Tell us a bit about yourself, what’s your background?
I’m Stephen, a social innovator and no-code creative. I’m originally from the UK and currently live in New York. My background has been in International Development, having previously worked for Oxfam and the British Council as a consultant around the world.
Tell us about your journey as a freelancer.
To be honest I stumbled into it - It began after my wife and I launched Chive, a marketplace for charities in Aotearoa New Zealand. One of my many roles as cofounder is looking after the back/front-end, which is built entirely on no-code tools (Webflow, Zapier, Airtable, Memberstack). I spent a year getting to grips with these tools and, after a steep learning curve, realis ed I was in a position to support others with their ideas for websites, workflows and automations. So in October last year I decided to set up shop as a freelancer.
What is a personal or freelance project you are most proud of?
I’m most proud of the work I’ve done with Chive, and how we’ve iterated on previous versions to build some powerful features and a beautiful product. We’ve scaled to over 200 charities, and have a super-fast search, embedded donation (one-off and recurring) and a dashboard for charities to manage their content and donations. I feel it really shows that a lot of web-development goals are possible with no-code!
Bigger picture, being able to support charities across Aotearoa New Zealand and see the impact Chive is creating is awesome! I’m excited to see where it goes and how we can support givers and charities to make giving an easy and empowering experience.
What would you say is the most rewarding part of being a freelancer?
The most rewarding part is making peoples ideas come to life. I love listening to what people want to create, and seeing how far we can take no-code tools to create their vision. This is especially the case when working with social entrepreneurs, start-ups, charities, or anyone whose idea creates a positive social-impact.
What would you say the most challenging part of running a freelance business?
I would say avoiding a scarcity mindset - I’ve found that if I’m in-between clients for too long I begin to lose focus on what type of work I enjoy and what my value is. As a result I’m more likely to say yes to things that I don’t align with. I try to remind myself of the bigger picture and trust that the right opportunities will come.
What has worked best for you when it comes to finding new clients?
I would say having my name on multiple platforms and actively contributing to those. This includes Unicorn Factory, my personal portfolio site, Twitter, and communities of people in your space, in my case On Deck and slack have been great for this.
Beyond this I find directly reaching out to projects that I align with, usually by email, is effective. I find if it’s something that excites me, I can speak to clients from a place of collaboration, not just as a freelancer, which I find to be effective and fulfilling!
How can we learn more about you and your work?
You can checkout my thoughts and ideas on twitter @stephengeorgej or get in touch through my website stephengeorge.co.
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