tips for freelancers Archives - Page 4 of 14

Freelance Interview Series – Freelance Finances 101

by Samantha Anderl | Jul 11, 2023 | Blog, Resources

Treyton DeVore is a creative entrepreneur, freelancer, financial planner, and founder of Creatorbread, a blog and newsletter created to answer all of those questions the self-employed have about money and business. Subscribe to his newsletter if you’re ready to take your business game to the next level.

Freelance Finances 101

How do you recommend freelancers structure their business?

For those just starting out, it makes sense to keep it simple and operate as a sole proprietor (which means you’re acting as a business but you have no established entity). You can accept payments, write off expenses, and offer professional services all without an LLC. But if you plan to stick with it for a while, I recommend setting up a single-member LLC. It’s essentially the same thing as being a sole proprietor, but you get a few extra benefits:

You can apply for an EIN, which is like a social security number for a business (so you can use that rather than your SSN when filling out W9s)
You can apply for business bank accounts
You can apply for business credit cards
You have more legal protection

If you plan to grow into an agency or you’re consistently hitting $10k months, it may make sense to establish an S Corp to save money on self-employment tax. This is complex and rules vary by state so you need to speak with an attorney or accountant before doing so. This’ll help ensure the right steps are taken and that it makes sense for your situation.

Why is it important to have a separate business bank account?

Mixing personal and business transactions in one account would be like managing work for two separate clients in one folder that they both have access to. When you go to file taxes, you need to know what expenses are tied to the business and what income is subject to self-employed taxes – so I recommend having separate business accounts to make your financial life 1000x easier. Without separate accounts, you’d have to go transaction-by-transaction through your personal bank and keep track of the numbers in a spreadsheet to maintain proper records.

You’ll also have cleaner insights into your business when you have accurate numbers. By connecting your business account to accounting software, like Freshbooks, you get all sorts of financial data and reports. Understanding these will help you make better decisions and ideally, make more money.

At what point in the freelance journey do you recommend bringing on a bookkeeper and/or accountant?

I recommend working with an account for tax filing from day one. It’ll cost a little bit of money ($200-1,000+), but even tools like TurboTax typically charge to file self-employed taxes. I like paying for peace of mind so the couple hundred dollars it costs to work with a CPA is beyond worth it. For bookkeeping, it typically makes sense once you’re doing more than $100,000 per year in business revenue. The monthly fees can be a little steep, which is why I recommend doing it yourself until you have extra money in the business to start outsourcing tasks & responsibilities.

What money management advice would you give to year 1 freelancers who want to plan appropriately for things like taxes and retirement?

Most importantly, make sure you’re setting aside something—anything—for taxes from every payment you receive. I recommend 25-30% as a general rule of thumb but the accurate percentage will depend on your unique situation.

Get paid $2,000? Move $500 into a separate account. Some banks, like Found or Novo, will do this automatically. Then you can make the necessary quarterly tax payments (which is required if you expect to owe more than $1,000 throughout the year) and have the funds ready to go.

For retirement, there are a few options available. The easiest way to get started is by opening a Roth or Traditional IRA. These can be opened at places like Vanguard or Fidelity and they’re almost like a bank account that lets you buy stocks. In 2023, you can only put $6,500 into either a Roth or Traditional IRA and there are also some income limits that start at $68,000. The limits change each year so be sure you’re staying up to date with new laws & numbers.

Outside of those two accounts, the best options will depend on how your business is set up. I wrote a fairly in-depth post here about the following accounts:

Solo 401k
SEP IRA
Taxable brokerage
Roth and Traditional IRA

Contrary to what most financial advisors would recommend, I don’t think retirement should be a priority when you’re just getting started, especially if money’s tight. There’s massive upside to getting started early, but there’s also value in financial stability and peace of mind – even more so if you have variable income. Personally, I haven’t invested much in retirement since I started the business. Less than $500. I’ve put all the money back into the business to grow it, paid myself, or saved it in cash. When the business is more established and I have a solid financial foundation, I’ll have more income to ramp up retirement savings in the future.

What expenses should small business owners be keeping track of?

Anything that’s “ordinary or necessary” for your business. That’s how the IRS defines a legitimate business write-off. Need a computer to write? Keep track of the expense and you can probably deduct the full amount on your taxes. Pay for a course to learn a specific skill? Write it off. If you want to learn more about taxes, I wrote a full breakdown of how tax write-offs work here.

