Rebs Curtis-Moss - Designing A Career That Fits Your Brain And Your Values

Ready to design work that fits your brain, your values, and your life? Jane sits down with Rebs, a digital communications and fundraising specialist who left senior charity roles to build a flexible consultancy. We unpack the practical steps behind a smooth transition: testing services as a side hustle, building a client base before quitting, and shaping a week that blends strategic work with hands-on delivery.

Rebs shares how being autistic led them to rethink productivity and energy. We talk candidly about feast-and-famine cycles, why a financial buffer beats bravado, and the one safeguard too many freelancers skip. Rebs also explains the unique value of bridging fundraising with digital comms, especially when social platforms shift under our feet and charities need both quick wins and sustainable systems.

Community plays a starring role. From Slack groups to local fundraisers’ meetups and outdoor networking, we explore how to stay connected, visible, and supported. And we look ahead at AI in the charity sector: where it helps, where it risks harm, and why transparent AI policies will soon be standard in contracts and training. 

Enjoyed the conversation? Subscribe, share it with a colleague who’s freelance-curious, and leave a review to help more people find the show. Got a question or a story about your own leap? Message us on LinkedIn or sign up to the Charity Freelancing course.

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Visit Rebs' website or connect with them on LinkedIn.

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Jane Curtis, founder of The Charity Freelancing Course, host of The Other Side Podcast and Co-founder of The Rich & Restored Movement. 

Jane has spent 26 years in the charity sector, is a former events fundraiser, and now supports over 100 charity sector freelancers to build businesses that make more money with joy and integrity.

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Transcript

From Sector Pro To Freelancer

Jane Curtis 0:28

Welcome to the other side, the Charity Freelancers Podcast. I'm Jane Curtis, and this is where we explore the journey from charity professional to thriving freelancer or founder. Each week I chat with people who've made this leap from the charity sector, sharing invaluable practical tips and incredible insights firsthand. So whether you're considering making the move or you're already on your self-employed journey and want to know what goes on behind the scenes of well-known freelance businesses, you're in the right place. So let's kick off today's conversation. Over the last 15 years, Rebs has worked with some of the biggest charities in the UK in a range of strategic digital engagement, social media, and fundraising roles, including at Shelter and the RLI. For the last three years, they've been running their own business offering a wide range of digital communications and fundraising consultancy services for charities of all sizes. Rebs, welcome to the other side.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 1:23

Hi.

Jane Curtis 1:24

Hi, thank you for joining me today. I'd like to start by asking you a bit more about your charity background and what sort of work you did when you were working for those charities that we mentioned.

Blending Fundraising And Digital Comms

Rebs Curtis-Moss 1:37

Sure. So I actually like a lot of people, I think I completely fell into the charity sector. I had no real like intention of being like, I want to work as a fundraiser, I want to work in social media, because when I graduated it was in a recession and social media was such a new kind of emerging thing that it wasn't really something that you could kind of deliberately be like, I want a career in this. So I got a job in a charity as like a sole fundraiser, and I worked there for about four years doing fundraising and comms, and I just loved it. Um and that kind of I guess set me on the path within the charity sector, and I've always worked in the charity sector ever since. I've never worked in any other like industry or sector, just third sector. Um so yeah, that's kind of how I I guess I kind of fell into it like a lot like a lot of people do. Um in the last couple of years before I went freelance, I worked with uh Chaz, which is children's hospices across Scotland, worked with the University of Edinburgh, um, worked with Friends of the Earth, then Shelter, then RI in a range of kind of either kind of fundraising or digital fundraising roles or digital communications roles. And then the latter two roles at Shelter and RLI were specifically kind of social media roles, and but within the role that RNLI I kind of worked on, kind of a lot of the kind of social fundraising elements, and so kind of using social media to fundraise. So kind of, I guess I'm kind of I feel like I have a bit of a kind of bridge in knowledge between both fundraising and comms, which I personally find really useful because I don't feel like enough people have necessarily experience, kind of boots on the ground experience of doing both. Um so I feel like that's kind of my USP in a way.

