Analiese Doctrove - How The First Month of Freelancing Really Looks

Thinking about trading a senior charity post for a life with fewer meetings and more meaning? We sit down with fundraiser-turned-freelancer Analiese Doctrove to map a path that balances family, focus, and real sector impact. 

We get practical about the move: lining up early clients through warm contacts, announcing the shift on LinkedIn, and joining supportive communities that value collaboration over competition. Analiese shares how core fundraising skills translate seamlessly to consulting, while self-promotion needs a fresh mindset. 

You’ll hear what the first month really feels like: quiet mornings without Slack pings, deep work that finishes on time, and the strange urge to fill every free minute. We unpack how to handle peaks and troughs, when to say no, and why capacity-led planning beats wishful thinking.

If you’re a charity professional eyeing up the freelance route, this conversation offers a clear view of what’s possible. Subscribe, share this with a colleague who needs it, and leave a review to help more charity professionals design work that serves their lives and their purpose.

Head to Analiese's website to find out more about her work.

Jane Curtis, founder of The Charity Freelancing Course, host of The Other Side Podcast and Co-founder of The Rich & Restored Retreat. 

Jane has spent 26 years in the charity sector, is a former events fundraiser, and now supports well over 100 charity sector freelancers to replace their in house salary without working 24/7 through a group mastermind programme, charity freelancing course and 1:1 work. 

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Welcome And Guest Background

Jane Curtis 0:28

Welcome to the other side, the charity's 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. So let's dive into today's conversation. Annalisa Doctrove joined the charity sector at 18 years old. She has worked for small grassroots founder-led charities and large national organisations. Starting as a fundraising assistant and climbing the ladder to director of fundraising and marketing, she has recently made the leap into the world of freelancing and will be focusing on small to medium-sized charity fundraising strategy support. Annalisa, welcome to the other side. Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice to have you here. And I think you may be our possibly our newest freelancer that we've had on the podcast. So I will ask you a bit more about that in a moment. But first of all, I'd love to know a bit more

Starting In Charity At 18

Jane Curtis 1:38

about your charity background. So tell me about how you get got into charity at 18 years old.

Analiese Doctrove 1:44

Oh well, I'd love to tell you it was a kind of vocational calling, but the reality was I had finished college and I went home and said, I think I'll have a gap year. And my mum said to me, You are not living in my house for free, go and get a job. And I thought, oh, okay, that's not what I'd planned on doing, but it felt like it was a good idea. Um, and there was a wonderful charity just not far from where I lived, which is now called Young Epilepsy, it wasn't called that at the time. Um, and they were looking for a fundraising assistant. I'd never, I'd worked in like shops and things like that, but I'd never worked in an office, I'd never didn't really know that people worked for charities or worked in the charity sector. Um, and went for an interview, got off the job, and I loved it. I worked with some amazing people, I met some wonderful young people that lived on site and went to the school there. I got to go to some great events, and I just thought, yeah, this is exactly what I should be doing. Um, and it grew from there. So, yeah, thanks to my mum, really.

Jane Curtis 2:43

Oh, very good. Yeah, excellent. And then your kind of progression through the ranks, if you like, was that sort of an intentional kind of career path that you took? Did you sort of have aspirations to become director of fundraising and marketing, or was it very sort of organic, natural? Well, tell me a bit about that.

Analiese Doctrove 3:02

Yeah, it was quite organic, really. I think um over time you kind of you've been doing a certain job for a while, you grow out of it, you kind of look at what the next opportunities are. So there were always things that I was really interested in. You know, I loved um kind of the kind of community sector. I did a lot of community fundraising, and then that grew into corporate fundraising, and that grew into special events, and so I kind of gained all this experience just out of stuff that I enjoyed doing, and you know, I was really lucky to work with some wonderful people as well that kind of trusted me and supported me through various roles, and so the promotions into other positions came came quite organically,

Climbing The Fundraising Ladder

Analiese Doctrove 3:40

but I've um yeah, I I think I probably got to a point where I became head of fundraising and thought, oh I'm this is you know, feels quite serious now, quite grown up, and I was 25 when I first became head of fundraising for a regional charity, so um yeah, I've I've done it organically, but always really enjoyed it and sort of the challenge that's that's come with it as well.

