New ways of working

“In the US, the music blog was already taking off, so I started doing that kind of as a way to chronicle the stuff I was into.”

Now the most-read Irish music blog, with about 35,000 unique visitors a month, nialler9.comwas named Best Music Blog at the Irish Blog Awards five years in a row.

His reputation as a muso has seen him extend into writing about music for ‘Cara’ magazine and the ‘Irish Independent’, while he continues to design websites on the side.

Another string to his bow is as a gig curator, picking line-ups for events such as SXSW in Austin, Texas and the Camden Crawl in London and Dublin.

“I have a reputation as somebody who is a filter for people’s tastes, so I guess that translates into someone who knows their stuff and could pick line-ups for events that are really good and cutting-edge.”

Byrne says the notion of a CV is redundant: “My CV is everything I do online.” With income from advertising on his blog, music writing and website design, he says finances balance out.

“Sometimes I think, I wish I knew what was happening next month or if there was a bit more security, but generally it works out,” he says. “And I get to work from home and have a lovely life and hang out with the dog.”

Joy Redmond Marketer

“Not only is it great not to have my creative work tied to nine to five, but it’s lovely to be at the school gate a couple of days a week too,” says Joy Redmond, a Gorey-based marketer.

Combining a part-time marketing role at the video-technology company Sonru with freelance consulting for “high-potential start-ups” and being on the mentoring panel with Wexford County Enterprise Board, Redmond juggles multiple projects to a schedule that works for her.

She works with start-ups, helping innovators to communicate their ideas. “My speciality is bringing their marketing materials up to blue-chip level – to a level that they fit in when they are selling across the table to multinationals.”

She doesn’t do regular hours. “I have no problem with a 40-hour week; it’s just having to do it within nine to five, Monday to Friday,” she says.

“If you are coming up with a whole new brand for a client, it’s very hard to shoe-horn it into nine to five. I might do a few hours and then go for a long walk or a swim,” she says. “If I’m doing research, I might do my statistical analysis and, before I write it up, sleep on it or take a day off and then really be ready to write up my conclusions.”