Messy, Worth It, Ongoing: Lessons From the Past Year

Messy, Worth It, Ongoing: Lessons From the Past Year

Freelance Fitness is your weekly 10-minute movement break designed for creative freelancers, voice actors, designers, writers, editors, and anyone who spends their days creating, producing, and problem-solving. Hosted by freelance voiceover artist and former fitness instructor Alison Pentecost [https://www.alisonpentecost.com], each episode blends mindset coaching, creative productivity, and simple exercises you can do anywhere. Today, Freelancers, is the Freelance Fitness season finale. I can't believe an entire calendar year has gone by since I started this podcast. I wasn't even sure at the beginning how long it would run or how many episodes I would do. I had a big list of ideas and a dream, but could I really pull it off? But here we are a year later. 52 episodes covering all kinds of freelance business topics that are important to me, from practical tips, to emotional ups and downs and everything in between. Today I'm going to revisit some highlights of this first season. I hope they're some of your favourites too. Links to warm up exercise guides are here: Hamstring Sweeps [https://youtu.be/Rl_KR27hiu0], Dynamic Knee Hugs [https://youtu.be/Uy_Enu998A4], Dynamic Quad Stretch [https://youtu.be/V7RTHrbD7qA]. Links to cooldown stretches are here: Standing Figure Four [https://youtu.be/RQU8SatDGMo], Standing Hamstring Stretch [https://youtu.be/J3SUQXYMWyc], Static Quad Stretch [https://youtu.be/V6kG600G5u0]. Written and Hosted by: Alison Pentecost [https://www.alisonpentecost.com] Theme Song: Snakes and Fire by Pär Hagström [https://soundcloud.com/parhagstrom] Playlist: Sugar Blizz [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/sugar-blizz], Mondays [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/mondays], Mr. Steve, the Music Man [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/mr-steve-the-music-man], MXRPHEUS [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/mxrpheus] and JustNormal [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/justnormal]. To learn more about my voiceover services — including commercial, corporate, e-learning, and narration work — visit www.alisonpentecost.com [http://www.alisonpentecost.com]. Questions or feedback? Email podcast@alisonpentecost.com [podcast@alisonpentecost.com] or connect with me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-pentecost-246119226].

Make It Easy to Hire You: The Secret to Repeat Freelance Clients

Freelance Fitness is your weekly 10-minute movement break designed for creative freelancers, voice actors, designers, writers, editors, and anyone who spends their days creating, producing, and problem-solving. Hosted by freelance voiceover artist and former fitness instructor Alison Pentecost [https://www.alisonpentecost.com], each episode blends mindset coaching, creative productivity, and simple exercises you can do anywhere. If you're in creative freelancing, you've probably realized that a lot of your day is spent hustling. Y'know, trying to get someone to hire you. But you know what? Getting a job is one thing. Getting a client to come back? That’s where freelancing actually becomes sustainable. Having great clients come back to us for repeat work really is the ideal. People with whom we enjoy working, pay on time, and trust us to deliver our best, that's every freelancer's dream. So how do we cultivate long-term client relationships when so much of the creative industries seems to be focused on the transactional? If you want to follow along with the exercises from today’s workout, here is a guide to Overhead Arm Stretch [https://youtu.be/nX05NIYx9p0], Dynamic Knee Hugs [https://youtu.be/Uy_Enu998A4], Hamstring Sweeps [https://youtu.be/Rl_KR27hiu0], Over the Fence [https://youtu.be/kubl5WNfL5k], Good Mornings [https://youtu.be/b5uDbnqkGZ0] and Thoracic Twist [https://youtu.be/k1qdEwpXpUY], all beginner-friendly and equipment-free. Written and Hosted by: Alison Pentecost [https://www.alisonpentecost.com] Theme Song: Snakes and Fire by Pär Hagström [https://soundcloud.com/parhagstrom] Playlist: Blood Harmony [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/blood-harmony] To learn more about my voiceover services — including commercial, corporate, e-learning, and narration work — visit www.alisonpentecost.com [http://www.alisonpentecost.com]. Questions or feedback? Email podcast@alisonpentecost.com [podcast@alisonpentecost.com] or connect with me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-pentecost-246119226].

