Hello Fellow Freelancer,

We missed last week newsletter deadline. I guess we have an excuse! :-)

Freelance Business Month is in the full swing and I am having a déja vu. That moment of a puppy happiness when I see other freelancers during the FBM sessions and chats, hear their stories, welcome brilliant experts on our virtual stage and being able to help freelancers grow their businesses.

We had a blast at the Opening. If you think that the first few seconds was a joke - it wasn't. I literally entered the studio 10 mins before the start. Not because I like to sleep but because the traffic in Belgium is so bad. I thanked God that #iamfreelance and don't need to do it every day.

Spending hours commuting to the office and back + dealing with creepy bosses is exactly what Jon Younger listed in his article as good reasons to quit your job and start freelance. Also, as we have learned from the Opening Keynotes, freelancing is the future.

It is our 3rd edition of the Freelance Business Month and I thought that I have already seen it all, but every time I attend a session, I am still learning. We publish all our take-aways on our LinkedIn profile (you can see a few of them here and here) and attendees also have access to session summaries and session replays.

FBM is happening not only online. FBC ambassadors are running live events in Prague, Melbourne, Dubrovnik, Split, Buenos Aires, Szeged, Budapest and Milan. If you are in any of these cities, join the local community. For our Belgian members, we are planning a breakfast meet-up on 31st October with our friends at Linkus. (more information will follow)

Our event goodie bag is full of treasures: from sales scripts to budget templates and generous discounts on books and courses + we are featuring places and platforms where freelancers can find jobs.

In only 1.5 week, 134 meetings took place on our event platform and 130 discussions created. (loving it, yay!) We are ready to hand over the Freelance Oscar to the most active participant. See more about it here. Sponsored by Gigged.ai and these folks are famous for crazy cool stuff.

If you are by any chance missed a free ticket, you surely need to get one now!

We are concluding the Growing Freelance Business week on Friday and heading to European Freelancers Week where we will talk about the the ecosystem around freelancing. It is dedicated to highlight challenges, to drive solutions and to establish new collaborations to support freelancers.

We invite you to join us on 17 October at 11:15 CET for the Opening of the EFWeek: Making Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Everyone's business. You need to register for this session here.

In this newsletter below, we have also included:

• our new blogs: Pricing models for freelancers—when to throw in the BIG numbers and updated Digital nomad visa list with verified information.
• Future workforce report 2022 by Upwork
• 21 ways to innovate by Ramon Vullings
• A dozen good reasons to freelance by John Younger
• Featuring another cool online tool: Borderless for safe travel.

Enjoy the rest!

And, btw, you can always hit reply and let me know what you think or suggest topics for next newsletter.

Regards,
Elina

European Freelancers Week
Programme at the FBM

Here are some of the highlights of the EFWeek. Read more about what the EFWeek is in our previous Digest.

Freelancing for artists in 2022: new frontiers
Kosta Karakashyan, Director / Choreographer at Studio Karakashyan

Embracing dyslexia as your superpower when freelance writing
Ray Berry, Writer & Director, Founder of DXLS

Global Social Safety Net for freelancers – what is it and why do we need it?
Sondre Rasch, Co-founder and CEO, SafetyWing

Pension savings for freelancers in the EU
Oscar van der Laan, CEO of Pensify

Why countries choose to be freelancer friendly
Dr. Rochelle Haynes, PhD, CIPD, HEA, Founder and CEO of Crowd Potential Consulting Inc.

Monetisation options for freelance communities Panel discussion
Kiki Calis, Founder at Qommunity
Tia Grado, Founder at Freelancing Females
Elina Jutelyte, Founder at Freelance Business Community

Why countries choose to be freelancer friendly
Dr. Rochelle Haynes, PhD, CIPD, HEA, Founder and CEO of Crowd Potential Consulting Inc.

How freelancing can support the disabled community
Mike Adams OBE, CEO of Purple Tuesday

How to start an affiliate programme?
Enelin Paas, Head of Business Development of SafetyWing

Blockchain and Crypto: what's in it for freelancers?
Alexandros Ntolgkov, co-founder and host of the Blockchain Practitioners podcast

and more interesting and thought-provoking sessions.

Check our programme for more details and register here.


Freelance Business Month is sponsored by The Indie List, MBO Partners, Distributed, Safety Wing, Gigged.ai, Hoxby as well as our community partners Linkus, Betoobe, Charipickers, Topcoder, Freelancermap and CXC Global.

