Freelancing Archives - Stacey Meadwell

Freelancing 2025: A year of variety and challenge

Another year of freelancing draws to a close, and I think this has been my toughest yet, in some respects.

There are always quieter periods, but the quieter periods have been just that bit quieter than usual.

It’s also been a year of slow starts to projects. The time between landing a job and actually starting the work has, in some instances, stretched out. This has made planning workflow tricky.

Periods when I expected to be busy have turned into waiting games.

Saying all that, the work I’ve been getting has been interesting and fun.

Demand for writing training returned with one set of sessions focused on writing research reports and another on general business writing.

I had the opportunity to coach a business leader on moderating a panel, as they had never chaired one before.

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Content ideas

How a self-employed content writer is using AI

A struggle to find practical applications for using AI in my work, coupled with fear, led to a lot of scepticism about the technology. I love writing and don’t ever want it to replace that, but reading about how others in a similar position were using it for other things inspired me to experiment.

So here I’m sharing some of the ways I use AI as a freelance content writer and trainer, in case it’s helpful to others in a similar position.

Help with sorting through interview transcripts: Otter.ai

I’ve been using Otter to transcribe interviews for 6/7 years, but it now has an in-built AI chat function.

It means I can ask questions like ‘what did Jane Smith say about knitting with blue wool?’. It will summarise all the mentions with the time stamps so I can verify and pull out relevant quotes and particular phrasing.

If a bit of time has passed between doing the interview and sitting down to write, I might ask it to give me a summary of the key points as a refresher so I can sketch out my structure.

Technical topic research: Perplexity.ai

Perplexity is great for helping with research on technical topics. It comes up with legitimate business sources and the relevant links, so it’s easy to check the information.

I was updating a 7-year-old report on a construction-related topic for a client and wanted to find out what the Labour Government’s stance was.

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Uncategorised

Three years in business: the highs, lows and lessons learned

Self-employment was never planned, it happened by accident when I was made redundant, but three years in, I’m more determined than ever to make it work.

I’m not going to lie, it has been a rollercoaster ride, a mixture of exhilaration and fear.

At the Game Fair in 2019 trying on Emma Drake’s fab hat

Some days I wonder what the hell I’m doing. On others I feel I could conquer the world.

The first year felt like I was stumbling around, succeeding mostly on luck and chance.

In the second year, I had my first major setback, a large retainer came to an end, leaving a big gap in my income.

But it kicked me up the bum to start being more strategic about what I wanted to do and what I wanted my business to look like, which meant marketing myself.

It’s when I started exploring LinkedIn and learning to use it properly.

Putting myself ‘out there’ via LinkedIn posts felt uncomfortable and unnatural. I worried terribly what ‘people’ would think.

I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point where I’m completely at ease, but I worry about it a lot less.

Another lightbulb moment

Two and a half years in, I had another light bulb moment; this was in part a response to stress and anxiety rearing their ugly heads.

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Uncategorised

Freelancing, self-discovery and the best feeling

I didn’t find freelancing, freelancing found me. After being made redundant from a job I’d had for 20 years, I didn’t know what I wanted to do.

But then people started asking if I could help with things like writing, training and moderating and so I stumbled into self-employment.

It wasn’t something I’d ever considered or imagined I’d end up doing. There was no planning, no expectations, I hadn’t stopped to think about what it would be like – or whether I was suited to it.

Like learning to run my own business it has been a voyage of self-discovery and continues to be.

I’ve learned a lot about myself, my strengths and weaknesses. There are times I’m burdened with self-doubt, feel overwhelmed and that I don’t really know what I’m doing.

It can feel lonely, isolating and scary at times.

Finding your own way

There is no one to pick you up when things go wrong or don’t work out, so you learn to do it yourself. There is no one to take over when you are struggling, you have to find your own way through it.

It requires strength, resilience and persistence and I’ve got more of that than I realised. At those times I thought I would flounder I’ve surprised myself. I’ve developed a new level of confidence.

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Copywriting, Training

How I got a portfolio career

kelly-sikkema-411622-unsplash — Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Last year when I was exploring what I wanted to do next in my career I met with a careers advisor who suggested a ‘portfolio career’ might be the direction to go.

I wasn’t entirely sure what a portfolio career was and how you approached getting one but looking back over the past 12 months of self-employment I now know.

It’s happened by stealth rather than design, people asking me if I can take on certain work.

My ‘portfolio’ of work to date covers a lot that is obvious but also many areas I hadn’t initially considered as a freelance:

• Content writing

• Copywriting

• Ideas generation/content strategy

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