Heidi [00:00:00]:
How do you triple your freelance income? Spoiler alert. It does take effort, and there is no magic overnight solution, but there are strategies. Louise Ryan is a freelance footwear trend consultant who naturally transitioned to freelancing after a 20 year career working full time in house. She got a few clients from her network, and for year 2 was stable at about 35100 to £45100 a month. Then work dried up. She had no projects and no income for a few months in a row. So she joined fast, she got to work, and a few months later was making £12,000 a month. 2 months in a row as of the time of this recording, she has made £12,000 a month.

Heidi [00:00:39]:
Louise followed fast pretty much to a t. She put in the work, and she got some major results. But there was also a lot of rejection and depressing times as she put it. We talked through the high highs and the low lows and through all the strategies she she used to essentially triple her income. You are going to love it. Let's get started. Okay. So you send me this email out of the blue and you're like, hey, Heidi.

Heidi [00:01:03]:
I've been squirreling away over here. You literally said squirreling away. Yeah. And I just had 2 months in a row of $12,000 invoices. I need all the details after joining FAST a few a few months ago. Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:01:20]:
Tell me. I need I

Heidi [00:01:21]:
have so many questions, but I'll let you just start talking.

Louise Ryan [00:01:24]:
So I think well, first of all, I've been freelancing for a year and a half now. Okay. And no. Sorry. I've been freelancing for 3 years now. 3 years now. Okay. And no.

Louise Ryan [00:01:32]:
Okay. And no. Sorry no. Sorry. I've been freelancing for 3 years now. 3 years. And I previously to that, I was always employed within the fashion industry of my I'm in footwear, so that's my main thing. Only only do footwear.

Louise Ryan [00:01:54]:
Yeah. Always employed for, like, the last 20 years. Always wanted to go freelance. I'm sure you hear this all the time.

Louise Ryan [00:02:01]:
Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:02:01]:
But never I was always like, oh, I don't know. I was always making excuses. Like, oh, I don't know. The money might not be very good or, you know, it's not it's not the stability is not there. And I didn't even have children at this point, so I don't know what I was thinking. And then I made but I always went into these jobs, and I always worked so hard and gave so much. And never really felt that rewarded. I've always I was burnt out, always exhausted, always around, like, toxic people who are just just was just, like, banging my head against the wall.

Louise Ryan [00:02:36]:
Like, how are you even how do you even have this job? Like, you just the way that they the industry works sometimes, it just doesn't really gel with it. It wasn't really it wasn't really aligning with, like, my morals and stuff like that. So Mhmm. I and also, like, fast fashion. When I started my career, fast fashion wasn't really a big thing. So it was a lot more design and development. I would go on factory visits, and you'd you'd, like, work on the last, work on the heels. You'd really, like you'd have budgets for shopping.

Louise Ryan [00:03:10]:
You'd really design and develop from scratch, and I love that. I'm like a product person. So I really love working on things physically. And the more and more, like, the, like, shins and the zavas and the boohoos were coming up, the the faster and faster my job was coming in, the more it was just like I was just there just doing and being like, yeah. But where is this where does this go in the range? Like, it's just, like, just give as many samples as many samples in there. We'll just line them up I'll line them up on a shelf, and then we'll just pick which ones we want. And it was just it just all felt more and more like, oh, like, skin crawly. So then and I I always had an interesting trend.

Louise Ryan [00:03:50]:
Like, I always seem to kind of fall into the trend side, or the businesses I was working for were always like, oh, you're good at trends, so you can do that side as well. Okay. So then I started working for some I decided to leave the design side and start working for some trend agencies as their footwear and accessory specialist. So yeah. So I worked for some agencies doing that, and then I kind of built up my connections for the trend side like that. And then the pandemic hit, and I was straightened in. And I was like, if this is not a good sign, my life's completely changing because I'm having a baby. My priorities are changing.

Louise Ryan [00:04:28]:
And, also, like, the everyone's working from home, so people are getting used to hybrid working and stuff I was like, this is the universe telling me I've gotta just do it.

Heidi [00:04:38]:
Totally.

Louise Ryan [00:04:40]:
Yeah. And I just and I was quite lucky because I already had a basically, told the person I was working with at the time, I don't I wanna freelance. They said, well, you can freelance for us to begin with if you want, as a transition period, and it's just kind of ripped from there. But because I'd kind of had a couple of clients lined up, I didn't really do any business development or anything like that. So I just had I just went from employment to free, like, part time freelance, I'd say, while I was looking after my son.

Heidi [00:05:11]:
For the client that you for the brand that you were you were employed with them and then you just transitioned to freelance. Okay. Like, real freelance, were you actually like, working remote and everything? Okay.

Louise Ryan [00:05:21]:
Yeah. But because there was a bit of a downside to that because I had worked full time for them, their expectations were slightly well, they were completely bonkers. So I was like, he wanted me to do a full time job and, like, that paid me for, like, 4 hours a week. But so there there there was, like, a bit of a teething. I I I quickly decided I don't wanna, you know, I need new clients. I need fresh new clients.

