Creative process

Insights, ideas and experience to help you shape your creative process and your freelancer life.

Break Free from Perfectionism!

A plague exists amongst the creatives of today. It hides in the shadows, waiting for us. It knows when you pick up your pen. It

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Nick Cave vs Chat GPT

Someone asked Nick Cave what he thought of a song made by Chat GPT “in the style of Nick Cave”. Nick had some strooong opinions..

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The top 2023 design trends to follow!!!

None. No trends. Nada. Nix. Nill. Non o’ ‘em. Following trends is following the followers. If you want to make cool stuff, play with your

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Should you work after hours??

I’m all about that clocking off work early.. life’s to be lived y’know. But some of my best designs have been made half intoxicated in

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The things I need to be an effective designer

I was on holiday and now I’m back! While I was away I was reminded of something. I need quiet. Like… … … … …

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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..

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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Get paid to promote yourself

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Create more time

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Save time by creating a process

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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

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Freelance mindset