Photo by jenn_jenn.

I recently concluded a series of articles on New Year’s Planning. And here we are, in the New Year, and I have it on good authority that some of you still haven’t created your 2009 client acquisition plan.

I’m also hearing that there are some freelancers who have yet to do an annual budget.

We’ll start with client acquisition. I’ve created a free Excel application that will allow you to track your efforts. Download the 10 Business-Building Tools Tracker file and open it in Excel. Since it’s in Read-Only format, save the file under a different filename so you can work with it.

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With economic conditions rather on the grim side, it makes sense to look for ways to distinguish yourself from the competition, to strengthen your appeal to existing and potential clients. This goes beyond just a general increase in marketing activity. It is a matter of enhancing your value to your customers, of showing them how doing business with you can stretch their tight budgets a little farther.

Most freelancers can add value to the services they offer by tapping an area of expertise they may not realize they have. The fact is that as you work with clients and complete projects, you become more and more knowledgeable about the world your client contacts live in: their constraints, their needs, their preferences, their goals, their habits, their procedures, their biases and assumptions about working with people just like you.

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I’ve been a freelancer full-time for over 6 years and a credit card holder for about 8 years. I love being able to set my own hours and being able to only work when I want to. While others face a hassling commute and complain about their daily grind, I enjoy a work situation I love.

The one downside, of course, is that with freelancing, finances can really be up and down. It can make credit cards more than a little tricky. By making most of the mistakes it is possible to make, I have found that freelancers should be careful with the plastic and keep the following in mind:

1. Look for other types of credit. As a freelancer, waiting for that check can sometimes be hard. Not all clients are prompt in paying you, and that can create problems. Clients may be tardy, but your bills still have an annoying tendency to be due at the same time each month –- whether you are getting paid or not. Credit can be one way to make sure that you can fill any financial gaps, but just because you need credit does not mean that credit cards are the best option. Lines of credit can be more flexible and far less expensive, for example. If there are times when you know you will need to borrow to pay your bills, be sure to select the best credit option.

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Buying your first home can seem intimidating and scary, especially when the news is full of talk of mortgage crisis, and especially when you’re a freelancer without a steady paycheck to rely on. In fact, it can seem downright impossible.

The first time I was looking into buying a home, it was with my boyfriend: a nice, steady, engineer-type with a full-time job. I was freelancing lots of small gigs that added up to a nice income but didn’t look very reliable on paper. But we figured that with his undeniably reliable paycheck, a bank could be persuaded to give the two of us a mortgage.

Well, instead of buying our first place together, we broke up, and to me it looked like my hope of owning a home was gone, too. Sure, I was making money, and more every year, but like many freelancers, my income was erratic. I never had any idea what I would be earning more than eight weeks out. To make things worse, I had credit card debt and had been late a few times on bill payments. Plus, I’d never heard of a freelancer buying her own place without also hearing that her spouse had a steady job, or that the freelancer’s career was bringing in six figures.

Neither of those descriptions fit me, and wouldn’t anytime soon.

So, while I was digging into pints of ice cream mourning a broken relationship, I was also mourning the broken dream of homeownership. As far as I could tell, I was either going to have to wait for a (corporate) knight in shining armor, or save my pennies for about 20 years. Yeah, good luck to me. Continue Reading

Photo by Ella's Dad.

Once you have left the land of COLA raises, paid sick days, and employer-matched 401Ks, not only do you need to be the writer/programmer/web designer for your business, you also need to be your own CFO.

Here are some absolutely necessary components for your business (and life) financial portfolio:

1. You need insurance. In addition to car and home insurance, you must also now fund life, health, and disability insurance. Without these critical coverages, not only could you be swamped with debt brought on by an unforeseen medical situation, but your business could lose its most important asset—you!

2. You need to pay your taxes. Religiously. As soon as income hits your mailbox or PayPal account, it is imperative that you take 30% off the top and tuck it securely away in a separate (interest-bearing) savings account. This money will then be ready to pay your monthly, quarterly, or annual IRS bill, in full and on time. Continue Reading

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You’ve heard it before: “live within your means,” “a penny saved is a penny earned,” “don’t break the bank.” But do you actually put those ideas into practice? Or do you just pull out your plastic, figuring you can write it off at the end of the year anyway?

I used to roll my eyes when my parents lectured about money. But now that I’m writing full time, I consider my Yankee upbringing to be a blessing. With a recession looming in the United States, it’s time to get serious about saving money in your personal and professional life.

Heres’s how to get started… Continue Reading

Photo by Argenberg.

This post is the second half of our two-author, two-part series on smart saving.

Along with the health insurance dilemma, some full-time employees can be reluctant to quit their job to freelance full-time because it means giving up such perks as a pension and company-sponsored 401(k) retirement plan.

So, in this article, we’ll examine some ways you can keep saving for your future without being backed by a company.

But first, the obligatory disclosure: I am not an accountant or a financial planner, nor I am pretending to be. I’m just a writer whose done a fair bit of research. Please consult a financial professional before placing your savings into any one place.

Also please note that while the terminology in this article is specific to the United States, many other countries have similar options available under different names. Continue Reading

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This post is the first half of our two-author, two-part series on smart saving.

Many Freelance Switch readers are probably aspiring professional freelancers with a day job. Shama Hyder earlier provided 5 steps for switching from side gig to full time. There’s one really important step that Shama alluded to and that I’d like to expand on: savings.

Before you jump into full-time professional freelancing, you want savings. (Read further below for an explanation why, beyond the obvious.) Do not venture into full-time freelancing without savings.

General Savings Tips

1. Save for the future.
   Don’t save for next week, next month, or later this year. Lean periods in freelancing careers can and do ruin marriages and family relationships. Think like a business owner, not like one person constantly looking for freelance work. Use longer-term investments such as bonds or blue chip stocks (that you’ve researched well). Continue Reading