Freelance Opportunities…at Starbucks

Wired reports on an interesting development that means more freelance opportunities at Starbucks. And possibly WITH Starbucks.

In the last few years, unless you have an AT&T account or purchase and use a Starbucks gift card, there was no such thing as a publicly available wi-fi signal at the famous coffee shop chain. iPhone users could happily freelance away thanks to their AT&T mobile login, but the rest of the freelancers had to make do some other way.

But Starbucks has finally realized what all those people typing away furiously at their Macs and Windows laptops REALLY want from Starbucks aside from those high-calorie pastries and pricey lattes. A place to get stuff done–an office away from home. One that has music that won’t make you run screaming for the earplugs (except when they play that Paul McCartney album AGAIN for the millionth time.)

According to Wired, “Starting July 1, Starbucks will let anyone connect to its WiFi network for free. This fall, the company will add a content network called Starbucks Digital Network, in partnership with Yahoo and other sites, which will include local content you won’t be able to read anywhere else. Both offerings will be free.”

BigDifBooks — Making a Big Difference in Kids’ Lit . . .

by Erin Dalpini

Dreaming of becoming a published author? Here’s an avenue you may not have considered—publishing a kids’ book. It’s simple, it’s fun, and it’s free, that is, if you work with BigDifBooks. This up-and-coming company’s transforming the way children’s literature is published, thanks to the marvels of e-book technology and a group of folks committed to sharing great stories with kids.

Tom Watson, founder of BigDifBooks, joined us again to discuss his passion for children’s literature—the inspiration behind his company—and more. (By the way, if you missed our last post on BigDifBooks, check it out here.)

Freelance-Zone: Why did you make a website for kids’ books? Why might a freelance writer want to write a kids’ book?

Tom Watson: The whole idea is to give kids (and parents) access to original stories for very little money–or none at all. I probably wouldn’t have started our company if I wasn’t a parent myself, to be honest. I’m kind of a kids’ book snob. … Continue Reading

The 411 on new 1099-MISC tax rules for freelancers

Not many headlines stop me in my tracks, but this one from CNNMoney.com Small Business did. (WARNING: You might want to swig some Peptol-Bismol before visiting the link.)

Health care law’s massive, hidden tax change

Currently, we’re all familiar with receiving 1099s at tax time; you’re also supposed to follow up with any client who owes you one. For those of us who hire other freelancers or legal services in excess of $600, you need to send 1099s to them, too. No big deal, it’s part of being in business for yourself.

But the new healthcare law slides a pair of nasty little requirements into your accounting for 2012 and beyond. You’ll now need to:

1. Track not just services over $600, but tangible goods you purchase, and
2. Send 1099s not just to individuals, but to corporations.

So, spend more than $599 and you’re going to send a 1099-MISC Apple or Dell, after researching their federal tax information. Same with GoDaddy, Staples, Costco, Verizon, Exxon and so on. Regardless of whether you are thrilled or horrified at the healthcare law, there’s no question this will add significantly to your accounting workload. (And you might want to stock up on stamps.) Naturally, our friends in D.C. are saying it’s for our own good, because it will aid in tax compliance to help pay for the new benefits.

Philosophically, I take issue with that concept, or at least with the execution. I pay my taxes willingly, but the process already consumes more than its fair share of my time and energy. $600 is an awfully low threshold nowadays, and this puts a burden on the people least equipped to handle it, in order to “police” scofflaws. I suspect it is laying the foundation for a VAT tax in our near future.

I also suspect it will create more unwitting criminals through tax bureaucracy. This opinion from a respected registered investment adviser, “1099 Mandate from Hell Slipped into Health Bill,” concludes: “Clearly this is insanity. If enacted, it will be the most widely ignored IRS regulation in history.” Time will tell.

New Freelance-Zone contributor Jake Poinier is the founder/owner of Boomvang Creative Group, the newly launched advice blog for freelancers, Dear Dr. Freelance, and a ruminator on assorted business topics at Jake’s Take.

