Gaynor Ramsden’s freelancer story

Freelance

As part of our freelance celebration we’re sharing the experiences of female freelancers. Here’s Gaynor Ramsden’s story. 

What do you do?

I work along with my husband as The Business Growth Couple – we are focused on helping small businesses grow. All the practical stuff you are supposed to know in business but no one told you, like getting more customers, knowing your numbers, being visible and social media. Everything is geared to independent small businesses.

How long have you been a freelancer?

I have been a freelancer for about nine years but mainly face to face and we sold that business to relocate south.

Why did you go freelance?

Having had our own small businesses for many years in the service and retail sectors, we moved into marketing and a natural extension was freelance coaching as we spent a lot of time working face to face with small business owners, helping them learn to spin the plates needed to move from stalled to success.

What do you love about being a freelancer?

What I love about being a freelancer is I get to choose how and where I work. We have recently relocated to Devon in the UK as part of ticking off some goals but working the way we do meant we were free to move here and experience new adventures without compromising our work.

And what do you hate about being a freelancer?

What I hate about being a freelancer is sometimes the struggle of not compromising your values and sticking clearly to your path. I am a natural evangelist and I want to help everyone, but I know I can’t and sometimes have to hold myself back or signpost because a client isnt right for us.

How long did it take to earn an income you were happy with?

Earning an income I am happy with is still very much a work in progress. I have a clear target and working towards that every day and have a plan to launch our members club very soon as a part of that plan.

And how long to get a good client rota?

I would say it took us a few years to build up our client bank as we spent time building our credibility first and being visible too. More recently wearing our new hat as we sold our face to face business, we are building our connections online and coaching online which is a new way of doing things for us in that coaching format but perfect as means we can reach out to more of our ICA.

Have you ever turned a client down?

YES! and recently wrote a blog entitled – ‘I just turned down work and it feels great’ which talks very much about not everyone being your ideal customer and its okay to say no!

If you could offer any advice to yourself starting out as a freelancer what would it be?

My one piece of advice I would offer to anyone is consistency and being omnipresent.

Its about making sure you genuinely build relationships and connect with people. People buy people and I think social media is fabulous but often people forget the ‘social’ element of this. Relationship and value always come first.

Find out more about Gaynor