The freelance world has erupted with opportunities in the last decade. There are so many people living around the globe making healthy incomes while working from home or abroad. The beauty of freelancing is that there is a low cost of operating. Designers might need to have certain equipment that they likely already have if they have worked at a design agency in-house. Running a freelance business is still stressful as you have to rely on yourself to find clients. Upwork and other freelancer platforms can be a great place to start but they do take fees from each contract whether it is billed hourly or per project. Avoiding disasters is about informing yourself of what you need to worry about. The following are tips to avoid disasters in your freelance business.
Put Money Aside For Taxes
You are going to have to put money aside for taxes rather than spending wildly. You have an idea of how much money you will be making for the most part. Putting away money monthly can allow you to live the lifestyle you want but there are other options. Paying quarterly taxes is extremely convenient if you know that you have a tendency to spend money in a splurge. Finding QuickBooks Proadvisors to help you can be immensely useful. These pros can help with everything from setting up invoicing with automatic payments and categorizing relevant expenses. You do not want to get to April only to owe more money to the IRS than you currently have in your bank account.
Get Long-Term Agreements Signed When Possible
A number of companies are going to give you consistent work if your pricing is affordable and you provide quality work. Asking a client to sign a long-term contract will not scare them away as they can just deny the request. Others will put you on some sort of retainer to make sure you do not start working for another company willing to commit. You want to be able to stabilize your income as losing a major client can leave you in financial peril. The ability to rely on a few clients that you have worked with for years provides a sense of comfort. Otherwise, you could constantly worry about a client ending the business relationship.
Contracts also make it far easier to guarantee payment although freelancer platforms usually have a good arbitration process. Unfortunately, some clients try to take advantage of freelancers by refusing to pay them or taking months to hold up their side of the agreement. Clients that are late with payment yet demand that you hit deadlines should be replaced by clients that understand how business relationships should be handled.
Value Your Work Correctly
Pricing your work too low can result in you leaving money on the table each hour you work. Take a look at others that have similar skills to see what their rates are. You do not want to lose a client due to pricing yourself too low then increasing your rate substantially. Test projects to see how a client works can be a perfect way to decide if the client is someone you want to enter into a long-term relationship with.
Freelancing provides a sense of freedom that is nearly unmatched professionally. Manage your business correctly to avoid disasters as not everything will go right all of the time.