The fifth year of freelance: Growing pains

Time to read: 1 minute

Sam Howard reflects on five years of being freelance…

Elli aged 11

A lot can happen in five years. Five years ago, my 11-year-old little cutey baked cakes and gave freely his cuddles and enthusiasm.

Five years on, my ‘little’ cutey looks down on me in disdain while raiding the fridge and giving freely his criticism. He loves me, really – it’s just a phase, right?

And so, too, has the business side grown up. As a team, we’ve found our niche. Tech startups, the way we work, and our business model make us a great fit for the nimble and ambitious new enterprise. None of us have the appetite for long meetings or emails.

We just want to get stuff done.

Most recently, our client work was short-listed for a PR award for a campaign we ran in the public sector. I confess it felt good to be ranked up there alongside the more established agencies.

A growing freelance team

It’s gone from being just me to a tight little collective of PR Pros: our AR guy, a designer or two, and a trio of copywriters working together and playing to our strengths. And it’s growing bigger in all the right ways while holding onto the core freelance premise – no premises!

I am proud to say that The Comms Crowd HQ is still my former dining room. As such, we still don’t need a receptionist, IT team, office manager, HR team, or an accounts department. Just Outlook, Dropbox, Google Docs, and some wicked spreadsheets (a personal forte).

In addition to the bulking up of expertise, the other fantastic side of the freelance collective is the opportunity for each of us to develop outside of the world of comms. Whether it’s renovating a 300-year-old cottage, bagging munros, or learning to surf.

I’m also really into the talent development element of PR and work as an associate lecturer at Westminster University and The London College of Communication. College days are the best days. I get enormous satisfaction from nurturing the next generation of young ones and helping them prepare for the world of work.

Elli coming up for 16

And when you feel supported by a brilliant team, genuinely warm clients, get a kick out of every campaign, when your pockets are overflowing with psychic income, and you’re still learning and evolving – well, there’s no reason to stop.

Here’s to the next five years!