“Every cent I’ve made from my website wouldn’t have happened without
The Master Freelancer.”

JOANNA, CORAL PEA DESIGNS | MASTER FREELANCER GRADUATE

J: I didn’t have direction or a plan! Even though I was a skilled artist, I didn’t know how to do business and how to actually turn those skills into something profitable. I had no business training or knowledge, and my business was a bit wishy-washy.

By the time I did The Master Freelancer, I’d technically been operating for a year but didn’t really have a business. I had just blindly jumped in with both feet when, in actuality, I didn’t yet have the skills to actually operate as a successful business. I felt like there was so much to learn and I didn’t know where to start.

J: I could tell that the program was going to be exactly what you marketed it to be. The person doing the marketing for it is the same person building and running the course, so it helped build a lot of trust. You said it was a customised course for small groups only, so knowing that helped me trust that it really was going to be a customised course.

I liked that it was small groups, I liked that it was freelancers from different industries, and I liked that it was a skills-based course.

I didn’t want something that was done for me, I wanted something that would show me what I needed to know so that I could then go off and make that happen. I find it hard to stay with courses that are generalised because my interests are always chopping and changing. The way that The Master Freelancer runs means that I can say ‘hey, here’s what I need right now’ and I know I’ll get only relevant help.

J: Clarity and focus, and yes, I absolutely did. I graduated with a really sturdy business foundation, and I just didn’t have that before. Now I can not only understand what needs to be done, but I can also prioritise it. Having been an environmental engineer, I was new to creativity as a career, and it was a hard change to get my head around.

Now, because of The Master Freelancer, I know exactly what I need to do each day to continue growing my creative business. I feel like I now have the tools to be successful.

P: I was making money from my creative genius, but it wasn’t the right money. It wasn’t feel-good money. It wasn’t being earned because people actually respected me, it was just…. Transactional money. Whereas now, the money I earn feels respected because I have confidence and understand my value. I can look at the people I’ve coached and see how they’ve been able to go from selling on marketplace to having a fully-fledged ecommerce business.

The Master Freelancer taught me that not everyone’s going to pay you what you’re worth, and just because they can’t afford it or see the value in it, doesn’t mean you’re not worth it. That’s a ‘them’ problem, not a ‘you’ problem, and I just love that mindset.

J: No, I wasn’t. I was trying but I was honestly just bluffing my way through, and it wasn’t resulting in any sort of real income. I am now consistently generating revenue and I just wasn’t before. I didn’t even have a website back then; I was trying to sell on Etsy and it just wasn’t giving me what I needed. At the time, I had so many questions about websites, and I didn’t want to create one if I couldn’t be sure it was being done in the best way.

When I graduated from The Master Freelancer, I had this whole website structure drawn up and knew exactly what ingredients my website would need to actually help me make money. I’m only six months in, so that revenue is mostly being invested back into the business, but that revenue is consistent. I have no reservations about the future because I’m confident that when problems arise, I’ll know what to do. I also have you in my back pocket for the times that I get stuck!

J: Oh, there are so many little wins! But if I had to pick the biggest, I’d say the tea towels. I was able to develop and launch a high price-point product (and I’d never done that before), and it sold REALLY well. Because of what I learned in The Master Freelancer , I was able to sit down and create all the individual business steps, piece by piece, and follow through. The result was incredible!

J: The community, hands down. Getting to pick not only your brain but the brains of other freelancers was invaluable. Because it was a small group, I was able to get so much out of the community and connections, and those friendships still exist today. I was looking at other courses at the same time, but they were all much bigger and I just wouldn’t have been able to really get to know anyone.

Some of them had hundreds of people and The Master Freelancer only had 7. Even though it was all done virtually, I was still able to really connect and feel part of something. I knew I’d be seeing the same people each week and it became something I really looked forward to.

J: I’d say somewhere around three months. I needed to take a little bit of time to really process and understand that things that I’d learned, but once I did, I went forward with confidence. When I looked back at where I was before The Master Freelancer compared to after, the change was incredible.

J: My confidence. I’m confident in my new business, and when people ask me what I do, I’m confident in my answer. I’m comfortable with what my role is in terms of the business side of things, not just the artist side. If I offer my services and products and they aren’t wanted, that’s ok. I don’t worry about it anymore. (Is that what you were going to say?)

J: Almost four times so far. In the very least, every cent I’ve made from selling on my website wouldn’t have happened without The Master Freelancer. It’s not just that though, it’s also the speed that everything has developed.

The Master Freelancer has massively fast-tracked my business and, without it, I’d still be faffing around, questioning every choice I made while getting absolutely nowhere.

P: People can find me at @coralpea.designs on Instagram or visit my website at coralpeadesigns.au (Jaz: And pick up a tea towel while you’re there too!)