Last week, I shared the exciting news that I’ve rebranded as LANCE, a change-making newsletter and community for freelancers everywhere. 

Dedicated to providing essential journalism for the freelance community, each week I publish a piece of original reporting on LANCE about the ups and downs of modern working life. As a reader-funded publication, LANCE members directly support this work.

Tomorrow is the last chance to join the LANCE’s accountability club, a support group of like-minded freelancers who will help you stick to your goals. So if you’ve been thinking about signing for membership, now is the time to do it.

First and foremost, know that if you become a member today you’ll be joining LANCE’s fierce community of supporters who make independent journalism for independent workers possible. Membership not only helps you be the best freelancer can you be – it sustains LANCE’s mission to bring about lasting change for the freelance community. 

As a thank you for becoming a member you’ll get: 

• The LANCE accountability club: Think of this as a buddy club - a supportive group of like-minded freelancers who spur each other on. You’ll be put into small groups of fellow freelancers and set yourselves goals to work on together. You’ll meet once a week for 8 weeks to check in with your progress and motivate each other to stick to your commitments. The deadline for signing up for the accountability club is this Friday (Jan 22)!

• The Weekly Briefing: First thing on a Monday morning, you’ll receive my weekly briefing email. These are members-only posts that include my need-to-know news round-up and analysis about the freelancing sector; work tips; listings of open calls for grants, competitions and funding options. I’ve made a previous edition of The Weekly Briefing available for you to read so you can get a better idea of what I’m talking about. 

• LANCE Chats series: I run regular virtual events with superstar freelancers and experts. This week, we had an amazing session with Martin Lewis, the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com. Membership gives you invites to all future events, as well as access to recordings of all the previous ones.  

• Online threads: Meaningful community is a really big part of LANCE. I regularly post online discussion threads where we chat about the realities of freelance life, share insights and lend support to each other.

• Access to the archives: I’ve been publishing members content for nearly two years now. All of the previous Professional Freelancer posts, including in-depth guides about pitching, finances and wellbeing, are all still available to new members in the archives. 

Membership is flexible. You can cancel at any time, no questions asked. If you’re a student, you can get 15% off membership if you sign up with your uni email address. And don’t forget that because this is a professional network, you’re likely to be able to expense the cost. 

If you’re in a position to support at a higher level, there are ways you can do so. There’s now a Super Supporter membership option available – you get all of the regular membership benefits, plus you’ll be donating two annual subscriptions to freelancers who otherwise can’t afford them. If you work for an organisation that’s interested in either group subscriptions or taking out a classified listing in the newsletter, just reply to this email and I’ll send over more info.

If a paid membership isn’t an option for you right now and you find value in this newsletter, there are some other ways you can support me. Sharing this newsletter with others is a big help – forward it to your friends and post about it social media. Press that little heart button at the top of posts and leave a comment if something I’ve written especially resonates with you. These actions might seem small but they’re a huge help for me. 

Long time readers will know that when it comes to work and money, I’m all about transparency. That philosophy extends to how I run my own business. I’ll be honest – I’m taking a big risk launching an independent, reader-funded publication right now. To make LANCE work, costs have increased significantly. I’ve taken on legal and editorial support. The commissioned features written by freelance journalists, such as this one, are paid for (PRE-publication, I might add!).

Given the current economic climate, there’s every chance this project might not work. But it’s that uncertainty about the future of the freelance sector that’s driving this project – because we need accountability journalism now more than ever. 

Paying members keep this newsletter going. If you become a member, you’ll be enabling independent journalism for independent workers while benefiting from access to resources that will help your solo career flourish. Be part of the change – become a member today. 

Thank you,
Anna 💫