Introduction to Being Freelance podcast

Have You Heard? is a series in which the team from Pod Bible meet the people behind the podcasts you may not have heard of yet. While the Oh. My. Pod. section in the magazine gives a quick shout out to shows of that ilk, Have You Heard aims to go deeper in an effort to spread awareness for shows that deserve more exposure! We recently spoke to Steve Folland, who started the Being Freelance podcast in January 2015 and has spoken to over 200 creative freelancers in that time.

Who are you and what’s your podcast about? 

Hey, I’m Steve Folland and I’m a freelance video/audio creator. Each week on the Being Freelance podcast I chat to a different creative freelancer from around the world about their experience of life and work being, well, freelance. It’s a fun way of learning how to build a successful business – there’s many ways to do it, so it turns out.

What was the first podcast you ever listened to? 

Ooh, probably Ricky Gervais when he was on Xfm. Wow, that feels like a long time ago. It’s amazing to think what they show spawned.

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place? 

I didn’t know any freelancers so was searching for podcasts about how to run a freelance business and balance it with your life. This was in 2014 and it turned out there weren’t any. They were mostly American entrepreneur podcasts that I didn’t relate to. Since I couldn’t find it, I started it.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from? 

None at the time. But since then I guess the way I like to really make it about the guest rather than myself is akin to Guy Raz on How I Built This. It’s a show about the people who created businesses like Canva, AirBnB, Instagram, Jo Malone, ReCaptcha (that’s an amazing story) and even The Chipmunks franchise. My podcast is a lot less over produced and ‘hyped’ – but the essence of shutting up, listening and being genuinely interested in your guests is there.

Who’s your dream guest for the podcast? 

The funny thing is, the best guests on Being Freelance are usually the freelancers who have never been interviewed before. They’re not celebrities. They’re not media trained. So my dream guest is someone with an interesting story, plot twists I don’t see coming, fun to chat to, great business insight… but who happens to have a decent mic and wifi 🙂

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as a podcaster? 

To have a healthy sense of paranoia. Spare back up recordings and double checking you’ve actually hit record. It’s too easy to become complacent when you’ve been doing it for a while.

Which episode would you say is the perfect introduction to your podcast? 

The recent Tom Hovey episode is a great place to start. He’s the illustrator who does all the amazing artwork on Bake Off. That’s one heck of a gig… Brilliant to hear how he got into it and how he’s grown his business since.

Where can the Pod Bible readers find out more about you? 

Beingfreelance.com is the website and I’m @sfolland on Twitter and Instagram. Thanks for having me!

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