Money Links for Freelancers
Whether you’re starting out or are an old pro, money is always a major concern in the freelance business. Unfortunately, most freelancers are not entrepreneur types. They’re more like “propreneurs,” or professionals who happen to be in business.
So it usually takes a special effort to deal with the business side of freelancing. Here are a few quick links on basic money management.
- Free-Lancing’s Office Side — General tips on financial management for freelancers from The Wall Street Journal.
- How to save money—really — A simple plan for starting to save money from your freelance earnings. Be advised that you’ll need to save more than the example given to pay your taxes.
- Freelance tax FAQ — A nice little Q&A on taxes. Not anyone’s favorite subject, but something you have to deal with.
- Selling Yourself On The Value Of Your Time — Learning to think straight about how time is money when you’re working for yourself. This could make you skip that extra donut break.
- Taking Payment with PayPal, Escrow and other Online Options — Primer on getting paid online and some of the drawbacks and things to watch out for.
- Putting A Price On Your Capabilities — A business writer’s guide to setting fees. Most of the principles here can apply to designers or other freelancers.
- Getting Clients to Pay Up — How to handle those times when a client is slow or negligent in paying your invoices.
Voice Mail: How Not to Sound Like a Clown
“Hello, this is Bigtime Client. I’m out of the office. Please leave a voice message at the beep.”
*BEEP*
“Um, yeah. This is, er, um. This is Dotty Designer calling. I was, uh, just wondering if you, you know, got the samples I sent and, uh, well maybe you didn’t look at them yet because I know you’re busy, but they’re in a big red envelope and I, er, so if you like them maybe you could, uh…”
*BEEP*
The dreaded voice mail message. It’s intimidating and merciless. It can catch you unprepared and will record every stuttering syllable as you try to string together a few intelligible sentences. More often than not, you end up sounding, shall we say, less than professional.
What’s the answer? Be prepared with a short “script.” Read more
Turning Down Freelance Work
Should you ever turn down freelance work? Yes. Absolutely.
I know that sounds like crazy talk, especially if you’re in a dry spell and you really need the money. But real professionals turn down work for all sorts of reasons.
I just read a great article over at Best Practices that suggests 6 Reasons to Turn Freelance Work Down. Number one (personality clash), number three (project outside expertise), and number five (can’t meet deadline) are all reasons I’ve turned down projects.
I’ve also turned down work because I believe the client is dishonest or acting in an unethical way. It’s never easy, especially when there’s a wad of cash hanging out there for you to grab. But in the long run, you’re better off turning down work from time to time.