Side Hustle To Full-Time Leap

Jane Curtis 3:21

Yeah, yeah, nice. And what was your kind of motivation for moving from your nine to five work to set up your own thing? Was it three years ago?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 3:31

So yeah, I basically went freelance full-time three years ago, but I've been freelancing on the side as a bit of a side hustle in addition to a job, either five days a week or you know, later on I kind of moved down to four days a week so that I could try it more. But I've been doing that since 2016. Um, so it's not like I sort of suddenly went freelance, um, it's more like it's been quite a gradual thing where um, you know, I've started with a couple of clients here and there, I've been doing bits and bobs here and there, and then you know, I've moved from that being something that I've done kind of in my spare time to setting a day aside to then sort of getting uh kind of contractor work, so being a freelancer but effectively for one charity over quite a long period of time, and then moving that on to actually I want to work with multiple clients because I know that this model works, it's a tried and tested model. Um so yeah, that's kind of I guess I guess that's kind of how I got into it, um, basically.

Jane Curtis 4:30

And what do what was it about the free work that kind of initially appealed, I guess, um when you were straddling both, but but also like when you decided that you were going to fully commit to that, what what was it?

Strategy Versus Doing And Staying Current

Rebs Curtis-Moss 4:45

Um I mean I guess I felt that I I think I've always struggled in more I'm autistic and I've always struggled in more kind of traditional roles. Um not always, like I have I have um had jobs which I've really enjoyed before, but generally speaking, I find that like a lot of neurodivergent people, working for yourself just tends to work better for me, having control over my own like schedule. Um, you know, if I have a day of low energy, I can sort of move things around, I can be a lot more flexible, and I can sort of manage that a lot better. I can basically manage being neurodiverse a lot better, um neurodivergent, sorry, a lot better as a freelancer than I could in-house. So I find that from that perspective, being freelance is really, really useful, and that's something that I really liked. I also really like working on lots of different projects for lots of different clients. Um, I like being able to kind of almost parachute in, see the problems as they are, fix them, and then kind of not parachute out again because that doesn't work, but you know, then leave and you know, and then move on. I quite like that. I like being able to go in and kind of fix, fix obvious issues and then kind of move on to the next to the next thing. That kind of just suits the way that my brain works. Um, and it means that you can get really involved at quite a senior level in different organizations and make real kind of sustainable change when it comes to their digital fundraising or their digital communications, but without kind of getting bogged down with a lot of the kind of I guess the politics that you can offer. If you work in-house, sometimes it's a case of oh, we can't do this or we can't do that because it might upset this person or that person or the next thing. But by the time they've agreed to get a consultant in or a freelance in, freelancer in, obviously often it's kind of a case of like we just need to get this done, um, and you kind of don't need to get involved in that level. That's kind of a bit of a protection around you. You can just get on with the actual work, which I really like. Um because often I find in-house there can be quite a lot of squabbling, um, not everywhere, but some places, you know, there can be a bit of squabbling, a bit of back and forth about whose job it is to do what and all this kind of stuff, and then that kind of is at the detriment of the actual work. So sometimes actually just having someone external come in and say, no, you need to do this, this, and this, and these things will make a really big sustainable change, and here's why. I really like that because I feel like I'm making uh a really big impact over quite a short period of time. I find it really satisfying. I hope my clients find it satisfying as well. I've always had good feedback to that to that extent, so that's always nice.

Jane Curtis 7:27

Well, I'm sure they do, because you're doing very well. Um, are you I just wanted to kind of um reiterate what you just said about um not having to be involved in the kind of politics um and that kind of squabbling. I also find that you know often you're if you get to a certain level of seniority, you're quite often I'm managing teams as well and in-house. Um and that can take a huge amount of time. I remember when I was managing a team, like some days that's all I was doing. Do you know what I mean? Like, um, and those meetings and ones-to-ones and all the rest of it. Um I I was amazed when I went freelance how much time I got back um to actually do the work, you know?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 8:09

Yeah, I totally, I totally agree with that. I actually one of the things I actually really miss about in-house is managing people because I actually really enjoyed, I know a lot of people, especially people who are freelance, don't usually say that, but I really enjoyed that side of it. Um and it's one of the reasons that I ended up developing a mentoring part of my business model because I was like, actually, this is something I enjoy, and it's something that I think I'm pretty good at. Um, so you know, why not continue at a freelance level? But definitely in terms of like I hear you about the time, um, like I was like managing three members of staff at the RNLI, and whilst I really enjoyed that and I found it really, really fulfilling helping people like develop their skills and their confidence and all that kind of stuff, actually, it did take up so much time that often you didn't feel like you had much time to actually do the rest of the work. Um by the time I finished that contract with Rye, I was like, God, when was the last time I like wrote a tweet? Um, you know, so X wasn't times have changed. Times change, but like you know what I mean? Like, when was the last time I actually wrote a piece of content? It was probably like some time ago. Yeah. Um, and that's another thing I really like about freelance is that you get the option to do both. So I try and do a bit of a 50-50 split where half the time I'm doing strategic stuff and really high-level stuff, and I really enjoy that stuff. But I do also like to dip in and out of kind of content creation, you know, um graphic design, making videos for socials, that kind of thing. Because actually, I think it's very difficult to advise on strategic stuff if you're not keeping your finger on the pulse of what's going on, especially in social media and digital fundraising, because things change so frequently that you kind of especially if you're doing training like I do as well, you really need to know like what's the latest thing, what's the latest hot potato, what's working, what's not working. Um, so yeah, I find mixing the two of those really, really useful. But if I was in house, I wouldn't have I wouldn't have the time to do that, you know, like not a time turn it, but time turner, you know what I mean? So yeah, yeah, yeah.

