A while ago Kim Ellis wrote an article for the IDTX Evidence Informed Practice Conference (EIPC) listing five reasons why everyone should join a professional network. In this blog post, she takes it further and tells you why you should join Free Spirits specifically.
Before you get cracking with this piece, make sure you read the full article in the IDTX magazine.
I’ve made the case for professional communities in general before, so now let me get specific. Because “join a network” is fairly easy advice to give and there are loads of them out there. The harder question is which one is right for you, and why.
So here are my top five reasons you should become a Free Spirit.
1. You get an actual team
One of the trickiest things about freelance life is that you’re essentially running a business on your own. No team chat. No one to sense-check a proposal with. No colleague to moan to when a client goes a bit wobbly. The 2025 L&D Freelancer Insight Report (which you can download here) highlighted isolation as one of the strongest recurring themes for freelancers, particularly around confidence and decision-making. That didn’t surprise me. I hear it all the time.
Free Spirits exists partly to fix that. The community gives you people to think alongside, not just a feed to scroll through. And if you want a concrete example of what that looks like in practice, it’s the Friday Fiesta.
The Friday Fiestas are member-only sessions and, honestly, they’re the highlight of my week too because I blooming love finding out how people are doing.
One member said he gets the most value from them out of everything we do. Another said it’s the best part of his week. I love hearing that, because that’s exactly what they’re meant to be. Think of it as your weekly team huddle, the one you lost when you left employment, or the one you never had if you went straight into freelancing.
2. The community actually works for you
I’m not just talking about the warm fuzzy feeling of belonging (though that matters too). I mean it works in a practical, commercial sense.
I’ve recommended Free Spirits members to clients directly. When someone needs a facilitator, a learning designer, a coach, and I know exactly who in the community does brilliant work in that space, why wouldn’t I point them in that direction? Collaborations have happened within the community too, members working together on projects they might not have been able to take on alone.
That’s not something you get from a LinkedIn group or a one-off conference. It comes from actually knowing people, from showing up consistently and letting others see what you do and how you think.
I will always champion our members to clients and pretty much everyone who’ll listen to me. I’ll take any opportunity for me to open a door for someone. Because when we thrive together the whole community is stronger.
3. You’re not pricing in a vacuum
The 2025 Insight Report was pretty clear that undercharging and uncertainty around value are common challenges for freelancers. Not because people aren’t skilled enough. But because when you’re making those decisions on your own, with no reference point, it’s easy to second-guess yourself into a corner.
Inside Free Spirits, those conversations happen. Real ones, about rates, about scope creep, about saying no to work that doesn’t fit. Nobody’s pretending they’ve got it all figured out, and that honesty makes it easier for everyone to get a bit clearer on their own situation.
I have to admit when I first started out with no experience freelancing and no community, I had no idea how to price myself. In fact, one of my very first projects was to build an eLearning course for £200! I nearly fell off my chair when a recruiter put me forward for a gig for £350 a day. I had no clue and the Insights Report would have really helped me back then with my offering and rates.
4. The content is genuinely useful
Our webinars and resources are built around what freelance professionals actually need. Not generic business content. Not repackaged corporate stuff. Things like imposter syndrome, consultancy skills, navigating difficult clients, AI, building a sustainable business model, niching. This is the kind of CPD that helps you build a thriving business in a way that works for you.
And with over 70 hours’ worth of replays, 50 blog posts, 18 podcast episodes and eight downloadable resources…we’ve got you well covered.
Plus, we’re adding to it all the time, we usually have a blog per week and a weekly webinar. If we haven’t covered a topic all you need to do is ask for it and we’d move heaven and earth to get you sorted.
5. It grows with you
We’re currently running the 2026 L&D Freelancer Insight Survey (open 1st to 26th June), because understanding what’s actually happening for people in this space matters. The findings shape what we focus on, what we talk about, what we build next.
If you haven’t yet, take the survey today. It takes less than ten minutes and the more voices in it, the more useful it is for all of us.
Get yourself signed up today
So, if you’ve got to the bottom of this post and you’re thinking this sounds fantastic, then your next step is to join the community.
Membership is £30 per month (if you pay annually, you get 2 months free) and it unlocks the entire content library, the community hum on Circle, a massive discount for the Free Spirits LIVE! conference and you can also book a 90-minute-deep dive with me.
Your voice matters in the survey, and it matters in the community too.
