I have been a little bit quiet since my last blogpost back in March, for obvious reasons. I along with everyone else have had a lot to think about – it has been a lot to process hasn’t it? 

Initially I was very busy helping clients navigate through such an unknown time, but as a freelancer I was soon affected financially by COVID, with clients having to close their doors. So, no PR, marketing or sponsorship opportunities. There was no government scheme helping freelancers who had only been trading for 11 months; so I found myself in a situation with no income, a child at home to home-school (there’s another story) and the same house and family costs to fund.

I did not delay and quickly started applying for roles in the charity sector, in which I had 20 years’ experience. Within a couple of weeks, I had secured a part-time Development Manager role with a great charity working remotely. I have been managing exciting projects like a new website, writing comms to navigate the charity through COVID, producing videos to promote the cause, developing a new corporate initiative and much more. It has been a really busy and exciting 6 months! 

I was relieved and hugely grateful to be given the opportunity and security to be working again, but I did not want to give up on my own business. It took a leap of faith to set it up in the first place; working creatively to gain clients coverage and marketing their businesses; juggling different briefs and client priorities; plus, a busy homelife. I worked hard to make connections with journalists, editors, and feature writers. So, when the COVID effect started to lift, the requests began to come in again. I kept forwarding press requests to clients and submitting images on their behalf free of charge initially – hoping it would secure my reinstatement in the future. I am delighted to be back with a couple of clients, as well as working three days a week for the charity. 

As I prepare my sons for the transition into secondary school, I soon will be back to working from home five days per week, which means I’ll have 1-2 days a month available for a new client. My preference would be clients whose business is interior based – designers, homeware, antiques or furniture – but I am very much open to suggestions. 

If you would be interested in working together and would like to have a chat about what your business PR/Marketing needs, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at hello@caitlinhazell.co.uk or call me on 07847 162534