referrals are good for everyone involved! For you referrals can bring in new clients without lots of marketing and outreach. Referrals also tend to be high-quality

How to

Which portfolio website is right for you?

I once met a freelance designer who didn’t have a portfolio. This blew my mind. How can a professional creative not have a folio? Was

First years

7 questions to create your promo strategy

Even if you do it every day for clients, creating a strategy for yourself is one of the hardest things to do as a freelancer.

How to

How to create a contract

First off, nice one! It’s great to come to this stage 😀 When I got my first contract I felt very profesh! You may be

Admin

6 ways to improve client negotiations

I got a rough lesson in negotiation in my early days as a designer and it helped me shape how I approached negotiations ever since.

How to

How to get paid – Let me (pretend to) run your finance dept

As a freelancer you wear many hats in your biz One of the most important is getting paid! But it’s not easy to be the person delivering a service and chasing payment So let me do it for you! Create a new email address, orwell@yourURL.com and pretend I run your payments Swipe n I’ll show you how! Just pretend you’re

Admin

So the client hates everything you make..

New projects are wonderful! Full of potential to make lovely designs. Interesting designs! Designs that push the boundaries of your skills and the client’s expectations..

Creative process

How the mentoring programme works

I’ve got a programme that I’ve refined over my years as freelancer It’s helped me at every stage of my career from sidegig freelancer to director It works like this... Happiness More time More money Calm mind That’s the results But what does it actually mean for the freelancers I work with? Growth Systems Audience Basics Basics We can’t build

Creative process

How to spot a time waster

How to spot a time waster They're vague about what they want They say they have no budget They don't engage with your process They agree to the price but want to delay payment They ask you to copy someone else's work They try to micromanage you They have unrealistic expectations They're quick with deadlines but slow with payments What's

How to

Steal my process for staying in touch with potential clients

Not every person who needs your service is ready to buy It’s your job to be first in their mind when they are But how can you stay in touch without feeling like you’re being pushy? Swipe and I’ll show ya... When you contact them, focus on solving their problem Steal my process Make a list of potential clients you’ve

First years

Set goals on your own projects so you achieve them!

In our day to day work we use our skills to help people achieve their goals. We find out what they’re trying to achieve, research

Creative process

When they ask you to work during your holidays, copy this

A client wants you to work during your holiday time? We can't have that! Copy this script and politely let them know you won't be available given the opportunity clients will... steal your you time holiday headspace check your emails convince guilt working don't let them do it you give so much you deserve your holiday recharge recentre expand your

How to

How I became a £500 per hour designer

When I first started out as a freelancer making money was tough I was inexperienced with a small folio and I didn’t know how to convince people to hire me to design their branding... So I created Startup 101 A basic brand package that covered the main forms of comms for new companies in my area Logo Business card Letterhead

Creative process

How to avoid getting screwed when projects go wrong

Life would be great if it all went to plan... But often times it doesn’t... And in business, if you haven’t planned for a bit of mess You can get screwed! Luckily, planning for a few mistakes is easy to do Swipe and I’ll show you how... +20% That’s it, that’s the secret Plan the project Work out how long

Creative process

How to create a PDF preset for Adobe CC

Tired of wasting time changing the settings every time you wanna export a PDF? Want to understand what some of those darn settings do? Check out this vid and I'll show you how to create your own preset that you can use across all of the Adobe Suite :D

Creative process

8 ways to stay happy in your work

1. Plan days around things you like Every day I make time for things that make me happy. Thing like reading, drinking tea, plyaing my music loud, going out for a walk and talking to my friends give me a boost that helps me stay happy day to day. Even on a bad work day, make time for something you

First years

Change your payment terms – Free email script

Changing your payment terms can feel scary... Clients have an expectation of when they’ll pay and you don't want to do anything that will make them stop working with you But ask yourself, do you want to be in a relationship that you’re scared to change for fear of what the other person will do? Thought not. So swipe and

First years

Charge properly and get more free time

Get back your evenings and weekends by pricing projects properly Lots of freelancers only charge for the time during a project... They don’t count the time before or after the creative part meaning they have a lot of unpaidtime in their week. They have to work long hours just to earn the money they need to have a happy life.