Jane Curtis 3:59

Yeah, amazing. So um tell me a bit about kind of the the latter part then. So you you you've made it to director of director fundraising level, and um and at what point did you start to sort of think there might be something about freelance that was kind of interesting or a potential next step? Like talk me through a little bit of that thinking.

Analiese Doctrove 4:25

Yeah, so I suppose if you've worked in any sector for a long time, your life, your personal life changes a huge amount alongside it. So um by the time I got to director of fundraising marketing, I had a daughter, um, you know, aging parents, you know, lots of changes in my kind of personal life, and it it was started to become more about balance and more about actually I love I love the sector, I'm really, really passionate about it. I've worked for some great places, but my life has changed really, you know, quite massively. Um I was very lucky to

Why Freelancing Became The Next Step

Analiese Doctrove 4:59

find a director role that was happy to have me four days a week. Um, and so I still had some space in my week to support family with other things. Um, and I was really grateful for that flexibility, but I had I got to the point I think where I had to be really realistic about who, you know, where I was giving my time and was I doing all the things I wanted to do really well. Um, and I think that's where the tipping point came to be like actually freelance and consultancy is the right space for me because I still want to do good work, I still want to work with great organisations, but need maybe a bit more space around that. Um, and so I started to kind of look at what some of those options could be and what training was out there, which obviously is how I met you. Um, and that was great, it was really great to have that kind of practical support and help to help make that transition. The kind of final straw for me was actually my daughter. So I've got a six-year-old daughter, and she loves gymnastics and got a um got to go to a little gymnastics class on a Wednesday at four o'clock. And I just thought that doesn't work. I work till 5:30, or you know, if you're after school club, and how is this going to happen? Um, and I was like, that those are the decisions I want to be able to make. I want her to be able to do that, and actually, I need more flexibility and space in my life to to make those things happen. So yeah, definitely, definitely driven by my kind of personal circumstances, but wanting to retain that kind of level of professionalism

Planning A Careful Transition

Analiese Doctrove 6:30

that I have worked really hard for.

Jane Curtis 6:33

And you've done, you've sort of taken quite a steady, um, I would say, kind of exit, if you like. Like, you know, and and you took your time really, didn't you? And um, because you were doing the course for a bit while you were still working, and that that was kind of yeah, so you were thinking about it and planning for it, but you hadn't actually made that sort of jump.

Analiese Doctrove 6:52

Yeah, that's right. So I've been planning, I think, for probably probably quite a long time. I had this kind of arbitrary deadline in my head. I always said when I got to 40, I would um I'd go freelance. I don't know where that figure came from, as I'm not 40 yet, but I was like, when I turn 40, maybe something magical will happen and I'll I'll go into the freelance space. Um, and actually once I started to look into it and I thought, no, I can I can kind of work this out and I can probably do it sooner. The course and and training was great for that, and it opened my thinking to a lot of a lot of stuff that maybe I hadn't considered. So yeah, I definitely made the transition slowly. Um for me, I am not I wasn't in a position where I could just like say, well, I finished with my nine to five, I'm just gonna go freelance now. You know, I I had I wanted to line some things up first, I wanted there to be kind of an element of security um before I made that jump. And that's what I was kind of able to do over the last probably six months um to make that make that happen.

Jane Curtis 7:52

Yeah, no, that's really smart, I think. So you've only just started. Would

First Month As A Freelancer

Jane Curtis 7:57

it be fair to say it's like a month? Are you a month in? Was it January? You kind of, yeah. Um, so tell me about what the last month has been like. Has it been what you expected?

