I am.
I have three goals this year.
One is to get better at Swedish.
Honestly, it’s been years plugging away at the lower levels of the hell that is Duolingo, constantly dangling the threat of breaking my streak if I don’t do my XP before midnight.
The next goal is to find a sustainable way to support fellow freelancers – a mission I started about 8 years ago, with the Leapers project, and am continuing on this year with Freelancing.Support.
And the third goal is work more with others.
Working for yourself can be a real struggle. I’ve been doing this since I was 15 (find my photo on LinkedIn, you’ll see I’m no longer in my teenage years), and the best of times have been where I’ve been part of a team, creating things together. The hardest of times have been when I’m on my own.
And being a freelancer can feel, at times, like you’re on your own.
In fact 90% of freelancers in our recent research said, at some point in 2024, they felt lonely, isolated, disconnected. 90%. Read that again. 9 out of ten freelancers are feeling on their own at some point.
“Well durrr, you’re _self_ employed. You chose to work alone”.
(Can’t believe there a heckler in here already, but okay).
Not withstanding that almost a third of us didn’t choose self-employment (we sort of found our way here for a multitude of reasons), working for yourself doesn’t have to mean working by yourself.
In fact, building a support network of fellow freelancers, who can give you advice, point you to resources, give you feedback, or just be someone you check-in with occasionally, is proven to have positive effects.
Not only on your mental health, but on your income too.
So freelancing.support is going to be one of the ways in which I’m hitting goals two and three in 2025.
Not only will it be the independent guide to independent work – where you can find resources from across the ecosystem about all things freelancing, it’s also going to be part of my support network, part of my toolkit for not feeling like I’m doing this alone.
I hope it’ll offer something similar to you too.
Or if you’ve got a freelancing friend, let them know we’re here.
And don’t worry – you’ll not have to wade through my long ramblings every month – I’d prefer to hear from you – tell me your stories, experiences and questions about freelancing.
I’d like this space to be about the work you’re doing, so we can get to know each other better.
Now, back to avoiding my Swedish lesson.
Jag alskar min chef. Han är den bästa chef jag haft.
mk
Source: January 2025