Openness About Health And Setting Timelines

Jane Curtis 10:10

Yeah. Um so you mentioned um your autism. Are you open with your clients about your autism? And have you had to um express different ways perhaps of approaching your work with those clients to take that into consideration?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 10:26

To be honest, I've never I mean, I'm quite open about it online generally. Um it's no like I talk about it quite a lot online, um like on LinkedIn and so forth and at conferences, like I'm pretty kind of out and open about it. But it's not like when I get a new client, I'll like sit down and tell them that I'm autistic. If I think it might be relevant to the work we're doing, I might tell them. Um, but I guess there's a bit of a kind of assumption on my part that they might already know anyway. Um, so I don't tend to make a really big deal of it. Um, the one thing that I'm more likely to tell them about is that I have a couple of other long-term health conditions that sometimes I might have a bad day and I might have to shift things around. So, what I might say to someone or what I often say to clients is I'm gonna I'm basically gonna tell you that this is gonna take longer than it will actually take. So, say I have a project that I know will last 10 days, I'll give myself a month to do it because if I have a bad day or I have a flare-up or something, it means I can work around that and I'll be quite, you know, I'll be very open about that at the start and say, like, it's not actually going to take me a month. The reason that I'm saying that is so that I can I can manage this along with health conditions kind of thing. Um everyone's been very, very supportive about that so far. I've been really lucky in that respect. So it's always that there there's never been any sort of issue with that at all, which is great.

Jane Curtis 11:49

Yeah, fantastic. Well, as we would hope from the charity sector, um what do you think um your charity rules taught you about working for yourself?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 12:03

Oh that's a good question. Um I guess being I think resilience is quite a big one actually. Um I think that in the charity sector you do have to be really bloody resilient, um, whether you're in-house or a freelancer. So I think that having worked in-house and having worked with small charities as well as much bigger charities and seeing the different challenges that they face, like in terms of you know, small charities have very limited budgets, that's its own issue. Um, everything has to be done on a shoestring. But if you work for a big charity, budgets might not be as as big an issue, but the workload is a much bigger issue because because you've got a bigger team, the expectation internally is that you'll be able to deliver a hell of a lot more. So it's kind of like I guess when I moved from smaller charities to bigger charities, I kind of thought, oh, everything will be much easier now because the grass is always greener on the other side, you know, there'll be more there'll be more money to do things, but with more money, not to quote Spider-Man, but with greater power comes great responsibility. Do you know what I mean? Like you end up having to um deliver a hell of a lot more, often more than you've actually got the resources to do. So I do think working in-house for different sizes of charities has taught me about the different nuances of different sizes of charities, but also just like resilience and discipline and to just keep going. Sometimes it's just about putting one foot in front of the other um and just kind of cracking on and getting through it. Um, hopefully that doesn't give too grim a kind of outlook of the charity sector. That's a little bit that that's maybe a little bit of a pessimistic view, but I do think that resilience is a big thing, and especially in fundraising in particular. Um, there's so many people currently burning out of the city and leaving the sector as a result of that. So I do think that resilience is a really important topic.

Jane Curtis 13:55

Yeah, a hundred percent. And I think you do need resilience when you work for yourself because there's you know, there's uncertainty and there's knockbacks, and there's you know, it can feel very personal, can't it? Um, you can feel that you're being personally rejected sometimes, and it's like having to work on all that stuff as well.

