Member Article

Freelance Working Boosts Better Lifestyle

The North’s first freelance creative network, “Creative Allies’ is delighted by new research highlighting the mental and physical benefits of working as a freelancer.

Figures from IPSE (The Independent Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) reveal that more than a fifth of full-time working professionals have switched to self-employment so as to gain better work conditions and a healthier work/life balance with 69% of those claiming to feel ‘less-stressed’ since making such a move.

And as National/Work Life Week kicks off today, it’s clear that a surge of self-employed professionals are keen to take a more healthier approach about their work.

Creative Allies Director, Pavan Riyat-Ward, says: “It does not surprise us that such statistics came to light. Over the past six months alone, we’ve noticed that more of our creatives are telling us that they’re feeling the health benefits of working for themselves as freelancers as opposed to when they were in full-time employment. “Many of our team actually seem to be reaping the benefits both mentally and physically which can come with working as a freelancer.”

Award-winning Creative Allies was set-up in April this year and is now taking the Advertising and Marketing industry by storm. With 200 highly talented creatives on the books so far - across a broad spectrum of creative disciplines, this is one of the largest virtual creative departments in the North and the firm has just won their first accolade, having been awarded Best Freelance Creative Network 2019 by CV Magazine. Creative Allies are also sponsoring the prestigious MPA Awards which take place in Manchester next week.

Professional writer Louise Turner, one of Creative Allies’ members, turned to freelance work in 2011 despite the recession in search of a more flexible and positive lifestyle and has never looked back. The Mum-of-two, who lives in Wakefield says: “I now feel much more flexible, I have more control over my work/life balance and it’s the lifestyle I want. My children see that I have a job that I enjoy doing and that I work around them. I took a gamble in 2011 and set up a two-year-business plan working on my company Wordsmith Ltd and it’s grown so quickly. Creative Allies are fabulous to work with and they are obviously a company for creatives, set up by creatives.”

Stephen Paul, Psychotherapist and author from Leeds highlights the importance of taking control of your working life in order to reap personal rewards, he explains: “I have helped many people change their jobs and working practices. Often they were completely stressed out and in the wrong job for them. It’s so much better to do a job that is something we really enjoy… or to make our job and the time we spend at it work for us. “We all need to be in control in our lives and work takes so much of our time and our energy. By working as a freelancer, it can offer control over what we do and how we do it. It can be beneficial to our physical and mental health both for the working day and for the rest of our lives. There’s no doubt that working as a freelancer can boost a better lifestyle.”

The latest data from the Office of National Statistics shows the number of people who were self-employed in the first calendar quarter of 2019 (January to March) increased by 90,000 on the quarter to reach a record high of 4.93 million. Between March 2018 and March 2019, the number of self-employed people increased by a staggering 180,000. Ends

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Leigh Purves .