Twitter handle:

@Alisteed

What do you freelance about?

I write about all areas of finance: Consumer, B2B, corporate comms, PR and I do some broadcast work.

What are your areas of specialisation?    

Pensions for sure, but I also specialise in offshore finance, and I really enjoy anything to do with investments, property and healthcare. I think that probably covers all bases…

How much notice do you need to turn round, say, a 1,000-word feature?

Depends on what else I have on, but usually two days minimum. But if it is really urgent, then I have managed to do this in a few hours including research in the past. That was a Budget Day article on pensions when I was at The Daily Telegraph.

What’s the piece you’re most proud of?

Oooh tricky. I can’t really answer this one in ‘one’. I did two successful campaigns while I was at the Telegraph. One was to push the government to recompense ex-Forces personnel who had their War Pensions taxed when they should not have been.

The other was to get compensation for people who had been wrongly forced to sell their homes to pay for long-term care because the NHS was mis-applying the banding rules. I won an award for this – called the Living Legend award – and my old boss at the Telegraph refused to put the name of in the paper because he thought it was ridiculous. Not sure he would have felt the same had he won it though…

Are you happy doing corporate work?

Yes, I do a lot of corporate work. I have a number of clients I work with regularly, and my corporate work has appeared in a number of places worldwide.

How can PRs help you with your work?

PRs have a super tough job – I have always thought this and I have always tried to be kind and not short with people, no matter what pressure I was under as a journalist.

Now I do a bit of this myself, I really understand it. PRs usually are very helpful, in my experience, so I’m not sure I would say they can do anymore.

I know one bugbear is when journalists get a call asking if they have ‘seen the press release’. So, PRs, please don’t do that. It doesn’t help you.

Have you won any awards/gained specific financial qualifications?

Yes, I’ve won eight awards for my writing over the years.

What advice would you give to a journalist thinking of becoming freelance for the first time?

Do it! And do it now! You won’t regret leaving the office for a second, and you will wonder why you didn’t do it years ago. You will have periods of feast and famine too, everything is cyclical, so expect that.

Oh, and keep on top of your invoicing… that’s the only real pain of this job, chasing late payments.

What’s the commission you’d most like to undertake?

It would probably be a biography of someone I really admire – but I’m struggling to pin it down to be honest. My biggest influence in becoming a writer when I was younger was Victoria Wood. But for now, maybe Julie Walters, Pam Ayres, Maggie Smith or Judi Dench. I think they would all be interesting dinner guests too. Along with Stephen Fry, I find him fascinating to listen to.

What was the last article you read that really shocked you?

Not really shocked thanks to my own experience of many doctors, and very sadly given the content, but the last article I read which really moved me was by Merope Mills about the death of her daughter Martha. Anyone who hasn’t read it really should, it could save the life of you or a loved one, one day.

If you were to write a headline to sum yourself up, what would it be?

Sorry, the subs are much better at headlines than I am… 😉 Maybe that should be the headline!

Outside of work, what are your hobbies?

I enjoy sport – a lot! I am a triathlon coach and have also competed in nine Ironman triathlons, which consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a full marathon which all has to be completed within 17 hours.

I have also recently finished writing my first novel, a crime thriller which is quite dark. I’m sure a few people will worry about me when they read it! 😉 It is the first in a series of books I have outlined for these characters, and I have already started the second.

And finally… what’s your go-to karaoke song?

Would have to be something by Everything But The Girl I think – maybe One Place. But I don’t think it would be a crowd pleaser.

Besides, it’s only very recently I would even have dared to do karaoke… but that’s another story.