Rachel Emma Waring - Creative Consultant

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This Freelance Insights interview features creative consultant Rachel Emma Waring.

I started following Rachel when someone else recommended her account. She’s full of creative and visual tips on how to manage content for your business. I love seeing her content as it’s so different from anything else that pops up in my feed. A few months ago, I took Rachel’s Ignite course, which is all about how to use Pinterest to market your business. I found it so useful and would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more about Pinterest to support their marketing strategy.

Rachel is kindly offering readers her free Get Started on Pinterest Guide, which takes people through the first steps of getting their business account set up and ready on Pinterest. You can get access to it by clicking the button further down this page.

How do you describe what you do for work?

I’m a creative consultant, which involves helping small business owners with the parts of business that often feel quite challenging, like showing up online, content creation and the visuals of business. As small business owners, we’re expected to run a whole marketing department by ourselves. While it can be a source of stress, I also believe it can become a nice creative outlet with the right guidance.

What's your favourite thing about working freelance?

For me, it’s the autonomy, which is one of my biggest values in business and in life. By that, I mean the freedom to organise my work and run my life how I want to. The more you get a taste of that, the more it feels essential. I’d really struggle to be employed now because I’m so used to being able to make my own decisions and set my own hours. Going into employment just doesn’t feel like an option for me.

Where do you usually work from?

I work from home most of the time and sometimes cowork with pals. I did join a coworking space for a bit, and I occasionally go back there, but I really like the flexibility of working from home. I have to try to build in ways to get out of the house because, in the past, there have been times when I’ve not left the house for a week! So, as long as I manage to get out, working from home works perfectly for me.

What does a normal working day look like for you?

This has changed recently because I’ve been trying out 4-hour working days - a challenge my coach Chloe Slade set me. Now I’m experimenting with 5-hour days and taking a day off later in the week. When it works, it works really well; I find I’m more focused when I know I have less time. But at the moment I’m in a launch week, and when I feel busy or overwhelmed, I revert back to old habits.

What one tip would you give other freelancers about running a freelance business?

Choose the time you want to work during the day and block out that time in your calendar. If you don’t need your phone, put it on a timer so you can’t use it. I use the Forest app, and I love it! Having a timer and time blocking my day is something that’s really helped me. It helps you prioritise the things you need to get done, like the tasks that actually bring in the money as opposed to all the other ones!

Free resource

Rachel is offering readers her free Get Started on Pinterest Guide. It takes you from not being on Pinterest at all, or being on there for personal use, to setting up your business account and getting everything ready to go. Click on the button below to access it.

Access Rachel's free Pinterest guide