Review: Peter Bowerman’s The Well-Fed Writer (2nd Edition)

By Erin Dalpini

“Have you ever dreamed of becoming a writer but never took it too seriously, because after all, the words ‘starving’ and ‘writer’ are pretty much joined at the hip?” asks freelance copywriter and author Peter Bowerman in his updated edition of The Well-Fed Writer.

Well, have you?

Bowerman’s query brings up the quintessential conflict that faces all freelancers and wanna-bes at one point or another in their careers—how to write away the workday, without having to pinch pennies.

Maybe you’ve already made it past that point.

Great. This book is still worth your while.

Or maybe when you read the opening question, you thought, “Yeah, that’s pretty much me in a nutshell.” That’s even more reason to check out Bowerman’s aptly-named The Well-Fed Writer, in which he shares a slew of industry secrets that will assist you in successfully marketing yourself and your writing.

Compartmentalized into useful chapters such as  “Money Matters: How Much to Charge and How to Get Paid,” “Learning to Love S&M (Sales and Marketing),” “Where’s the Business?” and “The Well-Networked Writer,” this book touches on all the fundamentals of freelance copywriting while maintaining the spunk and attitude often lacking in the average guidebook.

I have to admit I was quite skeptical about “commercial” freelancing when I first started reading The Well-Fed Writer. … Continue Reading

Try This: Write a Greeting Card

Happy birthday! Although it’s more likely in this digital era that you’ll receive Facebook posts and texts acknowledging your day of birth rather than a hand-written greeting, the average American still receives more than 20 greeting cards each year, contributing to an industry that grosses an estimated $7.5 billion a year, according to the Greeting Card Association.

I venture that’s because there’s something special about giving or receiving the perfect birthday card. You know, the one that fits to a T the personality of the recipient, the birthday card you receive that makes you laugh out loud. But who writes those funny or sentimental messages? Who keeps them fresh?

Enter Oatmeal Studios, a humorous greeting card company, and their pool of freelance writers and artists. Do you have what it takes to be a greeting card guru? Dawn Abraham, Editor at Oatmeal Studios tells all . . .

Freelance-Zone: Oatmeal Studios has been around for about 25 years. Can you tell writers a bit about the company?

Dawn Abraham: Actually, Oatmeal Studios has been around for more than 30 years. It started as a family-owned business with a few designs and grew into a large, alternative humorous card company with sales internationally.

FZ: How did you come to be involved with the company? 

DA: I started writing for Oatmeal in 1986 and because I lived nearby, it was a natural progression for me to start working in the company part-time as an assistant editor in 1987; I have been working here since then (with one break when my kids were little)…

… Continue Reading

Freelance Tax Time

by Joe Wallace

I’m not going to be one of those sissy bloggers who says, “This is not tax advice.” This IS tax advice. It’s the best tax advice you’ll ever get. It’s two little words with a universe of implications.

File early.

One year, I  had to file late. Because I filed late, I didn’t learn until it was too late that I needed one more deduction–a big one–to keep me out of hock with the IRS. I could have contributed a nice large chunk to my IRA and avoided owing the same amount. I would have owed something, to be sure, but not the large sum I wound up having to pay.

… Continue Reading

Blogger Beware!

by Joe Wallace

I literally just got off the phone with one of my writing pals who was filling me in on the latest gossip; she told me a story that should serve as a cautionary tale for new writers and bloggers, so I’m sharing it here (with all names and vital details changed, of course.)

Since I got this information second hand, regardless of the source I must relate it in a way that screams “fiction” instead of “reportage!” So bear with me.

And please note that I did NOT write “bare with me” as so many of the kids today seem wont to do. … Continue Reading

Using RSS to Snipe Freelance Jobs on Craigslist

by Joe Wallace

Some writers I know swear by Craigslist; I used to swear by it myself until the advent of the CL scraper sites where “freelance jobs” means every CL post known to mankind along with all the other popular writing job sources. Now those who post jobs on CL are flooded with a massive amount of replies from writers from every skill level. Some who used to post jobs on Craigslist have given up and while there are still legit jobs to be found there, you have to wade through such an enormous amount of crap that it hardly seems worth it from where I sit.

