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  • 26 You Get What You Give: outsourcing

    26 You Get What You Give: outsourcing
    2025/06/12
    Today’s episode is all about outsourcing. Are you an outsourcer? Or an outsourceee? Or both? Did I just make up those words? At least one of them. Either way, to keep it easy we’re using “outsourcing” to cover any projects that are done by someone who’s not on the payroll. We discuss the pros and cons, what to watch out for if you’re outsourcing, how to be a good outsourceee (we should use more triple-Es in made-up words) and highlight how outsourcing can help you scale your business both up and down, depending on how things are going. BTW, this episode is supported by Freelancer Magazine, the quarterly magazine for freelancers, founders, and the freelance-curious. Along with the mag (which is printed or digital) your subscription gives you a whole heap of other benefits including three virtual coworking sessions every week. You can subscribe here or find it on LinkedIn and on “instantgram” @freelancermag. Ben and I are both in the upcoming issue on client processes and getting new clients. Look! Ben’s the COVER GIRL!VoicenotedOur lovely pal Jo Marshall is today’s voicenoter. Jo runs All Things Words, the copywriting agency for higher education providers. Jo and her team provide copy audits, course copy and content. Shout out to Louis and Ivy too! You can find Jo on LinkedIn and at allthingswords.co.uk.Your friends and mine A double bill this time and first up is VA to creative types like us, Erin Buck. Erin is a firm supporter of the show and knows a thing or two about podcasts herself, having hosted Women In Business podcast for multiple series. Find her at her website and on LinkedIn. We also want give a shout out to friend of the show and past voicenoter (episode 13) Rishi Dastidar who has a new book which is out now. A Hobby Of Mine is published by Broken Sleep Books, and is described as “an unrelenting catalogue of cultural observations which becomes an absurd and profound portrait of modern life”Buy it from brokensleepbooks.com and all good bookshops.And can you do us a favour?We’re speaking on The Marketing Meetup webinar this coming Tuesday 17th June at 2pm. Please come along and watch us get quizzed by Joe/James from TMM so we don’t have to talk to an empty room. Okay, so it’s virtual and there’s no real room… and you aren’t on camera anyway, but you know what we mean. Sign up is here. Thank yoooooou, Mel & BenFind our producer, theme composer and apprentice roofer Ant Henderson on LinkedIn and you can watch older episodes of the show on YouTube here. If you enjoy the show, you can chip in on our production costs with a £3 contribution at ko-fi.com/indiebusinessclub please and thank you 💖🎙️ Spotify / Apple podcasts / Amazon Music and Audible This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indiebusinessclub.substack.com
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    35 分
  • 25 Frankly, Mr Shankly: testimonials