What are your go-to podcasts, blogs, or other resources you’d recommend to small biz owners interested in learning more about finances?

The Power of Connection: How Shared Workspaces Can Combat Loneliness for Freelancers

by Lily Meyers | Jun 15, 2023 | Blog, Resources

This is a guest post by Lily Meyers, a freelance creative copywriter with a flair and focus on business who contributes regularly to The Writers Diary.

How Shared Workspaces Can Combat Loneliness for Freelancers

A freelance career can offer many advantages, from the luxury of working remotely to the autonomy of setting your own hours.

But one drawback is often overlooked: the loneliness of working in relative isolation. Freelancers sometimes experience social disconnection. The lack of a communal workspace or team combined with prolonged periods of solo time can easily kill your motivation, leading to low moods, decreased productivity, and a host of other consequences — including burnout. In short: It can be hard on your well being.

To combat the loneliness of freelancing, many solopreneurs have turned to shared workspaces to connect. Coworking can offer a sense of community and normalcy, imitating some of the office perks freelancers typically miss out on. In this article, we’ll explore the power of connection in shared workspaces and how they effectively address the issue of loneliness.

The Rise of Shared Workspaces

The popularity of shared workspaces has grown alongside the ballooning population of freelancers and remote workers. These collaborative environments give freelancers the opportunity to work alongside like-minded people and foster community. With a flexible working space to frequent, freelancers get much-needed facetime with other freelancers. They can network, build relationships, and get the benefits of a traditional workplace without all the traditional expectations. These spaces not only provide a dedicated working area, but they often include amenities and resources that enhance productivity and overall happiness, like private booths for calls, office snacks, social events, and more.

Building a Supportive Community

One of the key advantages of any workspace is the ease of making connections in person. It’s much easier to form friendships at work when you’re bumping into your colleagues every day — and you already have your employer in common. Small talk: Check.

For freelancers, it tends to be much tougher. Building a community requires consistent effort and intention, like reaching out to people you barely know and asking them to meet over Zoom, or inviting a fellow freelancer to grab coffee. While some freelancers are super skilled at networking in this way, most don’t have the energy or desire to put themselves out there that much. Fortunately, shared workspaces can do a good deal of that work for you, inviting you into a supportive community instead of requiring you to build your own on top of managing a business.

Coworking helps freelancers connect with people who share similar work experiences, challenges, and goals. This shared understanding creates an environment of belonging. Freelancers can offer and get advice, share their work, and even collaborate on projects. And by being part of a community, they gain the support and camaraderie that is so critical to feeling happy at work.

Networking Opportunities

Shared workspaces are a hotbed for networking opportunities too. Freelancers can grow their network each day by rubbing shoulders with diverse professionals from a wide variety of industries. This exposure not only opens doors to potential collaborations and partnerships, but it facilitates learning and skill-sharing. Socialising within a shared workspace gives freelancers access to a broader pool of expertise and resources, which naturally opens up more opportunities for growth.

Work-Life Balance

Many freelancers who work from home struggle to draw clear boundaries between their personal and professional lives. After all, your desk is still there during your off hours. Having a dedicated working area outside your home can offer structure and help freelancers build a healthier work-life balance. With a desk, designated break spaces, and organized events, it’s easier to separate your work life from your personal life, which in turn improves your mood and reduces the negative impacts of stress and isolation.

Shared workspaces have emerged as an awesome solution for building connections within the freelance community. These spaces are bringing talented people together and transforming the face of work. By offering an environment that encourages face-to-face interaction, shared workspaces empower freelancers to build support systems that sustain their businesses and their wellbeing. As the freelance economy continues to flourish, shared workspaces will play an increasingly critical role in the future of work as a whole.

If you’re unsure if a shared workspace would help boost your mood and productivity, try easing in by getting out of the house one day a week. If you feel that boost in energy and love it, you can add from there.

Resources

Using Time Blocking to Balance Client Deliverables and Admin Tasks

by Anna Burgess Yang | Jun 13, 2023 | Blog, Resources

This is a guest post by Anna Burgess Yang, a freelance content marketer, journalist, and self-proclaimed workflow geek.

How to Use Time Blocking to Balance Client Deliverables and Admin Tasks

You probably entered freelance life excited about the work you can produce for clients. You have creative control and the ultimate flexibility with your schedule, two very appealing factors of freelance life.

