The Other Side

Jenny Perez - How A Fundraising Leader Rebuilt A Career On Her Terms

• Jane Curtis

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What if the top job isn’t the right job? Jenny Perez spent 30 years in the charity sector, rose to a national CEO role, and discovered that the work she loved most had been buried under daily operations and admin. Her path back to energising work runs through redundancy, a freelance contract in mentoring, and a master’s degree completed while solo parenting. The lesson is not about grit for its own sake, it’s about designing your days around the work that makes you come alive.

Jenny shares how she blended PAYE stability with freelance contracts to de-risk the transition, then went fully independent with structure and intention. If you think trust fundraising is just form-filling, think again. Jenny explains how the field has shifted to relationships, clear decision-ready proposals, and smart use of digital touchpoints. Her Think Like A Funder approach helps teams mirror assessment criteria, surface evidence, and tell stories that cut through crowded rounds and early-closing funds.

We also get honest about boundaries, pricing, and the urge to say yes to everything. Jenny maps how investing in herself through coaching, communities and a restorative retreat have helped to fast-track confidence, pricing clarity and networks. For anyone curious about a career pivot later in life, her message is clear: experience compounds when you work on your terms, and it’s never too late to choose meaningful work over job titles.

Subscribe for more candid journeys from charity professional to thriving freelancer, share this episode with someone planning their leap, and tell us: what would you redesign first: your offer, your routine, or your pricing?

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Jane Curtis helps charity professionals transition from 9-5 employment to flexible and profitable freelance careers.

With over 20 years in the charity sector, she led teams that raised tens of millions of pounds from events before going freelance in 2018 and launching her own business in 2020.

She supported over 100 event fundraisers through her Collective membership during the pandemic. Now, she offers her signature "Charity Freelancing Course," a high-touch 1:1 programme for consultants, coaches, and freelancers seeking to make more money working fewer hours doing what they love, and in-person events like The Rich & Restored Retreat. She also provides occasional strategic events consultancy to charities.

Known for her positive, creative approach and calm, no-nonsense style, Jane is a mum of two humans and one dog. She loves swimming, cycling, avocados and being by the sea.

Ready to transform your charity expertise into a profitable freelance career? Join Jane's Feel Good Freelancing community.

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Jane Curtis:

Welcome to the other side, the charity freelancers podcast. I'm Jane Curtis, and this is where we explore the journey from charity professional to thriving freelancer or founder. Each week I chat with people who've made this leap from the charity sector, sharing invaluable practical tips and incredible insights firsthand. So whether you're considering making the move or you're already on your self-employed journey and want to know what goes on behind the scenes of well-known freelance businesses, you're in the right place. Let's dive into today's conversation. Jenny Perez has worked in the charity sector for over 30 years, predominantly in fundraising. She was also CEO for a national children's charity for five years. Having realised that a CEO role wasn't for her, she did a master's in leadership management with coaching and mentoring, whilst working and bringing up two small children as a solo parent. Jenny's freelancing journey began initially in the mentoring and coaching space, and more recently, she has been freelance fundraising. Jenny, welcome to the other side. Hi Jane, I'm delighted to be here. Ah, so nice to chat. Tell me what was what was it about the CEO role that wasn't for you?

Jenny Perez:

