Getting to know - Marina Kere

Tell us a bit about yourself, what's your background?

I'm based in the beautiful sunny Nelson/ Whakatū. I was a creative kid and loved art, listening to music and dancing. Throughout high school, I became increasingly interested in business. Taking part in the Young Enterprise Scheme, where we got to run a company for the year. I fell into a more creative role of preparing the marketing, presentations and designing the website! 

After leaving high school, I had a few different jobs in retail, promotions and law administration. 

Later, I pursued my passion for becoming a creative in business and did a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing) with additional training in graphic design and Front-End Web Design at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology and Yoobee. During that time, I completed an internship marketing for a local business. I started offering social media marketing services to businesses locally in my spare time. Then worked as a Marketing and Digital coordinator for a few years while taking on more clients as a "side hustle." 

Tell us about your journey as a freelancer.

I'm a social media manager and website designer. At the end of High School, I was passionate about growing my personal Instagram platform. I grew my Instagram to 4,000 followers and then started landing brand deals where brands were paying me to post. 

I saw growing an Instagram account was a skill I could transition into growing business accounts and noticed there was a gap in the market, especially in Nelson. Then I attended business networking events to see whether this was a service business owners were interested in. 

Alongside setting up my portfolio of clients, I was working at a company doing their social media marketing in-house and studying for my Bachelor of Commerce, so it was a busy time, but the hard work paid off! 

My freelance journey started with taking on clients in my spare time when I wasn't at my job or studying. As the demand grew, I knew this was something I could do on more of a full-time basis. 

Most months, I am booking out at full capacity and have clients across New Zealand and abroad. Unicorn Factory has helped me build relationships with businesses nationwide and overseas. 

What is the personal or freelance project you are most proud of? Why?

It’s really hard to choose one project in particular. At the moment I am enjoying the variety of both social media management and website design. 

In terms of social media management, I am contracting to a few amazing agencies including one in Dubai and a social media freelancer in London which is exciting. 

A lot of my website builds are more local,  I’m currently working on a website for Tiny Home business which I can’t wait to share because it’s unique and has more colour than most websites these days. 

Another amazing project is helping Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori with their graphics, they do awesome mahi, I believe in their message and it’s an orgainsation that I can really get behind. 

What would you say is the most rewarding part of being a freelancer?

The most rewarding part of being a freelancer is the opportunity to be able to work with a range of different businesses from home in Nelson. Each time I work alongside a business I learn something new. It’s great to meet people around the world who are crushing it in business! 

What is the most challenging part of running a freelancing business?

Proiritising the right projects has been challenging but now I have put systems in place and make sure I’m recording everything - from weekly tasks, to when I want to finish a draft project and when I want to be delivering the project. 

Another thing I found challenging was knowing when to say no and how much work I could take on because I wanted to say yes to everything. Now I’m getting better at knowing when I will be at full capacity and being able to let potential clients know if I can’t take on a project right away but my books could be open to take something on in say two weeks time. 

What has worked best for you when it comes to finding new clients?

Diversifying the way I look to connect with potential clients. Sometimes I meet clients at in-person networking events, sometimes it’s through my social media channels, other times it may be through referrals as well as utlising great services such as the Unicorn Factory to connect with people that I would have not otherwise met at these in-person events. 

Unicorn Factory has connected me with clients in bigger cities like Auckland which has been awesome.

What advice would you give anyone wanting to start freelancing?

Go for it. Start now, even if you don’t feel ready! Put yourself out there, people aren’t going to know about how amazing your work is unless you put it out there. 

How can we learn more about you and your work?

My business is called KDM Digital, you can find me on instagram at @kdm_nz or my website kdmdigital.