Feast, Famine, And Financial Buffers

Rebs Curtis-Moss 14:10

You do need to be able to dust yourself off and get back on and absolutely, and just the planning side of it as well, like the lack of kind of financial security. I think you need to be kind of you need to be okay with that from the get-go. I think if you're not, if if you're the sort of person that's gonna worry endlessly about that, I always say to people, if you're that kind of person, freelance it probably isn't isn't for you. Um you're better off having a having a job or at least having a part-time job, because otherwise, yes, exactly, because uh otherwise the stress of that is just gonna absolutely ruin you. Um you kind of need to be okay with which I know is ironic for me to say as an autistic person because I do like routine and I do like the same things over and over again, and I have struggled with that and I have found it difficult. But I think now I've gotten more into a rhythm of it. I've kind of without sounding like a massive hippie, I feel like I trust the process a lot more now. Like I know that it's gonna be okay. Like if I have a month which is a bit leaner, I know that something will come up, come up and I'll pick it back up again because that's always happened. So yeah, it's it is what it is.

Jane Curtis 15:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I totally agree with you. And I think you know, getting again, not to sound really cliche, but being comfortable with being uncomfortable sometimes as well. Do you know what I mean? Like you don't have to avoid that discomfort. Like, yes, it can feel a bit bum squeaky at times, and like, oh shit, what's gonna you know, what's next month gonna bring? But I you're absolutely right that if you're the type of person where money certainty of money is is really important, you know, it that that potentially is gonna feed into you taking gigs that aren't quite right, or you know, like taking on clients that are isn't really aligned to what you want to be doing, and and then potentially you're in no better situation than you were when you were in 95.

Networks, Community, And Not Working Alone

Rebs Curtis-Moss 15:59

So I I honestly think that the best way to do it is if you're gonna go freelance. If you I mean, I know that not everyone is in this position or not everyone has a partner, but I do think that probably the best way to do it is if you're going freelance, if if you have a partner that has a permanent job with a steady income, I think that does massively help because then pressure is it doesn't mean oh you know, I can just sit back and you know not do anything, but it does mean that if you do have a quiet month, you don't have that kind of oh my god, I need to get a client now and I'm gonna take anything, um kind of thing. Like you do have that bit of a buffer, and I do think that that works works quite well. And when I speak to people, because I do a bit of mentoring and um around kind of people going freelance, leaving nine to five jobs and going freelance, and one thing that I usually ask them is like, you know, what is your financial situation, you know, at home? Because if you have if you know, if you don't have savings or you don't have any buffer, then that can be really stressful. So you almost need to build that up first so that you know, whilst you do have that uncertainty, you still have some sort of backup. Um because otherwise I think it would be very yeah. I was lucky that I did have a bit of a back backup system because my wife does have a full-time, like a full-time job. But I think if you didn't have that, I think it would be quite it could be tricky, especially if you've got the students.

Jane Curtis 17:25

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally agreed. Um, so you've talked a little bit about your mentoring, your training side of the business. Talk me through like a um a normal, if there is such a thing, I don't like that word, but you know, like working week. Like what would be what would what would a working week look like in the world of rebs?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 17:42

So it could include things like some training sessions, so um, and some mentoring sessions, maybe some strategy writing and some practical stuff. So kind of a kind of smattering of everything. I might have weeks where I have a mixture of lots of different things like that, where I have like bits here and bits there. I might have other weeks where I'm like I'm gonna block it this entire week and I'm just gonna focus on getting this strategy done or getting this audit done and getting really kind of in the zone with something. Um so it really, really depends on what clients I'm working with at the time as to how I do it. If I'm writing training, I like to completely block out time to do that. And the same with if I'm doing anything strategic, again, I like to just block out that time. But if I'm doing something more practical, I'm more likely to dip in and out of it in between other things. It's just kind of the way that I don't know, I don't know why I do that actually, but um, I guess part of it is an autistic thing, like I do have a hyper focus, but when it comes to practical stuff, I'm much more likely to be like I'm gonna dip into this and then I'm gonna have a call and then I'm gonna go back to this and then I'm gonna do this. So it really, really depends. I mean, I guess like any freelancer is it's extremely variable depending on your clients.

Jane Curtis 18:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And do you work Monday to Friday? Like, do you have set hours that you work, or is that quite flowy and flexible?