    25 Frankly, Mr Shankly: testimonials
    2025/05/29
    Today’s episode is all about testimonials. But just before we get into it… we’re incredibly excited about this 👇We’re doing a Marketing Meetup webinar with Michelle L P Boland all about how to grow your marketing freelance / consultancy business in 2025. Doing a TMM webinar is major #Goals so please help us make it a success by coming along! 😄We’ll talk all about how we’ve each built our businesses and give allll the indie business intel and tips. It’s not until 17th June but you can sign up here to get it in your calendar :)TestimonialsNow. Onto the episode. It’s all about testimonials, which seem to be a sore point for lots of people. Do you…ask for them? get them? use them?Full disclosure, we’re not exactly great at asking clients for them. This is one of our “do as we say, not as we do” situations..! It sometimes feels a bit icky. And then time just dribbles by and before you know it, two years have gone by. Bit late by then.I asked people’s opinions on LinkedIn and got some great tips. Several people noted how it’s useful to be ultra specific about what you’re asking for. So if you want to highlight your organisation skills / communication / professionalism / slick onboarding process etc. (delete as appropriate) then tell your client that when you ask for a testimonial.Others try and grab natural comments as they go along. There’s a “Wall of Remembrance” on the Copy Or Die homepage (scroll down a bit to see it) thanks to a plug-in called testimonial.to (I think we might have said i o on the episode sorryyyyy).VoicenotedLuckily, we have the Peter Pan of graphic design Dave Officer as today’s voicenoter to give us a steer. He made us ponder why it feels gross to ask for testimonials and talks about how he approaches asking for them. It was an epic feature-length voicenote, so we’ve had our sound guy (and sound guy) Ant weave Dave in and out of the whole episode.Your friends and mineThe YFAMs from this episode are everyone we mention in this episode!Gemma Strang, Jodie Newman, Leigh James, Jo Shock, Stacey Eleczko (find her helpful article here), Eddie Shleyner, Dave Harland (again!), Adrian Elton, Amy Hawthorne, Jeremy Freeman, Gemma Champ, Lou Major, Erin Buck, Samantha Harman and Ruth Sedar.We didn’t have time to cover everyone’s testimonials tips so we will revisit the topic in future. Email us on show@indiebusinessclub.com if you have any comments and we’ll try and include them in our testies part two.One last wangOkay, it probably won’t be the absolute last time I wang on about this but we’re so proud of our live episode. We’d love you to listen to it if you haven’t already. We had a jolly old time making it, as you can see. Please give it a listen 😉 Thanks again to Mark Masters and the team at FOUNDRY Poole.And one last askWhile we’re on the topic of asking for testimonials, can you leave us one please? 🙏 You email us (show@indiebusinessclub.com) or leave one on our individual LinkedIn pages here for Mel and here for Ben. Or you can leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Thank yooou! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indiebusinessclub.substack.com
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    40 分
  • 24 Let's Go Surfing: LIVE Q&A episode at Creator Day 2025

    24 Let's Go Surfing: LIVE Q&A episode at Creator Day 2025
    2025/05/19
    This earlier-than-expected episode is called Let’s Go Surfing* and it’s a LIVE Q&A episode recorded at FOUNDRY Poole as part of Creator Day 2025. Extra special thanks to Mark Masters at You Are The Media for organising the space and inviting us to record our first live episode *TV announcement voice* recorded in front of a live studio audience. Thank you to the team at FOUNDRY as well for taking such great care of us. BTW the video version of the live recording won’t go up for a little while yet - I’m still wrangling with the massive file size :)Q’s got A’d (mostly…we’re okay admitting when we don’t know stuff)We had a range of questions submitted on LinkedIn: Robyn Santa Maria on when to burn it all down and start againSeyam Hamed on how to rest without the guiltFelicity Wild on what clients really wantGrace Hall on how to get a retainerRaymond Manzor on where to focus your efforts when there are 29 things you could do right nowWe also had questions live in the room: Mark Masters on how to switch offChristine Gritmon on when to work for freeRachel Extance on how to do market researchPhoto credit: Steve Folland of Being FreelanceThank you to everyone who came, especially Becky Greaves for sending me this link to a LinkedIn post Ben mentions on the show when talking about how engaging a freelancer on retainer is more cost effective than having an employee. Creator DayFriday’s recording closed out Creator Day. On Thursday, I spoke on stage** at the main conference day about how to be lucky. I talked about how chance events impact careers, and the three things you can do to harness luck:1) get over yourself and post - put yourself out there online2) network, network, network - meet people, with the goal of friendship first3) go brain-to fingers - don’t over sanitise your content to the point it doesn’t sound like you anymoreIt’s thanks to doing those three things that I ended up meeting Ben. And it’s how we’ve approached building an audience for indie business club podcast too. We don’t make promises about how you can hack your way to six figures, or sugar-coat freelance life to make it sound all sunshine and lollipops. We don’t have fake personas or masks we put on to record. We certainly don’t try and polish our episodes too much. And we try and get out there to events to meet people and turn online connections into real-life relationships. Creator Day is one of those special events where you walk into the room and feel like you’re surrounded by friends. You might not have met all of them yet, but they’re future friends at least. If you want to get in on the action next year, earlywirly bird tickets are on sale now. Your friends and mineThank you so much to everyone who came along to watch the live recording. We really appreciate you sticking around a little longer after Creator Day to join us in our first studio recording. It’ll be weird going back to recording remotely on Riverside!Check out what friend of the show Amy Nolan created to showcase the day. What a legend. You can buy Amy’s doodles as postcards and pngs at her shop here. We’re hoping to make it back again next year. What a blast. Cheers, Mel & Ben* (if you’re not sure if you know the song, you probably do)**if you were at Creator Day, I’d love to know what you thought of my talk. Please can you spare 3-5mins to fill in this form?Find our producer, theme composer and speedy splicer Ant Henderson on LinkedIn and you can watch older episodes of the show on YouTube here. If you enjoy the show, you can chip in on our production costs with a £3 contribution at ko-fi.com/indiebusinessclub please and thank you 💖🎙️ Spotify / Apple podcasts / Amazon Music and Audible This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indiebusinessclub.substack.com
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    44 分
  • 23 Separated by motorways: working with friends