Heidi [00:05:46]:
Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:05:47]:
And then, like, the footwear industry is great in terms of it's very, very small and very niche. So I kind of know a lot of the people, and I've got 20 years of experience and connections. Mhmm. But then that's also not good when there's not much work, when there's, like, you know, people are stressed about recession coming. And so then just suddenly, I had a year of kind of earning the same as I was full time. So I was like, okay. This is okay, but I still wanna earn more. Like, quite, you know, I'm quite driven by, like, my success.

Louise Ryan [00:06:21]:
Money is a, reward for my my success. So I wanna be invoicing more invoicing more. That's, like, my, how I think I've checked I'm doing well. Yeah. And then suddenly, I just had I just came to the end of, like, a contract, and I was like, oh, I don't have any anything lined up. I haven't and then, like, people were like, well, have you not been, like, doing your business development? I was like, no. I haven't got anything. And then a month had passed, and I was like, oh, okay.

Louise Ryan [00:06:55]:
Okay. I really need to, like, think about this in a long time. Like, I don't think I'd really thought about freelancing as serious. I'd just done it. And then I was like, no. I need to I need some kind of guidance here because I've got I've got the experience within the industry, but I've got no experience of being self employed or doing anything for my own. I'm I'm actually not very good at promoting myself. I'm quite like I said, I just I'm in the background squirreling away.

Louise Ryan [00:07:26]:
Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:07:28]:
So,

Louise Ryan [00:07:28]:
yeah, I saw your course. I I think I saw it on Instagram. I think I'd probably been whinging quite a lot. I wouldn't be out. My phone would be listening to me and then, like, your ear popped up. And I was like, yeah. This is like I need to do this. And I was a bit apprehensive to begin with because I was like, what can I what can I learn? So I felt like, are these are the rest of, like, your members or your community.

Louise Ryan [00:07:54]:
Are they from fashion or have they not come from fashion? Where would I sit within that? Like, I was a bit older. Where do I fit in within that? But it's just kind of going back to basics or learning stuff that I didn't even think about, to be quite honest. So I've never had to because I'd always been behind big these big corporate companies. So Mhmm. Yeah. Just, yeah, I found it really useful just, like, taking it back to basics to even how I was approaching people. And then I I basically did probably, like, 3 months of just emailing, more connecting with people as kind of you suggest, in the course, and I kept kinda getting my budgets are being cut. But then all of a sudden, it was like all that time that I'd invested in in reaching out and making these connections.

Louise Ryan [00:08:48]:
And there was a lot of conversations where we'd kinda get to nearly, like, I'd quote on a project, and then they'd go quiet again because it was busy time or and it never quite hit off. But then probably about 4 months ago, it will just start they started to turn around and say, okay. Yeah. We've got budget now. Can we can we do this? And it just was all just like I I was having too much work coming back, but I was like, yeah, I'll take it all. I'll take it. So I'm like, yeah. And I've put some I've managed to get, like, 2 really good I'd say that they're gonna be my clients for a long time now.

Louise Ryan [00:09:26]:
So it's it's only been 4 months, but I've done quite a lot of work for them. It's been, like, constant strain.

Heidi [00:09:31]:
Ongoing. Okay. Okay. So I just have to throw this out because we were literally chatting right before we hit record, and I was, like, wait, I have to hit record because you were telling me you so you, like, where we at? It's March 2024 right now.

Louise Ryan [00:09:50]:
You

Heidi [00:09:50]:
just had, like, 2 amazing months in a row, $12,000 each month, and you also gave birth 10 days ago. And you didn't even tell your like, you just worked through it. You didn't even tell your clients, and you're like, oh, guess what? I have a new baby. And here you are in my podcast. I was like, are you sure you wanna do the interview? But, like, can I mean, I have so many questions? But But really quickly, because I think it's really it's really timely. You you have a 10 day old Yeah. Baby boy, your second kid, but, like, talk about I mean, I just you never went through pregnancy in a full time job?

Louise Ryan [00:10:29]:
Yeah.

Heidi [00:10:30]:
Or kind well, no. What about when your your son your first son was born? Were you employed?

Louise Ryan [00:10:36]:
Yeah. I was employed. Yeah. I was employed for, like, the first no. I was employed, but the last, like, 4 months was in the first lockdown. So it

Heidi [00:10:47]:
COVID.

Louise Ryan [00:10:47]:
Yeah. Yeah. So it kind of of course, I was employed, and I had but it was it was different. It was like the hybrid work started to kind of kick in. And this time, I was really it was really difficult because within the within the industry, I've always found a lot of, like, negatives, especially from women. You know, when women have kids, they've lost it. They the priorities change. Does it yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:11:21]:
Our priorities do change. Yeah. We can't, you know, work till 9 PM every night, but why should I be working till 9 PM every night anyway just so I've got a kid or not got a kid? And so I was, like, really wary about because I've because I've been working hard to build up my clients and stuff. I I was scared to tell people in case they'd said, Oh, well, we we don't wanna work with you, or you won't you won't be able to do that. I didn't want them to make the decision for me. I wanted to decide if I don't if I want to do it or not. So, yeah, it's actually been my busiest time ever. And my my my

Heidi [00:12:00]:
Yeah. Go so sorry. Go ahead. You're what? You're most successful?

Louise Ryan [00:12:03]:
My most successful time ever. And I do put that down to, like, one, I'm personally the most creative. I ever love when I'm pregnant. I don't know if there's something around there. A lot of my friends are like, yeah, it's all linked to your womb. You're like, like, the most creative part of your body. But, I'm the most creative. I'm the most proactive.