Yeah, I think it's really I've always been really ambitious. I worked in a number of charities in London and I didn't stay in them for very long because I always wanted to move up. And it was kind of, I felt like it was sort of within my DNA to keep moving up. And I suppose the CEO role is the pinnacle of that. And so after maternity leave with my son, I applied for the role and got it. And it was with a children's uh charity called Eric to do with incontinence, like very tough cause, and that attracted me because I quite like working with the underdog. Um, and there were lots of great parts to it and lots of bits that I did really enjoy about kind of um it which kind of tended lent towards the my sort of marketing side and my kind of comms side, which I always really enjoy, and really it was just about getting the cause out there and and to stop making it a taboo subject, which is what it was always talked about. What I hadn't banked on, I mean, there was 12 start-off, what I hadn't banked on was spending the amount of time on kind of HR and finance and all the admin roles, and I very kind of quickly became very confined to an office in on the outskirts of Bristol. I was in one office, we had several rooms, it like the layout of the offices wasn't great. So I spent a lot of time on my own in this office, kind of working out HR and finance stuff, neither of which are my you know huge strengths, neither of which do I have training in or kind of experience. And I also didn't have um latterly, I did get myself a mentor, and that was really crucial because I went through some really tough uh times. I I would say bullying by one of the trustees was fairly unpleasant. Um and yeah, I had a small, I had a one-year-old and a three-year-old working like crazy. Uh, we were the victims of fraud once, and I spent an entire weekend worrying that I'd lost the charity several thousand pounds. Luckily, I dug deep and found a way out of that, so the charity didn't lose any money. But, you know, I was navigating it CEO ship for the first time on my own. Um, I did have a really supportive chair of trustees for a while, um, and I really enjoyed he was great, but he had a very busy role. He was vice-chancellor of Bristol University. He so the time I had with him was limited. Um, and I just realised that it wasn't for me, you know, reaching this pinnacle was not not what I thought it would be. And actually, what I wanted to do was be out there, kind of talking to people, relationship building, doing stuff that I'm good at and I enjoy.

Jane Curtis:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So is that was that just before you decided to go freelance? Was that the kind of deciding factor?

Jenny Perez:

Or uh I it it was it was half so I jumped from that role into a a kind of part-time fundraising role um for a small charity in Bristol. Um, and that didn't last very long because they made me redundant. They ran out of money really quickly. Uh, unbeknownst to me, they didn't have money to pay my salary. Um, but I jumped because I thought I needed, I didn't feel like I could go straight into I couldn't finish the role and have nothing. Um, and at the same time, I was doing a master's, so um, which I wanted to finish. So uh yeah, so I went into this kind of role um for a small charity that ended with redundancy after a few months, right before Christmas, and then uh yeah, then I took my first role as a freelancer, doing coaching and mentoring for well, I was actually recruiting volunteers for um for a mentoring program across Somerset uh for secondary aged uh students. Um, so it wasn't fundraising, it wasn't charity per se. Um, and I loved it. I was talking to people all the time and I was recruiting volunteers like there was no tomorrow.

Jane Curtis:

I had a great time. Oh, I love that. And I mean, I think that's quite a common tale of people you perhaps have been in nine to five for years and years, like I mean, I can't believe you were saying that you've been in the charity six 30 years, you must have started work when you were like 10 or something. When I saw that, I was like, no, she's got that wrong. Um, yeah, but that kind of feeling that you just have to keep going, and it's like, you know, and actually for a lot of us, you get to a point where you don't really want to be away from doing the face-to-face work, and that's the bit that you really, really love. And I didn't really have that sense when I got to a kind of head-of level. I didn't really want to go any further because the strategy, the team stuff, that wasn't my kind of area of interest, really. Yeah.

Jenny Perez:

Yeah. And actually, I had a kind of I I can't remember what they're called, they were called careers something, and I saw it in the article in The Guardian, and it was about doing the work that you love. Um, and it was exactly aimed at me. And I I did like a day course in London on a Saturday in Richmond. I remember it really vividly, and one of our exercises was writing up all the things that you were good at um and enjoyed, and the other things were writing up things that you were good at but you didn't enjoy. Um, and actually, that was the list where it was like, well, you know, I'm fine managing people, I'm fine doing this, you know, X, Y, Z. But the reality is I didn't enjoy it. So why was I trying to take roles where that was kind of quite a large part of it? And I thought that I was destined to kind of run teams, I thought that that was naturally what I would do. And it was great to be surrounded by other people, and we all kind of had that same narrative of like, well, that's just what you're supposed to do, isn't it? Go up, just keep going up as far as you can. Um, and that was a real revelation for me to be surrounded by other people who were just exactly in the same boat as me. Probably were capable of doing bigger, higher jobs, but actually that isn't where the enjoyment was. So then that becomes that's when work tips over into your kind of outside work life, and it just becomes this big thing in your life.