    23 Separated by motorways: working with friends
    2025/05/15

    This episode is called Separated by Motorways and it's all about working with your friends.

    We’re at Creator Day today. So the YouTube video will be up in the next week or so. Here we are at last year’s event, which was only the second time we’d met in person. This photo was taken at FOUNDRY, where we’re recording a live podcast Q&A episode tomorrow morning. Let us know your indie business/freelancer questions on show@indiebusinessclub.com and we’ll answer as many as we can.

    Could you work with your friends? Have you?

    On the face of it, it seems like an easy decision to work with people you're friends with. But doing so comes with its own unique challenges and rewards. On this episode, we’ll talk about:

    How to make a success of it (i.e. stay friends)

    Making sure you're on the same page when working with your pals

    Putting in place boundaries so it all works out

    Voicenoted

    We’ve got long-term friend of the show Bonnie Harrington on to talk about working with friends. Bonnie is a Bristol based copywriter specialising in writing for independent businesses and brands with a conscience. We've both worked with her and can verify she's ace. Find Bonnie on Instagram @wordsbybonnie and at wordsbybonnie.com

    Your friend and mine

    Today’s YFAM is Paul Smart, a business counsellor who fixes the “you” in your business. A bespoke mixture of counselling, coaching, mentoring and good old practical advice can get you where you want to go. Paul also runs a regular Friday music collective on LinkedIn which I love to get involved with.

    CopyCon Discount

    Save 10% on all tickets to CopyCon, the conference for professional writers. This October, we’re heading to Manchester for the main conference day on Friday 3rd. Get your tickets here.

    Email the show

    Get in touch on show@indiebusinessclub.com with any questions you have about indie business life, or share your freelance/founder challenges. We may well feature you in a future episode.

    Cheers,

    Ben & Mel

    Find our producer, theme composer and Sainsbury’s superfan Ant Henderson on LinkedIn and you can watch the show on YouTube here. A like and a subscribe goes a long way 😉 If you enjoy the show, you can chip in on our production costs with a £3 contribution at ko-fi.com/indiebusinessclub please and thank you 💖