Louise Ryan [00:12:25]:
I'm the most, like, time resourceful when I'm pregnant. I just it's like something happens to me, and I'm just, like, like, so focused in tripping because I've got this new thing that I need to look after as well at the end of it.

Heidi [00:12:40]:
Yeah. So maybe there's this, like, underlying, like, intense level of motivation and drive. Yes. Just, like, dialed up to 10. Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:12:50]:
I do have quite a big ego in terms of, like I I have worked hard, and I've always I've always wanted to have children, but I've always wanted to keep my career as well. It's really, really important to me. And Mhmm. It's frustrating that women, you know, what we do have to take a step back sometimes or, like, when you do go on maternity, your career does kind of just stay in one place. You're like you're less likely to get promoted and Yeah. All that and that that's frustrating. Like, if if I had my own company or when I have my own company, I'm definitely gonna employ the older generation and moms and grandmas, because they are the best. They're the best.

Louise Ryan [00:13:29]:
Yeah. They're the best.

Heidi [00:13:32]:
I know if you need someone to prioritize and, like, get a ton of stuff done, ask a mom. Yeah. Literally. Definitely.

Louise Ryan [00:13:39]:
Yeah. Like, what was I doing before?

Heidi [00:13:41]:
I know. Right? Like, how was I how how why was I I didn't hardly get anything done.

Louise Ryan [00:13:48]:
No. I know.

Heidi [00:13:50]:
Okay. So you had your son during COVID then you like just transitioned your full time employer to freelance but the expectations were really off balance. You ran on that for, like like, and you must have had did you get you get some other clients at that time too, like, in your first year and a half, 2 years of freelancing, 2 and a half years before you joined FAST and, like, started doing this business development? Like, where were those where was that other income and stuff coming from?

Louise Ryan [00:14:20]:
Yeah. So I I transitioned to the freelance with my, previous employer, maybe like 4 months, but they anyone else, so I can only work with them. And then, it just wasn't working for that. I was like, I was like, how? They were putting exclusivity on you? Oh,

Heidi [00:14:37]:
Oh, then they need to pay a real premium

Louise Ryan [00:14:40]:
for that. Exactly.

Heidi [00:14:41]:
Okay.

Louise Ryan [00:14:42]:
And I was having, like, other people kind of like snitching around. So then I just thought this is not worth it. Like so I dropped them, and then I I ended up getting WGSN and some other trend, agencies as well. And then once I kind of, like, opened the doors officially and I could actually approach it because they they were kind of, like, holding me back in terms of, like, I couldn't work for anyone else. I couldn't even I felt like I can even kind of market myself or approach anyone. And as soon as I was able to tell people, I see I seem to get, like, interest, from the design side as well. And it all just kind of came from came from there, really. So I had probably, like, 3 clients for the 1st

Heidi [00:15:31]:
year. Okay.

Louise Ryan [00:15:33]:
Yeah. And now I'd say I've probably got, like, 7 or 8 clients.

Heidi [00:15:38]:
Okay. Wow. Yeah. So for the initially, it was more, like, just coming from your immediate network and people you

Louise Ryan [00:15:45]:
knew.

Heidi [00:15:46]:
Okay. Gotcha. And then and you were averaging about how much a month in the first couple years ish?

Louise Ryan [00:15:54]:
I'd say about 3 and a half to 4,000 a month.

Heidi [00:15:59]:
K. Dollars?

Louise Ryan [00:16:00]:
Yeah. Pounds. Pounds.

Heidi [00:16:02]:
Pounds. 3 and a half to £4,000.

Louise Ryan [00:16:04]:
And now

Heidi [00:16:05]:
you just had 2 months in a row at £12,000? Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:16:08]:
Yeah. Pounds. Yeah. Pounds. Yeah.

Heidi [00:16:11]:
You you literally 3 to 4 x ed.

Louise Ryan [00:16:14]:
I know. I know. And I and I really yeah, not. So I was like, oh my god. I just wanna keep this up. I've just had a baby.

Heidi [00:16:23]:
Yeah. Are you taking any some time off ish?

Louise Ryan [00:16:26]:
Or Yeah. So I I'm gonna juggle it. I've I've kind of I thought 6 weeks and see what happens because I don't wanna if I have to turn stuff away because it's not kind of worth it or I don't wanna do it, then I'm not gonna do it. Okay. But if something comes along where because there's a few things already that I'm doing that I'm I'm I'm gonna be speaking at a sustainability summit in April, which I really wanna do because I feel like it's a good it's good for my reach, outreach. So I'm picking what I what I did. That's what I really, really love. Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:17:03]:
So I do love working. That's part of my problem.

Heidi [00:17:07]:
Yeah. I do too.

Louise Ryan [00:17:09]:
Yeah.

Heidi [00:17:09]:
Okay. So you got a couple years. We're coming from your immediate network, stable at 3 and a half to 4 and a half 1000 a month. Then somehow you finished a contract. You're like, I don't have anything lined up. Couple months of no income, you're like, what's going on? And then you joined fast, you started doing a bunch of outreach. I always say it's like planting seeds and some of them die, some of them kinda start to sprout, and some of them next year they decide to grow, like, it's literally like a garden. Sometimes you just never know what's gonna come up.