But, freelancing involves much more than client work. Too often, new freelancers aren’t aware of the “business side” of running a one-person operation. You’re essentially also sales, marketing, and finance — all wrapped up into one.

It can quickly feel overwhelming, especially if you treat the business side of your freelance life as an afterthought. Instead, you should set aside time in your week to tackle all of the business tasks that will need your attention. Here are a few things you can do weekly to balance your deliverables and business tasks.

Use calendar time blocking

If you schedule time to do your business tasks, it’s like an appointment with yourself. This does two things: 1) creates a reminder that you need to set aside time for your admin work and 2) encourages you to do the task in one sitting rather than pushing it out and letting it slip from your to-do list.

Some ideas for tasks you can calendar block for:

Sending invoices (and follow up if needed)
Planning your social calendar
Maintaining your online portfolio
Managing your finances (budget or expenses)
Building your network, engaging on social or sending cold emails

The length and frequency of these tasks will vary, depending on the type of work you do. If you’re trying to drum up new business, you may want to send cold emails two or three times per week, for half an hour each time. Some freelancers only invoice monthly, others may send invoices every week.

When scheduling your admin tasks into your calendar, take into consideration time of day and the amount of energy you have. A lot of the business tasks will be less “brain intensive” than your client work, so save your peak performance time for your clients and schedule admin work at a time of day when you can simply execute on those more tedious tasks.

Tips to make the most of time blocking

Client work can often be unpredictable, and it might be tempting to shift your calendar around or ignore the time you’ve set aside for business tasks when a client needs you.

Doing this occasionally won’t have much of an impact, but if you’re constantly pushing aside your business tasks in favor of client work, you’ll find yourself working long hours or weekends to make up that time. Or, you’ll find that your business will suffer because you don’t have a good pipeline or your finances are a mess.

There are a few ways you can manage your calendar to help you stay committed to the time you’ve set aside for business tasks.

Color-code your calendar

You may find that having a visual distinction between your calendar appointments for admin work and other client meetings is helpful. Having your business tasks in RED might remind you that you shouldn’t move that block of time.

Protect your free/busy time

If you’re trying to schedule a lot of meetings with clients (especially using a calendar assistant like Calendly), you need to think about how much you want to protect your blocks of time. You can control this using the free/busy option on Google Calendar. Letting people consistently schedule over your admin time defeats the purpose of adding that time to your calendar.

Set aside a larger block of time

If the idea of setting aside small amounts of time each day or week feels too disruptive, you could also block off a larger chunk of time and do several business tasks. Monday mornings or Friday afternoons are good — either kicking into gear for the week or winding down. Set aside two or three hours and knock out everything on your list.

The same would be true for anything you need to do monthly. Pick one day per month and devote half a day (or whatever you need) to your monthly work.

Use an AI-powered calendar assistant

Setting recurring appointments on your calendar can be tricky if you’re juggling a lot of meetings. You may feel that you have to constantly move your calendar blocks around to accommodate client work.

An AI-powered calendar assistant can take care of this for you. When a client schedules a meeting during one of your scheduled blocks for a business task, the calendar assistant will “move” your business task to the next available time on your calendar. Reclaim and Motion are two options for calendar management.

Factor your non-paying work into your pricing & capacity

Scheduling time for your business tasks helps you with another challenge that many freelancers face: your pricing. When you’re figuring out pricing, you want to factor in the time you spend on your business as a whole, not just your client work. Having recurring blocks of time on your calendar shows you how much time you spend on this work and helps you better understand your business as a whole.

It can also help you better understand your true working capacity. You may find that as your business grows, you actually need more time for admin tasks. Understanding your own capacity will help prevent burn-out and keep you thriving as a small business owner.

Over time, you’ll need to continue adjusting how you handle admin tasks. You may need to spend less time prospecting new clients as you build your business or more time sending invoices as the work increases. Or you may need to change the time of day or frequency. Re-evaluate your blocks of time every few months to ensure you’re still making the best use of your time.

Win-Win: How Freelancers Can Successfully Partner with Agencies

by Christine Olivas | Jun 13, 2023 | Blog, Resources

This is a guest post by Christine Olivas, CEO of No Single Individual (formerly Co Conspirators), an all-women, all-freelance firm that provides integrated strategy teams to agencies of all sizes. Throughout her career, Christine has worked in agencies, as an in-house marketing executive, and as a marketing strategy consultant. Here’s her take on why freelancers should consider partnering with agencies.