Practical Advice For Going Freelance

Rebs Curtis-Moss 19:03

I mean, technically on paper, yes. I guess I'm kind of like nine to five Monday to Thursday, but uh that's very that's very variable and very fast and loose, and it very much depends on who I'm working with. So if I've got a client that's like I can only make a meeting on a Friday, then I'm just gonna take that. Like I'm not it doesn't really I'm pretty pretty flexible about that. More flex, I'm more flexible now about it than I think I used to be when I started. When I started, I was very much like I'm going to work nine till five, Monday to Thursday. But then I think one day I was just a bit like, well, hang on a second, like why am I doing that? Because like that's what happens when you're at work, right? Yeah, like in house, you're told you need to be in at nine and then leave at five, and you may have some flexi time in between that, but that's generally the hours you work. Why am I why am I putting those time time and pressures on myself? Like I can do it was kind of like this light bulb moment where I was like, actually. I can do whatever the hell I want. Like if I don't want to get up till 10 and then later that day, like as long as I'm not like I I don't have a meeting or something, why not? Like I'm not a morning person. So I think that was a big revelation to me where I was like, actually, just because I'm not a morning person, I why am I crucifying myself, getting up and being at my dragging myself to my desk at 9 a.m. every day when I don't need to be? It's not like I've got a in-house, it's not like I've got millions of meetings like you did when you work in-house. So yeah, that was kind of like a a real light bulb moment where I was like, actually, I can do whatever the hell I want.

Jane Curtis 20:35

I know. I think that I think everyone goes through that, don't they? At some point, it's just like that light bulb of just like, oh I'm not, I'm not gonna get in trouble if I'm not at my desk and like no one's gonna no one's gonna tell on me if I want to go to the gym in the middle of the day, I can go to the gym in the middle of the day.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 20:50

Like if I want to go on a dog walk, I want to do this, I want to do that. Like um, I volunteer uh sometimes with uh it's like a bird kind of conservation organization and they go out to this island in the first fourth called Inch Keith.

Jane Curtis 21:03

Oh, I saw your photos online, like that's amazing.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 21:06

It's so cool, and you can't get onto it unless you volunteer with them and they only go out during the week. Um now if I worked in-house, I would really struggle with that because it'd be like I'm going to have to take a day's annual leave, and I might not be able to get that day's leave for understandable reasons at short notice because they don't tell you the day until the week before. When you work for yourself, as long as long as you can juggle things around and you're not missing like meetings with clients or something, why not? You know, you can go and you can do those things. So um that that for me has been really beneficial as well because it means I get to go and do like cool things and unusual things that I might not otherwise be able to do if I was kind of tied down with a nine to five job, if that makes sense.

Jane Curtis 21:44

Yeah, absolutely. It's one of the joys for sure. Um so tell me about a challenge or challenges that you've faced since you've worked for yourself.

AI, Ethics, And Sector Policies

Rebs Curtis-Moss 21:54

Oh, well, the biggest challenge I've had since working for myself has without a doubt been getting been getting income protection insurance. Um so I really, really because I've got like I've got a lot of things wrong with me, right? Um like I really struggled to get income protection insurance. And if I'd just gotten it when I went freelance full-time, I would have been fine. But what I did was I didn't think about it like a lot of people don't, um, because you just think, well, if when you're well, you just think, well, why would I consider that? But it's a bit like you can't get car insurance after you've crashed the car, is what I always tell people. So, like, and I was in hospital, oh my god, like five times last last year. Um, I was in hospital a huge number of times, like with various ailments and like stuff wrong with me. Thankfully, I'm a lot better now. Um, and you know, I've been discharged from like all the services and all this kind of stuff, and loads better. But once that had happened, I was like, damn, I need to then I was like, I need to do get income protection insurance. And of course, at that point, no insurance would touch me because they were like, Well, you've been in hospital like five times this year. Why are why the hell would we insure you? Um, which is kind of fair enough, like because the chances of you obviously claiming are going to be really, really high. So they're like nine down. Um so I really struggled with that. So I always say to people, if they're thinking of going freelance or they've gone freelance, don't wait until you've you know, don't wait until you get COVID or something like that, or you have something wrong with you, get the insurance now. Because if you get it now, it'll be super cheap. Whereas the insurance I eventually managed to get was ultra expensive, but for me it's worth it for the peace of mind.

Jane Curtis 23:34

Yeah.

Where To Find Rebs And Final Wrap

Rebs Curtis-Moss 23:35

But you know, I just think it should be one of these things that like it's almost like a tick, like a ticking exercise. Like, yeah, you know, I have I signed up to, you know, have I got my ICO, have I paid my ICO fee, which was another thing I knew nothing about when I started. Have I done this? Have I done that? Have I got my income protection insurance? Okay. And especially if you don't have the savings and you don't have the the you know a partner with a permanent job, it's even more important that you do that. So yeah, yeah. For me that's been a big struggle, but I managed to get it sorted a couple of months ago um with a financial advisor that basically works with what I like to call sickly sallies. Um, so I've managed to uh since that's happened, I've I think I've pr pretty much paid her mortgage at this point for the year because I keep on referring people with long-term conditions that are freelancers to her. I think she's sick of me at this point. But um I think you need some referral, like you know, I can tell her, get me set me up with some referral fee because exactly.

