A day in the life of a freelance Communications Consultant

A little bit of insight into what a day as a freelance communications consultant might look like. I’ve changed a few details, but the breadth and depth of projects covered is representative of my current workload.

What I like about freelance work is that it’s always varied, new challenges come up all the time, and I have the chance to guide clients through some huge milestones in their business from a communications perspective. Acquisitions and sales, tech crashes, PR threats, new strategies, product launches - I get to be there through it all, and that’s a special job to have.

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5:30am - wake up and take the dog out. I not smug about this. I am a member of the #5amclub not because I am virtuous, because I am training for an Iron (wo)Man, meditate, or make a power green smoothie, but because I have a young puppy who poops on the floor if I wait much longer. After, I go back to bed and lie there hoping for sleep (usually unsuccessful).

7:00am - take the dog out for round two. Feed her, play with her, drink tea (decaf or I get palpitations).

7:30am - if I have time and don’t feel like the walking dead, I go for a run or to the gym. I’ve signed up to a half marathon in Madrid in a few months and haven’t run the distance in four years, so I’m a bit nervous about this. I also do weight training at least twice a week.

9:00am - check emails, open my to-do list (Asana - recommended for efficiency and collaboration), crack on with the day. A morning might involve: reviewing the first edit of a film I planned and commissioned to kick off a marketing campaign, drafting a communications strategy to reach a new audience, a crisis comms call with a client whose product has crashed, and some quick competitor research for a new product in the pipeline for another client. The dog often sleeps on my feet as I work, which is adorable.

12:30pm - lunch. Play with dog. Daily greenhouse check (I love growing things and am doing a Post-Graduate Diploma in Garden Design in my spare time, so spend a lot of time outside and thinking about my garden).

1:00pm - Days vary but I might spend an afternoon: planning crisis communications and drafting key messages / FAQs for social media, writing refreshed key messages for a client who found what they were saying wasn’t resonating, writing a press release and media list for a client big announcement scheduled for next week, pitching a client’s CEO to a podcast, and having an introductory call with a new client that needs support with corporate comms. At around 3:30pm I always have a chocolate break.

5:30pm - Update Asana and shared client project trackers, request for signoff on product launch strategy and key messages. Sign off.

5:45pm - play with dog (there’s a theme)! On Wednesdays I go to central London for my garden design class. If it’s any other day then I try and meet a friend, go to pilates, or watch TV for an hour or two. I wish I could say I watch an educational documentary or read a worthy book but I need to decompress so I tend to watch Elementary, Death in Paradise, House, or anything with George Clarke in it. I watched Finding Michael recently and couldn’t sleep after, so that will teach me for trying.

8:00pm - log onto Riverside fm to virtually film a client based overseas for a brand film.

10:00pm - fin.