How To...Collaborate

We get by with a little help from our friends. Whether you got into your craft from being a part of a team, or if you're a solo showrunner, we are better in numbers! 

Help elevate each other and work towards your goals. Whether as partners, moral support, or even your buddy who can help you with bookkeeping and other mundane tasks you're not good at...

It's okay to not be able to do everything, take some of that weight off your plate. You'll thank yourself later.

Resources You Need...

Keeper Tax
Get organized for tax season and keep track of all your deductions

Hectic
Invoicing, Contracts & Proposals for Freelancers!

PayPal
The safest way to get electronic payments!

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Transcript

00;00;08;07 - 00;00;25;26
Catherine
Hello there. My name is Catherine and I'm 23 years old, working as a full time freelancer in the media and entertainment industry. And welcome to the How I Diaries podcast. I'm here to debunk all your fears and doubts surrounding the topic of freelancing and more importantly, get you on your way to a happy and stress free lifestyle. Doing that creative passion you love.

00;00;25;27 - 00;00;51;02
Catherine
So if you find yourself stuck at a job that you hate, wondering how to get your dream started. You might have heard of freelancing before, but you're skeptical about what it entails. I'm sharing everything I wish I knew earlier and the tips and tricks I gain every day for my own freelance work. So go team that. Oh my god, this sounds so crazy, but I really do find myself saying this a lot and I figured I'd make an episode about it and how I facilitate and use collaboration as a tool and freelance.

00;00;51;02 - 00;01;19;12
Catherine
So sure, freelance is working for yourself, etc., but if you're doing it right and successful, I can bet you you also have a lot of mentors and friends and overall great network of people you surround yourself with. I definitely have all three of those. And guess what? It's likely you have at least two out of three of them now, even if you aren't freelancing full time yet or at all, you know, having mentors is one of the best things I ask mine for tax advice, work and life advice all the time.

00;01;19;12 - 00;01;47;08
Catherine
I know most of this is because I'm younger and so have so much to learn about adulthood. But I plan on keeping the same curiosity as I continue to get older. It's just super important to be curious and ask questions. In my opinion, collaboration is something very native to our creative fields. Your passion may have began by being a part of some club at school or somewhere your parents took you or something as family member taught you and most of the time at that point, you're just collaborating for fun and for free.

00;01;47;08 - 00;02;05;27
Catherine
So why would you stop once money is involved? For instance, I have two sisters and we are all respectively in our own creative fields. We have already collaborated in a whole other podcast we all do together called the TLC Sisters. But I know down the line there is something bigger and better in store for the three of us.

00;02;06;06 - 00;02;24;18
Catherine
But recently I got a great opportunity that came up where I'm able to work with my younger sister, who is still in school for a graphic design. I posted this a little while ago, but I found my very first client who wanted me to be their podcast manager, which I knew was going to involve some graphics and social media aspects to it on top of also research and editing.

00;02;24;18 - 00;02;48;06
Catherine
So what did I do? I reached out to my little sister and said, Hey, what do you think about doing now? A sort of internship under me and we can split the profit from this job 5050 and boom, obviously a deal she couldn't turn down. The great thing about being a freelancer is you are most likely starting out as a sole proprietor, which gives you the ability still to subcontract out work.

00;02;48;06 - 00;03;10;09
Catherine
There are workflow pros this and even tax benefits to it as well, like I keep saying. More on that in a later episode. Now, a couple of months ago, I had no idea how collaboration between me and anyone would feasibly work. It wasn't until I was working for a mentor of mine as a subcontractor myself. So before I went and proposed this idea to my sister, I gave him a call and asked the questions.

00;03;10;09 - 00;03;42;20
Catherine
I was wondering and most of those were having to do with taxes and any legal issues I should possibly be aware of. And after that I was like, Wahoo, I'm so excited for this. It's only going to get better from here. Like, I can't believe I get to work my little sister, you know? And it really is like a win win because one, I'm making money and building my portfolio and taking work off of my plate and to I'm giving my sister money and giving her something she can also put on her resume and exercise her skills in the real world, you know, giving her something to put on her portfolio and also showing her

00;03;42;20 - 00;04;05;14
Catherine
some valuable life lessons from her big sister. You know, for when she becomes a freelancer and is working for herself, there's nothing wrong with finding ways to subcontract work. You can even subcontract a job altogether or pay yourself the stipend of the cost of finding someone. And then boom. Now the way I went about telling the client about this was after I had confirmed a meeting and went over my responsibilities.

00;04;05;14 - 00;04;29;13
Catherine
My follow up email with my proposal mentions the subcontracting, so it's always good practice to mention, as well as just saying that it is no additional cost to them, etc. In our case, the client was even more thrilled to have a sister duo working for them and it's been a great experience so far. I ten out of ten recommend especially because you can whack your family members into shape if you need to.

00;04;29;13 - 00;04;48;04
Catherine
But my little sister is a good worker, so I haven't needed to. Just another addition to the fact that you probably have the resources, peoples and skills around you to start giving freelance a go, so start building a team and talking there is strength in numbers. We all know this, but that is it for this episode. Let me know what your network of people looks like.

00;04;48;04 - 00;05;08;12
Catherine
And if this reaches you and you have any other burning questions or stories, I'd be happy to use this as an outlet to connect and build a community. Would you ever work professionally with any of your friends or family? Follow me on Instagram at how I diaries and let me know my DMS. In the meantime, go binge all my other episodes for various other topics relating on how to get started doing what you love.

00;05;08;13 - 00;05;29;16
Catherine
Please. Any recommendations for episodes I'd love to hear? Let me know what your particular struggles are. You're probably not alone. Please subscribe to this podcast to stay up to date on when I post the next batch, give it a rating and share with a friend who needs to listen. I post five new episodes at the end of each month, so stay tuned and thanks for listening.