Showing all posts tagged freelance

In Business & Blogging, Self-Care

Work Life Balance & Freelancing

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on
Work Life Balance & Freelancing

Home life and work life can easily interfere with one another when working as a freelancer. By keeping the two separate, you can work more productively and enjoy your free time more. Here are just several ways to enjoy work life balance when, like me, working as a freelancer.

Work Life Balance Tip 1: Have a Dedicated Work Space

Having a space in your home dedicated solely for work can help you to switch to work mode (and off again). It’s important that your designated workspace is somewhere free of distractions – working from your living room whilst other family members watch TV is not ideal. If you don’t have an individual room to transform into a home office, try to at least designate a corner of a room as your office, For instance, you could consider buying some office furniture and setting up a desk in the corner of your bedroom. Alternatively, you may be able to convert unused space into an office such as an unused loft.

Work Life Balance Tip 2: Work Away From The Home

I remote work a lot. This can help you to get away from the distractions of home and give you that sense of having a separate workplace. Libraries and coffee bars are popular free places to work from. You can also try renting a desk in a co-working space to see if this helps you get into a work mindset. I run a free coworking group in Thirsk aimed at helping reduce freelancer’s isolation and boosting work life balance.

Work Life Balance Tip 3: Keep a Work Schedule

Freelancing offers the benefit of being able to work flexibly, but too much flexibility can have an impact on your ability to work. Try to keep set work hours each day if you can. Not only will you find it easier to concentrate on your work, but you can then set dedicated and uninterrupted times for doing things with other people. I’m very strict on my working and non-working times.

Work Life Balance Tip 4: Use Separate Phones

If clients contact you by phone, it could be worth considering buying a separate phone for work use. You can then turn this work phone off in your free time so that you don’t have to deal with work calls and texts. Similarly, you could turn your personal phone off during work hours – whilst you may still want to keep a few emergency personal numbers on this phone, it could allow you to distance yourself from personal social media notifications and unimportant texts that could serve as a distraction when you’re working.

Work Life Balance Tip 5: Use Separate Email Addresses

It could also be worth setting up separate email addresses. This can allow you to only receive business emails when logged into your work email and only personal emails when logged into your personal email. If you’ve got too separate phones, you may also be able to log each one into a separate account. This is more about avoiding distractions which means you should get your allotted work done in work hours and not run over into “home” time.

If you have any other work life balance top tips for freelancers feel free to comment below. 

In Business & Blogging, Freelance

As a Freelancer You Need to Consider This

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on
As a Freelancer You Need to Consider This

Are you ready to get started as a freelancer? I’ve been doing it for 13 years and it most definitely has benefits, There might be a few issues in this business model that could take you by complete surprise though if you don’t do your homework. The points to consider as a freelancer might help you get started with that research.

Wait, What Did You Say About Tax?

When you operate as a freelancer, you will need to pay tax. Actually, the paying part is fairly typical. It’s the management that becomes an issue and it has the potential to get a lot of freelancers into a whole heap of trouble. Firstly, it’s important to remember that your money is taxed. You need to work this out as soon as you start earning. Otherwise, there’s a strong chance that you’ll accidentally spend your tax money. In the past freelancers have tried to argue that they can’t afford to pay tax and this doesn’t work. The money doesn’t belong to you, it’s the governments so it must fit in your budget. 

The start of this process will always be to keep an accurate record. There’s a lot of work to be done here and it can be quite complex. So, why not make it easier on yourself by using accounting software? With this, you will be able to immediately and accurately find out how much you are earning. You can then use this information to fill in tax details online. I outsource my accountancy to an accountant yet still need to use this type of software.

Be Visible 

Make sure that you are getting noticed online. If you want to avoid spending a lot of money, you might try to build up your professional profile yourself. One of the ways that you can do this is creating a presence across social media. It’s not as complicated as it sounds but you could still get lost in the shuffle. Don’t forget, you’re not the only person looking to make an impression as a freelancer online. There are hundreds of thousands of people in your industry taking the same steps. 

If you want to avoid the issue here then we suggest that you think about joining a platform that will allow you to immediately reach eager buyers. There are countless platforms that clients rely on to find the support from freelancers that they require. 

Points to Consider as a Freelancer: That’s A Little Low

Of course, you’ll face another problem and that’s completion on the market. It’s quite possible that you have another person vying for the same client as you. This can start a bidding war where the client has all the control. Rather than bidding up, you’ll have to bid down until you reach a price that your competitors can’t afford. This does happen quite a lot on the freelance market so you have to be prepared. It’s why many freelancers choose to work through an agent or company. Of course, you can charge what you like, set prices, offer bespoke pricing or generally approach this issue whichever way works best for you.

The Client Is Always Right (Even When They’re Not)

This is actually a myth. You have to be prepared for the danger of a client rejecting your work and demanding that you do it again. This can occur after you have spent hours and hours on a project. Some freelancers may feel that they have no choice but to oblige here. I find that a strong brief in advance and a contract which details how many tweaks or amendments that you will do goes a long way. A good way to avoid a problem would be to make sure you are staying connected with the client and updating them, providing them with examples of your progress. That way you can make sure you’re on the path they want you to follow. Don’t be afraid though to listen to your gut and if necessary end a relationship with a client. Sometimes it just has to be done.

In Conclusion 

As a freelancer you have control over the way that you work, your prices, who you work with and how your business is run. Start with these few tips to get the ball rolling and to make sure that you are on the right track.

 

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