But there are PLENTY of people who still love Craigslist as a source for freelance jobs. And in spite of the clearinghouses (a nice way of saying “Craigslist scraper sites) there is a way to beat the system. It’s so obvious that I’m sure many of our readers here are already doing this…but for those who aren’t, let me explain why you absolutely DO NOT need to rely on ANY third party website to get the Craigslist info you need. … Continue Reading

Tax Advice for 2009 Freelancer Income

by Joe Wallace

Most freelance blogs preface any post about taxes by saying, “This is not tax advice. Consult a tax pro for advice on filing your taxes.” Well, I’m through with all that–at least for this post. I’m going to flat out dispense some tax advice here and boy, is it some sound advice. (Nice ego, eh?)

This advice isn’t really that radical, but it can spare you plenty of grief come April 15th–especially if you’ve made too much money in 2009 and need some last-minute help offsetting a big tax bill.

Here’s my tax advice: Gather up all your receipts this weekend or next, figure out your expenses for the year and measure them against your income. Yes–I’m suggesting you do a dry run on figuring out your 2009 taxes to see how much you owe. … Continue Reading

Freelance Gear: Are Your Assets Protected?

Thursday Bram wrote a good article about preparing a freelance business plan. Freelancing is just as much a business as any bricks and mortar storefront, and the sooner writers, coders, graphic designers and other freelancers recognize that fact, the quicker they can start protecting that business properly.

One thing I’d add to the Bram article is something many freelancers overlook–insurance. Not health insurance, which is very important, but business insurance, renter’s insurance, or any other coverage that protects your most valuable assets related to getting the job done.

Freelancers often take their gear and office space for granted, but do a quick tally on the dollar amounts you have invested in your gear. Even if you only have $5K invested in a laptop computer, router, mobile internet card, camera, voice recorder, printer, etc…can you really afford to lay out five grand to replace it all? What about when you transport this stuff in your vehicle? … Continue Reading

Are You Wasting Money on Your Blog?

By Yolander Prinzel

Almost every freelance writer out there has a blog. Certainly, we can’t all need that much advice, can we?

If you have a blog, every hour you spend on it is unpaid time (I’m assuming Adsense and Clickbank aren’t paying your normal rate) and is time that might better be spent on client work or marketing.

Or not.

Really, it depends on why you are blogging. For some, blogging is an outlet for their frustrations. For others, it is a way to build a community and share their experience. And some lucky folks use it to make money through Adsense, selling their own products and services or using it as a sample for potential clients.

No matter what you do your blogging for, make sure that you have a plan and purpose for your blog and that it is fulfilling that plan and purpose. If it isn’t, decide what you can do to make it worth your while either financially, emotionally or…spiritually.

Yolander Prinzel, ACS is a financial writer as well as a series 7, 66 and 2-15 licensed financial representative with a decade of industry experience. She was the National Director of Marketing and the Director of Operations for The Compass Agency USA and has also been a trader for Raymond James Financial Services. None of her posts are meant to be advisory. Only an advisor with close, personal knowledge of your financial situation can offer advice. You can get her new e-book You’ve Found Your Specialty–Now What? Tips and Tricks to Finding and Scoring Clients and Making a Living Writing What You Know here for just $7.95.

Freelance Insider Trading

I’ve been doing an informal temperature check on the state of the freelancing industry, just to see what 2010 might hold for us in terms of gigs, pay and treating water financially. I can’t reveal my sources, so this won’t sound as authoritative as it could, but for all intents and purposes this is the way I see the wind blowing for the next six months to a year.

One caveat-this is by no means scientific. It’s just my version of reading the tea leaves, but my own personal leading indicators give me reason to believe good things are happening. … Continue Reading

Get Your Financial House in Order before You Freelance Full Time

By Yolander Prinzel

This week, Joe did a little tongue-in-cheek (okay, that saying doesn’t even make sense. Where else would your tongue be??) post about quitting your job today and going full time into freelancing. I thought I would piggy back on his post and write one that is tongue-out-of-cheek, which may mean I’m sticking my tongue out at you as I write this, I’m not sure.

