Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with freelancing

How can I work as a writing and editing contractor?

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:37:10 -0800

How can I get writing and editing contracts in Australia? I have held writing and editing jobs for the past couple years, for the government and large corporations. I'm unemployed at the moment, and was thinking of pitching myself to companies for contract or freelance work.

Does anyone have any experience with this or any tips for me?

I am a 'sole trader' in Australia, I have an ABN as well as personal liability and professional indemnity insurance.

My experience is in business writing and web content.

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to find work or approach companies - thanks!

Freelancing and Unemployment insurance: Yipe!

mountainfrog — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:59:10 -0800

After being laid off, do I lose unemployment benefits if I try to support myself and my family by freelancing first? First off, I am a software developer. I just received word from my boss that I was being laid off. Evidently there is just not enough work to keep me paid. So once I found out I was being laid off I looked into ways to pay the bills (I have a wife and children). In addition to looking for other full time jobs I also looked for part time “freelance” work. I found a few freelance jobs that can help pay the bills (food and rent) but only for a few months. From then on after I have no idea how much work there will be if any.

So here are my questions …

If I don’t apply for unemployment benefits from my employer right away do I lose them? On one hand I don’t want to apply for unemployment benefits when I can bring in enough money from “freelance jobs” but I have no idea if these “jobs” will last. It would be nice if I could “defer” the unemployment insurance to when the “freelance” jobs ran out and I had nothing.

If I support my family by freelancing after this layoff, do I then end up being deemed “self-employed” and ineligible for unemployment insurance altogether?

Thanks for any advice! This is my first time being laid off so I am not really sure how it all works.

What do you charge for a freelance scriptwriting gig?

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:03:09 -0800

I've been asked to write a series of scripts for online videos and I have no idea what to charge. Do you know the going rate for this type of service? I was approached by a university to write a series of scripts accompanying online videos they plan to place on their website. The videos are between 5-7 minutes long. I would have no hand in the editing/production part of the videos -- they're looking for a scriptwriter.

I am a seasoned comedy writer with many years in radio and print, but I've never had to set my own price. (I've always worked as part of a production team.) I just started freelancing and would like to obtain more work through this university, so I want to make sure the price I set is something they'll work with in the future.

Any thoughts?

How to professionally manage freelance writing about my industry?

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:30:26 -0800

How do I successfully do freelance writing (my night job) about my industry (my day job)? I work in a high-tech industry that is a small, close-knit, incestuous community. As a result, I know most of the key players in it, including CEOs, startup founders, etc. I myself work for a high-profile startup. I'm incredibly passionate about this industry and it's been something I've been psyched about since I was in high school.

Along the way someone happened to notice I was good at writing, so I started being paid to blog about my industry. This worked out fine, and I was completely open about it with my employer, who just wanted any company-related material to be run past our PR folks before I posted it. Then I was asked to write for a somewhat related print magazine. Recently I've been asked to write for an industry analyst report.

This is all very cool, and I've discovered I really love the writing. It's also been a real success for me professionally, where others in the industry will recognize my (somewhat odd) name from the writing I do, and a new professional relationship starts from there. But what was early on an easy agreement with my employer has become occasionally awkward with my entire professional network. Now I'm being asked to speculate about a new company started by an entrepreneur I'm on a first-name, familiar basis with, or to interview a friend whose research project is press-worthy, or to put a writing colleague in touch with a higher-up at my company.

I know the basics -- I have told editors I will not write about my own company or its immediate competitors, and I know where there are lines not to cross when a friend has talked with me off-the-record, over drinks, about their new company or project, but the information is still considered business confidential. If I do need to talk to someone as a writer, I usually start the email/conversation by mentioning that I'm now wearing my "reporter hat". However, I'm starting to see where things could get more difficult to navigate in the near future.

So what I'm looking for is advice on how to manage friendly professional contacts when they're sometimes journalistic contacts. Alternatively, I'm interested in better ways to communicate boundaries to my editors, and how to identify those boundaries in the first place without compromising my usefulness. What are the best practices here?

What should my freelance writer resume look like if I'm actually an engineer?

olinerd — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:02:12 -0800

What's the best way to change my engineering resume into one more appropriate for a freelance writer? I'm an engineer and have a wonderful job doing engineeringy things. On the side, though, I've started doing freelance writing for blogs and magazines -- mostly in technology, related to my day job, but I have some opportunities to branch out.

But now rather than word-of-mouth references, I have to actually submit a resume as a writer. How do I make a good one? On an engineering resume I'd list my relevant skills (engineering design software, machine tools, etc) but I'm not sure what the analog is for writing.

My biggest concern right now is that the list of stuff I *do* have (education, info on the writing I already do) is too short -- I'm used to a good resume filling a page. Advice please!

Experiences purchasing coding services online?

plaidrabbit — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:42:39 -0800

Has anyone had success using freelancing sites to get an iPhone app written? I have a killer idea for an iPhone app. However, I can't code anything more complex than a project you'd get in a second-semester freshman computer science class. Hence, I have a problem.

