Category Archives: freelance money

advice, freelance money

Tax Advice for 2009 Freelancer Income

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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 Tax Advice for 2009 Freelancer Income →

advice, freelance money

Freelance Gear: Are Your Assets Protected?

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how to write an invoiceThursday 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 Freelance Gear: Are Your Assets Protected? →

advice, blogging, freelance money

Are You Wasting Money on Your Blog?

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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 money

Freelance Insider Trading

moneyI’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 Freelance Insider Trading →

advice, freelance money, lifestyle

Get Your Financial House in Order before You Freelance Full Time

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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.

advice, freelance money

Make Money on Your Tax Money

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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.