Analiese Doctrove 8:07

Yeah, it's really interesting. I think um I love it. So I think I could definitely start by saying that like I've I've worked with a mix of clients and um like reached out to lots of contacts that I've you know already had or people that I've worked with in previous years, um and that's been really great. Like I think that's that's a big takeaway that you you feel really nervous, obviously, when you're making a big change, and actually, there's so much support out there. There's a lot of people that are really willing to give you a 20-minute conversation over a you know on Zoom or over a cup of tea or something, you know. There is a lot of support, people have been really helpful, which has been great. Um, I love the variety of work and different project working and client working and stuff, which is really nice, but it is a real transition. You know, I've worked for a really long time, Monday to Friday, nine to five. I'm always at my desk at eight o'clock. I've got stuff I've got to get on with. For the last probably 10 to 12 years, I've had a team to a team of people to manage, so you know, another group to kind of look after and consider, and all of a sudden I haven't got any of those things, and it's really strange. It's really, really strange to just go. Oh, like tomorrow, I've got no meetings in my diary. Tomorrow, I've got nobody to talk to, and that I'm I'm not quite used to yet. It's a transition period.

Jane Curtis 9:23

What are you gonna do?

Analiese Doctrove 9:25

I don't know, I've got work to do, but I just but again, no, no rush, no deadlines, no pressure, no kind of um, you know, slacks not pinging away and Google meeting, nobody's floating me or anything. All of a sudden I've got this like quiet time to think about stuff and really get into the detail of it. And I'm really enjoying that. Really enjoying it.

Jane Curtis 9:46

Yeah, so one of the bits that I found most fascinating was how much time I had back from just the not having meetings, not having any of those distractions, not having a team, you know, all of that stuff. It was just wow, I've got suddenly loads of time to to contact. Have you found have you found the same?

Analiese Doctrove 10:04

Yeah, definitely. And it's quite um it's quite weird because you're almost saying to, well, I'm obviously not doing enough. I'm obviously not doing enough work because I haven't got a really full day or I haven't got you know five meetings before 12 o'clock or whatever it might be. But actually, it's just um it's it's fine.

Time, Focus And Unlearning 9–5

Analiese Doctrove 10:20

I haven't got to apply that pressure, I haven't got all those other people or things to to be involved in. So it's um it's really nice. It means you can come in, really dedicate your time to to the work that you've kind of committed to. Um, but then if you're finished by three o'clock, you can turn the laptop off and walk away from it, and that's that's all right, but it's um yeah, it definitely takes a while to get used to.

Jane Curtis 10:40

It really does. And I mean, I would say years, you know, potentially to sort of really because there's always that unlearning of of what you've done for so many years before that's almost just um it's kind of habitual almost, you know, and it's kind of that muscle memory, you know. And I still find myself like coming back from swimming or whatever and just sort of thinking, oh, I should be at my desk. And it's like, well, hang on a minute, no, I shouldn't. I don't have to be. Um, but it's still very deep root, you know, it can be very deep rooted, some of that stuff. Um uh so yeah, and you can go and work wherever you want. Like if you know, you don't have to stay in one place, it's kind of yeah, it's fun, it's exciting. It's really exciting. So it sounds like you've already got clients lined up. Talk me through how um you've managed to do that so sort of quickly, I guess. Um yeah.

Analiese Doctrove 11:31

Yes, yeah, so um, well, like I said, I'd started to do some outreach anyway. Um, so I wanted to make sure that I I did have some clients kind of lined up to work with um before I made the jump. Um, and those are actually just through kind of relationships that I've had previously, you know, people I've previously worked for, um, organisations that I that I've known, so people that I was able to kind of reach out to and talk to in advance, which has been really useful. Um, and then from kind of launching what I'm doing and how I'm how I'm going forward again. I've spoken to quite a lot of people in my network that have said, oh, we've got something coming up, or we might be thinking about this, and it's not all for now, you know, some of it is future projects as well, which is great.