Here are some financial things to consider and do before you quit your job to freelance full time:

1. Find out how close you are to your next vesting year. For every year that you are with an employer, you are more and more vested in the corporate contributions to your retirement plans. If you are thinking of quitting now and you are just 5 months away from being 20% more vested, you could lose hundreds of dollars by leaving too soon.

2. Save at least two months worth of expenses. Yeah, no, I know, you have a huge client list and your business is going really well, so it’s all good if you have no savings. Except that no, no it’s not. How are you going to deal with it the first time a gig falls through? The first time you lose a regular gig because the company goes bankrupt? The first time a check gets lost in the mail or sent out late? There are so many variables to worry about that you definitely want an emergency slush fund above and beyond your other savings.

3. Do what it is you think you are going to do. You know how much money you need to earn each day in order to live. If you need to make $200 a day and your regular gigs make up $150, then you need to find another $50 in gigs each day. You really do need to go ahead and do that. It’s very easy to just…not…and sit around reading instead. If you do, you’ll find you start depleting your savings pretty quickly.

4. Keep marketing and networking. Even if you have enough work this month and next, you need to be marketing and networking for your future months. You don’t want to be caught off-guard when your workload starts to slow and then try to scramble to find some real quick-like.

Yolander Prinzel, ACS is a financial writer as well as a series 7, 66 and 2-15 licensed financial representative with a decade of industry experience. She was the National Director of Marketing and the Director of Operations for The Compass Agency USA and has also been a trader for Raymond James Financial Services. None of her posts are meant to be advisory. Only an advisor with close, personal knowledge of your financial situation can offer advice. You can get her new e-book You’ve Found Your Specialty–Now What? Tips and Tricks to Finding and Scoring Clients and Making a Living Writing What You Know here for just $7.95.

Make Money on Your Tax Money

By Yolander Prinzel

You know that big, annoying wad of cash you keep reserved for quarterly estimated taxes? Yeah, you know the one–the wad that obnoxiously sits there for months tempting you to spend it on clothes, books, records, vacations, and fancy alcoholic drinks. Well, anyway, instead of letting it sit in your business checking account, why not move it to a money market account and earn some interest on it? Show that wad who’s boss by making a little interest off of its obnoxious little behind.

If you are lazy (like me) you can just open a Paypal money market account. The rates are not as competitive but if you get paid through Paypal often, you can just leave the money there and let it earn some interest.

Either way, it isn’t going to net you a ton of money and you will have to pay taxes on the interest, but hey, maybe the interest will be enough to offset that fancy alcoholic beverage you desperately need after filling out your 941 every quarter.

Yolander Prinzel, ACS is a financial writer as well as a series 7, 66 and 2-15 licensed financial representative with a decade of industry experience. She was the National Director of Marketing and the Director of Operations for The Compass Agency USA and has also been a trader for Raymond James Financial Services. None of her posts are meant to be advisory. Only an advisor with close, personal knowledge of your financial situation can offer advice. You can get her new e-book You’ve Found Your Specialty–Now What? Tips and Tricks to Finding and Scoring Clients and Making a Living Writing What You Know here for just $7.95.

Things I Learned About Writing From Record Stores and Whole Foods

By Joe Wallace

As I drive across America travel writing and blogging about my adventures, I keep seeing these little parables about the writing life. Today’s discovery came after a morning drive from Dallas to Austin, Texas. (The day before I was in Springfield, Missouri so I probably come off a bit punchy in these recent posts).

One of my travel blogging stops in Austin was Waterloo Records–a local fixture in the indie music scene for many years. Waterloo began its stay in its current location as one of several tenants–it shared the building with two other shops. But now, the others have moved out and it looks as though Waterloo Records is poised to take over the entire building. Not sure if that will happen, but it did get my gears turning. Operating a writing business successfully should happen much the way Waterloo’s success did. … Continue Reading