...elenth get-together...

...our eleventh little creative meeting at woodlands eatery, congrats to leila 
for winning some loveliness, and thanks again to kristen for making our
adorable liquorice allsorts badges, now to just stop the kids from trying
to eat them, lol...

...sweeeeet...

...we simply loooove the liquorice all sort badges that kristen made

us for our 11th get together...

...when super humans turn human...

In spite of tight budgets, clients from hell and unsociable working hours, freelancers tend to be human. Yes. You better believe it. And humans get sick every now and then. Especially after three weeks of participating in a freelancer's favorite sport: Chasing Deadlines. 

So usually after each really hectic just-in-time-deadline-victory I get some form of human disease. It will present itself in something like a big red swollen rash over the left side of my face, resulting in "my connection is too slow today for visual" during a Skype meeting call. Or embarrassing diarrhea using all my precious 2-ply, prohibiting movement, making even a short walk to the post box at the gate quite a risky endeavor. Flu-like symptoms – not sure it's the real deal but for two days I'm shaking with fever, are clogged up, completely brainless and looks like I've binged on Stroh Rum for a whole week. Usually during those two days of brainlessness I manage to get myself into more ridiculous deadlines and so the system feeds itself. 

A friend saw me during one of these frail human moments and told me with great concern and with as much tact as he could muster that he knows a great therapist that can help me get off whatever I'm on. I just looked at him with red watery eyes, blew my nose and said: "It's a jealous lover. I can't live with him and I can't live without him." 

Tonight when I make my thirtieth cup of tea with the already three times soaked teabag (see, saving money even in the dead of night), exploring yet another angle after the first ten attempts left me a frustrated, why-am-I-#¥*$@!!-freelancing, design-hating mess; I know at some stage during this grueling process, the lover will show his affection. I have to be patient. It will come. Soon I will bathe in the glorious golden glow of victory and be Super Human again. The client will be delighted, pay me late and make me do it all again. And I will. With a smile. After the two days of diarrhea.

~ Ronel

...what's peeking out of the nothingness...

...yay! somebody volunteered to make the next badge...

confessions of a cape cown freelancer: part 2

The Hair Situation

Spotting a freelancer is easy: just look for the individual nursing one cup of coffee for hours, and more frighteningly, the one with the bad, bad hair regrowth. We are all over and it’s not a pretty picture.

My freelance career can be measured by the inches of dark blonde hair making its way to my ends. Three months after leaving my full-time job, it was kinda cute, but kinda getting out of hand. By now, six months later, it’s a different situation altogether. 

One that begs the question: was she ever light blonde?

When I spend time with my blondie blonde friends, I can stare at their perfect highlights forever. While they share anecdotes of full-time agency life, I stare. 
And drool. And wonder if they’ll notice if I touch their non-roots. When they talk about going for hair appointments on Saturday mornings, I want to cry into my (one) latte. Don’t get me wrong – I was highlighting aplenty when I had the dough. My hair was blondie blonde, and my products were pricey priced. I thought I had it all: the hair, 
the job, and the lattes. Turns out: lattes are overpriced, jobs come and go, and no one in Cape Town really cares about anyone’s hair but their own.

Speaking of which, the mother city is crawling with freelancers and we can often be spotted in coffee shops, heads down in our laptops. Some are even as smart as to wear beanies, a trend I’m embracing with vigour.  No one has to know the hair situation going on underneath my beanie as I type away to meet a client’s deadline. And better yet – no client has to ever meet me (and my regrowth) as I can email said client from home, in my underwear, while eating a banana, wearing no makeup and picking at my split ends. To some, that might actually sound like having it all.

Along with the no-highlight policy, comes the no-money-for-a-cut policy. Hence my hair growing into an unruly carpet of curls longing for the sharp edge of a pair of scissors. One friends has suggested that I cut the ends myself (how, I ask? I have no clue with scissors) and another has invited me to her home for a free colour and cut, since she’s a hairdresser and all. I love her for it, but the maintenance issue would start all over again. What would I do three months down the line..? Six months..? 
A year..? No, no. Then I’d rather the roots do their thang and get it over with.

One positive is the fact that my hair has almost reached my ass by now, and although I hadn’t really planned it, I’m thinking of growing my locks into the ombre look for spring/summer 2013. Maybe by the time my hair reaches my legs, dark blondes will be the new black. Who knows.

~ Jana

...our amaaaazing new badge...

...oh wait, no one has volunteered to make us one, 

so we won't be doing a badge this lunch. 

so for our 11th meeting we will be handing out, ummmm, 

nothing!

come on, you know you wanna make one! just do it!...

...lets zest up our businesses together...

...with women's day coming up this month, us girls at s&s thought 

it would be a good month to kick off our new theme of entrepreneurship.

now, most of us already have our own little business and yip, money's 

coming in, but we want to dedicate this theme to the power

of collective positive energy. 

we have always believed in sharing resources, and skills, so why not 

take that a step further this month and share anything that inspires you 

and lets set up a meeting or 5 to brainstorm ideas to help each other 

make more money. 

sometimes it's difficult to identify opportunities in your own business 

to increase your income when you're in the thick of things, dealing with 

clients and suppliers and stock etc. sometimes all you need is a fresh 

pair of eyes to see things from a new perspective

all of us have skills, whether it be in design, marketing, packaging and

even sales, lets come together and help each other grow our businesses...