Heidi [00:17:44]:
And after about 3 or 4 months of planting a bunch of those seeds, like, like, all these projects started coming to fruition.

Louise Ryan [00:17:49]:
Yeah.

Heidi [00:17:50]:
Is that Yeah. Am I getting this right?

Louise Ryan [00:17:53]:
That's exactly right. But

Heidi [00:17:57]:
But? Okay. Totally.

Louise Ryan [00:17:58]:
I was a lot more, kind of depressed in the process of suddenly realizing, oh, shit. I've got I've got no work. And and and I don't know where I've never had this situation before. Like, I don't know. Is it is this me? Is it because I've lost it, or, like, is it my time to leave the industry, or is it because I haven't been proactive in it? It it was a 100% that I just haven't been doing anything for my. Yeah. Or I hadn't I hadn't done any business development or I hadn't even thought about it. I mean, that was quite kind of like it was just completely stupid of me not to like, looking back now, I was like, of course, you know, as a freelancer, you're not just gonna have this constant supply of people wanting you straight in your 1st year or in your 1st 2 years.

Louise Ryan [00:18:52]:
So, yeah, I definitely and it was it was kind of, a little bit soul destroying the process of reaching out and getting told, no. We budget all your fees are too expensive, or we can't justify that or, oh, we just get, we don't see the we don't see the importance of basically your job. Like, there was just random stuff all the time. Like, like

Heidi [00:19:21]:
Okay.

Louise Ryan [00:19:22]:
Yeah. Like, we just get the admin to do that. We would never pay someone to kinda do a, you know, an insights piece. Or

Heidi [00:19:29]:
Yeah. The trend component.

Louise Ryan [00:19:32]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Heidi [00:19:33]:
So is that mostly what you're like, what is your service? I know you're in footwear, and you I know you understand the whole process and you're capable of the whole process, but what are you doing? What are you pitching and offering your services as in a finance capacity?

Louise Ryan [00:19:44]:
So my main my I'd say my main revenue is, trends like consulting for footwear. So mainly for, like, brands and a couple of agencies where they might have a specific kind of, bespoke project for maybe a footwear client. Okay. And they need, like, a specialist to kind of help with that. Or I've been working with a few start ups who have got an idea, but they wanna know a bit more about the space or the the gap in the market or the the manufacturing innovations that are going on or, like, the consumer insights whether their ideas are very good. And then I also work I'm, like, a member of the British Footwear Association, so I do a lot of work with them for their members.

Heidi [00:20:37]:
Okay.

Louise Ryan [00:20:38]:
Which I think is actually really important when you are an unleashed to, like, affiliate with, like, groups or other services like that. So the British footwear association, they just have kind of, like, loads of members that are in for them. I've actually got quite a few clients through those. They're retailers, startups, designers. They're kind of like the place to go in in the UK for the footwear industry. And I've had some, like, align myself with them. Yeah.

Heidi [00:21:06]:
Yeah. Who even knew? I wouldn't even know there was a British designer. So switching, but yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:21:10]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Why? Yeah. So and then I've got, like, maybe, like, 3 I've got one main design client who's the supplier side, and then I've got, like, 2 smaller startup, clients who, I designed for, but they're very, very their ranges are very, very small. So they kind of just yeah. They don't really have much newness. It's more like they're small little sustainable brands that they're quite nice to work on.

Heidi [00:21:43]:
Okay. But mostly trend and insight and stuff.

Louise Ryan [00:21:46]:
Yeah. But I think

Louise Ryan [00:21:48]:
amazing.

Louise Ryan [00:21:49]:
Yeah. And I think, like, my trend clients like it. They still got my foot in the door with design. So when I'm working with design teams, I I I think it's important that within trend, sometimes the product side kinda gets forgotten because people think, oh, you know, you can just look at a catwalk so you can just see what what's coming back. If if you're a specialist in in that product, you really understand how things are gonna be made, what's possible, the innovations, and that's kind of, like, helps push the ideas along. So, yeah, I've kind of been lucky that I've kind of got a bit of a 360, kind of view on my career of how how I've I've learned a little bit of everything. It's a good good picture.

Heidi [00:22:40]:
Okay. Awesome. Okay. So the the 3 months of outreach in during which time you said was there were some down moments, hearing no, hearing you're too expensive. I mean, super dismissive of, like, oh, no. We just have our admin do the trend. That doesn't feel good. Like, was it what what kind of outreach were you doing? Were you cold emailing or, like, what? Talk to me about what this what exactly did that look like?

Louise Ryan [00:23:07]:
So I, I was doing a lot of, like, research of brands. I was using, AI to find, like, lists, like

Heidi [00:23:21]:
Okay. The chatty patty trick.

Louise Ryan [00:23:23]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, I'm actually really, really lucky that my partner's got this piece of software that I could find email addresses as well. So, that was really handy. But I was kind of putting together a list of of companies, First of all, I wanted that I would really, really, really like, that I was really, really inspired by, or that I'd kind of would dream of working for. Because there's actually a lot of companies that I really wouldn't wanna work for, and that was important for me as well.

Louise Ryan [00:23:59]:
Like

Heidi [00:24:00]:
Totally.