Creative process

6 ways to kick procrastination in the butt

Make a fuck this shit list It’s a list of things you hate doing and don’t want to have to deal with... Prioritise Use a weekly schedule check my feed to steal mine... Set app timers If you, like me can’t be trusted, set an app timers and let your phone cut you off when you’ve had too much It

Creative process

Copy my work schedule

Experience has taught me 1. How a work week goes affects my mood 2. The weeks I plan are better than the weeks I don’t 3. If I don’t plan I will forget things and stress about them So to make sure I do everything my biz needs me to do, I have a two week schedule Swipe to see

First years

What to do when they say “There’s more work coming”

You’re setting a benchmark You’re telling them you’ll work for cheap and it’s gona be mega hard to get that price up to your regular rate So what can you do instead? Oh yeah, we got ideas.. 1. Say no You don't work for cheap and their promises don't pay your bills Your rate is your rate. If someone can’t

How to

6 low cost ways to get more work

First years

Get paid to promote yourself

Creative process

6 things to do before going freelance

First years

8 ways to stay a happy freelancer

How to

7 ways to get your invoices paid

1. Write a contract and get it signed! The best way to get paid, is show them at the start you’re serious about getting paid! Lay out your terms in a contract and let the client know early what’s expected of them. I’ve had people not go ahead with projects because they thought my contract was too much. That for

How to

Learn from my first 10 years freelancing

First years

Improve your conversion rate to make more money

How to

5 ways to increase your profits

Click here to try the profit calculator

How to

Still haven't found what you're looking for?

If you like this

I have more for you!

I work 1-2-1 with ambitious freelancers to help them gain confidence, growth and control in their business.

What people love the most is that we cover lots of practical stuff that you can easily implement in your business to see rapid and sustainable change.

Interested?

About Orwell

Orwell McGubbins is a designer and Art Director based in Berlin.

He has spent his career working with NGOs, charities, schools and social businesses, supporting people to develop themselves and make the most of life.

Today he continues this work by helping creative freelancers gain the skills and confidence they need to be great at what they do.

He enables people to create the life they want by creating the business they need.

Feel free to contact him on LinkedIn but don’t call without an appointment. He might be socially minded but he’s also a millennial, they hate that.

I am super grateful for the help Orwell has given me, he streamlined my chaotic thinking and been an absolute game changaaaa to my confidence!

I love that he always guides me to the answer of any queries, rather than answering them straight out - it makes learning much more engaging!

This has been the absolute best thing I’ve ever done for my career 💖💖

Working with Orwell has been a life changing experience for me. He's the voice of reason I use with my clients but can't ever give to myself and he's a wicked guide when it comes to overcoming the mental hurdles that pop up.

I can't recommend him enough if you are sick of overworking and being under paid. You deserve to have a life and enjoy your work. Just hire him.

Orwell's mentoring has been invaluable for me in the last few months as I continue to grow my business. He has a wealth of experience to pull from, he's eager to see his students succeed and he's generous with his time.

You're in good hands with this guy.

Orwell has helped me see sense and build confidence in what I'm doing. I knew nothing about pricing, about defining my worth and seeing my value.

He's helped guide me before important pitches and meetings and encourages me to keep going when I'm not feeling the best. I feel more clear in my messaging and the actions I need to take to progress to where I want to be.

He's brilliant!

Mentoring with Orwell has helped me grow my business into areas that I didn't even know about. I’m working fewer days, making more money and scaling at a quick rate. Could not recommend Orwell enough!

Master Yoda with better banter!

Orwell has helped me develop my own marketing plan from an organic approach. I have learnt many valuable lessons from him.

He’s helped me gain confidence in launching my own business and leaving employment forever!

I really enjoyed working with Orwell, he guided us and helped develop our brand and our voice. His understanding, expertise and organisation has left us in a better place.

We now understand the importance of making strategies for various parts of our business and are still carrying on what we were taught.

It was a pleasure to work with Orwell, I really appreciate what he has done for us and know he’ll do the same for others.

How To

Make Money

Freelance mindset

Creative Process

First Years

Self-Care

How to

How to

Still haven't found what you're looking for?

About Orwell