I recently found myself in front of my laptop on a humid Sunday morning, cosplaying as a member of the Rachel’s List team.
Let me explain.
A few days earlier, during one of my favourite times of the week, the Wednesday morning writing sprint, Rachel mentioned that she was feeling the pressure of the new website launch. Deadlines looming. A thousand moving parts. Stress levels… elevated.
And because I am, at heart, a Virgo helper bee, my theoretical hand shot into the theoretical air.
‘I can help with the user testing,’ I said with the confidence of someone who had absolutely no idea what user testing actually is.
Which is how I ended up clicking through the new site, poking around the corners and feeling very important for the day.
And that’s when it happened.
I rediscovered just how much is actually included in a Rachel’s List Gold membership.
Facebook group
And no. It’s not one of those groups where you need trauma therapy after the first hour, posts scroll by so fast, you’re reaching for anti-nausea medication, and someone named ‘freelancer 3487’ is trying to DM you.
We’re a small group. About 600 of us. It’s a mix of people with different skills, different backgrounds and different ways of working. There’s no ‘hive mind’ because no one is trying to outdo each other or prove a point.
We have themed hashtag days, overflow work and every Wednesday is rant day. Your membership fee will pay for itself in group therapy alone.
Job board
We have a job board. With real jobs offering real money. Nobody asking you to work for free or *takes a deep breath* e-x-p-o-s-u-r-e.
My biggest job from the job board? $30k.
Yep, $30,000 website re-write.
Like I said – real money.
Because you actually run a business
Rachel’s List eBook: 101 ideas for landing your next writing gig (50%off)
Let’s not pretend things are not a little rough out there at the moment.
This is practical, no-nonsense help finding work when the usual avenues feel a bit… quiet.
Sometimes you just need new angles. This gives you a lot of them.
Masterclasses (10% off)
These are genuinely one of the strongest parts of the membership.
Real, useful sessions you can actually apply. And if you miss them live, you can watch them later without that lingering guilt of ‘I should have gone to that.’
To feel part of a community
Lunch Club library
Casual, useful and a reminder that freelancing does not have to mean sitting alone in your house wondering if anyone else is working or if it’s just you.
Wednesday writing sprints
My absolute fave! And an underrated gem.
Two hours. Accountability. A bunch of other writers showing up and getting words done.
Every week someone new joins and says, ‘Oh. I actually got things finished.’
Yes. That is the point.
Real-life meetups
And it doesn’t just stay online. The real-life meetups are exactly what you hope they’ll be. Writers, out in the world, talking shop, sharing stories and remembering that there are actual humans behind the names in the group.
Buddy match
No matter how much you love sailing the open seas of freelancing, sometimes you need someone to bounce ideas off, sanity-check your work or just have a bit of a whinge to. Enter the shiny new copy buddy program. Personally, it’s been an absolute game changer for me. My copy buddy – Hi Lee! – and I have settled into fortnightly, Friday afternoon catchups where we chat about all things work. And sometimes not work things too.
Gold Membership discounts
And not a bunch of useless stuff that nobody wants either.
Creators Friend (15% off storewide)
Now… because this is my article, nobody can stop me from saying that this is my favourite discount perk.
I loooooooove the Creator’s Friend products in an unhealthy way.
In fact, I have my entire soon to be critically acclaimed, debut, global best-seller novel plotted and planned out in a series of their notebooks and filed away in delicious vegan leather portfolios
If your brain works best when it can physically see ideas sprawled out in front of you, this is the notebook system for you.
Rounded (20% off your annual plan)
If the words ‘expenses’, ‘BAS’ or ‘reconciling accounts’ make you want to lie down on the floor, Rounded exists so you don’t have to.
This is bookkeeping for people who chose words over numbers for a reason.
Typedesk (15% off an annual plan)
Set up shortcuts for the things you type over and over again and suddenly you’re saving yourself an alarming amount of time.
Efficient. Slightly smug. We love that.
Authory (30% off your online portfolio)
Do you feel like this whenever someone asks, ‘do you have a portfolio’?
Ohhhhh I know that feeling. And this is the solution.
No overthinking. No endless tweaking. Just a clean, simple way to show your work.
Ocean’s Accounting (member discounts)
Professional accounting support, without the stress.
The Design People (10% off first order)
For freelancers who have moved beyond ‘send them a few links and hope for the best’ and want something that actually reflects the business they’ve built.
If you have been a Gold Member for a while, take this as your reminder to go back and take a look at what you are getting.
And if you have been on the fence, or quietly wondering whether it’s worth it, the answer is yes. It really is worth it.