Jane Curtis:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so you were doing a master's whilst also bringing up two small children and holding down a job, so solo parenting as well. Like, how did how what did you learn from that experience?

Jenny Perez:

Uh what I learned that the the bit that I was doing for me was the masters. That was purely for me, and I I loved it. I did it, I did it locally at UE University West of England, just outside Bristol, um, and again met a really great bunch of people who were kind of from the not-for-profit sector or the NHS. Um, and I just lived for those days where we got together and we talked through things, and I loved learning about different leadership styles, and I loved learning about coaching and mentoring. And what I ended up doing, I mean, I wouldn't necessarily recommend if you've got two small children and full-time jobs, take on masters, and I did extend it from three years to five years, but but what I was able to do was that I would quite often do my work for my masters in the day, and then in the evening I would do the work, you know, I would do my day job because I knew that I could do my day job very easily at that time, and the masters was the tricky stuff, and if and I knew that if I waited until the evening, I just I just wouldn't do it, it just would never have got done. So, and then obviously I you know I had to work weekends, and and at that time, you know, I did have weekends because my children went to stay with their dad. Um, so but but the most important thing for me about the masters was it wasn't a chore, it was pure enjoyment. Um, and I passed, and it was a really proud moment when I got that degree. And my kids, my kids came to the degree ceremony, and you know, they were obviously still quite young then, and I don't know what it meant to them, but I just thought this is this is what you need to see. This is where, you know, I've been spending all this time at a desk, like working, and this is this is the fruits of it, and and I'm so it's kind of one of the proudest things I've done, really.

Jane Curtis:

Oh, yeah, bet. Oh, that's yeah. Um, and energiser, it can really energise you, can't it, when you're sort of learning things like that. I find yeah, definitely another area of freelance and self-employment, that kind of opportunity to carry on earning has just been it's been such a joy for me.

Jenny Perez:

Absolutely, and I think we forget that in our day-to-day work, we don't talk to that bit of our brain, you know. Where does that kind of academic kind of thirst for knowledge where does that fit in in our day-to-day uh jobs? And I think we often do lose that sometimes.

Jane Curtis:

Yeah, yeah, I would agree. Um, so how long have you been freelancing now?

Jenny Perez:

Well, that's a good question. I mean, pretty much from then, so about uh I would be doing freelancing alongside a PA PAYE job, so kind of sort of 12, 13 years, something like that. Um, but it would tend to be one contract I would be working on, and then the rest of the week would be PAYE um sort of part-time role. So whilst it was freelancing, it was very much kind of sort of two parts of the week, really.

Jane Curtis:

And you've been trying a couple of different things um since working for yourself. So talk me through that kind of process and how you came to land on that combination of training, fundraising uh and coaching that you're currently doing.

Jenny Perez:

Yeah, so for for quite a number of years, I have been doing that kind of sort of you know, um employed and self-employed. And for me, that was really important because I was solo parenting and I needed to, you know, I needed to pay a mortgage and bills like we all do. Um, but I I didn't really, I didn't really see myself doing full-time freelance, couldn't really see how that would work for me. Um, and also, you know, the security of being employed, you obviously have, you know, pension, you've got holiday pay, sick pay. Um, so I did that for quite some time. Um and then more recently I've um got so now I'm fully freelance, but I would say the fully freelance, like I'm not even a year into being fully, fully freelance. Um, and now I would kind of call it my my business rather than calling it freelance work. Um and uh yeah, I guess the shift for me has been that I'm now, I mean, my children are now kind of 20 and 18. So I don't have that sense of kind of panic anymore. I feel like um for me it it feels um a lot more I'm a lot more confident basically in terms of looking for that freelance work and knowing that I can do it. Um and yeah, so now I'm so now I do fundraising, I do a lot of trust fundraising, um, which is something I've come into uh really kind of late in the day, given that I have been fundraising for 30 years, Jane, believe it or not. Um and I think the reason for that is trust fundraising used to be very kind of um used to be all about sitting at a computer, writing out applications, you know, everything was done by post, by email, and now that has really shifted and it's about relationship building, and there's it's a lot more kind of again drawing on my strengths of kind of um people to people, storytelling, um that side of things. And um, yeah, I've kind of I'm really enjoying it, and I'm I'm really enjoying working for other people, other organisations who who don't know as much about it as I do. Um and I guess from that I've I've then um run my course, Think Like a Funder. Um, and I've run one course this year, and I'll be running another course early next year, 2026. Um, and that is really about fundraisers putting themselves into the shoes of the funder, um, which because I'm I'm I've been working with quite a number of charities over the last sort of few years, and and I see the same things happening all the time. And one of those things is that we are as sort of fundraisers, we tend to just sort of say, this is what you know, this is the information I'm going to share, whether you've asked me for it or not. Yeah. And and I think we are we are in an interesting time at the moment where um funders are inundated with applications, they're closing early, they don't really there's many funders that don't really know how to react to this current situation, and there's lots of fundraisers that don't know how to react either and are feeling very pressurised. Um, and I just think, you know, I guess if you think like a funder, you can start to put much better applications in, you can start to enjoy the applications, it becomes about people, it becomes about storytelling, it becomes about embracing digital tools that we have at our fingertips, and yet we're not using. I mean, it's incredible. We are we are kind of circa 1960 when it comes to a lot of trust fundraising, and and I think it's just kind of dawned on me that this is, you know, we could change things here and and what is my part to play in this change, and also kind of sharing sharing a story of hope for fundraisers, but also you know, talking to funders and explaining what it's like to be a fundraiser and and trying to get a kind of you know the best outcome we can for everyone, whatever that looks like.

Jane Curtis:

Yeah. Um so we'll talk more about how people find out more about your course at um at the end. Um talk me through some of the benefits and drawbacks for you of working for yourself.

Jenny Perez:

Um the drawbacks, I guess, are you have to generate your own work. Um I I don't necessarily see that as a drawback, but obviously that's that's what stopped me in the past is that that panic button has been pressed too early and I've gone into an employed job because I'm concerned about the income and and where that's gonna come from. Um when I first um I have been working in an office for a big chunk of this year, and then from September I've been home based. Um, that was a big thing for me, and I just thought, oh no, I'm gonna hate this. Well, how am I gonna do this? You know, me and the dining room table, and it's always my turn to make the tea. Um, but I um I'm very self-aware of that, so I've now booked my, I've now got a fantastic room and an art studio in Bath overlooking the river, and I can have that sort of five days a month, so that's great. You know, I've booked myself into Pilates on a Wednesday morning, so that gets Wednesdays off to a great start. Um, and I've made sure that I've taken up opportunities to get myself away from my desk or um speaking opportunities and and things like that. Um, so I I think there are kind of you know, there are drawbacks to working for yourself, but I think it's only you know how you work. So in my case, I know that how to connect with people. So I have to find opportunities to connect to people, and that's you know, um, I think you you know you have to plan really well. You can't just kind of wake up each week and think, what work am I going to do? You know, you have to be organised and you have to plan, but I love all of that, so that's good. Um, the the benefits for me have been um just, I mean, I've connected with so many people, even since the start of September, and we're only, you know, we're only in early November. I've connected with so many people. I've had online coffees, I've had face-to-face coffees, I've kind of um I've listened to more podcasts, you know, relevant to my work and sector, um, since I have done for months and months. Um and I guess I've just done everything on my terms, which feels really liberating. You know, I'm really too old to be sitting down doing one-to-ones and supervisions and things like that. I've done, you know, I've done many years of that.

Jane Curtis:

Yeah.