How Freelancers Can Successfully Partner with Agencies

Today’s freelancers have access to more opportunities, tools, and resources than ever, especially when it comes to finding prospective clients. Independent contractors looking to secure new projects can turn to a myriad of online marketplaces, collectives and Slack or Discord channels.

Advertising and marketing agencies are an often overlooked source of revenue, especially for newer freelancers. They are a great fit, though, as their structure and client expectations mean that they constantly need the sharpest talent, wherever it comes from.

The keys to a successful partnership with agencies include knowing how to find opportunities, ensuring your rates work with their model, aligning your services to theirs, adapting to their ways of working, and helping them smartly and effectively service their clients.

Keep reading to learn more about this win-win partnership!

Why Partner with Agencies

Advertising and marketing agencies are everywhere. In fact, as of 2023, there are over 88,000 agencies in the U.S. alone {source}. While some agencies have a broad focus (these are often called “full service” or “integrated” agencies), others have a niche focus, whether it’s on a specific industry (e.g., healthcare or cannabis) or a specific marketing service (e.g., social media or paid advertising).

Because agencies typically have long-term relationships with their clients, (which can range from growing startups to Fortune 500 companies), they are committed to certain staffing levels. This means that they have to ensure that key functions (e.g., strategy, creative, client services) on a particular account are fully staffed. This helps them meet client contractual obligations – and opens up significant opportunities for freelancers if there are insufficient full-time team members to perform a function.

Today’s agency clients also expect a certain level of innovation and creativity. Whether they’re looking for a campaign to launch a new brand or a workshop to develop new products, they need best-in-class thinking, project management and creative ideas. To feed their appetite for top talent, agencies will often turn to freelancers who specialize in an area–or will simply bring new thinking to the table.

These are just a few of the reasons why freelancers looking to grow their book of business should seek out projects with agencies of all sizes.

How to Partner with Agencies

Know Where to Look for Opportunities

To find agencies that are seeking freelancers, you can peruse job boards (simply select “contract” for the type of opportunity), search LinkedIn (try the keywords “agency freelance” or “agency gig alert,” or connect with the person responsible for sourcing freelance talent. To find that person, you’ll need to vary titles by size of organization. As an example,at smaller shops a C-level executive may hire freelancers, at larger global firms there will often be a dedicated Head of Resourcing.

Another useful strategy is to reach out to agencies who are hiring for full-time roles. While they will eventually find the right fit for those positions, their postings indicate that there is an urgent account need and may be a way into starting a conversation about what you can offer.

Finally, you can also consider finding and joining various Slack and discord communities that connect freelancers with agency opportunities.

Adjust Your Rates Accordingly

If you’re used to partnering directly with companies or nonprofits, you may be used to charging project or “fixed fee” rates. While agencies sometimes have fixed fee projects, they typically leverage an hour or day rate model, meaning that they compensate contractors based on the time they spend on a given project or client. How best to arrive at your date rate? Take a previous project where you were very fairly compensated and divide the total fees you received by the estimated number of days you spent on it. And always offer a range (e.g., $x/day – $x/day) so you don’t undercut yourself!

Finally, if you’re looking to find standard day rates, there are some resources out there, including Yuno Juno’s report (UK) and Harlow’s freelance rates cheat sheet.

Align Your Services with Theirs

One thing that often deters freelancers from contacting agencies is how specific the titles can be. (“Behavioral Activation Specialist,” anyone?). But don’t let a little industry jargon deter you! Many of these titles have parallels to jobs and functions outside of the agency sphere. For example, a Behavioral Activation Specialist is someone who recommends ideas for influencing audience behavior through events, experiences and campaigns.

See? You got this!

Adapt to Their Ways of Working

There’s no denying that most agencies work at a breakneck pace. They’re in the business of servicing clients, and the demands and requests they get never stop coming. If you can demonstrate that you are good at juggling multiple requests and managing feedback from a variety of stakeholders, you’ll have a clear competitive advantage!

Help Them Service Their Clients

Last but not least, remember that what keeps agencies up at night is the same as what might keep you up at night. They also worry about how to acquire, satisfy and engage clients. Show that you work hard to keep your customers happy, and they’ll have peace of mind that you’ll help them do the same!

