No More Watercooler - conversations on freelancing and mental health from Leapers.

In conversation with Suchandrika Chakrabarti, a London-based journalist, trainer, and host of Freelance Pod - about keeping ahead of new technologies, socially distancing strippers, and camaraderie between freelancers.

In this week's episode - I share a conversation I had with Andy Swann during the middle of lockdown, before restrictions were lifted. I've followed Andy's career and work for many years, and have always enjoyed his take on how work works, and his approach to his own career. Learn more about Andy's work at https://andyswann.io/

In this episode, we have a chat with Sabrina Bramble - a freelancer of over ten years, about her experiences of her own personal mental health, and the approach she takes to balance work and play. We discuss wearing tiaras, doing horrible things every morning, and the wibbly wobblies.

In conversation with Pip Rowson, on her first day of full-time freelancing.

In the first episode of Season 2, recorded during the height of the lockdown, we spoke to three very different type of coworking businesses and ask what covid means for the future of working together. Join Hannah Philp of Arc, Matthew Lloyd of Wurkr and Ben Carew of WeCoffee in conversation with Matthew Knight.Hannah Philp is Co-Founder of ARC Club, a neighbourhood workplace for people who are tired of working from home. Find out more at  www.arc-club.comMatthew Lloyd is CXO at Wurkr, an online office platform enabling distributed teams to work, build culture, creativity and remove isolation. Find out more at wurkr.ioBen Carew is co-founder of WeCoffee which to allows anyone to work from anywhere by easily finding high-quality workspaces for free. Find out more at wecoffee.io

This is No More Watercooler - a podcast from Leapers about mental health and modern work.I’m Matthew Knight, and since 2017, Leapers has been supporting the mental health of the self-employed. I’ve spoken to hundreds of people who are working differently, and benefited from listening to the experience, wisdom and curiosity of our community. The many conversations I’ve had with people on very similar and radically different journeys, have all helped me to recognise I’m not the only person going through the emotional experience of self-employment, I’m not the only person worrying about what I’m worrying about, or feeling what I’m feeling, so our podcast is designed simply to do one thing - help our community hear the stories of others.We talk to our members, our friends, and people doing it for themselves about their work and their wellbeing, in order to hear some the real stories from self-employment: the highs, the lows, and lots and lots of the in-betweens.Our aim is simple: to show that whilst you might be working for yourself, you’re not working by yourself - you’re connected to a huge number of people who have been on perhaps not similar journeys, but journeys with many parallels: which you can listen to, learn from, or at the very least, hopefully hear that you’re not the only person going through this very human experience.And right now, we’re looking for people willing to share their story.Perhaps you’re self-employed, freelancing, or a small business owner; perhaps you were self-employed but decided to return to employment; or you’re in a job now and considering changing how you work; if you’re open to talk about your work, how it affects your mental health, both negatively and positively, and are up for a chat with me, visit leapers.co/podcast, and say hello.We’re particularly keen to hear from people who are often under-represented, so that our stories come from a diverse and wide range of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. We’re not looking for people we’ve all heard of, or heard from before. You probably won’t recognise the names of any of our guests, and we won’t be capturing stories of where people have been crushing it, or #winning - but rather real stories, from real people, with real experiences of self-employment.You can hear the first season of No More Watercooler on your favourite podcast platform, or visit leapers.co/podcast to listen to previous episodes, or nominate yourself or someone you know, to share their story. But for now, until we speak again, work well.

Pip and I talk about uncertainty - a pressing concern for many of the self-employed, and look at our relationship to locus of control.

A quick overview of things to consider if you're freelancing and worried about coronavirus and COVID-19, supporting our online guides at https://leapers.co/go/coronavirus

A mini episode discussing some of the themes uncovered in Season One. I'm joined by Pip Richardson, founder of The Circle Line, so I can talk to a professional about: communication.

A mini episode discussing some of the themes uncovered in Season One. I'm joined by Pip Richardson, founder of The Circle Line, so I can talk to a professional about: imposter syndrome.

A mini episode discussing some of the themes uncovered in Season One. I'm joined by Pip Richardson, founder of The Circle Line, so I can talk to a professional about: rejection.

A wrap-up of what we learned from season one of No More Watercooler - observations on why our guests have been so open, and a surprising discovery for organisations who might find this valuable - and six key points that we've taken from those we've spoken to.

This week, I’m talking to Sera Miller, one of the co-founders of the Fawnbrake Collective - a freelance first business which builds bespoke teams for client challenges. We spoke about how different projects have different needs and different energy levels, how experimentation and trying new things out is essential, and why talking about how you’re feeling isn’t just for your own benefit.

This week, I’m talking to Sam Judge, an independent Design Director who has recently published the Disquiet: Hidden Depths of Man, a magazine discussing modern masculinity, and has struggled with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. We spoke how the terms like OCD and depression get thrown around inaccurately, his reasons for becoming self-employed, and the challenges that employers might face when wanting to look after their freelancers.

This week, I’m talking to Judit Saez, a freelancer who has chosen to work nomadically. Having spent some time in Mexico starting her new way of working, she’s currently based in Berlin. We spoke about her reasons for changing how she works, how to connect with new communities and new cultures when arriving in new cities, and the power of listening to your instinct.

This week, we’re speaking to Jess Sims and Laura West, co-founders of marketing agency The Doers. Recorded just before the Christmas break, we chatting about opening a bottle of champagne when you’re accounts are done, how to approach maternity leave when it’s your own business, and how to support the freelancers you work along side - as they’re doing with their fantastic We Don’t Do Lonely coworking days.

We spoke to Adrian Cockle - a London based freelance digital consultant on redundancy as a trigger for freelancing, the importance of a support network, and being able to spot the signs of poor mental health.

We spoke to Liam O'Neill - a London based freelance digital creative and designer with Bipolar Disorder. We spoke about how that affects his work, why sometimes scrolling up as as bad as scrolling down, and of course - we start with the question - how are you?

This week, we spoke to Rachelle Denton, co-founder of Storm Collective, on importance of having a partner, why being open with your team makes for better work, and the truth about side projects.

Matt Desmier is a recognised face on the UK's south coast digital scene. We caught up about getting expelled from school, turning down the offer of his own pub, and why he claims to be a benign dictator.

We're getting close to launching the first season of our podcast - in this teaser, hear extracts from upcoming episodes, where our guests talk about the highs, the lows, and the in-betweens of working of yourself.Find out more at http://leapers.co/podcast

Hello, I’m Matthew Knight - and I’ve been freelancing for just over two years.In that time, I’ve spoken to hundreds of other freelancers, the self-employed, part-time, portfolio, remote and full-time modern workers, as part of the Leapers project - we’re a community which supports the mental health of anyone who works differently.Choosing to work for yourself is a remarkable endeavour - but let’s not pretend it’s all four-hour-work-weeks, and having 100% control over how you work and where you work - the reality of self-employment is more complex - so we wanted to capture the real stories of going it alone, talking their work, their mental health, and what it takes to work well.Each week we’ll be asking the simple question “how are you?” and taking the time to listen and explore the answer.We’d love to hear from anyone who is willing to be open and honest, to share their frank experiences of working for themselves, the highs, the lows, and lots of middle bits. If you’d like to be a guest on the show, nominate someone else, or just keen to listen to the experience of others, find out more at www.leapers.co/podcast - or just subscribe, and you’ll get the first episode when it’s dropped.Until then, work well.