Most freelancers began their career working for someone else. You had (fairly) regular hours, and a dependable paycheck. Wouldn?t you have noticed if your paycheck was wrong, late or missing? Wouldn?t you have raised a ruckus, demanding your pay? You had earned it after all.
Why don?t you give yourself the same respect now that you work for yourself?
- Are you sure you?re getting paid what you?re worth (and I mean money into your personal bank account)?
- Are you following up with clients who are slow to pay, or just don?t pay at all?
- Are you getting all your expenses reimbursed?
No you?re not. Don?t believe me? Read on and then tell me I?m wrong.
Expense Tracking Solutions for Freelancers
When you worked for a corporation did you ever fail to submit an expense reimbursement request? In other words, did you ever pay for something with your own money and never ask your company to pay you back? I?m guessing the answer is no.
Then why aren?t you doing the same for your own business? Are you tracking every dollar of expense in your business? Even the five dollars here or seven dollars there? Do you think that it?s so small it doesn?t matter? WRONG!
What if you didn?t record five dollars of expense every week for a year? At the end of the year you would have missed $260 of expenses (52 weeks * $5)! Not so insignificant anymore is it?
I know time is at a premium, so here are a few easy, fast and budget conscious solutions to your expense tracking conundrum:
- Shoeboxed.com (US based) ? My personal favorite, you can submit expenses in almost any method (except carrier pigeon, don?t ask me why)
- Keebo.com (UK based) ? basically the UK version of Shoeboxed.com
- Concur.com
- Expensify.com
Accounting Solutions for Freelancers
When you worked for a corporation someone else got to worry about the financial health of the business. However now that you are your the boss that responsibility falls on you.
My clients often say, ?Sure I check my books. Every year at tax time.? Hmm?
Ever been to a sporting event? Or played on a team? Did you ignore the score until the game was over? Of course not! If you were losing you needed to consider what to change to try and win. If you were winning you wanted to keep doing the things that were working.
Why is your business any different?
It?s not. You need to know the score so you can know if you are on track to make your profit goals for the year. I realize you didn?t go into business to fuss with numbers. Here are a couple easy solutions for you to create that scoreboard and leave time and energy to run your business.
Invoicing Solutions for Freelancers
Have you been paid for all the work you?ve done? Do you even know if you have?
If you?re not invoicing and ensuring those invoices are paid then you are working for free. If I?m going to work for free I?d rather it be for the charity of my choice!
Get set up now on a system that makes invoicing and tracking payments easy. Just like that missed paycheck when you worked for a corporation, you need to know when to raise a ruckus.
- Freshbooks ? Very popular with freelancers
- FreeAgent.com ? Yes this is both an accounting solution and an invoicing solution. If you?re looking for a simple, streamlined application, be sure to check this out.
- Curdbee.com
Final Thoughts
What solutions do you use? Why do you like or dislike them? What other issues do you face in taming the finance beast while working as a freelancer?
?
Nicole Fende is The Num?bers Whis?perer? and Pres?i?dent of Small Busi?ness Finance Forum. As a cre?den?tialed actu?ary with expe?ri?ence as a for?mer Chief Finan?cial Offi?cer, Invest?ment Banker, and suc?cess?ful entre?pre?neur, Fende helps her clients reach their profit goals and learn how to effec?tively and enjoy?ably run the finan?cial side of their busi?ness. In her book, How to be a Finance Rock Star, Nicole shares the same strate?gies she uses for her profit coach?ing clients to help them reach multi-platinum prof?its. You can pre-order it now on Amazon.com.
Image: mharrsch
Source: http://www.getpaidtowriteonline.com/finance-for-writers-taming-the-beast/
hiroki kuroda kuroda gene hackman pineda john edwards heart condition mena suvari pretty in pink
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.