It takes a fair amount of courage and self-discipline to work for yourself – especially if your job has an unpredictable workload and income.
How do successful freelancers generate sustainable incomes?
What keeps them going during tough times?
David O’Sullivan hosted a very interesting Iris Session where he unpacked some of the opportunities and challenges freelancers face today.
He was joined in the studio by author, comedian and film maker Brendan Jack, travel writer and blogger Ishay Govender and Kirsten Kairuz, founder of the The Graft Yard – a coworking space for freelancers.
About your host:
David is no stranger to the South African media-landscape, having worked at Talk Radio 702 for 19 years and 11 years as a sports presenter on SABC2 and SABC3. He is the co-author of two best-selling books: “The Penguin Book of South African Sports Trivia” and “The Extraordinary Book of South African Cricket”. He regularly MCs corporate events.
The guests:
Ishay Govender-Ypma is a freelance travel and food journalist, who wisely abandoned a career in commercial law in the pursuit of cultural immersion and air miles. Selected a 2014 Mail & Guardian top young South African for contributions to media, she wanders the earth tirelessly, gathering stories, ingredients and second-hand books that threaten to take over her house. She spreads misery and joy in equal measure with her micro-stories on Instagram and Twitter. She rallies for social justice and will patiently debate until oppressive and conservative minds are opened.
Brendan Jack is a film and TV writer, producer, director, actor and comedian. His first feature film, Straight Outta Benoni, opened #1 at the South African box office – the only time he’s beaten Russell Crowe and Lindsay Lohan at their own game. While working in Advertising, his agency was voted fifth most creative in the world by Advertising Age. He has written for several publications such as GQ Magazine and The Star newspaper, and has been published in Miracles That Are Changing a Nation and the bestselling Rugby in Our Blood. He also is the author of “Empire: How to Succeed with Nothing but Passion, Great Ideas and a Wealthy Family”. More at about him at www.brendanjack.com
Kirsten Kairuz is a director at The Graft Yard, a new co-working space for entrepreneurs, consultants, freelancers, SME’s and startups. Due to the nature of her work, Kirsten has many insights to share about the topic of this Iris Session. Prior to starting The Graft Yard, Kirsten was the Managing Director at Order Processing Systems, a software development company.
BrightRock is a financial services provider operating in the life insurance market. Its interest in change and how it affects people derives from the fact that its life insurance offering is uniquely structured to change at times like these.
About the Iris Sessions
Each of us has a story to tell. Some can write it down, some can draw it and some can even dance their way through the story – and for some – the best way to share a story is in a conversation.
We want to take the powerful discussions that have started on the site and continue them in a conversation, so we introduced the Iris Sessions: Hanging out with Change.
In case you missed our Iris Session from last month, you can watch it below or read more about it here.
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