How Do I Write A Manifesto For My Freelance Business?
Vision and mission statements are so 2010! You might have seen businesses that have now decided to create brand manifestos instead.
What is a manifesto?
A manifesto will define the beliefs you or your business holds.
Why write a manifesto?
It will remind you why you do what you do.
It will help to tell your story and describe your purpose.
It can show clients that you’re a good fit or not.
It doesn’t just demonstrate what you stand for. It demonstrates that you know what you stand for, which can be even more important.
It can bring teams together.
Even the process of creating it will help clarify and consolidate your thoughts. It’s something to connect you. It’s something you can all be proud of.
It can help you make decisions.
You will have a written document of your values as a handy reminder about the direction you want your business to take.
It will inspire creativity.
Write it, then live it.
Where do I start?
Find a few company manifestos that inspire you.
Write down what your customers care about.
Rant. Write down everything you dislike about your industry. Then flip it into a positive. How are you different?
How should it be written?
Don’t be restricted by length. You can always make it more concise later.
Have fun with how you write it.
Make it meaningful.
Cut out any jargon.
Have fun with how you design it. Turn it into a poster or webpage.
Make it easily shareable and make sure you share it.
Your manifesto can live and breathe. It doesn’t have to be stuck in time. Revisit it regularly. Rip it up. Start again.
36 Stats That Might Surprise You About Freelancing
Over 200,000 freelancers in the UK have other jobs.*
Just over a third of self-employed mothers with dependent children work full-time.*
10% of self-employed people are aged 65 years or over, compared with just 3% of employees.*
The withdrawal of the UK from the EU significantly affected the UK’s freelance employment sector. 39% of the UK’s freelancers had at least one EU-based project or contract in 2019.*
60% of the UK freelance community said their turnover had decreased as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.*
52% of UK freelancers reported not feeling supported by the government - including 31% who do not feel supported at all.”*
The majority of freelancers work in the artistic, literary and media sectors.*
The average UK freelancer is 48 years old.*
39% of UK freelancers work as writers, artists, designers, or as sales and marketing, health, business and finance associate professionals.*
50% of UK freelancers are aged 40-59.*
Self-employed men earn 43% more than women.*
The number of self-employed disabled workers in the UK has increased by 30% over five years.*
16% of freelancers are working mums.*
21% of freelancers are over 60.*
1 in 5 freelancers say their mental health is poor or very poor since the pandemic.*
Two thirds of freelancers say the roll out of the vaccine programme gave them confidence for the future of their business.*
The UK's freelance population is made up of 56% males and 44% females. More equal distribution than the UK's self-employed population of 62% to 38%.*
There’s been a 66% increase in 16-29-year-old freelancers in the UK since 2008.*
The USA has the fastest-growing freelance market (59% YOY revenue growth).**
The UK has the second-fastest-growing freelance market (68% YOY revenue growth).**
Two-thirds of freelancers say they made the right career move.***
42% of UK freelancers prefer working without supervision from a manager or a boss.***
2.2 million freelancers in the UK.****
Over 1 billion freelancers estimated globally.****
The pandemic has caused a reversal in growth to the solo self-employed sector.****
43% of new freelancers cite wanting to improve their mental health as motivation.*****
The most significant stressor for the self-employed is the irregularity of income.*****
65% are feeling positive about 2021 professionally.*****
48% of freelancers say their job makes them feel lonely.******
54% said they found freelance life liberating.******
31% of US freelancers make $75,000 or more.*******
UK freelancers make an average of £13.77 per hour.********
37% of companies declared they hire freelancers when they need to access top-class expertise on a temporary basis. *********
83% of people said they feel less lonely working in co-working environments.**********
17% of small businesses are majority-led by women – which means controlled by a single woman or having women majority management.**********
34% of Brits with a side hustle confessed to concealing their incomes. ************
Statistics according to:
*IPSE
**Payoneer
*** Simply Business
**** Office for National Statistics
***** Leapers
****** Epson EcoTank Research
******* Forbes
******** Wise
********* Consultancy.uk
********** FlexJobs
*********** HMRC
************Expatica
You’re invited to the Freelancer Magazine 2021 Christmas Party
The online Christmas party for freelancers live-streamed on Twitch.
You are invited to...
The 2021 Christmas Party for Freelancers 🥳🍾🎄🎉🎁🎅🏽🎧
Wednesday 8th December at 7pm
The ultimate Christmas party for the people who don’t normally get a Christmas party with banging tunes, games and prizes. BYO table wine, friends, family, pets and your best Christmas jumper.
Get your free ticket and all the joining details on Eventbrite.
Could you be our first-ever Guest Editor?
Could you be the first-ever Freelancer Magazine Guest Editor?
⭐️ THE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:
🚀 We’re going to Issue 5 and beyond!
When we launched via Kickstarter we promised to make Issues 1-4 but we go on. 😀
Thank you for your support backing, buying, advertising, shouting and sharing to allow this to happen. 🙏
⭐️ THE BIG READER COMPETITION:
To celebrate, we're looking for our first-ever Guest Editor from our reader community for Issue 5 - our 1st birthday issue (out May 2022).
