Client relationships, context, and going solo as a creative: an interview with Lucy Everett

We caught up with copywriter and editor of Unicorn magazine, Lucy Everett, to get her thoughts on the freedom of going freelance, and the leaderships skills she’s developed along the way.

You’ve worked both in-house and freelance – do you feel you have a closer relationship with your clients now that you work freelance?

I think it depends on the client and the project. I'd like to think I connect with my clients, and the team working on the project, no matter where I'm working and if it's in-house or freelance. A strong connection with both your team and client is essential. It enables you to understand what the client really wants, you learn their style of feedback, which essentially enables the outcome to be its best. With your team it's obviously important that you can work together and make the best work possible. The joy of freelance is that you get to work with more teams and a bigger variety of clients - it's all about how you work with them regardless of whether you're in-house or not. 

What encouraged you to make the leap to going freelance and what have been the biggest challenges and rewards?

Essentially for the freedom (and of course it's better pay). I wanted to move about more and meet more people. It was a scary step, but the challenges that scare you the most, turn out to be the most rewarding. I've met some amazing and talented people along the way and had some great experiences. The biggest challenge for me was getting my head around finance and accounts - hiring an accountant was both the best thing I've done and also the most grown up thing too! 

Do you ever feel that agencies and companies can sometimes overlook the importance of context when it comes to content? That people don’t always understand the need to get to know a business thoroughly, in order to write content that works for its audience?

Research and time in order to learn the ins and outs of the brand is vital for every project. After all, how can you sell something if you don't know everything about it? Sometimes you can find that nugget of truth, or that piece of info that can make a powerful campaign. Context is always needed as well as understanding the audience you're selling to. Sometimes brands themselves can overlook this and expect work quickly, I think it's the job of the agency to educate them on the process so they can understand that whilst it may take longer than they expected, the work will benefit more if the creatives are able to deep dive into their brand more before producing ideas. 

What has running your own magazine taught you? Has it opened your eyes to anything, a different way of thinking perhaps? Have there been any unexpected challenges or nice surprises?

The magazine, UNICORN, is a volunteer based role and a project through Bi Pride UK. When I first went freelance in 2019, I wanted to work on other projects to fill my time. I work with a fantastic team who are all volunteers too. The magazine was just an idea when I first joined and since then we've launched the first bi arts and culture online magazine. We've built a team and connected with lots of talented artists and writers. It's been another great challenge for me and was, like going freelance, something that scared me a little. The nice surprises were connecting with talented people, building a team (and realising I can run one) as well as doing good for the community. It's been very rewarding and has built my confidence as a leader too. 

And finally, what do you wish you'd known earlier in your career?

That it's ok to go solo as a creative. We had it drummed into us at university that as a creative you need to be in a team, the traditional art director and copywriter way. However, even though I've worked in teams and it's always great having two brains rather than one, it's been nice to know that I am capable of working on projects with agencies and clients by myself. But that's not to say I don't like working in teams or want to in the future it's more wishing I had known the freedom in it and options when I first entered the industry. 

Lucy Everett is a freelance copywriter and executive editor of Unicorn magazine.