Freelance Finance

Lawyers follow this dictum, otherwise known as ABB, and so should you. Once your work’s submitted, submit an invoice immediately. Sure, there are going to be revisions, but if the clients know they’re going to use your work, they may very well go ahead and pay. On some occasions, I have actually been paid before […]

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It is important and necessary to do everything in your power to satisfy your clients. But you must have the courage to limit unreasonable demands. You cannot drop everything for two days to help someone hand-wring over the website you’re designing for them, nor should you volunteer endless revisions of your work. For many years, […]

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I don’t care what your craft is. If you love what you do, the work will always have its own rewards. It will be your rock and bulwark in tough times. It will sustain you and enrich your soul. And you’ll only get better and quicker at it.
But marketing yourself is not often in […]

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There is no reason why you should subsidize the incomes of your clients. It’s customary in many fields for a customer to a deposit or advance for the work they want you to perform. The advance indicates that they are serious about the project. Up to 50 percent up front is reasonable, but you should […]

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Are you outraged about the price of mobile phones? You should be. If you go over your allotted minutes, your carrier hits you with fees. If you stay substantially under your allotment, you’re wasting money. Yes, yes, I know some carriers offer carryover. But if you haven’t used those extra minutes this month, what makes […]

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Once, when I was just starting out as a freelancer, a colleague asked: “How is your freelance life going?” Without missing a beat, I replied, “Great! I’m very busy!” She responded: “It’s easy to be busy. But are you actually making a living?” She was more right about this than I was willing to admit […]

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Time is money. The minute you get a freelance assignment gig, calculate how much time the client is buying from you. Unless you are absolutely dying to do a particular project, a $500 project should buy fewer of your hours than a $1,000, $2,500 or $7,500 project. I have written $1,500 to $2,500 articles in […]

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As the Oscars approach, I made a point the other night of watching Billy Wilder’s 1960 film, “The Apartment,” which won the Academy Awards that year for Best Picture, Best Director, and Original Screenplay, among others. The film got me thinking about the trade-offs all self-employed people make. The movie tells the story of a […]

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In an ideal world, I wouldn’t advise becoming a full-time freelancer until you are 30 or 35 years old. The longer you wait, the more contacts you will have, and the more money you’ll have saved up. And, if at all possible, I would not start as a full-time freelancer unless you had 6 to […]

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