Finding Clients Through Networks

Analiese Doctrove 12:14

Um, and also there's some great kind of networks out there that um I'm part of as well. So that's helped me to kind of again get a bit of a sense of what's actually out there at the moment, what are people looking for, and um how do what I do align with those things.

Jane Curtis 12:30

Yeah, I think um that's so it's so wise to have that have had those conversations. I I appreciate it, it's not always possible if you're still working in-house to talk to colleagues about what your intention might be to sort of leave and go and do something different, but um but even going back a bit further before, you know, to maybe colleagues that you work with before before your current job could be um could be a good good starting point. Because even if it's not them, like you say, like it could be someone they know or it could be something further down the line, and um it's all about those kind of planting of seeds, isn't it?

Analiese Doctrove 13:06

Um just being on their radar, just knowing actually I've made this change, this is what I'm doing now. Um it might not be for now, but something might come of it in the future. And I think, like I said, that I think the charity space is very supportive. Um, there does seem to be a transition of people moving into a freelance space for a number of reasons, but there is a lot of support for that as well. So um I think from the outside to start with, I definitely thought, oh, if I do this, there'll be no work, or it's gonna be really competitive, and actually it's really collaborative. Lots of people want to work together, there's lots of um co-working for freelancers and stuff, and that's really nice as well.

Jane Curtis 13:40

Yeah, I'd I'd agree with that. Um, and um, what do you think like your kind of fundraising and marketing um experience has sort of taught you about working for yourself? Like, can you see where there are transferable skills?

Analiese Doctrove 13:55

Yeah, I can actually. I think um that sort of planning, strategy, you know, forecasting all of that kind of stuff is really useful. Um

Transferable Skills And Self-Promotion

Analiese Doctrove 14:05

and to, you know, I've got like I said, I've got work to deliver and clients that I'm working with, but I have got an eye on what's down the line, what's coming in the future, because um, you know, things will work will stop and things will change, and so I'm I'm kind of conscious of that. So I definitely think that's helped. Um, I'm still one thing I am kind of struggling with, I think, is that putting yourself out there. I've always been really happy and quite confident to talk about the charities that I work for, the great work that they're doing, but it is very different when you have to talk about yourself or you have to put your own face on LinkedIn or Instagram or whatever that might be. And again, for me, that's a bit of a transition to um sort of talk about myself and say this is these are the great things that I'm doing and come and work with me. You know, it feels a little bit uncomfortable for me at the moment, but I think that's something that I'll I'll get into. See, I'm hoping that kind of marketing comms experience will support that going forward.

Jane Curtis 14:58

Yeah, and it yeah, I mean, it is, it's really some one of the things that I just have to keep working through every time I do it, um, is that slight sort of cringe factor of just like I'm so great, you know. Um, but I I would say it does get easier, and also the other thing that I found helpful is separating myself personally from what I am selling, you know, like uh and my service. And actually, that's been really helpful too. It's sort of it's not about me, it's about them. And I think the more you can kind of put yourself into that kind of headspace, um, perhaps the less sort of icky it feels, maybe. Um, but you did a great post on LinkedIn, I saw that, and it was fantastic and um and had loads of yeah, yeah, sort of traction on the back. So um just keep going with it, would be my advice. Thank you. It does get a bit easier for sure. Um, so it's probably too soon to to note. You said that that was one of the challenges. Have there been any other challenges that you faced or obstacles that you faced since you've taken the leap?

Analiese Doctrove 16:02

I think I don't think so at the moment, and I obviously I'm really new in, so um, I'm sure there will be things that come up. Um, I suppose one thing I've sort of thought about is to start with, it is easy to feel like you should say yes to everything because actually you've got this kind of if I say no, and then there's no work in three months' time and I've missed this opportunity, no. So just actually at points slowing myself down and saying, you know, you've set up as well as you could to kick things off, just take some time, work out the clients

Saying No And Managing Peaks

Analiese Doctrove 16:35

that you really want to work with, or the spaces you want to be seen in, and then build in those areas. And I think I'm have I'm having to just remind myself that actually slowing down a little bit, you don't have to say yes to everything straight away, um, is a is something that I will probably have to work on for quite a long time because I'm still a little bit in that space of like, well, I should probably say yes because there might be no work in April, and then what can I do? So um, yeah, I'm just kind of managing that for my for myself at the moment.

