Freelance PR Part 3

In my never-ending quest to find out what I really want to do with my life, I came across a new avenue of public relations-- Freelancing.

After interning at an agency this past semester, I realized that perhaps agency work isn't quite the route I want to take upon graduating from college next year. I realized that I love to write, and often prefer working solo. I reached out through our Twitter to find other PR practitioners out there who have done some freelance work. Luckily, many people responded!

This is the third post in what is a series of posts featuring different PR freelancers.

This week, I interviewed Shonali Burke, ABC , an award-winning, accredited communications consultant based in the Washington, DC area.

Ms. Burke would describe a Freelance PR professional as, "one who pursues his or her career without a long-term commitment to a single employer, thus being able to cater to as many clients as their time and workload allows."

Interestingly enough, Ms. Burke did not study PR at the undergraduate or graduate level. She began working in PR over a decade ago while living in India and working as an actress and director. After gaining name recognition, she was asked to help with PR for various projects. When she moved to the United States in 2000, she decided to take up PR full-time.

While living in San Francisco, she worked in a boutique PR and marketing agency, and after a few years set up her own consulting firm. After moving to DC, she decided to work in an established agency, and eventually moved on to revamp the ASPCA's communications. Ms. Burke describes this opportunity as exciting and fulfilling but left in July 2008 and began independently consulting in November 2008.

She is extremely accomplished and was honored in 2007 when PRWeek named her one of the top 40 under 40 PR professionals in the United States. Also, in 2005 Ms. Burke earned her accreditation in business communications from IABC (hence the ABC after her name).

When asked why she broke into freelancing, Ms. Burke says, "When I first started freelancing in India, I did so because I could not, at the time, imagine giving up my theater and related activities altogether; I loved what I did but needed to find a way to supplement my income. Freelancing allowed me the freedom to do both, and I also enjoyed the feeling of being my own boss. More recently, I started looking for a full-time position a few months after leaving the ASPCA, but had a great project come my way and leaped at the opportunity to work with a fun client. I'm investigating further consulting opportunities and thoroughly enjoying what I'm doing."

With the connections she has made through networking and her agency experience, Ms. Burke has obtained clients through referrals and has not yet had to cold-call and pitch clients. However, she notes that as a freelancer, networking is extremely important. Ms. Burke has spoken at many conferences which she mentions has been great for raising her profile to potential clients. She also notes the importance of Twitter as a tool for networking with other like-minded people creating potential business opportunities.

Ms. Burke's favorite aspect of freelancing is setting her own schedule, and choosing the work that she wants to do. Her least favorite aspect is managing every aspect of her business including taxes, accounting, contract, and finding new clients.

"I'm often asked for advice on whether or not to start freelancing. I always tell people that if you can deal with the ups and downs that come with an irregular income stream, and feel in your gut that it will make you happier than regular employment, you should go for it. Recognize, though, that as your own boss, you will work harder than anywhere else - after all, it's completely up to you to bring in your business, no one else is going to do it for you," Ms. Burke advises to any person who wishes to begin freelancing.