How Freelancers Learn to Be The Best
“Once you stop learning, you start dying” — Albert Einstein
Along with delivering client work and taking care of the admin side of business, we’re often told that learning should play an equally regular part of what we do. This could be learning the best ways to manange and grow our own business, as well as ways to add the most value to clients that we can. But what is the best way and where should we go to top up our knowledge?
As ever, we turned to the Freelance Heroes Facebook group for help and here are their respones…
“I feel like I’m often ‘learning by doing’ and by reading articles by fellow writers/translators. I’ve never found a book that has really helped me in a professional way (although I still have a couple on my ‘to read’ list). Training courses are something that has always been in the back of my mind but I have never properly looked into!” — Lisa Gust, www.lisagust.co.uk
“Podcasts are a big one for me. In my industry (SEO) things change *so* fast it’s hard to keep up (even for a borderline obsessive like me) so podcasts — which I can blend into my working day, as part of my commute — help me keep up and work out the things I may need to spend a bit more time digging into, via blogs, books or online courses etc.
Issue being, the books and courses are often a long time coming… and by the time they do arrive, they’re out of date again” — Andrew Cock-Stanley, Optimisey
“I’ve started a social media newsletter that I send out on a Friday, I used to do this at an agency I worked for. I always found it useful for my clients, but also for me as it meant I *had* to research the latest trends and send them to my clients. So, when I went freelance, I did the same!” — Angharad Salazar Llewellyn
“I was self taught for a while and then took a degree and learned through jobs — I’ve always been a designer at some level and then took a Masters degree. I stay up to date with attending industry events, reading up about the next trends and mostly train online as I have access to several great sources via the university. I love learning and happy to share what I know too. “ — Berenice Smith, hellolovely.co.uk
“As a CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) member in practice we have to stay up to date with the ever changing business world. We are required to demonstrate yearly to our governing body that we are providing services to clients at the highest standards.” — Simon Bail, accountsbyemma.co.uk
“Surprises me that ‘learning by doing’ is so far down. Yes, it’s important to learn theory and info from other people’s knowledge and expertise, especially when based on useful research or case studies. But once marketing is your career you will spend much more time DOING the job instead of reading about it, so you’re always learning from your own experience.” — Rob Phillips
“Online courses are often more affordable and fit in better schedule wise but I’m definitely a learn in a class kind of person. Too much to distract me at home for instance.” — Hannah Johnson
What About You?
How do you keep up to date on new developments in your industry? How do you ensure you have the best knowledge to run and grow your own business? Let us know using #FreelanceHeroes on Twitter or in our Facebook or Linkedin communities.