Jane Curtis 17:05

Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't know that you ever, I don't know that anyone ever really cracks that either, because it and it and it is a slightly the nature of the work, isn't it? It's just it tends to be so there tends to be like more peaks, you know, at certain points of the year, depending on your area of specialism as well. But um, I know that for kind of events, it tends to be very much like spring and autumn, you know, summer and the winter tend to be a bit quieter or whatever. And and it's like, do you just work with that? So it's like, is it worth stacking all the work, you know, and taking as much as you can in those busy periods so that you can have a bit of a rest over the summer and Christmas? And um, and I don't I think that's fine to kind of just almost, I mean, it's not it, it perhaps isn't the most helpful advice, but almost just like sort of go with the flow a little bit and just because it might change as well, you know, you'll find that there'll be times where you are more, you've got more energy and you can take on more work and um um and other times when you yeah, you want to rest and you don't want to do any. And I know that there are some people who now very intentionally will take more on before the summer so they can have the summer holidays if they've got kids, you know, yeah, not working. So all of that stuff you can kind of start to figure out, but um yeah, I'm not sure there's any hard and fast. I'd love to know if somebody knows like that there is some kind of hard and fast rule or like what is the code um to kind of get away from that peaks and troughs. Um, yeah, I'm not really sure.

Analiese Doctrove 18:34

And I think it's probably reflective of the sector as well, because you know, we all know January to March, everybody's like new business plans, budgeting, what's coming for the next financial year. So I think that's the other reason at the moment it does feel very busy. I wonder if April, May it will calm down a little bit. Then everybody has the pre-summer rush, don't they? So I'm yeah, I definitely think it will come in cycles, but I'm trying to not fill up too much of my time right at the very, very start. I need to give myself a little bit of space to to probably keep working a few things out.

Jane Curtis 19:06

Yeah, absolutely. And also you don't want to go from being really flat out into your from your in-house role into being really flat out in your freelance role role. I mean, I think that like you'd said, you want that flexibility to be able to do things with your daughter and um and

Supportive Communities And Co-Working

Jane Curtis 19:20

actually I that's something I still challenge, um find challenging myself. You know, if I see space in my week, like I might, oh, I need to fill it. And it's like actually, that wasn't the intention, you know. The intention was to have this lovely, spacious kind of career um and business so that I can yeah, do other things that that um so why why do I kind of want to just fill it up? Fill it up with more stuff. I still haven't figured it out.

Analiese Doctrove 19:45

Work pressure, work pressure.

Jane Curtis 19:46

It's such a contradiction, isn't it? Really? Um, so you said that you found some really supportive kind of networks and co-working groups. Can you tell me a bit about those? What have you found most helpful?

Analiese Doctrove 19:58

Yeah, so there's I think there's some really nice um like charity freelancer spaces. So charity freelancer chat is a great one, um, and they do various events. I know you've spoken at those, and um they're really useful. I've been I've been along to a couple of those ones. Um there are some nice like associate spaces, so I'm an associate affair collective, um, which is great, and they you know, a really nice network to be part of to kind of run ideas past each other and work um, you know, work kind of focuses and what's happening in the sector at the moment, that kind of stuff, which is really useful. Um and then there's one local to me actually, so down in in Hove on the South Coast, um, a kind of charity freelancer group, which I haven't met yet, but I'm meeting next week. So um, and that's in in person, which I'm quite excited about, because it would be nice to like leave the house and meet some other faces. So um, yeah, that that would be good. So again, still kind of building some of those networks, but there are they are out there and they're very supportive when you're when you're part of them.