Jenny Perez:

And I'm, you know, that's not for me anymore. That's not what I want to do, and I don't want to get involved in kind of, you know, the sort of the office politics and what's going on there, um, which has been extremely draining in a couple of roles I've done in the last few years. Um, but you know, you do have to be very self-motivated, and that's been that's been hard, you know, not knowing that I have to get up out of bed for sort of nine o'clock. I could lie in bed all morning if I wanted to, but luckily I don't want to. But I am trying to sort of find that line between, you know, making sure that I I give myself some sort of um parameters to work with. Otherwise, I think it could fall away like really easily and quickly. So uh yeah.

Jane Curtis:

And there's some there's something really like sort of enjoyable and freeing about that, I think. But it does take it is a reset because it's you know, when you when you're in a very routine nine to five job, you're you know, your kind of parameters are dictated by someone else, right? And then now you've got all this freedom, which can be slightly overwhelming at times. And I think one of the um reflections I would have of working with freelancers in these past few years is if you haven't thought through that process and how different it's going to be, and and put some kind of thinking, intentional thinking behind it, it can really catch you out. And I mean, it still does me sometimes, and I know I've said this to you before, but you know, that kind of going for a swim in the morning when I've dropped my daughter off and and being in the pool and thinking, oh, it's nine o'clock, I should be at my desk, you know, and kind of it's so kind of ingrained, isn't it?

Jenny Perez:

Yeah, it really is, it really is. And the and the whole kind of Sunday evening feeling, it in fact, the first time that I went to the the sort of the new the desk that I'm using was a Monday, and I felt myself on the Sunday evening thinking, okay, I've got to get my bag ready, I've got to, you know, I've booked it from kind of you know nine till five, so I'll be there at nine. Um, and I thought, what am I doing? Like I could move that day. It doesn't have to be a Monday move to a Tuesday, and actually that it's fine. Now I've been there once, and it's absolutely fine. But I just um you are just really aware of those feelings and and how long that has been with you. You know, Sunday night is going away for a weekend would normally mean making sure I got back by sort of mid-afternoon on a Sunday, because you'd want to get yourself ready for Monday for the working week. And that's you know, that's a big chunk of your weekend gone. Yeah, because you're trying to prepare for the working bit. And so I do feel I do feel really liberated, and I also feel that I'm more energetic in the evenings. So I've started to do more things in the evenings. Whereas naturally, from doing a working job at an office, I'd come home, cook dinner, and then that would be it, you know, that I'm exhausted. Whereas that sort of flipped now, where I feel a lot more energised, and yeah, I can go out in the evening and I can go and play tennis or I can do whatever I want.

Jane Curtis:

Yeah, it's just dreamy, dreamy. Um, you mentioned listening to podcasts, and um what tell me a bit more about that, or like what do you what do you listen to to sort of keep you company when you're working at home on your own?

Jenny Perez:

Um, so mainly I listen to the radio. I'm a big radio, so radio two, stroke, radio four, um, depending on who's DJing on Radio Two. I switch over to Radio 4. I love a bit of you and yours on Radio 4. Um uh so that would be my go-to. Um, and but then I kind of I'm a big fan of kind of um Rob Woods and the Bright Spots podcasts. And uh just recently there was something that was flagged up on LinkedIn, or it might have been an email, I'm on the email list, um, about a particular uh podcast around trust fundraising. So I went straight to that and I listened to it and I really enjoyed it. So I kind of uh so it's quite sort of targeted listening, I suppose. Um I've been listening to a number of your podcasts because they're obviously they're freelancers, and that's really interesting me at the moment. Obviously, sort of feeling quite new in the the fully freelance um area. Um, but yeah, and then I have my kind of my fun podcasts, which uh love Desert Island discs and love one called Dish, which is um a food one with um I can't remember the the names, but um, but it's really it's just really there's they're always laughing on it and it's always brings yeah joy to listen to. Nick Grimshaw. Nick Grimshaw, I was gonna say, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Angela Hartner.

Jane Curtis:

That's it, yeah.

