Lisa Emmington is a freelance instructional designer (or as her newly SEO'd website puts it, a training course designer) based near Milton Keynes.
She's been freelance almost her entire career, starting out as an IT trainer back when Apple Macs were a mystery box on people's desks, and has reinvented her business every time the market has shifted underneath her - from face to face training, to early e-learning software, to mentoring individual course creators today in the face of AI.
In this episode we talk about:
- How the desire to be freelance came before Lisa knew what she wanted to be freelancing in
- Spotting the shift from face to face training to e-learning, and moving with it
- What happened when she and her husband became a limited company for three years, and why it made her invisible in the market
- Rebuilding visibility from scratch with a social media VA and an SEO overhaul
- Why "instructional designer" doesn't bring in enquiries, but "training course designer" does
- Filtering and pacing leads using nothing more high tech than a paper diary
- The balance between promoting decades of expertise and the very real ageism facing freelancers in their 50s and 60s
- Her three income streams: templates, done with you mentoring, and done for you course creation
- Pensions, retirement planning, and why she's planning to keep freelancing well past 67
- What 60 actually looks like now, versus what she expected it to look like
So much great advice and things to think about in here around change in our careers - brought about by the inevitability of developing tech and age.
---
EPISODE SPONSORED BY ECAMM
For years people have asked how Being Freelance live shows look so good. Well, this is the secret.
Ecamm is a video studio for your Mac.
Give anything you do with video, a pro look in real time.
Presentations, screen shares, webinars, video calls, demos. Plus livestream/record in landscape & vertical at the same time, perfectly designed for both formats.
Try Ecamm for free.
Use code BEINGFREELANCE to save 15% on your first payment.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY
You're not alone being freelance.
Come and hang out with your BFFs (Being Freelance Friends).
beingfreelance.com/community
NEW TO FREELANCING? THERE'S A COURSE FOR YOU!
The Being Freelance course is made for you!
Take the course and you'll also get 6 months FREE community membership.
FREELANCER MERCH
Get Being Freelance merchandise at beingfreelance.com/shop
Like VIDEO? - Check out the Being Freelance on:
Instagram - Instagram.com/beingfreelance
YouTube - YouTube.com/SteveFolland
Being Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.
