No one actually knows for sure what the logic behind the IRS audit red flag is. Over the years, accountants have seen commonalities within their client base and have noticed trends in businesses that seem to be audited more often than others. This article isn’t meant to scare you; it’s meant to encourage you to keep solid books.

Bookkeeping isn’t hard. With the right accounting software it should only take a freelancer 30 minutes or less per week to do. Continue Reading

Credit: John Morgan on Flickr

Who Am I? I’m Allan, a designer who went from freelancer who was grinding out a meager living to co-founding a highly profitable web shop, now we build our own apps, we host conferences and workshops.

Here’s the skinny… Too many designers are sitting at home, talking about the elusive “portfolio” they plan on building or waiting for word of mouth to take them where they want to go. Here’s some tough love: what good is your portfolio if no one is talking about you or visiting your site?

Word of mouth can take you a long way if people truly are referring you to their friends, but instead of waiting around for others to do you favors, try putting the words in their mouths for them through collaboration marketing.

You need to get out there and network. Share your work, participate in communities, and look to collaborate. Get out of the house and shake some hands, add some real value online, and make things happen.

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My name is Allan. I co-founded LessAccounting. I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a husband. I’m the father of the two cutest kids you’ve always wanted but will never have. And I love Barcamp. You may be wondering what Barcamp is?

Barcamp is a gathering of minds in an open environment with the intent of sharing ideas and providing feedback. It’s an opportunity to present openly, cooperate creatively and iron out kinks. You get 30 minutes and a board space the size of a Post-It to advertise your talk.

Why present at barcamp? I think the better questions is: “why wouldn’t you present at a barcamp?” We’re all looking for an audience, right? Why not speak to an audience of minds just like your own–willing to provide helpful feedback and advice? It’s a no-brainer, really.

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Please learn from my mistakes.

First, who is this guy?

I’m Allan and I started as freelance designer six years ago. After a few months I started hired developers because I started taking increasingly larger web projects. Within two years of starting freelancing I took on a business partner and we started to build web applications. These projects have done well and we’ve started hosting conferences for entrepreneurs. I’ve been lucky and blessed. I’ve made my share of mistakes but here’s the mistakes I’ve made and what I’ve learned in the past six years. Continue Reading

This post is a guest post from Allan Branch, a one time freelancer who created LessAccounting for freelancers who need to keep track of money or send invoices.

If you’re reading this you’re probably not an accountant so bookkeeping is painful, boring and no one likes it. Let’s see if we can make this as painless as possible. Let’s remember that the reason to keep tidy books is to maximize your tax deductions. I make more on an hourly basis when I do my taxes than any other time of the year. If I spend a few hours properly putting everything together I can save (earn) thousands of dollars in reduced tax payments.

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We know you believe that the Earth revolves around your customers. We know you want to be inspired and be around inspiring people. LessConf is not a typical conference. Most conferences leave you tired, uninspired and feeling like you just wasted time and money attending. NOT THIS CONFERENCE! LessConf is a conference for marketers, coders, social media people, designers, user interface studs and business people that need inspiration for fresh ideas. LessConf will be held Saturday, October 17, 2009 in Jacksonville, Florida this year and has an solid speaker lineup.

You will be joined by speakers Gary Vaynerchuk (WineLibrary.tv), Derek Sivers (CDBaby.com), Kevin Hale (Wufoo.com), Mike McDerment (Freshbooks.com), David Hauser (Grasshopper.com), and Eoghan McCabe and Des Traynor (Contrast.ie). There, you will be inspired by people who are building companies and products just like you. These speakers are amazing business minds that have done awesome things. They’re passionate about what they do and how they do it. These aren’t fortune 500 CEO fat cats, these guys started with nothing, just like you, and built their companies around being user/customer centric and delivering an value that people talk about.

For more information head over to http://LessConf.com and register today! The first 100 people to register get to eat lunch with the speakers so don’t miss out!

Because most freelancers love what they do, it can often seem acceptable to work 80+ hours in a single week. While sometimes you really do need to kick out some work, overall it’s not a positive thing to be that unbalanced. In the past months, we have added a few company rules.

I wanted to jot down some things I practice to keep personal life in balance with work. I hope they help you too:

1. No one is productive for +80 hours a week

   With very few exceptions, I’ve never seen anyone who can work more than 80 hours. Besides something isn’t right if you spend that much time working. If you can’t make a living working less than 80 hours a week, you need to change careers.

2. Around 5pm you must be looking for a place to pause work.

   Many of us have small kids and they go to bed early. If you must finish a task do it once they’re in bed. During evening hours, family time is #1, work is far down the list of priorities. We usually do three to five hours of more work after the kids go to sleep
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This post is a guest post from Allan Branch, a one time freelancer who created LessAccounting for freelancers who need to keep track of money or send invoices.

What if someone could sue your company and then, since your company has no money, take your house or win a judgment that takes you fifteen years to pay? The Corporate Veil provides protection against this happening to you.

What is it?

The Corporate Veil is the legal shield that protects an individual from being personally liable for the actions of his/her company. This only applies to owners, partners, board members, not employees or share holders. In this country a person, or a company may sue any other person or company for anything, at any time. But there is only one reason to sue, and that is to be awarded money. So if a person or company doesn’t have any money, then there isn’t really anything to sue for. Continue Reading

This post is a guest post from Allan Branch, a web designer/entrepreneur who started as a freelancer. After just 4 years Allan’s company has grown to 10 full-time employees and is responsible for the indispensable LessAccounting as well has several other apps still in beta.

Over the past years, my business has grown from a freelancer fresh out of college to a business with employees, constant expenses and payroll. When you’re in the early stages of freelancing accounting is simple. You always know what you have in the bank, you have few expenses and few accounts receivable. As you become more established your accounting needs grow. Things can be easier later if you setup a simple accounting protocol early before these problems arise and take over your life.

Here are some basic accounting steps for a freelancer: Continue Reading