The best year of my freelance career – but one of the worst financially

Last week saw another article from my six-month trip across Central and North America published. The piece for BBC News looked at the rise of data centres in the drought-hit state of Querétaro in Mexico. 

After eight months of work - from research stage to editing - I was obviously very pleased to see it finally published. This was a story I’d actually started working on around December/January, back when I was scouting out sustainability-focused stories to cover while I was in the region. Alongside the investigation on missing people in Jalisco (yet to be commissioned), it was one of the biggest stories I was exploring, involving months of research and emails with data centres, a trade association with poor comms (maybe a subject to dissect another time), and activists.

In June I finally visited Querétaro, a charming city north of Mexico City, to meet the activists (sadly after so much to-ing and fro-ing a visit to a data centre was cancelled days before my planned visit) just a week before I was due to leave Mexico. And so I made the five-hour journey (taxi/bus/taxi) there. On the evening I arrived, I made a beeline for dinner (falafel – sometimes you need to eat something other than the food of the country you're in, though god, do I now miss mole, tacos and chilaquiles) and started talking to the waiter. It turned out he had strong views on the water situation in the city so I whipped out my voice recorder and ended up interviewing him as I waited for my dinner. Riccardo also recommended  a visit to the local aqueduct, a pink dazzling beauty that I visited post dinner. 

The next day I rose early to attend a local press conference concerning some of the water issues in area. With my poco Espanol, I can't say I understood all of it but I definitely gauged how passionate people were about the alleged lack of transparency and exploitation of their natural resources. Afterwards, I had an impromptu interview with a chap who had an insider view on the water situation. Meanwhile, my activist contact had gone AWOL and left the press conference to work from a café 15 minutes away so following the conference I had to go and find her. The interview took place over tacos in a colourful cafe. All bueno. But following the interview she said she didn’t want me to include her comment on the data centres – the exact reason I had visited - and instead wanted to focus on a different topic. A short but tough conversation followed. I’d spent six months on this story and needed this interview. Two days later she followed up and insisted she didn’t want her name attached to a comment on the data centres. In the end we added her comment but said she didn’t want to talk directly about the data centres. 

Meanwhile, the second activist hadn’t turned up at the press conference, even though she told me the day before that she was. In the end, after more to-ing and fro-ing, her partner kindly came to collect me and drove me to their house about 20 minutes away. Fortunately I was able to find translator who could join us. Phew. I spent about an hour with her and thankfully got the quotes I needed. Post-interview, I grabbed more falafel and took a taxi/bus/taxi back to Mexico City (well, the bus was full so I had to wait an hour for the next one). And then it was hours of finding and interviewing a data centre boss over Zoom, putting the piece together, editing, and chasing the local government for weeks for comment before eventually the piece was finally published. 

I’ve gone into detail here as I wanted to highlight the time and effort (and challenges) that goes into a story. The struggles of landing an interview. Financially, I take a huge hit. And this is in the case with most stories apart from if I'm just interviewing one person (like my celeb interviews), as everything else take a very long time to put together. Hours and hours of research. From researching an idea to landing a commission to an editor happy with the final piece can take weeks, if not months. And for sums around £300, sometimes much lower. 

As you can see, it’s not financially viable at all. 

This year I’ve had the best year of my career: I looked the efforts to preserve Lake Bacalar (The Evening Standard); how to save money backpacking in which I talk of my stay with 70-year-old Bette via Host a Sister (Guardian), the NGO at Lake Atitlan (The I Paper); the efforts by Armando Lopez Pocol to reforest the western highlands of Guatemala (my first piece for Guardian Global Development), the Dutch no-fly break for the I Paper, interviewed Belinda Carlisle for the Telegraph, established myself as a regular writer for the Fame & Fortune section in The Sunday Times where I have interviewed Sarah Parish, Natalie Cassidy, Carol Decker, and many others. I’ve also started writing for a regular section for the I Paper, and am a freelancer for the Today programme (when I’m around!). Though I could always be achieving more, I’m holding up ok career-wise. 

Yet, financially, this isn’t reflected in my bank account. Yes, I’ve gone travelling (but was still very much working), but in my accounts filed in December (before my travels), I had a pretty disastrous year (my work income equated to a sum I was earning when I was 25). This financial year to April probably looks the same as what I earned when I was about 30. I’m fortunate that, for now, I can rent out my place when I’m not here and that boosts my income. But currently, my situation is not sustainable. Despite my courses, workshops, Power Hours and content network, it’s very tough. Even the well-established journalist Terri White recently said she had £9 in her bank account. Terri White. The former editor-in-chief of Empire magazine, author and filmmaker. 

I’m making moves to find an additional career path. There are no plans exit journalism, but if it comes off it’ll be another string to the bow, though again not a big money earner. I’m not motivated by money but I’d just like to be paid a rate that reflects the hours and work invested alongside almost 20 years’ journalism experience.

And so, despite being very happy and busy with my journalist endeavours but woefully underpaid, I'm seeking more work. This could involve editorial, interviewing and writing up case studies, working on investigations, consultancy, and so on, across areas that feel like a natural fit (it's a big no for sectors such as oil and gas, fast fashion, aviation, and so on). Ideally, I’d like the work to be consistent but am open to one-off opportunities too. Just swing me an email to start the conversation.