Jane Curtis 24:33

Yeah, yeah.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 24:34

I'd say that's kind of the biggest, that's genuinely the biggest challenge I've faced. I feel like I went through a little bit of a quiet phase last summer where it was kind of the first time that in two and a half years of doing it full time, it was the first time I kind of had about four to six weeks of kind of nothing new coming in. Um, and that was a little bit scary, a bit of squeaky bum time where I was like, actually, is that like what's going on? What the hell's going on here? Um, but you know, it worked out, stuff started to come in again. I think everyone, every freelancer I've spoken to has had that and experienced that in the last nine months or so. You know, 2025 was quite a tough year for people. Like for whatever reason, there was like a lot of freelancers that were really, really struggling to get work. And I don't think I was hit nearly as badly as others that I've spoken to about it. So I'm thankful for that. Um but yeah, that was a little bit scary. I was like, what is what is going on? Um, but it kind of it's kind of solved solved itself. But I think because it's the first time it's happened, people always talk about the feast and famine. I'd always just had the feast, I've not had the famine. Um, so that was a little bit like, oh my god, what the hell is going on? Um, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel like everyone, if everyone kind of experienced that last year. I'm not really very sure why. I think possibly the cost of living crisis probably had a huge, huge part to play in that and reduced budgets and stuff, but it did seem to be worse last year than it's been in a long time.

Jane Curtis 26:05

Yeah, and I think, you know, that because you're right, it's like when that happens the first time, you're like, oh shit, it's all going wrong, you know, because you don't have the kind of benefit of that hindsight, you know, experience from beforehand. But um, but I you know, I can say from eight years of freelancing, it does tend to go, it is a bit of a roller coaster, isn't it? And it's just reminding yourself that actually it will be a bit quieter, but it picks up again. Back to your point about resilience being a really kind of key kind of um skill, you know, and um because yeah, you it that's all part of it, isn't it? And and the financial planning as well, so that you're kind of okay if things are do go a bit quieter. Um, another thing that I've sort of really learned I have to do is work kind of on my business as much as in my business. So it's like, you know, remembering that I'm always keeping those whatever it is, networks, you know, sowing those seeds, keeping things kind of going. Um even if I am busy, because it's like that's gonna pay off and further down the line. Um, yeah.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 27:05

Yeah, totally. I feel like some of it's like a paying it forward thing. I find that the more I mean I generally like to help people because I like, well, I like thinking quite a nice person. Um, other people might disagree, I don't know. Um I don't think so, can um I like to be helpful anyway, but like I do think there is a bit of a strategic thing there where like the more helpful you are to people, they'll then remember you and then kind of I'm not saying I I like I'm not a dick. I'm not like I'm going to help this person because strategically this might come back to me and be positive, not at all. But I think that is a benefit to being like that as well, is that people then tend to you tend to be the top of someone's list when they are looking for something if you've kind of given them a little bit of pro bono stuff. I'm not talking like done work for free, but like a little bit of advice on something, or you've had a quick chat with them. I find that then they're like, oh, actually, well, this person's already given me this for free. So, or like they've had a quick chat with me, so they're the top of my list now when I'm actually looking for the work to be done. So I know what you mean about social gates, definitely.

Jane Curtis 28:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. Um, so talk to me about um any networks or communities, um support groups that you found useful uh since you've been working for your health, because it can be a bit of a lonely existence sometimes when you're not you don't have your team ever. So, where have you found that support?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 28:29

So um I find freelancers get shit done on Slack really, really good. Um I don't know how I heard about them, but it was the first thing I signed up to when I went freelance, like within the first the first month I spent joining different networks, getting my website sorted, kind of laying all the groundwork. Not that I didn't, I did already have a website, but like kind of revamping it, all this kind of stuff. And yeah, freelancers get shit done was one of the first things I joined. One of the most useful things um that I've joined as well. Just really, really nice people. We've had a couple of like in-person meetups. It's not just based in my area, it's UK wide, um, but I've organized a couple of meetups with a couple of others in the kind of Edinburgh area, which has been really, really nice. And it's not just a sector, like it's it's loads of different people. So yeah, that's been really good. Uh charity um charity meetup, um, or is it charity freelancer meetup uh by Richard? Um I never know how to pronounce his set surname. I'm never very sure if it's Barks or Burks, so I'm glad that you uh that you said it there. Um but yeah, Richard, um that's a really really good one.