    🎙️ Spotify / Apple podcasts / Amazon Music and Audible

    The back catalogue

    21 Got Your Money: pricing projects

    20 Joy Division: work-life balance

    19 Daytripper: conferences part deux

    18 The Day We Caught The Train: conferences ft Nick Crawford and Lorna Smart

    17 Hanging On The Telephone: ghosting ft Will Slater and Heather Pownall16 Heart Shaped Box: niching ft Ayo Abbas and Raymond Manzor15 The Masterplan: goal setting ft Janine Coombes and friends b-side Word of the yearb-side LinkedIn revisited14 Handbags and Gladrags: Industry Awards ft Charles Commins and Fab Giovannetti13 You’re The Voice: Tone Of Voice ft Nick Parker, Rishi Dastidar and Amy Nolan12 Plug In Baby: Software ft Jo Shock and Jack Chambers-Ward11 Somebody Told Me: Referrals ft Bob Burg and Penni and Jo Pickering10 Paranoid Android: AI vs creativity ft Tom Albrighton and Molly Scanlan09 Shiny Happy People: Personal brands ft Lea Turner and Steve Folland08 Chasing Rainbows: Business planning ft. Alastair Thomson and Melanie Johnson07 A Design For Life: Creating for yourself with guest co-host Dan Nelken ft. Penny Brazier and The McKinneys06 I Bet You Look Good On The Timeline ft. Dave Harland and Jonathan Wilcock05 Flaming Lips: Public Speaking ft. Pascalle Bergmans, Becki Wilson and Nikki Pilkington04 A Little Respect: Client Relationships ft. Jodie Newman and Sophie Cross03 All Together Now: Communities ft. Mark Masters and Ant Henderson02 It’s Oh So Quiet: Finding Clients ft. John Lyons and Bonnie Harrington01 Fools Gold: Pricing your projects ft. Tom Garfield and Ange Lyons00 What’s The Story? Podcast origins



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indiebusinessclub.substack.com
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    39 分
  • 22 Bloc Party: celebrating wins

    22 Bloc Party: celebrating wins
    2025/05/01
    Episode 22 is called Bloc Party and it's all about celebrating your wins as a freelancer, founder, or indie business owner. Subscribe nAre you good at celebrating wins? Lots of freelancers, founders and indie business owners are rubbish at it. You hit a goal, you tick it off, you move on. Rinse, repeat. But if you don’t stop to enjoy the wins (however small) it can make everything feel like an endless slog.In this episode we discuss ways to mark the milestones, what we’re going to do to celebrate one year of indie business club (coming up soon!) and we also talk about how it’s hard when you don’t have a manager to go “hey, you’re doing a great job!”So in case no-one else says it to you today... Hey. You’re doing a great job. It’s important to share and celebrate when stuff goes well. One of our recent wins is partnering with ProCopywriters to promote CopyCon, which is in Manchester on 2nd - 3rd October. I spoke at the event last year and we’re both going along again this year with friend of the show (and Copy Or Die colleague) Dave. You can get 10% off your ticket with the code IBC10 for CopyCon 2025. Treat yo’self.In the episode, Ben mentions how at Creator Day 2024 we took promo pics for the podcast. We also stepped out from the after party to listen to sound guy (and sound guy) Ant’s sample theme tunes for the podcast. Now Creator Day 2025 is in just two weeks (today 🎉) and you can get £40 off your ticket with code: IndieYATMVoicenotedAnita Ellis is a punchy copywriter for bold brands, offering brand positioning, web copy, and case studies. Anita talks to us about how she celebrates the wins (spoiler, it involves cake) and how important it is to record the small wins as well as big stuff. Shout out to Mr Ellis, who started Anita’s business birthday tradition.Your friend and mineToday’s YFAM is Jen Sands, an online business manager and wing-woman for entrepreneurs looking to scale and revitalise their business. Jen and her team of change makers and time reclaimers will help you create, systemise, and manage your processes. Jen’s been a great supporter of the show since day one and you can find her at jensands.co.uk.Email the showGot a burning question about being a freelancer, founder, or independent business owner? Or feel the overwhelming urge to give us a glowing testimonial? Get in touch on show@indiebusinessclub.com and we might feature you in a future episode. Cheers, Mel & Ben Find our producer, theme composer and Sainsbury’s superfan Ant Henderson on LinkedIn and you can watch the show on YouTube here. A like and a subscribe goes a long way 😉 If you enjoy the show, you can chip in on our production costs with a £3 contribution at ko-fi.com/indiebusinessclub please and thank you 💖🎙️ Spotify / Apple podcasts / Amazon Music and Audible This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indiebusinessclub.substack.com
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    33 分
  • 21 Got Your Money: pricing your work

    21 Got Your Money: pricing your work
    2025/04/17

    Episode 21 is called Got Your Money and it's all about pricing work as a freelancer, founder, or indie business owner.

    If you enjoy the show, you can chip in on our production costs with a £3 contribution at ko-fi.com/indiebusinessclub please and thank you 💖

    Pricing was the first topic we ever covered way back in episode one, released 27th June 2024. No need to listen to that one. Our sound quality and (professional podcast conduct) has come a long way since.