A Checklist for Launching Your Freelance Business

by Andrea Wildt | May 25, 2023 | Blog, Resources

So you’ve decided to launch your freelance business. Congrats! You’re joining millions (yes, millions) of people who’ve chosen to work for themselves.

This tried and true path can offer flexibility, independence, and financial security — but there are some key steps you should take at the beginning to increase your odds of succeeding long-term. We put together this handy freelance business launch checklist to help get you on the right path.

Freelance Business Launch Checklist:

Form your LLC – Protect yourself from liability and increase your legitimacy by registering your business as a Limited Liability Corporation, or LLC. This helps safeguard your personal assets in the event a client relationship goes wrong, and it shows potential clients that you’re a serious, reputable operation.

2. Get your EIN – After forming your LLC, you can request an Employer Identification Number from the IRS so you don’t have to use your social security number to get paid. Each time you do work for a client, you’ll provide your EIN number.

3. Set up a business bank account – No commingling funds! Having a dedicated business checking account makes taxes so much easier — trust us. You’ll have all your income and expenses logged in one place. Many accountants and tax platforms can also automatically sync to business bank accounts for easy reporting.

4. Outline your elevator pitch – What are you offering? Who do you want to do business with? Answering these basic questions helps you get clear on your strategy, and developing a quick, digestible pitch will serve you whenever you get asked the question, “So, what do you do?” Casual conversations often lead to new clientele, and having a polished pitch at the ready is just good practice.

5. Define your pricing – What are you charging for your services? What does your fee structure look like? The next question after “What do you do?” is often “How much do you charge?” Defining your rates and your rate structure (hourly, project fee, retainer, etc) is another key step in preparing to pitch to potential clients.

6. Put together your proposal template – Grab that elevator pitch and pricing and combine them into your proposal template, which you can use over and over, tweaking based on the project. You can easily get started with one of Harlow’s six professionally designed and easy-to-use proposal templates, created by expert freelancers

6. Outline your contract and terms – What are your payment terms, late fees, and non-negotiables? Developing a solid, legally fit contract template is arguably one of the most important steps for new freelancers. Your contract is your source of truth for all projects. It’s the foundation you can refer back to if clients make unreasonable asks, miss payments, or otherwise take advantage of you. It sets expectations from the get-go. Sounds daunting? It’s okay, if you’re a Harlow user, we have a great contract you can use, put together by a legal expert who knows what you need covered.

7. Curate your portfolio – Your portfolio will look different based on your industry and niche, but it might contain social posts, visual assets, articles, photographs — whatever it is that captures the quality of the work that you do. Portfolios don’t have to contain freelance work — they can also include work you produced or helped with as a full-time employee or contractor.

8. Put together your promotion strategy – How do you plan to get your first couple clients? Outlining your approach gives you a tangible strategy to commit to. Document the specific channels you’ll leverage (e.g. social media, job boards, word-of-mouth referrals) and the specific tactics you’ll use to maximize your reach (e.g. posting on social twice a week, creating profiles on three gig sites, telling one person about your work every day). Committing to this promotional work can help you build steady momentum and gain visibility quickly.

9. Start networking with other freelancers – There are bound to be ups and downs during your freelance journey. Having people around you who truly understand the challenges makes all the difference. Freelance pals can help keep you motivated and inspired, and empathize when you’re having a tough go of it. Plus, having friends who freelance means you may get some referrals for the gigs they’re not interested in or qualified for — you never know who will send a client your way.

Taking these steps at the start of your freelance journey will save you an immeasurable amount of stress later on and set you up for the kind of freedom and success you’ve been dreaming about. Every freelancer’s path is unique, but if you talk to the most seasoned solopreneurs, they’ll all echo similar advice: Take care of the foundation now. You’ll thank yourself later. Each little step you take is like a vote for creating a more abundant future. Your confidence will increase as you go, and soon you’ll look back with gratitude for how much effort you put into creating the life you want for yourself.

If you need support and resources along the way, Harlow is here to help. Our intuitive freelance tools can help you build a foolproof business foundation, onboard new clients, manage your day-to-day tasks, and get paid. Sign up for a free trial to get started today, and check out the dozens of freelance resources we’ve created for new solopreneurs like you.

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