Jane Curtis 20:57

Yeah, absolutely. I love the kind of in-person meetups, I think they're so important, and um again, something that I'm still figuring out figuring out myself, but I tend to go through real cycles of being a bit of a hermit and then realising that actually I haven't spoken to other people other than you know via a screen. Um, and I kind of have to push myself a little bit to kind of get myself, but it's always worth it when I do, and um yeah, you just the energy you get from being in person is so different, I think.

Analiese Doctrove 21:25

Yeah, definitely. I think when now the weather's cheering up a bit, maybe we'll feel a bit more happy about that.

Jane Curtis 21:31

It's not raining today, which is okay. Um, so what advice would you give to someone saying that they're thinking of doing something similar to you um and wanting to

Practical Advice For New Freelancers

Jane Curtis 21:40

kind of set themselves up as self employed? What what what advice would you give them?

Analiese Doctrove 21:45

I think um I think you have to think on kind of two things. So there's a lot obviously there's lots of practical things that you have to do, but I think for me on the practical side, have have some people around you that you really trust. So people that you can run ideas past, if you go South America. Employed, have a really good accountant, and someone that you kind of yeah, trust and can work with. So I think those things for me are really important. And who's in your network that, like I said, might be willing to give you 20 minutes, half an hour to just talk through some of your maybe initial thinking or what else is happening in that space, if you've got a particular niche that you work in, you know, can is there anyone that can support you? So I definitely think on the kind of practical elements, um, yeah, people and kind of services that you can work with are really kind of key. Um, and then on the other side, like really think about how you want this work to benefit you in the long term. Like I said, for me, it was definitely about kind of some space and flexibility, but I also want to really stay kind of true to the career that I have built. I don't want that to stop, I want that to keep going. I still think I've got value to bring to those kind of small to medium charities, I've got a focus on what that value is and how I think I can support them. So um there's definitely a lot of thinking to do around there. I think to start with, you can get caught in like have I got a particular area or whatever. But actually, I think once you get out there and you start to test a few things, that helps to refine what you want to do. So um, yeah, for me, there's there's kind of two sides. Also, in you know, my own journey, I wanted to make sure that I had a kind of stepping stone into this. I I didn't want to just stop my kind of nine to five employment and jump straight into freelance. You know, my last role was part-time that enabled me to kind of step in this direction, um, and I found that for me very useful. I'm quite cautious when I do things, so again, that just just for me, that's that process has worked. Um, but yeah, those are my kind of kind of key things. I also just in terms of the freelance space at the moment, it feels busy, and like I said, there are a lot of people making that transition, but it doesn't mean that there isn't work out there. There's a lot of work in this space, there are lots of people willing to support and collaborate, and the more you can reach out and have some of those conversations, I think the better that works.

Jane Curtis 24:08

Yeah, I completely echo with that. So, what tell me a little bit about what you're working on currently? What are some of the projects that you're helping charities with?

Current Projects And Strategy Work

Analiese Doctrove 24:16

Yeah, so really actually a couple of the charities that I'm supporting are very small organisations. Um, one that is looking at their kind of fundraising strategy for the next 18 months. So it's been a really good opportunity. They're a very small team, small capacity, good opportunity to kind of sit with them and really go through what's worked, what hasn't, how the board potentially engage and um get involved and support going forward, what they have realistically the capacity to do. I think people um often think, oh for amazing, that's easy. We just, you know, actually, what have you got the capacity to do? What can you successfully deliver on? How do you manage relationships? There's lots of stages to that. So it's been really interesting to work with them and really understand where they want to go and what that looks like for them. So that was an 18-month strategy, which has been really interesting. Um, I've done some report writing, so just reviewing where people are and to help them make those decisions. You know, I've not necessarily been part of the future conversations, but actually, as an external person, this is where you are, this is what it looks like, this is the kind of reality against the sector. And um I've had some really nice feedback on that work that actually that's really kind of opened their eyes to um how they could grow on work that they're already doing. A lot of people think that growth has to be new, and actually it's been about kind of developing stuff that they've already got going on. So that's been that's been really nice. Um, so yeah, those are kind of two two off the top of my head examples, but um, they're really yeah, it's been really exciting.