Jane Curtis 29:33

I hope I've been pronouncing it right. He he came onto this. I'm hoping I did introduce him with the correct pronunciation. I never checked. Yeah.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 29:41

I'm sure it's fine. I feel like he would have corrected you if you'd gone up earlier.

Jane Curtis 29:44

I think so. Um I'll have I'll have to ask him now.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 29:48

Um yeah, no, I think I I really like that one as well. Um I've I've hosted it before too, which was great. And it's just a really, really nice community of people. Um, and I've made some really good connections uh with that too. And then there's like a little group of um kind of fundraisers in the area that I live in that um kind of already mainly knew each other through kind of just the sector generally, but we do like a monthly meetup um and we'll go for like a coffee and maybe do a bit of co-working, and that's been really, really nice. Um that's okay. That one's in person, and that's that's been really, really nice. I've I really like that. Um there's also one called The Outsiders, um, which is based in kind of Edinburgh and Lothians. Um I've been along to that once or twice, and that's been really good, but I've just not had much other time to go. But that's like kind of um instead of co-working, it's like outdoor excursions with freelancers.

Jane Curtis 30:39

Um Cara does?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 30:43

Yes.

Jane Curtis 30:43

Oh yeah, yeah.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 30:45

So yeah, that's a that's a really, really good one. Um and it is definitely on my list to do more in-person stuff this year anyway, whether that's meeting up with other freelancers or like going to conferences in person as well. Um, I don't think I realized until I went to an in-person conference earlier uh last like towards the end of last year, I was like, God, I miss this. Um like I don't want to do it every day by any stretch of the imagination, but the in-person stuff can be really, really good. Um like you say, when you work for yourself, I mean I don't have a like I don't I don't rent a space, I work in my house, which I would imagine the vast majority of freelancers do. Um so yeah, I find that I'll go periods where it's not that I won't leave the house, but like I'll be kind of in my house a lot and by myself a lot. So I do find that meeting up with other humans um is good. It's good for the soul.

Jane Curtis 31:38

100%. Um what we've talked a bit about this already, but what advice would you give someone who is sort of at that crossroads of their kind of career? They've been in nine to five and they're thinking they want to do something different and they might, you know, take the leap. What advice would you give them that we haven't already spoken about?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 31:57

I think try it part-time first is the the the biggest piece of advice I ever give anyone. I think that when you're going out as a freelancer, if you don't if you've not tried it or you don't have any contacts, you're it's not impossible, but you're gonna find it a lot more difficult. Um and most of the people I speak to, anecdotally anyway, um, who have struggled with freelance, um it's often because they've not built up those contacts and that client base in advance. Um so they're kind of starting from literally nothing. Um whereas if you do it part-time, you know, either as a side hustle or you're you know going part-time, working in your job part-time, freelancing part-time, or putting at least the feelers out, it does make a really big difference. Um, so I'd say that that's a really, really important one because also some people will try freelancing and they'll just maybe think, actually, do you know what this isn't for me? And it's it's more that they're not enjoying the job they're in rather than they're not enjoying being in-house. So I think that's that's a really, really big one for me. And get income protection insurance. Tell everyone, yeah, yeah.

Jane Curtis 33:11

That's a that's a really good point you've just made about you know, it could be that it's the job they're in rather than it being you know, being an employee, so to speak, that's the that's the the issue. Um, yeah, that's a that's a really key viewpoint. Um so just before we finish up, what changes do you think we'll see in the charity sector in 2026?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 33:37

That's a great question. I mean, I think AI is gonna get usage of AI is gonna get much more prevalent, but I think people are gonna start being a lot more maybe open about how they're actually using AI as well. Um I feel like a lot of people are using it and not fessing up to it. Um so I think personally that like, for example, having like an AI policy um, you know, in place, I think a lot more freelancers will have something like that where they kind of have it in their contracts where they're like, this is how I'm using, this is how I'm using AI, and just kind of being more open about it because um I did a talk on AI ethical AI usage and if such a thing exists. I think it does, just about, but it's a thin, it's a thin body line, isn't it? But um the I did a talk at Charity Comms about that um a couple of months ago, and I remember when I was researching for that talk, I was looking into do people have AI policies, and very few people have them. I just think it's gonna become more it needs to become more regulated. Um so it's not a case of it will, but it needs to. I hope it will become more regulated in the charity sector. There's definitely some good work that's been happening there, but I think that there needs to be like more done there. Um so yeah, that's one that's one thing um off the top of my head. I'm sure after this call I'll think of like a million other things where I'll be like, actually, this was a much bigger issue, um, and a very thing that I could have said, but I can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