Jenny Perez:

Yeah, I really recommend that. That's you know, it's just yeah, yeah. So, but Desert Island discs, usually the ones that I enjoy the most are where I don't know the person. And then you hear this incredible story. Um, just yeah, I'm just really interested in people's stories and how they come to be where they are, because obviously they're they've usually um they're either famous or they've achieved something incredible to be on Desert Island discs, but you you may never have heard of them. Um quite niche, yeah. Yeah, but they are so interesting and yeah, love them.

Jane Curtis:

Very good. Um, tell me about any challenges that you've faced as a business owner. Okay, sorry about that. We just had a power cut. Jenny was halfway through an answer and I disappeared. Um, so Jenny, we were just talking about what challenges you faced um as a self-employed business owner.

Jenny Perez:

Yeah, so I think um uh I was just talking about uh um you know, saying yes to everything. I think that you know, when you first start out freelancing, you think I'll just say yes to everything because I don't know when the next lot of work is going to come through. Um so I've now managed to kind of master the art of that, of saying no and of saying and of working out what time I've got for which work and what that looks like kind of uh for next year. Um I guess I'm fortunate in some of the work that I do is for a number of months, so it's quite I get quite I get kind of a um forewarning of when that's going to finish, so that's good. Um I guess other challenges, I at the moment I am conscious that I'm working on um a number of things which say I'd like to spend about I don't know 40% of my week on, but I'm actually spending 80% of my week on. Um, and I guess part of that is because I've just gone, you know, fully freelance and and I have said yes to some work. But I'm you know, there's options ahead for me, uh, whether I look to work with associates or whether I look to, you know, and I want to do more on the kind of the training, coaching, mentoring side. But I guess I also I sort of feel I don't really see them as challenges, I see them more as opportunities because that's all within my power to make those changes. So I'm kind of okay with that. Um, I think the challenges, the the actual kind of the ones where I kind of really um get stuck on are things that are outside my kind of um expertise. So um building a website, which I know everyone says it's very easy, but for some reason seems to be uh not so easy for me. Uh, you know, finance and accounting, again, I'm I'm pretty okay at it, but there's some bits that you need to kind of hand over to someone else. So I think it's that that's what I'm finding the challenging side is at what point do I say, look, this is beyond my skill set, I need to pay someone to help me do this. Um, or actually, I need to pay someone because that will help me grow, um, and that will be beneficial longer term. Um, so I'm just sort of grappling with that at the moment, is working out what what's within my uh um ability and wants to do, and what actually I need to invest in to get other people to do it.

Jane Curtis:

And I mean, I think because I I know you a little bit, um, we've been working together, haven't we? I I feel like you have a very uh comfortable um sort of relationship with investing in yourself as a self-employed person. Um, and I just wondered if you could talk a bit to that point about you know, why you think that's important to do and how yeah.

Jenny Perez:

I think that has again, that's something that's come to me latterly, because investing yours in yourself often means that you have to pay money for something, you know, you can invest in yourself in lots of ways, you know, physically and mentally, and we can all go out for a walk and things, you know, there are free things, but what I'm talking about is the investing in the kind of the work side of things. Um, and I actually did um a year or so ago, I invested in something for my kind of physical health um with a very well-known athlete called Sally Gunnell. Um, and it was a big investment for me, and um and I I got what I wanted out of that program. It was um it was all about health and fitness, but it wasn't kind of your usual kind of health and fitness uh kind of things, and I learned lots of lessons out of that, about consistency and about small wins and about not beating yourself up if you have a bad day and thinking you failed. So there was a lot of there was a lot of messages in there which were very relevant to work, um, and then from that I then realised that actually, you know, when you invest in something, and obviously you've got to make sure it's the right program for you or or whatever, um, it's what you get out of it, and it's what you put into it, but it's also what you get out of it. And so I've invested in time with you, Jane. Um, we worked one to one for sort of six months, and I was very clear from the outset that if I was going to invest, In this money, that I wanted to kind of see benefits from that. I wanted to recoup some of that money. And the way I was going to recoup the money was I was going to grow my business. And by working one-to-one with someone where I was accountable and had kind of pushed me and things like that, it meant I've done things which I don't think I would have done without having, in this case, you having that person there. And that has led me to do the training course. It led me to do a webinar kind of via LinkedIn. It's, you know, I've definitely grown my networks hugely as a result of that. And increased prices. Yes, I also increased my prices. And what it's given me, which I don't know where you would get this otherwise, is it's given me it, I now know my kind of self-worth and my value, and it's given me confidence, which I don't believe I had before. I think I was, you know, I mean, I've been, I might have said it once before already on this podcast, but after 30 years experience, I have a lot to offer people and I have a lot to share. I've got a lot of experience. Um, and I think it took me, you know, I needed to invest in myself to realise all of that. Um, and that has been a really strong kind of bouncing board for to take me to the next level. Um and then we've also both experienced again through yourself and Caroline, um, you know, the rich and restored retreat, which was uh happened very recently last last week, and and I'm still processing it all, and it was an incredible group of people and an incredible experience. Um, and again, that kind of that nourished me in a different way. Um, you know, we did lots of lovely activities like yoga and the sound bath and beautiful walks on the doorstep, but we also looked at what we needed to kind of um let go of and what we needed to kind of reposition for our sort of businesses or freelancing, whatever journeys we were on moving forward. Um, and I have come back with kind of a sense of renewedness. I don't know if that's a word, renewedness. We'll use it. Renewed. I feel renewed, I feel renewed, um, which I wasn't necessarily expecting. So I guess from my point of view, I'm I will continue to invest in myself because I can see the clear benefits from it, and it is taking me in a direction that I want to go, and I don't want to stay stagnant, and I don't want to stay doing the same old things week in, week out, because that's not me, or month in, month out. Um, so yeah, so I'm I'm a big advocate for it, and um, and and I think we, you know, I think we probably know we all need to invest in ourselves in some shape or form, whatever that looks like for us. So um yeah, hugely beneficial.

Jane Curtis:

And yeah, and I'm just meeting more and more new fabulous people, which is making making like lifelong friends, I feel, after last week was just uh yeah, it was it was amazing. I mean, everything that you've just said is is just so valuable, I think, to people who perhaps haven't done that before, and maybe you know, coming from a charity sector where training budgets are very tight, and you know, you may have to be a certain level to get to go to conferences and things like that. It it's yeah, it's a it's a different world when you work for yourself, it really is. And I found it completely mind-blowing. Honestly, I could not believe this whole world of kind of personal development and like professional development that I just hadn't been um exposed to when I worked in in charity. Yeah, um, and I have fully loved it. I mean, like you, I have invested a lot of money and a lot of time in things, um, but it's been probably the most fun and enjoyable kind of journey of self-discovery. And you know, like we're all very um experienced, smart individuals, like we can find things on Google, and you can find, like I mentioned last week, you can look up probably millions of hours of strategy kind of videos on YouTube or whatever, like um if you want to go down that route, but but actually doing this on your own is is hard, it's really hard, and um and it is gonna take way longer as well. So I think the conversation that came up many times last week at the retreat was time is precious, right? You know, it's our one finite resource, yeah. So if you really want to do things uh quicker, yeah, you get those results, and I think investing in yourself is is a good one.

Jenny Perez:

Yeah. And I would say for me, it's been really important that I've been able to connect with the right people because I think if you were just to Google something and think I want to invest in whatever, then you're you're taking a big, you know, a big leap of faith, aren't you? Because you don't know anything about that person, you don't know who they are or anything. And I think for me, that's what's been really, really important is that you know, I I first met you on the freelancer to fundraiser course, and that you know, that was my first sort of introduction. I didn't know you before then at all. Um, I'd never never heard of you, hadn't been, you know, didn't know people that knew you. How can that be? This was a few years, a couple of years ago. Um, but you know, different people cross your paths, don't they? And then and what I'm learning is the more people that cross your paths, the more exciting it is, and the more connections and the more networks. And um, but I think for me that is that was the real takeaway is that I needed to kind of, if I was going to invest, I wanted to do it in someone that I'd either connected with or someone I knew had kind of said, you know, talk to this person, or I think you'd really get on with this person or whatever. So yeah, I think that's really important.