    On this new episode, we discuss:

    what to consider when you price up projects

    charging for your time versus value-based pricing

    how to deal with pushback on price

    whether to work for free

    It's such a complex and nuanced topic, we'll probably come back for a third episode in another ten months.

    Voicenoted

    Business coach Phil Budd gives us his thoughts on how to price up work as an independent business owner. Phil owns the High Performers Academy [ https://highperformersacademy.co.uk ] and is coach and business owner with ActionCOACH UK. You can find Phil on LinkedIn here. [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-budd ]

    Your friend and mine

    This time we give a shout out to Laura Bean. Laura's an internal communications specialist and copywriter who very generously let us know about a glitch on one of our YouTube videos. What a star. She's a wonderful supporter of the show. Thanks, Laura!

    [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurabeancopywriting ]

    Listener discounts

    You Are The Media’s Creator Day 2025 is on Thursday 15th May in Poole, Dorset.Mel’s speaking on the Friday morning, we’re recording a live episode of this podcast at 11ish at Foundry. Book here and save £40 with the code IndieYATM

    ProCopywriters’ CopyCon 2025 is on Friday 3rd October in Manchester. With our code you can save on all packages. Book here and save 10% with the code IBC10

    YouTube

    And you can watch the show on YouTube here. A like and a subscribe goes a long way 😉 The latest episode will go up a little later today.

    Email the show

    Got a burning question about being a freelancer, founder, or independent business owner? Or feel the overwhelming urge to give us a glowing testimonial? Get in touch on show@indiebusinessclub.com and we might feature you in a future episode.

    Cheers,

    Ben & Mel

    Find our producer, theme composer and beard trimmer Ant Henderson on LinkedIn 🐶Support the show at ☕ko-fi.com/indiebusinessclub

    🎙️ Spotify / Apple podcasts / Amazon Music and Audible



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indiebusinessclub.substack.com
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    45 分
  • 20 Joy Division: work/life balance