Jane Curtis 35:08

We'll we'll get you back for another upside to to dissect all the changes. Um and where did you get your excellent hat from?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 35:17

Oh, it's actually an Edmund Dog and Cathome hat. Um I'm a trustee of the Edmund Cathome, and this is a hat from them. And you can buy these, I think you can buy these online. So if someone wants to buy one online, then you can go to UK and you can purchase one there.

Jane Curtis 35:32

My daughter would love that hat.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 35:34

They do them in green as well.

Jane Curtis 35:37

They do them in what, sorry? Oh, um, so how can listeners find out more about you, Rebs? How can they get hold of you to find out more about your work?

Rebs Curtis-Moss 35:50

So if we were having this call in 2020, I would say follow me on Twitter, but um Twitter X is now RIP, so um uh don't don't follow me on there because I won't respond to you. Um it's pretty much a dead account, sadly. Um LinkedIn is now the place to be, so um I am on LinkedIn a lot, so you can find me there. Um just search Rebs Curtis Moss, it's quite an uncommon name, so you should I think I'm the only one in the world, um, so you should be able to find me quite easily. And then if you go to revscurtismoss.co.uk, that's my website. Um, and uh yeah, you can um check out some of the ramblings on there. I did a brand photo shoot recently, so there's a lot of ridiculous pictures of me staring at different Lego Lego pieces.

Jane Curtis 36:32

Go straight onto the website.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 36:36

For no other reason you should go on and see some of these uh ludicrous um what I like to think is like excellent brand photography, but others might be like, this is the craziest. One of the pictures looks like uh album cover for public service broadcasting, I think. Um so if I ever release an album, I've got lots of pictures that I can use for it. So it's great.

Jane Curtis 36:56

It's so fun those photo shoots, though, isn't it? It's just like you kind of almost have a moment of just like, what the fuck am I doing? I'm just like, here we go. Yeah.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 37:06

I live in a really I also live in a really small um village and um like there were people literally like looking out the windows trying to work out what the hell I was doing on the beach, like with like a massive question mark logo piece staring at that. Like surprised to use logo paper.

Jane Curtis 37:27

Yeah. Yeah. I've got all these ones where I'm like pointing at a blank wall, it's just like it's so cheesy, it's unbelievable. But so that I can then put things on the top of it. I'm just gonna do it, just gonna go with it.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 37:40

I've got one where I'm holding my laptop, and there's like there's like all the Lego pieces, but there's nothing in the middle, so that I can basically just whack something on Canva over the top of it. Um so yeah, there you go.

Jane Curtis 37:51

So see, that's the secret to the success success that we're being able to do.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 37:56

Get a brand photo shoot, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I was quite lucky. I've got a pal that was um just went freelance himself and um does uh does headshots for people. So I was like, would you like to do would you could could you do a brand photo shoot for me? Um but yeah, I think otherwise I probably would have paid about 17 million times more than I did. So it's really I was just lucky with that. Um you should never pay full price for anything in this life unless you're paying me, in which case you should pay full price. Always pay your full price freelancers full price.

Jane Curtis 38:25

Yeah.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 38:26

Very important point.

Jane Curtis 38:28

Very important, very important. Um thank you, Rebs. This has been really fun. Thank you for joining me.

Rebs Curtis-Moss 38:34

No worries. And uh nice to chat to you, nice to chat to our fellow kartex. I'm still not convinced we're not related, but I have the best.

Jane Curtis 38:43

You never know. The best people are practice. That's a wrap on another episode of The Other Side. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a colleague who might be thinking about their own freelance journey. And if you haven't already, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. Remember, freelancing doesn't have to be a lonely journey. Whether it's joining communities like the Charity Freelancer Chat or signing up to the Charity Freelancing course or simply reaching out to former colleagues, connection is key to thriving as a freelancer. You can find all the links and resources we mentioned today in the show notes. And if you want to connect with me, you can find me on LinkedIn, where you can also sign up to the charity freelancing course wait list. Until next time, keep exploring what's possible on the other side.