Louise Ryan [00:24:01]:
Remembering why I left the industry and why I don't wanna work and not not to not being too desperate because, you know, when you're worrying about not having work, you can kind of like I've done it before. You can you can kind of start a conversation that you don't really want or kind of maybe even apply for a job that you don't really want, but you feel like you should because there's not there's nothing else at the moment. So I was really, like, mindful of that. That was that even that was quite hard because I was like, I could apply for

Louise Ryan [00:24:30]:
this and I probably would be able to start a conversation, but I really

Louise Ryan [00:24:30]:
don't want to. And even that battle with my self was like, should I just oh, yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:24:38]:
Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:24:39]:
But, yeah, I was really mindful about the next, and then I just got I kept I I cold emailed. A lot of the time I wouldn't get a response, but if I did get a response, even if it was a no, I tried to keep the conversation going. Mhmm. Sending, like, examples of work, connecting with them on LinkedIn as well. Just kind of putting myself in front of them without being too annoying because I I like I said, I'm not very good at promoting myself either. So that's one thing that I need to, get better at. But, yeah, I was finding it quite difficult to keep to keep doing. I was trying to do, like, 15 people a day.

Heidi [00:25:24]:
Oh, wow. Good bit.

Louise Ryan [00:25:26]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was trying to, like, to keep going at it. And it and it really did pay off. But I was like, oh my god. Yeah. Yeah.

Heidi [00:25:34]:
So all these clients that, like, sprouted up a few months later, did they everything came from, like, all that cold outreach, like, obviously, not all the seeds grow, but

Louise Ryan [00:25:44]:
Yeah. I'd say do

Heidi [00:25:46]:
and they're great.

Louise Ryan [00:25:47]:
I'd say, like, 70% did. And then Okay.

Louise Ryan [00:25:49]:
Like, my regular clients as well, kind

Louise Ryan [00:25:49]:
of Okay. Like, my my regular clients as well, they went quiet for a bit. And I and I think that's the other thing, like, it was a really quiet period in fashion. Like, over some over summer, like, the European shutdown for all the factories that I was working. So that was really, really quiet. People go on holidays. That was really quiet. I just hadn't factored that in as well.

Louise Ryan [00:26:13]:
So even the timing I was doing the business development probably wasn't great. I should probably do it a bit before.

Louise Ryan [00:26:22]:
No. But

Louise Ryan [00:26:23]:
so I've learned I've learned loads from from that that time. I don't really ever want to be able to do that again in terms of not having work. I just need to keep doing the business development in the background.

Heidi [00:26:36]:
Yeah. You don't need to be sending 15 a day, but you just

Louise Ryan [00:26:39]:
Yeah.

Heidi [00:26:39]:
Keep planting little seeds. You keep nurturing the ones that you have planted.

Louise Ryan [00:26:45]:
Definitely.

Heidi [00:26:46]:
Working on the business versus working in the business. It does. You do have to keep doing it in the background on some level. Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:26:54]:
Yeah. I'm actually quite enjoying it now because it's Oh, talk to me about that. Yeah. I think because I've seen the how successful it can be. Okay. Yeah. And and it's it should it should be fun, shouldn't it? You're connecting with people and you're because you're connecting with people you want to connect with. But Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:27:13]:
I was like, it was quite soul destroying. So I was, like, dragging myself up, trying to, like, pick up the courage to be, like, look at me. I'm like, great. But I'm in quite like a downtime. Yeah. And then getting lots of noise. Whereas if I was just doing it in the background or wet when I am just doing it in the background, it you kind of you take it more on the chin because you're like, okay. Be you know, you keep the conversations going.

Louise Ryan [00:27:40]:
It's a bit more natural rather than I'd probably say, like, desperate. You're desperate to find some work. Mhmm. But, yeah, I I actually I actually really enjoy it now.

Heidi [00:27:54]:
Good. Yeah. What? Like okay. I think it's so common for people to hear, oh, you're soaked. You're too expensive. Or, like, you get to the proposal stage and then the money. Like, did you start really second guessing? Like, what were your feelings then? Were you like, oh, god. Am I charge maybe I should lower my rates.

Heidi [00:28:17]:
Like, ugh.

Louise Ryan [00:28:18]:
Yeah. I always hate this the other stuff I hate. I hate getting it to a point where you're like, you're putting those figures out and you're like, is it too high? Is it too but I do think deep down, you know. And I have overcharged before because because I've sometimes if they give you the project really late and they want it done, they want a huge project done, like, really, really quickly, I'll always put a premium on it.

Heidi [00:28:49]:
Mhmm.

Louise Ryan [00:28:49]:
But I do think, you know, if you're you're overcharging and you know if you're being cheeky, and you also know if you're undercharging. And it's just knowing how long things actually take you. Because a lot of the time, they don't know. They think, you know, you can just link up this idea and put it on down on a piece of paper. You're just constantly your designers who are just constantly thinking of these great ideas. They really don't understand the process, the research, the background research, the stuff you need to do to prep, to give them the best work possible. Mhmm. And I always try and do it by day.

Louise Ryan [00:29:29]:
I've I've got, like, a rough I'll I'll if they've if they've got a budget, then I'll tell them I can only do 2 days or one day or 5 days.

