Freelancer of the fortnight: Brian Bollen, Milton Keynes

Click here to look at Brian Bollen’s full freelance profile on Journalism.co.uk.

Why did you choose to become a freelancer?
I didn't actually choose to. Although I know now that I always wanted to be a freelancer, the security of a monthly salary kept me chained to my employer, the Financial Times Group, until October 1992 when I was made redundant by fax. It was one massive shock, even though I knew it was coming, as they had sold the magazine I was editing, FT Mergers + Acquisitions International. I had at least thought my publisher would have had the courtesy to do it face to face.

Oddly enough, at the same time as telling me I was redundant, he offered me a three-month firefighting stint on the FT newspaper itself, on the capital markets desk. It was a tremendous shop window for me, and once I had made the decision to go freelance, I took the opportunity to tell everyone I knew. By the time the contract was up, I was up and running. It was the best thing that ever happened to me in the workplace.

If you trained, where? If not, how did you become a freelancer?
I trained at the Financial Times Group, on a weekly subscription-based newsletter covering the international capital markets: syndicated loans and bonds. My special responsibility for five years was covering the Latin American debt rescheduling crisis, which almost brought down the financial world. I got the job as deputy editor on the strength of my banking background, as I had spent five years training at the former Midland Bank International Division.

One way of breaking into journalism is to have a specialism that you can then write about. My editor was trained in the Reuters old school, and put me through the mill, to the extent that once or twice I thought I wasn't going to make it. Luckily, he hired someone even more hapless then on a six-month contract and that gave me the breathing space to learn my new trade.

Do you specialise in any particular field and what areas do you write about?
My core specialism remains international institutional finance, but as a freelance you have to be versatile and over the years I have written on a vast range of subjects: capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, private equity, collateral management, securities financing, commercial and residential property, private and public sector recruitment, football, athletics and skiing.

I have recently worked on: an article about the Jungfrau Marathon (the toughest marathon in the world) for the Financial Times; a series of articles for the FTFM securities services supplement; some corporate material for one of the world's largest banks for a conference; and a couple of very, very technical articles for two very specialist financial magazines.

Which publications have you been published in?
Financial Times, Financial News, Private Equity News, Euromoney, Investor Services Journal, Global Investor, Investment and Pensions Europe, Corporate Financier, Portfolio (for the property investor), the Airdrie United Football Club matchday programme - I do a recurring column on the history of football in Airdrie and elsewhere out of my love for the club - and lots of others.

Which articles, in which publication, are you the most proud of?
It's impossible to say. I hate reading articles I have written, and can empathise with actors who say they never watch themselves on screen. I can see the very few things I got wrong, rather than the many I got right. Oddly enough, I get more kicks out of seeing the occasional letter I write to the FT or other newspapers appearing in their pages. Having said all of that, I am particularly fond of the articles I have written about the Lauberhorn World Cup ski races over the past couple of years for the FT.

What are the best and worst aspects of freelancing?
The best? The sheer freedom. I virtually never spend more than an hour or two in someone's office, keeping to arbitrary start and finish times. I make my own hours. Even when I am ridiculously busy I can find time to pop out and do a personal errand or play a bit of golf or go for a run when everyone else is at work. Also, the sheer variety of the work I undertake means that I never get bored and I meet lots of different, interesting people.

The worst? Cash flow. But I finally took the plunge in March 2007 and started factoring my invoices. It's a bit expensive but it means you can turn invoices into instant cash, which leaves you free to focus on work.

Do you have any interesting anecdotes in relation to your experience as a freelancer?
I hardly know where to start. One regular client once said that she didn't dare to think what I might be doing whenever she telephoned me, and that made me laugh. I have regularly been dragged out of the shower after a mid-morning run to take a call. I never go off-duty, and am always available to discuss work. One morning while 'on holiday', my wife passed me my mobile phone while I was sitting comfortably in the smallest room: I came out with £1,500 worth of new work.

A few words of warning, and advice: never, ever stop marketing, even when you are snowed under; it is always easier to get new work when you already have work, than to go cold-calling when you have none.

Never think you've cracked it: I have lost count of the number of times that I have had praise heaped on me for my performance, only to then lose the contract in question. The minute people start telling me that they couldn't do something without me and that I'm the best in a particular field, I start hearing alarm bells.

Never ever send out an email without a message stating your availability for work, and carrying your contact details.

Never ever turn down work if you can possibly avoid it. So long as it meets your quality and yield criteria, take it and worry later how you will fit it in. People you reject tend not to come back.

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