The Freelance Media Network
A unique membership community for media professionals - freelance and staff.
About Us
The Freelance Media Network is a unique private membership for professionals in the media - both freelance and staff. A community to share and collaborate, to work on ideas and to find connection with others who ‘get it’.
It was founded by Jenny Holliday (previously Stallard), after 17 years co-adminning a Facebook group called the No1 Freelance Media Women. You can read more in our FAQs.
Curated for media creatives: A place to connect, to share, to offload
The Freelance Media Network is a curated space where media professionals can come to discuss ideas, challenges, to share wins and to be with other people in their industry. It’s about bringing together people who work in the media so they can feel seen and supported.
This community is about connecting people in the media, both staff and freelance, and that middle ground we have all experienced, where we might be on a contract or shifts. The Network will be open to women and men - everyone from a new journalism graduate to a TV news producer or senior editor. Everyone from a freelance PR to a videographer working on a news desk.
That really is the core focus of what The Freelance Media Network will be. All the things you like about a FB group, or a whatsapp feed, but without the things you don’t. So, more connecting, more sharing, more community and less scrolling for that post you saw the other day, less getting caught up in comments on a post and less waiting for the ‘right time or day’ to post.
Taking you away from the lurking or scrolling and leading you to focused, meaningful conversation.
FAQs
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Yes - and no. The Freelance Media Network is born out of the No1 Freelance Media Women and founded by Jenny Holliday, who co-founded the ‘Media Women’ group.
The decision was made to archive that group and rebrand, refocus and relaunch as The Freelance Media Network.** There will be no replacement group on Facebook for the No1 Freelance Media Women – beware of imitations!
It’s a migration but also a fresh start! Those who love us will find even more on offer and those who are new will find a unique community for media professionals.
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Same values, groups and even more on offer now including coworking and a newsletter with exclusive content. We now charge for the group after 17 years of offering it for free.
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Yes! We are open to anyone in the media industry – it’s about your professional work not your gender. The aim of the Freelance Media Network is to bring together everyone in the media industry – across all disciplines and areas of freelance and staff work.
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We hope so. This is another reason for migrating our group to Circle and making it a formal community for all members of the media.
The Freelance Media Network is based on values of community, connection, respect and collaboration. We’re open to any media professionals - staff and freelance. There are also specific areas for different ‘media’ so you can meet people in your niche, too.
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No - Circle is not the same as Facebook. It’s a platform designed specifically for communities and it’s advert free. It allows community founders to create spaces and run events within the community.
We feel it’s a better as a platform for a community like ours. There are a few things that happened on FB that can’t and won’t happen on Circle. One is anonymous posts. Only in extreme cases will we be ok’ing those. The community is about collaboration and we want people to feel they can be open. Anonymity should be for extreme pitches rather than pricing queries.
We’ve also upped the ante on some of the regular parts of FB.
FB was one feed, while Circle has groups and areas – much easier to keep track of and find what you’re looking for.
It also means you don’t have to stay on Facebook. So if you’re not an FB person, that’s ok!
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There are three options. Community monthly, community annual (these include access to the circle community and half price workshops, coworking) and community plus, which includes our Substack and free access to all webinars and coworking.
Community monthly £9/month
Entry to the group on circle
Community prices on workshops (£10 instead of £25)
Coworking
Community annual £99/year
• All of the above but 11 months for the price of 12!
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Sadly not – but thank you for always supporting No1! We hope you agree that all those years of complimentary connecting are now worth a fee.
Charging a membership fee also changes the narrative - the group will be curated with people who are serious about joining in and building their work and career - no more lurkers!
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Yep! We’re all about connecting freelancers and staff. For everything from commissions and shifts to networking, podcast guesting and case studies/experts. Our membership price is the same whether you’re freelance or staff. Staff cannot share a login – this is about connecting human beings. Posts on behalf of those not in membership will be removed - this is about connecting individually so you can grow your career and business with like-minded people.
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No, this isn’t possible - the purpose of the Network is to help people connect and collaborate on a personal level. Sharing logins would negate that goal. Think of it as a gym membership, or your social media group logins.
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The Freelance Media Network is for media professionals, both freelance and staff. We welcome media professionals who have a side hustle or another income stream/business but we don’t offer membership to those who are outside the media industry. For example, you’re welcome if you’re a journalist who also coaches (like our founder Jenny Holliday). But if you’re a coach who has a blog, then it’s a no. We aren’t a matchmaking group for businesses and journalists, we’re a networking group for media professionals.
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If you quit the media industry, then sadly you’ll need to leave the FMN. You’re welcome to come back if you return to the media industry.
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We welcome freelancers, staffers and those who move between the two. Eg contracts, mat cover, shifts, part time work. Take a moment to re-intro yourself and update your profile to make the most of being in the community.
A two-way street to find everything from contacts to jobs - as well as friendship
The Freelance Media Network is all about collaboration and community - a two-way street for discussion, conection and building your career in a way that works for you with like-minded professionals.
It is a unique, curated space for media professionals to share ideas, experiences, wins, losses, frustrations, joyful moments and even the ‘daft stuff’ (yes, you can post about your pet or your weekend away!).
The Freelance Media Network welcomes professionals from across all areas of the media - the main thing is that you work in or with the media in some way. That’s everyone from a journalist or sub editor to a commissioning editor, a news editor, designer, art director, photographer, podcaster, radio or TV professional, broadcast, all the way through to copywriters and designers who work in the media. The group will welcome PRs and comms professionals, and those who work in press offices.
You’re welcome in The Freelance Media Network whether you’re an ‘old hand’ or a ‘newbie’. We welcome those who are starting out - graduates in media roles or those beginning a pivot into a media role. And you’re also welcome in The Freelance Media Network if you are pivoting between two media roles - for example, from journalist to copywriter, or from PR to podcaster.