Heidi [00:29:40]:
Okay. Based on your rough day rate that you know you wanna make, then they say, we have this much money. You say, great. I can give you 2 days. Okay.

Louise Ryan [00:29:47]:
Yeah. Yeah. And and I actually prefer it when couple of my clients, they always work with me like that. They'll say, we've got a pot of money. We're thinking maybe 10 days. How many days will you give us for this spot running? And I love that because I can Wow. Yeah. I I I know exactly where they are from the beginning.

Louise Ryan [00:30:04]:
Yeah.

Heidi [00:30:05]:
Would you be willing to share your day rate?

Louise Ryan [00:30:07]:
Yeah. So it ranges from 375 to to 450. K. And that all kind of depends on I usually charge a bit more if I think it's just gonna be like a one off one off job, and I'll try and charge maybe, like, 2 to 3 days for that. But if, you know, someone says, oh, we've got, like, 14 days, 15 days. Mhmm. But I'd I'd say, like, probably, like, 375, 400. But my days are never, like, 9 till 6, so it would be, like, 10 till 4.

Louise Ryan [00:30:43]:
That's my

Heidi [00:30:43]:
day. Beautiful.

Louise Ryan [00:30:45]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Heidi [00:30:46]:
A 6 hour day. Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:30:48]:
And and I this.

Heidi [00:30:50]:
You're not, yeah, you're not working, like, 10, 12 hour days? No. Unless unless I

Louise Ryan [00:30:53]:
feel like I'm not happy

Louise Ryan [00:30:53]:
with the project, then I will always I would never ever give something that I'm not a 100% happy with. If they had comments or if they wanted me to tweet something, of course, I would do it if I if they were valid or I felt like, yep. That's fair. Absolutely. Absolutely. Mhmm. Or, you know, sometimes the client if it's through if they if it's one of their clients, I'm working kind of as a third party. If they change something, then I'd obviously help out or Mhmm.

Louise Ryan [00:31:24]:
I I would never be difficult if we were, like, in the middle of a really big project. You're ramping it up. But, yeah, I don't wanna it doesn't work for me to work from, like, 9 till, like, 6 PM. Quite a fluid with how how I wanna work. It seems to work with everyone. That But yeah.

Heidi [00:31:44]:
You I mean, okay. First, you put in a lot of hard work.

Louise Ryan [00:31:48]:
Yeah. It it

Heidi [00:31:50]:
that's what it takes. Like, it really does.

Louise Ryan [00:31:52]:
This is

Heidi [00:31:53]:
not an overnight magic situation. You can get lucky sometimes for sure, but you put in a lot of work and you built this foundation and you've built, like oh, it sounds like a really dreamy sitch.

Louise Ryan [00:32:06]:
It is. It is. And and you know what? Like, I always it sounds really weird, but I always knew when I was working in these big corp, like, corporate companies, watch some horrible, horrible people. Horrible. Mhmm. I always the money was never bad, but I always knew I I could just I deserve more than this. Like I I should be earning more more, like and I'm not, like, I'm not trying to be a millionaire or anything like that, but I always thought my life balance and, like, I'm not happy. Now I feel, like, way more in control.

Louise Ryan [00:32:43]:
I'm a lot happier because my life balance is is better. And I've got, like, everything I ever really dreamt of. Like, I've got my children. I've got my jobs there. You know? I've got time to do stuff. I've got time to actually do my work properly so I get better job satisfaction. I'm not, like, like, 5 minutes before sign off trying to, like, edit a document and being like, cool. I don't wanna do this.

Louise Ryan [00:33:07]:
I don't wanna do this. I'm not always fully prepared, always confident in my stuff. Yeah, that's just been a that's just because I've been able to kind of, like, take control of how I'm working and who I'm working with.

Louise Ryan [00:33:21]:
Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:33:22]:
Because if if I had, like, a bad experience now, I think I would just probably straight away say I don't I'm not I'm not doing

Heidi [00:33:29]:
It's not. You're firing that client.

Louise Ryan [00:33:32]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because because also, like, for me, it's really important to be around nice people. Like, it really does I think as creative people, like, we're so intuitive and we're so sensitive to our environments and the the people we surround ourselves with. And if you're not listened to creatively, which a lot of the time happens because, oh, you're just a designer. You've got no business sense. So, you know, it's not true.

Louise Ryan [00:33:58]:
It's just not true. If you're not around the right people, then it can have a huge impact on, like, you in work and outside work. You really can look to your confidence, and I just don't ever wanna be in those situations ever again. So Yeah.

Heidi [00:34:15]:
Speaking of confidence, I mean, I know we talked a little bit about this, and you got a lot of no's, and you got a lot of you're too expensive, all other stuff. Like, during those couple months of pitching, were you, like, what what do I know what I'm doing? And, like, am I can I do this? Or is anybody I mean, it can put a dent in you, especially since you had, like, dropped to 0 income. Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:34:45]:
No. What were you thinking

Heidi [00:34:46]:
during that time and how did you, like, continue to persevere?

Louise Ryan [00:34:50]:
Well, luckily, I'm like, probably one of my stubborn people you ever made.

Heidi [00:34:54]:
You're the what?

