2024 disappeared in a flash.
So did January.
Am I just getting older, or is this how time works now?
On Monday morning, I caught up with Jack from Freeflexer, a consultancy helping businesses make the very most of working with freelancers, strategically and operationally. We both lamented the lack of businesses who are thinking strategically about how they can leverage independent workers - there’s still too much of a ‘bums on seats’ attitude.
Monday afternoon, I spoke to Anna Sampson, a research strategist who is exploring topics around discrimination in the advertising industry. It prompted me to think about how there’s a large problem in freelancing, in that you can discriminate against freelancers so easily, without accountability. It’s easy to say ‘no’ to someone, purely because of your subconscious and conscious biases, and there’s no-one to complain to. I think this possible happens more often than we know, because there’s no obligation to report on hiring policies in freelancing.
I also caught up with our friends at Ember, an accounting platform for freelancers and small businesses - about some shared goals we’re working on together, and tackling some key topics in partnership. It’s always interesting to see how vertical businesses think about the freelancer journey and which parts they see (and don’t see).
Monday night was all about doing my VAT return, up until 2am doing my receipts. I find it oddly calming.
Tuesday saw me chatting with a large recruitment group - I seem to be spending a lot of time with various recruitment businesses at the moment, they’re a pivotal part of the relationship between freelancers and clients, but also play an important educational and influence role. It prompted me to start drafting the definition the “recruiters” blob, asking what role they play, and what role could they play, in improving the freelance support ecosystem.
Wednesday, I spoke to the amazing Katherine Steiner Dicks, who is behind the Freelance Informer website. Her knowledge is second to none, and it was one of those conversations which over-ran by more than 30 minutes because .. there was a lot to talk about. I’m excited about what we could do together there.
I spoke to a coach during the mid-morning - I’m constantly seeking external help (or is it validation?) to try and find focus.
And then got a lovely email from Bryn at Freelance Things, which I’ll write up and share next week.
I also had a fascinating chat with Alex Lloyd Hunter of Dad Shift, a campaign to improve parental leave and paternity rights in the UK - spoiler alert, there are none for the self-employed. Another example of freelancers falling through the support system, but a major issue for those >25% of folk who are forced into self-employment.
YunoJuno published their day rate data - rates increased by 3% in 2024, but inflation was 3.5% and contract lengths have decreased, so all in all, a solid decline across the board. I also spoke to Lesley Winterbach from the GOODlist about their day rates survey, and she was pretty clear, UK rates are bad, compared to the major EU cities, AMS, BER, etc.
I rebuilt the Leapers homepage to be clearer on our mission, priorities and what we want (or need?) from partners. Lots of work to be done there still, plus completely rebuilding the resources library to be more … “useful”, rather than its current “chaotic”.
Thursday was a virtual coffee with a strategist who is considering stepping into freelancing, and a discussion around the challenges of self-employment right now. Is it a good time to take the leap?
LinkedIn was also popping off, with a discussion around whether demanding freelancers to come in 3-5 days a week is actually just employment. IR35 probably doesn’t see it that way, it’s more nuanced, it’s a combination of control, MOO (not cows, but mutuality of obligation), financial risk and right to substitution (which is probably the hardest to defend, and I’d argue most unfair criteria). But the reality is many freelancers can’t afford to say no to a project right now - so much of the conversation is moot.
The Film and TV Charity Through the Looking Glass research was published. Literally made me cry. The scale of poor mental health is … I was going to say immeasurable, but they’ve literally measured it. Read it.
Friday was lots of time spent doing..
I’m not sure actually.
It was mostly raining.
I posted a landing page on freelancing.support for developers, and a chat with Dave Smyth about pricing.
I’ve also started drafting a longer piece on “Why should hirers care about freelancers mental health?”
I have four reasons.
Can you guess what they are?
Paid work in Jan: £0
Oops.
Background Reading.
» https://www.openverse.fyi/
» https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-status-manual/updates
» https://www.ipse.co.uk/campaigns/the-self-employed-landscape/self-employed-landscape-2024
» https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jan/25/gig-economy-firms-warned-by-uk-government-they-may-be-operating-illegally
» https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/static.roh.org.uk/for/pdfs/freelance+charter+november+2024.pdf
» https://www.fastcompany.com/91264883/intangibles-marketing-consultancy