​Get Freelancing: Turn Your Skills into Freelance Success! 💸

​Stop Waiting. Start Freelancing.

​💭 Got skills you could offer but not sure how to turn them into freelance work?

​🤔 Thinking about freelancing but don’t know where to start?

Applications Close: 23:59, Thursday 8th October

​Get Freelancing is a practical programme from the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre (MEC), designed to help you build confidence, develop your freelance offer and take your first steps towards finding clients and getting paid.

​Across four workshops, you’ll learn how to shape your skills into a service, get seen by potential clients, understand pricing and payments, and use practical tools to work more effectively.

​You don’t need previous freelance experience. You just need a skill, interest or idea you’re willing to develop.

​What will you do?

​During Get Freelancing, you’ll learn how to turn your skills into a clear freelance offer, get in front of potential clients and build the confidence to start earning from your work.

​You’ll:
💡 Turn your skills into a freelance service people can understand and buy
📣 Learn how to get seen and find potential clients
💷 Build confidence with pricing, quoting and getting paid
💬 Practise approaching clients, talking about your work and handling real conversations
🤖 Use practical tools, including AI, to work smarter as a freelancer
🎯 Develop a clear next step towards launching and growing your freelance work

​You might finish Get Freelancing ready to register as a freelancer and find your first client. You might already be freelancing and leave with a clearer offer, stronger profile and better way of working. Or you may simply decide whether freelancing is right for you.

​How Get Freelancing works

​Get Freelancing runs over four practical workshops, taking you step-by-step from identifying what you can offer through to finding clients, getting paid and working smarter. Each session combines practical activities, leaderboard challenges and advice from experienced freelancers.

​Week 1 — GET READY
📅 Monday 12 October
⏰ 2:00–5:00PM

​Week 2 — GET SEEN
📅 Monday 19 October
⏰ 2:00–5:00PM

​Week 3 — GET PAID
📅 Monday 2 November
⏰ 2:00–5:00PM

​Week 4 — GET WORKING
📅 Monday 9 November
⏰ 2:00–5:00PM

​🤝 You’ll learn by doing throughout the programme, working on your own freelance offer, visibility, pricing and client approach, with opportunities to learn directly from working freelancers.

​Guest Speakers 🎤

​Learn from Freelancers Who’ve Been There

​Each Get Freelancing workshop includes an experienced guest speaker sharing the realities of freelance life — how they got started, found opportunities, built their profile, priced their work and developed their career.

​GET READY — Chanje Kunda

​🎤 Chanje Kunda is a Manchester-based poet, performance artist and filmmaker who has built a freelance creative career through commissions, performances and workshops. Her work has included commissions from Manchester International Festival and Imperial War Museums, alongside performances nationally and internationally.

​GET SEEN — Devika Kapoor

​🎤 Devika Kapoor is the Manchester-based founder of DK Coaching, working as a Life Design Coach, facilitator and speaker. She has built her own practice through workshops, content, networking and partnerships, and has delivered sessions specifically around generating opportunities, positioning yourself and making better use of your network.

​GET PAID — Tom Parson

​🎤 Tom Parson is a Manchester-based freelancer, consultant and entrepreneur. He is founder of innovation consultancy Big Echo, co-founder of Circles MCR and co-founder of digital agency Huddle Digital, giving him extensive experience of winning clients, pricing professional services and managing commercial projects.

​GET WORKING — Tom Liptrot

​🎤Tom Liptrot is a Manchester-based AI consultant, data scientist and founder of Ortom, helping businesses use AI in practical, commercially useful ways. Drawing on more than a decade of experience working with AI and data, Tom helps people understand which AI tools are worth using — and which aren’t. He will share practical ways freelancers can use AI to speed up everyday tasks, improve workflows, save time and focus more of their energy on valuable client work.

​Throughout the programme, you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions, see real examples and learn what freelancing actually looks like from people doing it.

​Hear from previous Get Freelancing participants

​“Get Freelancing is incredibly useful for anyone starting out. My key takeaway: believe in yourself and take the first step – it’s the hardest but also the most important. I highly recommend exploring freelancing with MEC!”

— Jahanvi, Faculty of Science & Engineering student

​What happens after Get Freelancing?

​Get Freelancing is designed to help you move from exploring freelancing to building something real — with a clear service, stronger confidence and practical experience of finding and working with clients.

​A key next step is to work towards applying for the Venture Further Awards – Freelancer Award. The Venture Further Awards are MEC’s major annual competition, offering funding alongside increased visibility, credibility and access to a wider network of mentors, entrepreneurs and supporters

🏆 Your next goal: Venture Further Awards – Freelancer Award

​Who can join?

​🧑‍🎓 Current University of Manchester students, including undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research students

🎓 University of Manchester graduates from within the last two years

🌍 Open to all degrees and disciplines

​You don’t need to study business and you don’t need previous freelancing experience.

​If you have a skill, interest or expertise you’d like to turn into freelance work, Get Freelancing is for you. This matches the brochure’s focus on students who are thinking about turning their skills into freelance work and want help getting started.

​Ready to turn your skills into freelance success?

​Register for Get Freelancing and take your first step into freelancing. 💼

​Applications Close: 23:59, Thursday 8th October