Louise Ryan [00:34:55]:
The most stubborn one of the most stubborn people you'll ever meet. Okay. But, I don't know. I just had this, like, drive to get something. I was just like, I think also. I'm in I'm in my forties, which had turning 40. Had a kind of, like I had a bit of a wobble around that in my career because I was like, you don't really older the older designers and stuff, they often get, like, pushed to the side, like Mhmm. You know? And and I'm and I'm a woman and I'm I've got 2 kids.

Louise Ryan [00:35:38]:
I I sort of had this bit of, like, oh my god. I think I'm like, this might be it. I might've lost it. But, you know, but

Heidi [00:35:44]:
then Like, I've aged out.

Louise Ryan [00:35:46]:
Yeah. But then I was then I was I'm looking at the industry, and I've still, you know, got a lot of friends there. So have a lot of supplier friends that I speak to regularly and hang out with. And everyone says the same thing. Like, the the industry has changed. It's not what it used to be. It's not even really that fun anymore for the people working within it. Like, the the business side of it is it's like it's become very hard.

Louise Ryan [00:36:15]:
And and I thought, no. Like, I haven't lost it. I've actually got more experience than any of these younger designers or or buyers who actually haven't haven't maybe been taught the right way within those corporate companies anymore because there's no time. When I started, they would invest in the g and a designers, and they would they would and now if you're if you're trying to get your 1st job in fashion you're not gonna learn the same you're not gonna you're not you're not gonna have the same experience or the same opportunities. You're just going in the cob and you're kind of learning how to do things the wrong way in my in my view. So I think the benefits of working as a freelancer is you don't have to even if it's your first job ever and you want to get into the industry. You don't have to take on those like disorganized. Last minute.

Louise Ryan [00:37:09]:
Ways that these big corporations, they're just chasing their tails to just get anything hidden.

Heidi [00:37:14]:
Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:37:15]:
And, you know, they're not organized and and it's not structured benefit from and you don't have to you don't have to like actually work with those people that you can just like chat to them on LinkedIn or you know so yeah, yeah.

Heidi [00:37:40]:
I love how it went from like, oh gosh, am I aging out to, no, that I actually have a huge advantage. Yeah. And, like, it is that that insight helps you power through all that, like, that downtime? I mean, you said even, like, depressed time.

Louise Ryan [00:38:01]:
Yeah. I think, because if if you look at it in the other way, which is difficult when you're when you're having a tough time. If if I was starting out my career, I'd be looking at someone like me thinking I wish I had those connections. I wish I had experience, like, and that's the way I just looked at it. Like, actually, I could teach someone if I want. I could I if I had, you know, a junior designer, I could teach them what they need to know. So why shouldn't I well, I haven't lost it. Like, I'm I'm an asset to to somebody or to a team or to a start up.

Louise Ryan [00:38:38]:
Because I I do know what I'm doing, and I've I've I've had lots of experience doing it. I know how to do it and how not to do it, which is, I think, just as important as knowing how to do it. Yeah. But, yeah, now I feel like I don't know if it's because I've just given birth, but now I'm like, yeah. I'm 42, and I've had a baby. And yeah. Hey. Got a girl.

Louise Ryan [00:39:00]:
Right? 42 as well. Yeah. Yeah.

Heidi [00:39:04]:
Go us. 42.

Louise Ryan [00:39:07]:
Yeah. Love it. Yeah. We're in our prime.

Heidi [00:39:11]:
We sure are. Damn it. We are.

Louise Ryan [00:39:15]:
Yeah. Like I love it. Yeah. Yeah. It feels good.

Heidi [00:39:19]:
It does feel good.

Louise Ryan [00:39:21]:
And I'm really excited as well, like, which is it's it's kind of a bizarre feeling to have a newborn, but being really excited about where my work's gonna go next as well.

Louise Ryan [00:39:32]:
It's

Louise Ryan [00:39:32]:
gonna be a lot of juggling, but I think that excites me. It's like because when you're freelancing, sometimes it can be a bit you do miss that. There's something about working in a corporate environment where there is, like, you know, meetings, high high pressured meetings to get the adrenaline up or, like Yeah. Sign ups that you kind of miss sometimes. But when you're kind of, like, your career or your business is when you're self employed and it's starting to take off, you kinda get that same buzz and you're kind of like, gives you a really big push. So, yeah, I'm starting to feel that, which is good.

Heidi [00:40:11]:
Oh, my gosh. Mhmm. I am so excited for you, Louise. This is

Louise Ryan [00:40:16]:
Oh, thank you.

Heidi [00:40:16]:
Just amazing. And I thank you for randomly replying to my email. Like, it wasn't even an email. Like, you know, we regularly email our FAST students and we're like, hey. Tell us about any wins because people are really good at not telling us, which is Oh, yeah. A problem that we kind of are trying to solve, and I randomly sent this email out about trend, and you were like, hey, I have all these thoughts on trend because that's what you do. And you're, like, by the way, my team sent me the screenshot, and I was, like, forward that to me. We're gonna talk.

Heidi [00:40:49]:
I wanna talk to Luis. So, thank you for randomly emailing out of the blue, and we are gonna talk about trend on another that's

Louise Ryan [00:40:57]:
call me when

Heidi [00:40:57]:
you and I have to chat, but Yeah. I'm so excited for you. Congratulations on the birth of your second son. I am so grateful that you got to enjoy your pregnancy not during COVID and, you know, have a different experience. I would love to end by asking you, what is the question I ask at the end of every interview, what is one thing you wish people would ask you about being a freelancer in the fashion industry that they don't?

