Okay, we’re just going to say it: 2020 was, shall we say, a bit less than ideal. Bushfires, genocidal wasps and social disarray have marked the year as one of the more dramatic in modern peacetime, and that’s before we even move on to talking about C-word - nope, not see you next Tuesday, the other one. You know, the one that used to be akin to a cold bevvy with a lime in it – Corona, aka COVID-19.

We know... If you read one more blog with the term “unprecedented times” or “new normal” you might barf, but if we’re going to talk about the need for a freelance collective mindset, we need to address the less than conspicuous elephant in the room. The pandemic has triggered instability across the world, with freelancers among the worst affected. Who knew we could go from earning a decent salary to earning nothing overnight? Well, we’re freelancers, so we are used to fluctuating income, but nothing could have prepared us for this level of disintegration to our pipelines. But it hasn’t all been doom and gloom.

The three freelancer camps during the pandemic

In 2020, freelancers have tended to fall in to one of three camps or dipped between:

Freelancers that still have clients, but that are overwhelmed by the current circumstances
Freelancers that have lost their clients or some projects, or aren’t entitled to financial support (aka with previously considered savvy, limited company status)
Freelancers that were new to the game and still finding their feet when Covid-19 hit

For many of us, in one way or another, COVID-19 has proven nothing is sacred. But there is some positivity that’s come from the mix, and that’s a sense of community and understanding worldwide. Before the pandemic, freelancers’ collective mindsets may have extended as far as getting their head down in a coworking space, but the last few months have forced us to reach out more.

Whether it’s banding together in Zoom calls, creating collective teams or sharing work, here 4 reasons, despite the crazy new world we’re living in, freelancers can benefit from a collective mindset, now more than ever before.

1. Smush feelings of isolation by joining a network

Having a support network is essential for mental wellbeing and health, with research showing isolation is as bad for health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. But did you know psychologists also frequently attribute positive friendships with lower stress in individuals, higher cognitive function, longer lives and even successful careers?

Most of life’s problems can feel simpler to manage with a group of like-minded people around us, owing to the impact this has on our confidence and self-worth. Bonding over common circumstances also helps to build stronger relationships, so you may find a sense of community even stronger during these times if you opt into a peer group or join a coworking space. Many of us have been forced into a prolonged period of social isolation during the pandemic, meaning we need social interaction and support again more than ever.

2. Pooling networks opens up opportunity

For many freelancers, COVID-19 brought with it a mass exodus of clients, as everyone clung to their pennies amid such unprecedented circumstances. In this situation, you would almost expect the people with work left to keep their clients to themselves – after all, bills still need to be paid – but in fact, the opposite is true.

With safety in numbers, freelancers can actually help each other thrive by pooling contacts and collaborating. If a company is taking on a big project, other freelancers may have their ear to the ground before the project goes public – and the company may ask them for trusted recommendations when it comes to taking on others. It’s incredibly common for referrals to happen among freelancers, and some freelancers even subcontract out parts of projects they take on.

If you’re the one with an abundance of work, make sure you’re referring people to help them out – taking a commission reduces your good karma, and odds are people will return the favour further down the line. Though it may not seem like it right now, there is more than enough work to go around, so don’t be afraid to network and collaborate with your peers! While one of you will be busy now, it may be that things dry up for you in favour of your work-buddies later.

3. Connectivity and knowledge sharing enhances career development

Joining in with discussions among other freelancers gives you an opportunity to find out about new training initiatives in your area (or virtually), and you can now even widen your knowledge on a topic thanks to some Facebook groups. Seeing how other people in the same field work can give you a fresh perspective on your own role, and may even inspire you to do some things differently – leading to numerous opportunities for career development.

When freelancers get together they love to compare notes on contracts. Using discussions like these to scope out best practice for payment terms, and red flags when it comes to sticky situations, could be the difference between breezing through an issue or letting it impact your workload.

Getting advice from other freelancers is invaluable, so remember, there’s no such thing as a stupid question. It may be that someone else within a network is too afraid to ask something in particular, so you could find someone who feels similarly in the process. Other freelancers will have faced the same problems as you, and will be able to give you some words of wisdom to help you on your way.

4. Freelance collectives can pitch for bigger projects and clients

Joining a freelance collective can bring an abundance of benefits from increased wellbeing and creativity to better chances of landing large, stable projects and clients.

Building teams (as we encourage at Fribe) and actively pitching together for work or big clients as one collective group can not only help boost your levels of success, but also help unlock talents you may not have known you had.

Case study: Hoxby

Hoxby, for example, is an established community bringing together professionals from multiple sectors – and all corners of the world. They’ve worked with a huge and diverse spread of organisations such as Unilever, Deloitte, Crunchy Roll, Fevertree and more.

Olivia Merlen, one of freelance collective Hoxby’s writers, works on the Unilever/Cleanipedia project. She says of her experience: “I joined Hoxby and its incredible homeware website content team in March 2019. I learned a lot from the experience of working on such a large-scale project and getting acquainted quickly with the Hoxby ‘way’.

“Hoxby helps bring out the best in everyone and, more globally, inspires amazing results with clients.”

Discussing her experience so far, Olivia highlights the following as particular benefits of working as part of a collective:

Support from the start. Being self-employed, you work for yourself, by yourself. But with Hoxby you’re part of a team. There are video meetings every week to help answer questions, yet there’s no obligation to participate.
Trust, not pressure. Though I was brand-new to Hoxby, I felt immediately trusted by my team for each task and responsibility. Without pressure, it was easy to grow and learn new skills throughout the project.
Creativity, not fear. Simply, Hoxby celebrates freedom. No matter how ‘important’ the client, people are always confident to propose and try new initiatives.
Making the most of flexibility. The team worked very effectively thanks to technology, clear roles and good communication. Everyone could operate according to their own ‘workstyle’; Hoxby respects that.

It goes to show that, by pooling their talents into one big team, freelancers can position themselves in the best way to pitch for bigger projects than they might be able to secure on their own – and they can still have the flexibility to do it their way. Now who said we can’t have our cake and eat it?

It’s time to embrace the collective mindset

With agencies scaling down, organisations still scrambling to fill the work missed during tier restrictions, lockdowns and everything else in-between, there are more people than ever working from home, which actually means there’s never been a better time for freelancers to thrive. There’s been a huge surge of interest in using freelancers as a resource, and it’s not something that will go away anytime soon.

Now is the time to fully harness your power, and get into a collective mindset. The future of work is changing, and freelancers are at the core of this transformation.

Join a Facebook freelance support group. Apply to join a freelance collective (even just a few hours a week to get a taste of it). Spend a few days in a coworking space. And let the community spirit do its thing.

Whether it’s about finding your tribe, landing that dream project or just venting about your latest client nightmare, there’s only greater success waiting for you when you tap into a more collective way of thinking.