Freelancers, Do You Miss Having Work Friends?

I’ve been running my business for 2.5 years and, without exaggeration, I’ve loved every part of it. I love working in a hands-on manner with my clients. I love the act of running and marketing my services and expertise. I love working from home and I especially love the freedom I’ve found in my schedule—if I want to go to the 8am workout class instead of the 7am class, that’s my prerogative. But the one thing that can get to me as a solopreneur? A lack of collaboration with built-in coworkers and peers. Any other consultants and freelancers out there who can relate?

For years and years, I worked in-house with incredibly talented partners in design, marketing, merchandising, and more. Recently, I’ve found myself occasionally yearning for the camaraderie of working on a project with others—for feedback and diverse points of view, for sure. But also just for the simple joy of working with other talented people and being tapped into a community of sorts.

I mean, I met one of my best friends to this day while I was working at Sephora. And I have the fondest memories of sitting a few desks away from each other, stifling laughter as we G-chatted between meetings, and eating lunch together in the Sephora cafeteria. Having a work bestie (who maybe becomes a full-fledged bestie if you’re lucky) is such a simple pleasure!

And this is what sparked the idea for Work Friends.

Introducing Beauty Industry Work Friends

I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Beauty Industry Work Friends, a Slack community for full-time freelancers, consultants, and business owners working in beauty. It’s a place to connect and collaborate with fellow service providers and experts—from copywriters to creative directors—in the industry and support one another through our entrepreneurial journeys.

Sure, a digital community doesn’t have the exact same feeling as sitting a few desks away from a work friend, but my hope is that this community gives us solopreneurs a similar sense of camaraderie and connection. Instead of going it alone, Work Friends provides a sounding board to rely on when you’re navigating a tricky business decision, a network to tap into when you’re searching for an expert in a particular field, and a cheerleading squad who’s eager to celebrate your work wins. Plus, so much more.

After soft launching with 20 diverse founding members in late October, I can confidently say this is a helpful business resource and a friendly community in one. It’s been such a joy to watch the members from all over the world connect and collaborate. We’ve had discussions about surprising brand visuals, influencer-founded skincare lines, and the merits of a CEW membership—and touched on the downfall of Love Island UK, of course. We’re each others work friends.

Here’s the exciting news: we’re now accepting applications for 25 new members who will be welcomed into the community in late January 2025.

Membership Benefits

When you join Work Friends, you’ll help shape the future of the community and its benefits but here’s what you can expect from the start.

• Get Advice – tap into the collective wisdom of fellow freelancers and business owners within our shared niche

• Navigate business decisions – gain valuable insights on how to set your rate, create contracts, and other best practices for running a successful business

• Find gigs – share and browse job openings within the beauty industry

• Collaborate – find and partner with cross-functional professionals to support your projects

• Network – meet new work friends in your area and far beyond

• Get feedback – share your work and get valuable input from peers

Interested in Joining?

We’re excited to grow our community of full-time freelancers, consultants, and business owners in beauty and are looking for new members who are deeply involved in the industry and eager to actively contribute to our network as it grows. Solopreneurs from all areas of expertise are welcome!

I’m talking to you, marketers, photographers, art directors, designers, copywriters, creative directors, social media experts, content creators, video editors, producers, product development experts, cosmetic chemists—and everyone else out there!

Applications are open now until January 3, and will be reviewed January 6–10, 2025. Invitations will be sent to those who are accepted the following week.

Ready to Apply?

More info on the community and the application is available here. I’m looking forward to hearing from you! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch. I hope to call you a Work Friend soon!