I should probably preface this review with a small caveat – Leif Kendall (author of Brilliant Freelancer) is a Brighton local, friend, and contributor to Freelance Advisor. He also mentions Freelance Advisor in the book, so we instantly like it. That said, we’re not the kind of people that go weak-kneed when fame comes a-callin’, and often we quite enjoy knocking people down just for the sake of it. With that said, let the reviewing commence!
Brilliant Freelancer is, at it’s heart, a self-help book. This instantly made me concerned – not because I dislike the idea of people helping themselves, but because I’m a fairly self-conscious fellow and I like to do most of my reading on the train. The thought of someone I know wandering past me on their commute and seeing me thumbing through a copy of “Flatulence: The Silent Killer” fills me with so much anxiety that I avoid self-help books like the plague. Maybe I should read a book about being less vain.
Luckily for me, I had a long-haul plane journey to take, where I was more-or-less guaranteed not to see anybody I know, so I grabbed the manuscript from Leif, excited to indulge in what I see as a bit of a guilty pleasure.
Having spent some time with the man himself, I know Leif is a very cerebral and subtly-humoured chap, and this comes across wonderfully in the book. It is filled with solid advice, punctuated at points with little injections of humour that will catch you off-guard, turning the usually mundane subject of a career change into an enjoyable reading experience.
Leif is obviously a well-connected man, and he’s called on his freelance colleagues to intersperse the action with little anecdotes – they’re not essential reading, but they hammer home the point that this book contains actual real-world advice and not just the usual self-help clap-trap.
This book isn’t just for beginners either, I’ve been freelancing on and off since age 16 and I managed to pick up a few new tricks to add to my repertoire.
If I were to level one complaint at Brilliant Freelancer, it would be that some areas are not explored in enough detail. I understand that a complete explanation of designing a website would require it’s own book, but some of the more complicated elements covered in the book (I’m thinking specifically of the web-based content here) may leave complete beginners confused. At the very least the non-tech savvy will have to look up certain terms in the course of reading.
Apart from that complaint, and putting my inherent bias towards Brilliant Freelancer aside, this book is just about as complete a guide to starting out as I’ve found – a healthy step up from our own guide (also penned by Leif). It is well written, enjoyable, and above all, bloody useful. Three of our staff read the book, as well as another non-freelancer, and all of us had similar reactions. If you need a succinct guide to going freelance – this is it.
If you want to pick up a copy, it’s available right now from Amazon.