Jane Curtis:

Yeah, really, really important. Um, what advice would you give someone who is maybe still working in nine to five but were considering taking the leap and stepping, setting something up themselves? What would your advice be?

Jenny Perez:

Um, uh my advice would be to talk to other freelancers for sure. There are lots of freelancers out there. Um, there's lots of you know, Facebook groups, there's a freelancer Facebook group, and and people do quite often post on there. I talk to other people and ask them, you know, what how they got into it and what that looked like. Um, I think if you were in a similar position to me, where you, you know, I was doing I was, you know, responsible for all the the sort of finance income in in my family with the two kids, with my two kids. Um, and I I did half the week freelancing and half the week I had that I was employed, so it felt less risky to me. And that has been a good way for me to kind of come into it over quite a long period of time. Um, but I absolutely think that, you know, to your point, Jane, life is too short. And and I also think, you know, I I think I was a bit concerned that, you know, I'm in my sort of late 50s, and you know, back in the day, that's when people were retiring, wasn't it? I know that isn't what it's like now, but I mean I know we've got a good few years work ahead of us, but I kind of feel like it's really exciting, it's really exciting to be doing something at this time of life and sort of not feeling like I'm just playing out year, you know, I'm just waiting for the years to roll by until I can officially retire. And you know, and I think if I'd stayed in employment, that's what would have happened. I'd just be going through the motions. Whereas now I kind of have this new lease of life and this new kind of um, yeah, this new business. Say again joy de Eve, yeah. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. So I suppose I would always want to encourage people who think, oh, it's too late, you know, that that ship sailed. It absolutely has not, and and I experience no ageism at all in any of my work and anything that I do. And a lot of people I know of kind of similar ages are um are in a similar boat. And um, so yeah, so I kind of feel like it's never too late and uh absolutely give it a go, but you can kind of launch yourself into it slowly, you don't have to go from zero to a whole, you know, everything freelance, you have to finish everything and say, right, I'm gonna go freelancing. There needs to be a bit of prep behind that.

Jane Curtis:

Yes, I would agree, and that straddling of two worlds can can work quite well. Um, so you mentioned your thinklike a funder course, but how can people listening find out a bit more about you and your services?

Jenny Perez:

Yeah, well, as I alluded to, I am in the midst of putting a website together um for it, and I have the domain name, thinklikeafunder.com, um, but that isn't available at the moment. So the best place to get me where I'm active and we'll be posting everything is on LinkedIn. So um if you just look up Jenny Perez, you'll find me fairly quickly. Um, because yeah, there aren't too many of us, I don't think. Um, do not look up Jenny Perez on Facebook because that is a whole different ballgame. Or on Google, in fact. Fair enough. You might find some very unsavory characters. You've made me super curious now. Stick to LinkedIn. Um yeah, and as soon as I get the website, I'll be posting about it then. That's very exciting.

Jane Curtis:

Well done uh for getting that off the ground. And um, you're starting your course again in the new year, is that right?

Jenny Perez:

Yes, yes. End of Jan, early Feb. Amazing.

Jane Curtis:

Okay, lovely. Well, thank you, Jenny. It's been a joy. Um anyway, thank you so much, Jenny. It's been been great talking to you.

Jenny Perez:

Um, thanks for having me. It's always a joy to talk to you, Jane.

Jane Curtis:

That's a wrap on another episode of the other side. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a colleague who might be thinking about their own freelance journey. And if you haven't already, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. Remember, freelancing doesn't have to be a lonely journey. Whether it's joining communities like the Charity Freelancer Chat or signing up to the Charity Freelancing course or simply reaching out to former colleagues, connection is key to thriving as a freelancer. You can find all the links and resources we mentioned today in the show notes. And if you want to connect with me, you can find me on LinkedIn where you can also sign up to the charity freelancing course waitlist. Until next time, keep exploring what's possible on the other side.