About Kathleen Smith
Meet freelancer business coach and educator Kathleen Smith and get to know how she can help you grow your own freelance business.
I started freelancing over ten years ago, while I was still in college. I didn’t know what freelancing was or that what I was doing WAS freelancing. I just knew that I had skills and knowledge that could help people with their marketing and so I started doing it as a side hustle while I was on summer break.
Fast forward to after college: I spent years during my first two jobs studying the art (and science!) of marketing, honing my skills as a marketer and as a leader. My efforts during those years led to a job offer that would change my life.
That job offer took me all the way across the country to Silicon Valley where I accepted the role of Director of Marketing at Visual.ly – the original curated freelancer marketplace. Their network of freelancers was SO talented that they were regularly working on content projects for household name brands like The Huffington Post, Kia, CVS and so, so many more.
Copywriters, designers, animators and developers came together from all parts of the globe to create absolutely stunning content. It was there, in early 2014, that my eyes truly opened to the power of freelancing in today’s global economy.
I realized that a freelancer could literally live and work anywhere in the world and build a business for yourself while working on fulfilling, lucrative projects.
So when Visual.ly had an acquisition on the horizon, I started thinking about my next chapter and decided to start my own business: a marketing studio that would specifically serve high-growth startups and tech companies with marketing services and content.
As my own studio grew, I had another epiphany: I realized that even the most talented freelancers often struggled with how to best grow their own business.
But freelancers had few places (or people) to turn to who offered education, coaching, and resources tailored to their specific challenges and needs as they related to freelancing. I realized I had a lot of experience, business expertise, and enthusiasm to offer as guidance to freelancers.
So today, I still run my marketing studio (and LOVE it!) but I also get to coach, educate, and advocate for freelancers across the world.
