Why is Safrea valuable for freelancers in Southern Africa? We provide everything from resources to support to community for freelancers which they would not get anywhere else. Here are some of our biggest attractions:
Support
Freelancers need to discuss and share experiences, get advice from more experienced freelancers, find mentoring opportunities, and access a forum to celebrate or seek a shoulder to cry on. We sometimes need encouragement, and at other times we are in a position to give our encouragement to others.
As a Safrean you become part of a virtual group of like-minded people, freelancers like yourself, who understand the challenges of being self-employed, finding clients and keeping clients, setting rates, writing contracts, filing taxes, handling non-paying customers, the legal aspects of freelancing, dealing with an overload of work, getting through the quiet times, how to market and grow business… and much more.
All of this happens on our very active online forum, accessible to members only.
Interaction with other Media Organisations
Safrea interacts with other groups of freelancers who are part of ASAIB (Association of Southern African Indexers & Bibliographers), PEAR (Professional Evaluation and Research), PEG (Professional Editors’ Group), SAGA (South African Guild of Actors), SASJA (South African Science Journalists’ Association) and SATI (South African Translators Institute).
Sharing the Workload
Safrean freelancers do business with one another. Networking and getting to know each other in person at meetings plays an important role in this respect. It should be made clear that Safrea is not a job agency. As freelancers, we find our own business but may share when the work becomes too much, or when we need additional services that our expertise doesn’t cover.
Community
The life of a freelancer can be lonely and rather isolated. We often work from home offices and spend long hours working on our laptops.
Although most of us prefer that kind of lifestyle and working environment, we also need company and support from time to time. Safrea offers that.
Discount on Training Courses
Safrea offers regular discounts on training courses like those hosted by the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ).
Meetings
Safreans have regular regional meetings, where we rub shoulders and network, and usually have an invited speaker to share topics of interest. We currently have branches in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Bloemfontein and Cape Town and are looking to establish new branches where freelancers need us.
To join our flourishing community of freelancers, please view our membership criteria and complete the online application form.