Jane Curtis 25:51

Great, I love that. Um, so you mentioned that there are more people, more, more freelancers are sort of um setting themselves up or more people leaving. Like, what other um changes do you think we're gonna sort of see in the charity sector this year, other than perhaps that? And

Sector Shifts And Freelancer Value

Jane Curtis 26:08

what or maybe what impact do you think that might have to the sector of more people leaving?

Analiese Doctrove 26:13

I think it will be, I think it's hard to tell at the moment. I mean, I think that there's um a kind of a lot of charity fundraising experts moving into the freelance space, and I think that will change how charities potentially fundraise or how they set up their fundraising. So it might be that somebody like me comes in to support a long-term vision and a you know, a plan and then hands that over to a fundraising team, or um, for example, a lot of the charities I'm working with, their fundraising teams are one, maybe two people. Um, so like I said, being really realistic about that kind of capacity and resource, but handing that work over and saying this is the kind of direction of travel. Um, and I think that's probably happening quite a lot in the sector anyway, but with with not having that um internal focus, I'd like to I'd love to see that charities kind of continue relationships with freelancers. So even if it's a once-a month check-in or something like that, just to help keep that momentum and keep things moving, um, because I'd hate to see that to see that lost. I think there's a real benefit for charities actually in working with freelancers. And a lot of people say, Well, you would say that. Um, but it's a great way to get an outside view, but from a person who has a lot of lived experience of the sector and who has a lot of worked experience in the sector, of actually this is what you know, this is the experience I have from all these other organisations, this is what I'm hearing from the groups and networks that I'm part of, and this is how it benefits charity. So I think if you are um an organisation that needs some additional support or some additional thinking space, then a freelancer is a really good opportunity for that.

Jane Curtis 27:51

Yeah, no,

How To Contact Analiese

Jane Curtis 27:52

I love that. Thank you. Um, so if people listening are interested in what you're doing, Annalisa, and want to reach out, what would be the best way for them to get hold of you and to find out a bit more about what you're up to?

Analiese Doctrove 28:05

Yeah, so um I'm on LinkedIn and I've also got a website which is analysadoctrove.com, so not um not tricky to find, just my name. Um, so yeah, I'd love to anyone who's listening and wants to get in touch or have a chat, then those are probably the best two ways to get hold of me.

Jane Curtis 28:21

Well done on getting a website pulled together so quick. That's very impressive. Thank you.

Analiese Doctrove 28:26

I've got um my husband to thank for that.

Jane Curtis 28:29

Very good and very useful when things go wrong, I find. That's uh it's my in-house. Somebody was asking me, who does your IT? I was like, Well, I have somebody who I live with who helps me. Um, very helpful. Um, well, it's been really nice chatting. Thank you so much for joining me and especially so fresh off the uh nine to five boat. I think that's um I think that's very brave of you. But yeah, I've really enjoyed chatting. Maybe we should get you back on in like a year's time to get your reflections um from your first year and see.

Analiese Doctrove 29:03

Yeah, that would that would be great. Well, thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Host Closing And Resources

Jane Curtis 29:10

And 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 or leave a review. And if you haven't already, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. You can find all the links and resources we mentioned today in the show notes. And if you recognise you want more support to build or grow your freelance business, check out the charity freelancing course, which will take you from feeling stuck to confidently thriving as a successful freelancer or founder. It's a self-paced program designed specifically to help charity professionals launch their life-changing and profitable freelance careers by breaking free from the employee mindset and embracing the abundant world of business ownership. For more information and to sign up, head to my website, janecurtisevents.com. Until next time, keep exploring what's possible on the other side.