Freelance is Not Free: My upcoming workshop at FreelanceCamp

A couple of years ago, I would have never thought I would tout myself as a freelancer. For the most part of the past decade, I have been fully immersed in the academic world, writing papers, book chapters and journal articles. The word “freelancing” brought images of journalists, copy writers and editors and editorials in magazines. I never thought I would ever consider myself a freelancer.

Then I started blogging. I got into the social media world, and began writing “freelance”. Instead of thinking of myself only as an academic, I have managed to continue doing consulting, but in the past 2-3 years, my consulting projects have been on my own. I am, by all considerations, a freelancer.

When I was looking at how I would brand myself as a freelancer, I looked up to a friend of mine, Dave Shea (aka MezzoBlue). I really enjoy how Dave defines his design consultancy: a one-man design studio. I like to think of myself as part of a consortium of independent researchers/consultants/writers. I have built long-term collaborative relationships with other freelancers, including recently a partnership with the green marketing company Kiwano.

My good friends Minna Van and Jay Catalan (2 of the co-founders of The Network Hub) are organizing FreelanceCamp Vancouver 2010, hosted by The Network Hub. A number of other volunteers include Natalie Sisson, Cecilia Lu and Cathy Browne. Especial mention should be made of Amanda Farough who created the website (coincidentally, in WordPress).

For FreelanceCamp Vancouver 2010 I will be leading a workshop on the theme of my previous year’s talk at BarCamp Vancouver 2009, a talk I gave based on a post I wrote (and inadvertently, published last year), emphasizing how key it is to value our work and to make sure that we are paid our worth. While I am definitely able and willing to give *some* of my time as a volunteer for worthy causes, I don’t want people to think that I do things for free.

In my 2010 version of the ‘Freelance Is Not Free‘ workshop, I plan to run a roundtable sharing my experience in freelance writing/consulting, and offering the distilled version of wisdom that other freelancers gave me when I presented at BarCamp. I am also integrating what I learned from other very smart folks who wrote about this topic and shared their thoughts in my post.

I would encourage you to attend FreelanceCamp Vancouver 2010, not because I am leading a workshop, but because you will most likely find a wealth of information and the generosity of other freelancers who will be participating. FreelanceCamp Vancouver 2010 will take place from 9am to 5pm on Saturday May 29th, 2010 at The Network Hub (422 Richards Street, 3rd Floor). The EventBrite invite is hosted here.

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