Louise Ryan [00:41:31]:
I wish they would ask, like, more about sounds really okay, but more about me, like Mhmm. How like, how how am I or how how do I do things? How do I because one thing that I hate being asked is so what's what's gonna be the next big thing for the next season? What's the next what's the big key, the key trends for next season, and what's the must have thing? And I, when people ask me that, I'm like you really don't understand, like, what what I do. You don't understand how it works.

Heidi [00:42:09]:
Of how this works. It's not just like, oh, this is the next thing.

Louise Ryan [00:42:13]:
No. So I I think it's really interesting and important to know, like, how designers think and how they work. And even if it's just from a personal point of view, like, oh, I just love products. I love it when I see somebody wearing my my something I've designed or I just really love helping people or, like, what is it that drives you on a more meaningful in a more meaningful way? Because it is kind of like it's about the reward, isn't it? It's about why why do we do this? Because it's a really tough industry. It's so tough. Mhmm.

Louise Ryan [00:42:50]:
And,

Louise Ryan [00:42:50]:
like, you've got you do have to be a certain type of person to put put up with it sometimes, but

Heidi [00:42:57]:
Totally.

Louise Ryan [00:42:58]:
What is it that what is it that drives you? And, like, when anyone ever asked me that or, like, well, where do you get inspiration from or anything like that? I always have these really nice conversations, and I always learn from those conversations as well. Yay. And I think that's that's, really, really important to keep learning when you're when you work for yourself because it can you can forget to do that. You've always gotta keep learning. So Yeah. Yeah.

Heidi [00:43:26]:
Okay. We're gonna have to have you back on just to have, like, a trend conversation.

Louise Ryan [00:43:30]:
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Totally. That would be really fun. For the retro. Yeah.

Heidi [00:43:34]:
Okay. That would be really fun. We'll do that at some point. Yes. Where can everybody find you and connect with you online?

Louise Ryan [00:43:42]:
So LinkedIn, Louise Ryan. And then I do have Instagram for Lara Creative, but it's another thing. I'm I'm like, I have this real battle with it because I see a lot of, like, wet especially in footwear, especially with sneakerheads and, like, creative people in the industry. They they pour so much into their Instagram. And I've just never I don't know if it will really pay off for me, so I don't it's there. And and I put what I do there and, like, if I do any talks or lectures or anything like that, that will always be on there. But, yeah, I'm not so proactive on that. I feel like I have to say that as a disclaimer.

Heidi [00:44:24]:
A little bit. I mean, I have quit Instagram for now. I quit, like, 4 3, 4 months ago, and we I am full on on LinkedIn, and I love it. And I think there's so much more value in LinkedIn than there is in Instagram. And it's really hard to be 2 places. It's really hard.

Louise Ryan [00:44:43]:
Yeah. I love in LinkedIn just because, number 1, I'm a geek. So I can learn so much about manufacturing, so much about, like, the geeky side to the industry. Like, you can learn everything, like, about all the articles and also my engagement because I think the people I'm speaking to on LinkedIn, in my kind of community, they really believe what I'm saying, and they really connect with what I'm saying. So we have a much higher engagement. Yeah. Whereas on Instagram, it's just a visual. You're just having to pump pump out visuals all the time.

Louise Ryan [00:45:16]:
Yeah. It's not really nailed it. Yeah.

Heidi [00:45:18]:
In the conversation, I'm just I feel like Instagram

Louise Ryan [00:45:22]:
It's just emojis, but then let's fire for

Louise Ryan [00:45:25]:
like, see.

Heidi [00:45:25]:
And I'm like Yeah. The amount of legit quality engagement I've only been on LinkedIn since September. So what is that? 6, 7 months? The quality of engagement Yeah. Is like a 100 x.

Louise Ryan [00:45:41]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Heidi [00:45:43]:
I had some great brand partnerships come like, I've legit gotten some amazing results in a short time. And I was on Instagram for, like, years and never got anything like this.

Louise Ryan [00:45:53]:
Yeah. It's really sad. And it's kind it's I feel like Instagram's dying a bit. It's like it just steam scrolling. It is. Yeah. Yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:46:03]:
When you

Heidi [00:46:03]:
do, you're, like, just constantly, like, churning out. And I'm, like, what? And it's dead in 5 seconds. You're like, okay. Well, another thing. I don't know. Yeah. I'm I'm not yeah.

Louise Ryan [00:46:15]:
Yeah.

Heidi [00:46:15]:
Anyways, we're in the same boat on that. Yeah. Thank you so much. Congratulations on your new baby boy. Thank you. You got the podcast with your 10 bill. Not with him. He's in the other room with your partner.

Heidi [00:46:27]:
But, I really appreciate you finding the time to do this conversation. I know you love to work. You're you're type a overachiever like me. I can just feel it, but, like, I really appreciate it. So thank you so much for telling your story and and sharing everything so candidly.

Louise Ryan [00:46:43]:
Cool. Thank you. It was really nice. Thanks for having me, And, hopefully, we can speak again.

Heidi [00:46:49]:
Absolutely. I'd love to do it.