Ask FreelanceSwitch #15: Write-Offs, Alternatives to Cold Calling

In this issue of Ask FreelanceSwitch, Travis King and Thursday Bram look at free work and taxes and how to pitch to restaurants.

Ask FreelanceSwitch is a regular column here that aims to help beginners get a grip on freelancing. If you have a question about freelancing that you want answered, send an email to askfreelanceswitch@gmail.com.

Whose cuisine reigns supreme?

Question #1

I’m designing wedding invites for some friends, and I am putting quite a bit of work into it. They are paying me back for printing/shipping costs, but I would like to maximize any tax write-offs I can from this job. Is there some how I can take it as a loss?

-Grayson

Thursday: Unfortunately, you won’t be able to take a loss on this job, at least according to the IRS. Losses are limited to money that you should have had in the first place — for instance, you can write off unpaid invoices that you have attempted to collect some times. It depends on whether you’re using the cash system of accounting or the accrual system. If you don’t know which you’re using, you’re almost certainly using cash. Even if you are using accrual, though, you can’t write off a job you already agreed to do with minimal payment.

The only benefit you can get out of a project like this — where you’re doing something at cost for a friend — is to walk away with a good portfolio piece and a testimonial from your friends.

Travis: You probably already know how little respect I have for maths, and how numbers have never done me a lick of good my entire life. But here is a little equation that has stuck with me through the years: 2 bazillion x zero = 0. Yup, it doesn’t matter how much work you do, if you’re charging zero dollars for it, you get zero tax write offs back.

A few alternative ways to monetize this situation, other than just having a great portfolio piece, is to look at the possibility of running off with some of the gifts on the presents table. If you bide your time till no one is watching, you could probably make off with a nice espresso maker or at very least a chip and dip bowl shaped like a cowboy hat.

Another option is to ask permission to put your name on the back of the invites. Perhaps a ‘lovingly design by Grayson’? The only problem with this is that you’ll get a whole slew of people asking you to do invites for them next. And guess what the payment will be? That’s right 2 bazillion x zero.

Question #2

I’m an aspiring web designer. So far I’ve done a few websites for friends and people I know, and I’d like to know the best way to approach a business in need of a website. For example, there are a few restaurants in my town with no web presence. Do I cold-call them (I really don’t want to do this) , they don’t have an email so I can’t cold email, either. Do I show up and ask for the manager? Any tips?

Thank you! You guys rock!!!

-Monica

Thursday: There are some alternatives to cold calling — which I don’t really enjoy, either. If you can create a situation where you’re warm-calling (the prospective client already knows who you are to some extent), you’ve got a much better chance of landing work. With a local restaurant, for instance, I might try to get an introduction through a networking group or a local business group.

Another useful option is to offer a resource: write up a short report about how a website can help a restaurant attract customers of their own and offer it free of charge to the restaurants you’d like to work with. Calling up a business and offering a free report is a lot easier than calling and asking for work, by the way. After they’ve had time to read the report, call back and ask if they have any questions. That can provide a warm meeting where cold-calling can’t.

One last tip: research the businesses you’re looking at and find out who the decision maker is. More often than not, it’s the owner — and that’s who you want to talk to. A manager has no incentive to pass information along to the owner and anyone lower on the food chain just isn’t worth talking to in this case.

Travis: You are completely correct in two things Monica. Cold calls do suck, and yes, we do rock.

Here’s a better option for approaching restaurants other than the dreaded cold call:

• Do some research and find the best restaurants that look like they have money and a poor web presence.
• Go there for a meal with your husband, boyfriend, or both of them together.
• Order something you think you’re going to love and then record your complete meal and experience.
• Later, write the owner a quick thank you about what you had and how much you enjoyed the meal.
• Then pitch your services in the thank you note eg. You make such wonderful food that it’s a shame that your website doesn’t come across with equal quality. I’d love to help you with that…

You get the picture. People love to hear how great they are, and if you can present yourself as a fan wanting to help them be more successful, you’ll have a much better chance of grabbing the work.

Now, if you get food poisoning from the meal, may I suggest litigation as another possible way to get money from the client?