Interested in partnering with us for this event? Please send request to info@freelancebusiness.eu

17 October - Invitation

Making Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility Everyone's Business

It's been debated, podcasted and blogged about extensively. We all know IDEA is everyone's business, from freelancers to enterprise level business and everything in between.

This year's kick-off event brought to you by coordinators of the #EFWeek, the European Coworking Assembly is hosted by Tash Thomas, the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and writer of the ECA IDEA Handbook.

A three-year long vision of the ECA, this handbook covers implementing IDEA in-depth including definitions, case studies, actionable ideas and resources to integrate your values into your organisation, whatever your role.

IDEA is an important fundamental way for you to do business your way - from the communities we work in, to the collaborators we work with, online and offline, these principles are a must so everyone can bring their whole selves to work every day.

To attend, please register for this session here.

Future Workforce Report 2022: Leveraging Independent Talent as a Key Workforce Strategy

What does the future of the workforce look like? According to Upwork's 2022 report, freelancers and the independent workforce will be a major factor. Freelancers help businesses solve the talent shortage, inspire innovation, and allow access to specialised skills.

Over 66% of hiring managers are planning to increase their utilisation of independent talent within the next two years, and over 80% agree that working with freelancers in more cost-efficient. See more statistics from the report below:

Pricing Models for Freelancers—When to Throw in the BIG Numbers

Are you struggling with setting your freelance rates? If so, you are not alone! But you are in the right place.

Learn the difference between hourly rates, package deals, retainers, value-based pricing and the other pricing methods and which to pick for the right moment in your freelance journey!

All this - and more - in our brand new article.

Get to know Petr Kaduch, our Ambassador in Prague, Czech Republic

We are happy to introduce our first Freelance Ambassador - Petr Kaduch from Czech Republic. Learn more about him and about the awesome event he is organising on 22nd October: Freelance Fun in Prague.

Follow us to get the latest news on our Freelance Ambassadors programme and whether we will organise an event in your city!

21 Ways: Cross-Industry Research

Jump start your innovation efforts with a custom 21 ways set! Get a custom, cross-industry inspiration for: product and service ideas, product development, process and service innovations, government innovations, business model innovation new business development and defining strategic directions. It can help you spot new trends, new connections, great ideas and enriched concepts.

All collected by Ramon Vullings, keynote speaker, cross-industry expert & ideaDJ.

If inspired, you can also watch this video.

Digital Nomad Visas by Country

Being a digital nomad allows you to move to different countries and experience new cultures, while still working and earning a living. What if you want to explore the world all year round and now only on vacation?

We have put together a list of countries in Europe which offer a digital nomad visa, allowing you to work and travel across borders without fear of compliancy issues.

You will also find suggestions for your travel and medical insurance while being away from home.

A Dozen Good Reasons To Freelance

Have you heard all the usual perks of freelancing and are still not convinced this career shift is worth it? Jon Younger, an HR and future of work thought leader, lists 12 more upsides of freelancing that you might not have thought of.

Being constantly monitored, managing office policies and staying safe from freaky bosses are just some of the minuses of employment that you will leave behind if you decide to go independent - find out the rest in his article.

European Freelancers Week

The Freelance Business Community has been a European Freelancers Week (#EFWeek) partner for more than two years.

But what is the #EFWeek?

The EFWeek is a movement and celebration of the freelance ecosystem in Europe. Each year a week in October is dedicated to highlight challenges, to drive solutions and to establish new collaborations to support freelancers.

#EFWeek goals are:

1. Generate recognition of the value freelancers bring to the economy and society as well as their role in creating the future of work.
2. Facilitate community building and connection among freelancers through bottom-up initiatives and collaboration.
3. Improve conditions for independent working and workers, through learning, sharing, networking and policy action.
4. Highlight the challenges that freelancers face, as well as showcase the solutions that are at the vanguard of the future of work.
5. Showcase the international freelance ecosystems

#EFWeek produces a manifesto, which each of you can sign to bring attention of governments, businesses, and other stakeholders in the European economy to grapple actively with the changing face of work.

If you run an event or a meet-up for freelancers in October, submit it to the #EFWeek calendar and it will be promoted to a wider community.


This year the #EFWeek will take place from 14-21 October and will be part of the Freelance Business Month programme.

Traveling and concerned about safety?

Get updates and email alerts on travel restrictions, containment measures and vaccination information around the globe.

BORDERLESS, was started in March 2020 when the world shut down to travel. It became clear that this shutdown would last many months, not just weeks. Countries changed their travel restrictions and COVID-19 containment measures by the day.

Safety Wing created this tool that collects all of this information in one place. Bookmark it in case you plan to travel.

Missed our previous editions? Here they are.

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