Embracing Imperfection: Overcoming Creative Paralysis and Self-Doubt

Freelance Fitness is your weekly 10-minute movement break designed for creative freelancers, voice actors, designers, writers, editors, and anyone who spends their days creating, producing, and problem-solving. Hosted by freelance voiceover artist and former fitness instructor Alison Pentecost [https://www.alisonpentecost.com], each episode blends mindset coaching, creative productivity, and simple exercises you can do anywhere. Today's topic. Bear with me here, there's a long lead-in. In episode 4: Authenticity – Be yourself, everyone else is taken, I talk about being your authentic self, but avoiding the overshare of personal stuff. Not everything is, or should be, for public consumption. But, in episode 10: Is A.I. Coming for my job? How I learned to stop worrying about our robot overlords, I talk about how I believe our human experience and POV are what allow us to offer a plus-value that can not only compete but beat cheap, fast AI-generated content. But what I want to speak about specifically today is how that authentic, human you comes with imperfections, and how that's not only OK, but how those imperfections are what make us relatable to the other humans with whom we want to inspire, touch, and communicate with. Our greatest struggle with imperfection, in my opinion, is not what we produce external to ourselves with our creative work, marketing, or social media posts, rather, I think our greatest struggle with imperfection is a feeling inside of us of being flawed or broken. How can we identify these feelings of needing to mask ourselves, and how can we deal with them in a healthy and productive way? Links to exercise guides are here: pushup hold [https://youtu.be/seMkkZ1zloI], glute bridge hold [https://youtu.be/GaXtF-rGHpM], side plank [https://youtu.be/6Wxw2JNc8C8], wall sit [https://youtu.be/h-MZLP2FShQ]. Link to Isabel Sterne's Cringe newsletter [https://www.isabelsterne.com]. Written and Hosted by: Alison Pentecost [https://www.alisonpentecost.com] Theme Song: Snakes and Fire by Pär Hagström [https://soundcloud.com/parhagstrom] Playlist: SCENE [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/scene] To learn more about my voiceover services — including commercial, corporate, e-learning, and narration work — visit www.alisonpentecost.com [http://www.alisonpentecost.com]. Questions or feedback? Email podcast@alisonpentecost.com [podcast@alisonpentecost.com] or connect with me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-pentecost-246119226].

Creative Freelancer Taxes: How to Stay Organized and Avoid Costly Mistakes

Freelance Fitness is your weekly 10-minute movement break designed for creative freelancers, voice actors, designers, writers, editors, and anyone who spends their days creating, producing, and problem-solving. Hosted by freelance voiceover artist and former fitness instructor Alison Pentecost [https://www.alisonpentecost.com], each episode blends mindset coaching, creative productivity, and simple exercises you can do anywhere. Guess what, creative freelancers, it's Tax Season! So we need to be prepared. And preparation needs to be a yearlong process, not a last-minute scramble. If your tax-preparedness was a panicked afterthought, maybe this podcast will give you some guidelines to consider for next year. What are some of the common pitfalls we need to avoid in order to have our tax season to go as smoothly as possible? So when next year’s tax season rolls around, it’s just another task. And not a crisis. Links to exercise guides for today are here: high knees [https://youtu.be/KqgeL3j_Qws], squat to calf raise [https://youtu.be/bVQB8IP2peI], duck walk [https://youtu.be/amifwqrrzvY], side shuffle [https://youtu.be/RNr2QBjwP-s]. Links to warm up exercise guides are here: Hamstring Sweeps [https://youtu.be/Rl_KR27hiu0], Dynamic Knee Hugs [https://youtu.be/Uy_Enu998A4], Dynamic Quad Stretch [https://youtu.be/V7RTHrbD7qA]. Links to cooldown stretches are here: Standing Figure Four [https://youtu.be/RQU8SatDGMo], Standing Hamstring Stretch [https://youtu.be/J3SUQXYMWyc], Static Quad Stretch [https://youtu.be/V6kG600G5u0]. Written and Hosted by: Alison Pentecost [https://www.alisonpentecost.com] Theme Song: Snakes and Fire by Pär Hagström [https://soundcloud.com/parhagstrom] Playlist: Nyck Caution [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/nyck-caution] To learn more about my voiceover services — including commercial, corporate, e-learning, and narration work — visit www.alisonpentecost.com [http://www.alisonpentecost.com]. Questions or feedback? Email podcast@alisonpentecost.com [podcast@alisonpentecost.com] or connect with me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-pentecost-246119226].

Finding Clients Without the Constant Pitch: A Smarter Way To Grow Your Freelance Business

Freelance Fitness is your weekly 10-minute movement break designed for creative freelancers, voice actors, designers, writers, editors, and anyone who spends their days creating, producing, and problem-solving. Hosted by freelance voiceover artist and former fitness instructor Alison Pentecost [https://www.alisonpentecost.com], each episode blends mindset coaching, creative productivity, and simple exercises you can do anywhere. I want to talk about something that a lot of freelancers struggle with… but don’t always say out loud: Finding clients without feeling like you’re constantly pitching. Because let’s be honest… You can love the work… …and still hate the hustle. You need to promote your business, but under what circumstances? You don't want to be pushing your business card or your portfolio at absolutely everyone you meet, but FOMO is screaming in your brain to not miss a single opportunity. How do we choose our moments, and not make all our time spent with others transactional? If you want to follow along with the exercises from today’s workout, here is a guide to Knee Hugs [https://youtu.be/Uy_Enu998A4], Standing Figure Four [https://youtu.be/RQU8SatDGMo], Down Dog [https://youtu.be/sbzFVzYkEv4], Pigeon Pose [https://youtu.be/FLxQiIY8ptY], and Child's Pose [https://youtu.be/J246OEFD9f0], all beginner-friendly and equipment-free. Written and Hosted by: Alison Pentecost [https://www.alisonpentecost.com] Theme Song: Snakes and Fire by Pär Hagström [https://soundcloud.com/parhagstrom] Playlist: Ennio Máno [https://www.epidemicsound.com/artists/ennio-mano] To learn more about my voiceover services — including commercial, corporate, e-learning, and narration work — visit www.alisonpentecost.com [http://www.alisonpentecost.com]. Questions or feedback? Email podcast@alisonpentecost.com [podcast@alisonpentecost.com] or connect with me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-pentecost-246119226].