We haven’t planned our themes for the magazine beyond Issue 4 and we’d love to hear your ideas and why you think you’d be the best Guest Editor. We’ll select one winning person to be our first-ever Guest Editor.
The Guest Editor for Issue 5 will:
Win £500 prize money
Have their theme used for the magazine
Have their name and photo featured on the Editor’s page and write the Editor’s letter for the issue
Take part in 2 x Zoom planning meetings with Sophie to help choose the main topics and titles for the issue
Suggest people and items they’d like to feature for our regulars: Newsletter Love, A Day in the Life, Top of the Shops, What We’re…
Write one article for the magazine
Themes for Issues 1-4:
Issue 1 - Creativity
Issue 2 - Community
Issue 3 - Discovery
Issue 4 - Starting Something (February 2022)
Enter by using the form below. The closing date for entries is midnight Friday 3rd December.
The winning Guest Editor will be announced at the Freelancer Magazine Christmas Party on the evening of Wednesday 8th December. 🥳 🎁 🎄
If you suggest a theme that doesn’t win but gets used in another issue then we’ll write the name of the person (or people) who suggested it in that issue.
Freelancer Cash-Flow Forecast Template
Pop in all your costs and see if you can reduce any down
Work out what you need or want to earn and how you can do it
Track things that change as you go by comparing budget and actual
Set targets to grow
Get a bigger sense of control
Treat being freelance as a business
Click here to get the Freelancer Cash-Flow Forecast Template.
Press Release: You Ain’t Zine Nothing Yet
The first issue of Freelancer Magazine, an independent business and lifestyle title, is now in production following a swift and successful Kickstarter campaign.
Freelancer Magazine is a quick starter -
Independent magazine fully crowdfunded in just two weeks
The first issue of Freelancer Magazine, an independent business and lifestyle title, is now in production following a swift and successful Kickstarter campaign.
With an estimated 2.2 million freelancers in the UK and over a billion worldwide, high demand saw the magazine reach its target just two weeks into a five-week crowdfunding campaign.
Created by freelance marketer Sophie Cross and designed by Angela Lyons, Freelancer Magazine is a quarterly printed magazine brimming with feature stories, interviews, freelancer-specific business advice, news and events ‘for a freelance life less ordinary’.
Sophie says: “Although we will make sure it’s available in a digital format, it was important to us that Freelancer Magazine was - first and foremost - a printed item. We’re all on our screens more than ever and, if you’re anything like me, there are about 2000 tabs open and an ever-growing list of bookmarked yet unread articles.
“We want Freelancer Magazine to be ‘pore-worthy’ enough that when you get your hands on it, it prompts you to have a proper break, put the kettle on and soak up what our fantastic contributors have helped pull together. We’ll be featuring a huge mix of the most talented freelancers and small businesses out there. Sharing stories and information to help anyone on their freelance journey and proving that this isn’t a ‘stop-gap’ career.”
The 80+ page, full colour 21cm square mag would be at home on any bookshelf and means you can fold the corners of your favourite pages over to refer back to again and again.
Sophie adds: “We’ve got more than 100 contributors lined up, which means every beautifully designed issue is varied, fresh, fun and informative. It’s crammed with content that is both inspirational and attainable. And because there’s such a diverse range of voices in its make up, there should be something to resonate with every reader.”
With an overwhelmingly positive response from freelancers so far, Sophie says she’s been ‘blown away’ by the success of the crowdfunding campaign: “We knew there was a gap in the market for a magazine by freelancers for freelancers, but this really proved how strong that demand actually is.
“Apparently less than half of Kickstarter campaigns are successfully funded, and the majority of those are for less than £7500, yet we successfully reached our target of £12,750 in just two weeks. Freelancer really beat the odds and proved that there’s a strong market out there for a magazine like this.
“The reaction so far has been amazing; Lauren Laverne featured the mag on BBC Radio 6 Music, it was chosen as a Kickstarter 'Project We Love', and the pledges are still coming in thick and fast, along with some great advertisers like Brompton Bike Hire and Motion Nutrition.
“We started as we meant to go on, with an epic live-streamed launch party on Twitch hosted by issue 1’s cover stars; DJs Dom C and Mary Rose, which got lots of people involved and excited about the mag.
“Now we can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks of the first issue. From Clubhouse and creative burnout to business insurance and biscuit advice – we’ve got it covered.”
The first issue of Freelancer Magazine will be printed and delivered to subscribers from April 27th 2021 and also stocked at magCulture London and Magazine Brighton.
Find out more at freelancermagazine.co.uk.
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Media Contact Info:
Sophie Cross, Editor of Freelancer Magazine
Email: editor@freelancermagazine.co.uk
Twitter: @FullyThoughtOut
About Freelancer Magazine:
A quarterly business and lifestyle print magazine for a freelance life less ordinary.
Instagram: @FreelancerMag
High res images: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jt231SFP85-3BJ1pR_JZQ8Ex0vwfMy6i