The Life and Times of a Freelancer During a Pandemic

We talked to Karine Bengualid of Brought to you by the letter K on how to find what’s right for business, increase engagement and sales and making B2B marketing more fun and this is what he had to say.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times? 

Karine Bengualid: We are doing OK, thanks.

Tell us about you, your career, how you founded Brought to you by the letter K.

Karine Bengualid: I started my career in 2002 working in corporate communications and marketing for various companies in Toronto, including entertainment, sports and tourism. At the end of 2014, my husband and I moved to Vancouver, and it was hard for me to find a corporate marketing job (because the city is much smaller). I started helping agencies with random projects and quickly figured out that I loved working from home, for myself and *only* doing the writing (as opposed to all the marketing). From there, my freelance career was born, and I started “Brought to you by the letter K.” I haven’t looked back since. 

How does Brought to you by the letter K innovate? 

Karine Bengualid: Fun is significant to me, so I try to make everything I do (for myself) fun. Whether it’s content, I’m writing or creating videos or using puppets to tell stories. If I’m not having fun, no one else will and what’s the point of not having fun at work? 

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Karine Bengualid: I consider myself to be one of the more fortunate freelancers. My business was affected but not by much (compared to others). I work with B2B companies (mostly) so luckily things haven’t changed, businesses still need to operate. 

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Karine Bengualid: The only difficult lesson I learned was that I need to diversify my business. I currently only work on my business part-time and usually only have 3-4 clients at a time. Still, the pandemic has shown me that anything can happen, so I need to have safety nets in place for the future to not rely on one source of income. 

How do you deal with stress and anxiety?

Karine Bengualid: HA! I eat junk food, binge a lot of bad TV and nap. Then once I’ve finished wallowing, I roll up my sleeves and figure out how to fix whatever the problem is (assuming it’s fixable). 

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Karine Bengualid: I don’t think I have any competitors. Many others are freelance content writers, but they’re just taking their piece of the content pie. I plan to stay in the game by delivering the best content I possibly can to my clients and creating fun and engaging content of my own. (The former is way more comfortable than the latter.) 

Your final thoughts?

Karine Bengualid: It’s been a crazy year for everyone (even if it hasn’t), the only thing we can do is our best. So, I hope everyone out there is doing OK-ish and remembers you don’t have to slay, hustle, or be a boss babe or whatever. Just do as much as you can and let that be good enough. “You do you,” has never been more true than during a pandemic. 

Your website?

www.theletterk.ca