Freelancefolder

Tips and Guidelines for Smarter Price Estimates

Posted February 27, 2012 in Accounting/Bookkeeping

When you are building a price sheet it can be a struggle to match costs with efficiency. Prices are always changing based on quality and brand recognition. As a small freelancer you probably won’t have much branding, but this isn’t an excuse to lower your standards into accepting a smaller income.

These tips below should get you thinking about estimates for project work. All freelancers must come to terms with the monetary aspect of the job. It’s part of our duty in supporting the client – plus we all need to pay bills. Guidelines are merely limits to follow and not set in stone. Peruse your own path in coming up with a pricing sheet that works best for you.

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Which Business Structure Maximizes Your Freelance Tax Benefits?

Posted November 2, 2011 in Accounting/Bookkeeping, Getting Started

When forming any business, it’s important to consider the legal formation of the business early on. In freelancing businesses in particular, there are specific tax ramifications to the legal business structure that you select. This is particularly true in the U.S., and may be true elsewhere as well.

There are three main types of legal forms of business to consider when starting a freelancing business. These types include sole proprietorships, partnerships, and corporations. In this post, I’ll discuss two of these three types of business in detail.

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It’s Never Too Early to Think About Taxes

Posted October 27, 2011 in Accounting/Bookkeeping, How-To

While April 15 seems like an eternity from now, it never hurts to be on top of your tax game.

For the freelance writer, he or she should be focusing in on their tax information throughout the year, not just panicking the week before taxes are due. Often, freelancers come running to their tax person weeks or days before the April filing deadline with loads of notes, receipts and more. That’s when the fun (not really) begins.

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How Freelancers Can Start to Prepare for Retirement

Posted October 16, 2011 in Accounting/Bookkeeping, How-To

Pretending that retirement will never happen to you won’t keep it from coming one day. For many traditional employees in the daily rat race there are 401ks and investments, social security payments and corporate pensions. This is all leading to that day when the employee chooses to throw in the towel and spend their golden years in leisure.

Most freelancers have none of those safeguards, but even if you do have all of that at your disposal there are no guarantees. The nightmare with the banks over the last decade has proven that. As a freelancer, you may have no benefits from your freelancing business that will prepare you for your final retirement later in life.

Because of this, you have to take your own steps to invest in your future (or at least have an exit plan). That exit plan should include retirement. It is never too soon to start, but there is such a thing as starting too late. So use the overview in this post to start your retirement planning.

(Editor’s Note: The information included here does not constitute specific financial advice and may not represent your particular financial circumstances. Check with your own financial adviser for the most current investment information specific to your own situation.)

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What Is the Difference Between a Hobby and a Business?

Posted June 27, 2011 in Accounting/Bookkeeping

Is your freelancing business actually a hobby?

Some people think that a freelance business is really a hobby if you work from home, but is it? What about if you keep unusual business hours or work part-time? Do these things mean you’re not really in business?

Some so-called gurus say that working from home or keeping unusual hours means you don’t have a real business.

While many people may have their own opinions about what makes up a business, in many countries there is an actual legal answer to the question. In the United States, that answer comes from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

It’s important to get the right answer to this question, because it has broad implications regarding your taxes and bookkeeping. In this post, we’ll discuss this important topic and provide some additional resources that you can turn to with questions.

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Open Thread: How Do You Handle Your Accounting Tasks?

Posted April 24, 2011 in Accounting/Bookkeeping, Open Thread

Accounting is a struggle for many freelancers. While most freelancers are an expert in their chosen field, many have little to no training in accounting.

Yet, proper accounting is a vital part of running a freelancing business. An accounting mistake can have serious consequences for a business. Good accounting practices can mean the difference between having a profitable business and losing money.

There could even be negative tax consequences for not keeping your bookkeeping records correctly.

I was discussing this topic recently on Twitter with fellow freelancers @SHurleyHall and @leslieajoy. Both agreed that they would love to know more about accounting.

Which causes me to wonder about our freelancing community here on Freelance Folder.

How do you handle your accounting tasks?

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Freelance Finances – What to Do with All that Money

Posted March 28, 2011 in Accounting/Bookkeeping

Being a successful freelancer means you have the ability to earn a lot more money than you ever could with a full-time job.

Therefore, it’s very important that you have a good financial head on your shoulders. Otherwise, you could end up broke, in debt, or even lose your business.

It’s quite easy to forget about sticking to a budget or about saving when you’re making lots of money, but are you prepared for an emergency? Are you really prepared?

What if you’re out of work for six months because of being ill? What if your work dries up?

Here’s my five-step plan for being smart with your money, making the most of it–and finally–enjoying it!

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7 Best Practices for Sending Invoices

Posted March 14, 2011 in Accounting/Bookkeeping

Sending invoices is one of my favorite freelancing activities, second only to actually receiving payments.

What few freelancers may realize, however, is that invoices are not simply instruments for getting paid. They’re part of your business communication, branding, and marketing.

Imagine if you were a designer and you send generic invoices from PayPal. Or a writer and your invoices have typos. That may cause your clients to doubt your abilities.

In contrast, one of the graphic designers I work with uses PayPal to invoice me, and she has the loveliest headers on her invoices and receipts. Even though I’m in the PayPal interface, I see these cool headers, and they remind me of why I hired her. In fact, they make me excited to work with her.

In this post, I’ll share seven techniques to make your invoicing practices really stand out.

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10 Tips for Saving Money as a Freelancer

Posted February 21, 2011 in Accounting/Bookkeeping, Lifestyle

Now that I’ve been freelancing for well over a year, I’ve dealt with my fair share of expenses, taxes and other terrible money sucking things we have to deal with as the self-employed. There are several ways to manage these of course, and ways to save money doing so.

Unfortunately, just because we stay at home it doesn’t mean that we save more money than someone who works outside of the home. Yes, we have to pay for less gas, we don’t have to pay to eat out, nor do we have as many car expenses. But if you’re not careful, you can actually spend a lot more than someone who does drive 30 minutes away to work.

Here are ten of the ways I’ve found to save money for everything we deal with as business owners.

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