    20 Joy Division: work/life balance
    2025/04/03
    Episode 20 (TWENTY! 🥳) is called Joy Division and it's all about work-life balance. If you enjoy the show, you can chip in on our production costs at ko-fi.com/indiebusinessclub please and thank you 💖We first discussed the topic way back on our LinkedIn lives (we should bring those back). At the time, I had a lot going on and found the subject quite triggering. On the show, we discuss:whether it’s actually possible to find balance as an indie business ownerways to switch offthe “email fear”apps that can helphow a creative outlet can help you gain balancelistening to your bodyfinding joy in your workVoicenotedThis time we hear from our friend Bhavini Lahkani, a graphic designer specialising in brand identities and marketing collateral. Bhavini is an obsessive drinker of good coffee and eater of pistachio tiramisu (NEED) and you can find her at b81designs.com (where her blog is the excellently named “pixels & percolators”) and on instagram @b81designs.Your friend and mineThis time we give a shout out to Timon Spiesschaert, an international listener based in Ghent. Timon is a freelance copywriter & digital marketer at his business, Timon van Gent. Timon is a great supporter of the show, often sending us messages and comments. Thank you, Timon!Listener discountsYou Are The Media’s Creator Day 2025 is on Thursday 15th May in Poole, Dorset.Mel’s speaking and if you stick around until the Friday, we’re recording a live episode of the podcast at 11ish at Foundry. Book here and save £40 with the code IndieYATMProCopywriters’ CopyCon 2025 is on Friday 3rd October in Manchester, with fringe events the day before. With our code you can save on all packages. Book here and save 10% with the code IBC10YouTubeWe’ll never stop reminding you to watch the show on YouTube here. It takes ages to edit the videos so a like and a subscribe goes a long way 😉Email the showGot a burning question about being a freelancer, founder, or independent business owner? Or feel the overwhelming urge to give us a glowing testimonial? Get in touch on show@indiebusinessclub.com and we might feature you in a future episode. Cheers, Ben & MelFind our producer, theme composer and scissorati Ant Henderson on LinkedIn 🐶Support the show at ☕ko-fi.com/indiebusinessclub 🎙️ Spotify / Apple podcasts / Amazon Music and AudibleThe back catalogue18 The Day We Caught The Train: conferences ft Nick Crawford and Lorna Smart18 The Day We Caught The Train: conferences17 Hanging On The Telephone: ghosting ft Will Slater and Heather Pownall17 Hanging On The Telephone: ghosting16 Heart Shaped Box: niching ft Ayo Abbas and Raymond Manzor16 Heart Shaped Box: niching15 The Masterplan: goal setting ft Janine Coombes and friends 15 The Masterplan: goal settingb-side Word of the yearb-side LinkedIn revisited14 Handbags and Gladrags: Industry Awards ft Charles Commins and Fab Giovannetti13 You’re The Voice: Tone Of Voice ft Nick Parker, Rishi Dastidar and Amy Nolan12 Plug In Baby: Software ft Jo Shock and Jack Chambers-Ward11 Somebody Told Me: Referrals ft Bob Burg and Penni and Jo Pickering10 Paranoid Android: AI vs creativity ft Tom Albrighton and Molly Scanlan09 Shiny Happy People: Personal brands ft Lea Turner and Steve Folland08 Chasing Rainbows: Business planning ft. Alastair Thomson and Melanie Johnson07 A Design For Life: Creating for yourself with guest co-host Dan Nelken ft. Penny Brazier and The McKinneys06 I Bet You Look Good On The Timeline ft. Dave Harland and Jonathan Wilcock05 Flaming Lips: Public Speaking ft. Pascalle Bergmans, Becki Wilson and Nikki Pilkington04 A Little Respect: Client Relationships ft. Jodie Newman and Sophie Cross03 All Together Now: Communities ft. Mark Masters and Ant Henderson02 It’s Oh So Quiet: Finding Clients ft. John Lyons and Bonnie Harrington01 Fools Gold: Pricing your projects ft. Tom Garfield and Ange Lyons00 What’s The Story? Podcast origins This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit barfieldandmckinney.substack.com
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    36 分
  • 19 Daytripper: Conferences part deux

    19 Daytripper: Conferences part deux
    2025/03/20

    Episode 19 of indie business club podcast is coming at you faster than usual. We recorded a second episode on conferences, called Daytripper, so we could include feedback we got from LinkedIn. If you missed our first conferences episode, The Day We Caught The Train is here.

    If you enjoy the show, you can chip in on our production costs at ko-fi.com/indiebusinessclub please and thank you 💖

    Voicenoted

    We’ve got a voicenote in from the inimitable Susie Palmer-Trew. Susie is a change consultant and founder of Growth Club, a community for people in the change management industry. Susie is also a public speaker and explains her different approaches to events, depending on the context.

    Your friend and mine

    Okay, so we’re cheating this time and calling all the LinkedIn contributors our friends of the show. Whether they like it or not.

    Exclusive Creator Day discount for our subscribers

    Speaking of conferences… why not come along to You Are The Media’s Creator Day 2025, on Thursday 15th May in Poole, Dorset. If you stick around until the Friday, we’re recording a live episode of our podcast at around 11ish at Foundry.

    Our email subscribers can save £40 off the cost of a ticket for Creator Day. Book here and use the code IndieYATM.

    YouTube

    We’ll never stop reminding you to watch the show on YouTube here. It takes ages to edit the videos so a like and a subscribe goes a long way.

    Email the show

    Got a burning question about being a freelancer, founder, or independent business owner? Or want to warm our cockles with a glowing testimonial we can brag about? Get in touch on show@indiebusinessclub.com and we might feature you in a future episode.

    Cheers,

    Ben & MelFind our producer, theme composer and mouthclick collector Ant Henderson on LinkedIn 🐶Support the show at ☕ko-fi.com/indiebusinessclub



    This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit indiebusinessclub.substack.com
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    21 分