Hourly Rate Calculator. A Comprehensive Guide to Starting Your Freelance Career. Working as a contractor--or freelancing as it is often termed--is both a great stepping stone to running your own business and a viable career in itself.
For the uninitiated, there can be numerous hurdles to overcome on the way to starting and having a successful freelancing career. As a former freelancer myself and having employed more than a few, I have observed some of these hurdles firsthand. This article discusses some of the ins and outs of both freelancing and running a small business. This article is also available in French. Pour nos chers lecteurs de la langue Francaise, je suis heureux de vous informer que vous pouvez lire une traduction complete de cet article: Le guide complet du débutant freelance.
Note: A few times a month we revisit some of our reader’s favorite posts from throughout the history of FreelanceSwitch. What is Freelancing? Today freelancing typically refers to writers, designers, programmers and so on. Branding Yourself Easy to remember. Where do you find work? The Legalities of Freelancing Under a Brand Name. Being easy to find is crucial for a freelancer.
That used to mean making sure that you had a name — your own or a brand name — that started with ‘A’ so you came first in the phone book. These days, it means having something unique that ensures that prospective clients find you immediately when they plug it into a search engine. It can seem easy to set up a brand name: you just have to buy a domain name and suddenly you’re in business under your new name. But there are some legal concerns that you need to deal with, sooner rather than later. Getting the Money If your clients generally pay you in cash, it doesn’t matter what name you’re operating.
Considering how important it is to actually get paid, if you’re going to stay in business, you need to make understanding the local regulations a priority if you don’t want to work under your own legal name. Trademarks and Branding Materials That usually means filing for trademark protection. The Value of Your Business Name [disclaimer/] Are You Missing The Point Of Being A Freelancer? Whether you’re a part-time graphic designer or full-time web content writer, a freewheeling blog consultant or an outside-the-box marketing genius, you jumped into freelancing for one simple reason – and it wasn’t simply “the money.”
There’s no doubt money was a motivator, but what you were really after was freedom. Freedom from a day job, freedom from financial stress, freedom to work wherever and whenever you want to … but are you really on the path to enjoy that freedom, or are you just fooling yourself? Freelancing Should Be A Springboard, Not a Treadmill No matter what line of freelance work you’re in, you make one simple exchange each day: you trade time for money. But if you spend your days trading the same amount of time for the same amount of money, you can enter into a danger zone where you risk losing the freelancing spark. 3 Ways To Hop Off The Treadmill And Get Closer To Freelance Freedom Improve your strengths and raise your rates.