I was able to see some previous questions about Guru.com from a "getting work" side, but there are only a couple about using them to have work done. I'm more interested in people who've had good experiences with these types of places as the purchaser, rather than the vendor. I'm not married to one particular site, either; if you like one better than Guru, please tell me.

Finally - any tips or tricks regarding communication and potential issues with language barriers would be great; I'm more than willing to pay a dude in India $8.00/hr for an app, but only if I don't have to spend twice as much time explaining what I want done.

Pimp My FaceTweet

shallowcenter — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 07:16:52 -0800

Mid-level Facebook user and low-level Twitterer seeks way to maximize these social media services for networking, information aggregation, and long walks on the beach. Oh, yeah, all while not spending every waking nanosecond online hitting "refresh." The details: I'm a freelance writer and blogger looking to give clients and potential clients a better sense of the scope of my work. Currently I post links to my blog posts to both FB and Twitter, but it just feels as if I'm not using these services to their full potential. On FB I also do the usual posting of daily activities and random thoughts; I don't do that on Twitter.

So how do you resolve the personal-professional Facebook/Twitter dilemma? I looked through answers to this previous AskMefi question, and it has some good thoughts but doesn't quite capture what I'm looking for. What do you think, friends? Thanks in advance!

What to charge for graphics?

Rykey — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:06:12 -0800

Designed a logo/mascot for a friend's online business with the understanding that we'd "work something out" when he started to make some money. Now his business has taken off, and I'm not sure what to ask for. I'm not a professional graphic designer, but I'm handy enough with graphics that a friend asked me to design a logo for his new online business. Since neither of us knew how well his company would do, we agreed that I'd design the logo, we'd see how his startup did, and worry about the money then (we're close enough that this wasn't an idiotic arrangement).

His company has taken off pretty well, so we're trying to figure out how to best approach a fee structure for my work. My design includes the "mascot" for his brand, so it'll likely be reincarnated many times over as he introduces new products.

I'd like to ask for a percentage of his sales as long as my design is used (as opposed to asking for a straight one-time fee for each design), but I have no idea how much to ask for, or whether this is a good idea. In searching previous questions to AskMe, I saw an interesting suggestion here regarding the licensing of graphics work, so maybe that's more what I should be after.

This isn't a "I did some work on a handshake, and now I'm afraid of getting screwed" question. My friend is more than willing to pay me for my work, and anticipates keeping me on as his company's graphic designer as his business grows. We're just not sure what a fair price for my work would be.

First freelance proofreading job?

thesmallmachine — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:42:17 -0800

How did you get your first freelance editing/proofreading job? I'm trying to break into freelance proofreading (and editing, to a certain extent, though I'm told the market for this more in-depth work is significantly smaller). I've read all the AskMeFi posts on the subject; I'm studying my proofreading marks, and I'm about to put up fliers and get myself onto referral lists at the university where I currently work. I have a Craigslist ad up already.

My question is straightforward: how did you, the freelancers of AskMeFi, get your first jobs? I feel like I'm not covering everything.

(I hope to establish myself a little this summer, and then freelance as I work through my library science master's.)

Never work with friends?

pauldonato — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:45:10 -0800

Tips on sub-contracting to friends? I'm sub-contracting some freelance writing work to a friend. This is causing me incredible social anxiety. On the one hand, I want to be pushy in order to keep my project moving and my costs down. On the other hand, I want to be a good friend.

What tips/tricks/principles do you have to help keep things smooth, prevent future problems, ease myself, and leave us both feeling good about things afterwards?

What kind of records do most sole proprietors, freelancers and consultants keep?

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 19:39:33 -0800

What sort of state of organization are the financial records of most sole proprietorships in? I've had a small freelance business for about 15 years. About 3 years ago, I was in a car accident that was 100% not my fault. (The other driver admitted fault and there were witnesses.) I am now in the middle of legal dealings with my insurance company, because of the state of whiplash, the effect on my pregnancy and the effect on my ability to run my business and maximize earnings. (I do have a lawyer.) The insurance company is asking for all my financial records from the past nine years. They want copies of every receipt, invoice, mortgage interest statement, etc.

I've never kept a general ledger or anything like that. I just invoice and pay my expenses and credit cards and stuff like that. I've never been very formal about things, although I am excrutiatingly honest. I don't lie on my taxes. However, there have been situations where I just phoned the mortgage company to get the interest amount for my mortgage for the year (for business use of home), because I figured that if I got audited by the government, I would just phone and get a statement sent out. And, as I mentioned, I don't have cash flow statements or anything like that. And sometimes my receipts are in my name, my husband's name or both our names. But I always put money into our joint account to cover everything, usually lump sums throughout the year.

I had planned to incorporate and set up with an accountant, but, because of the car accident, I am just beginning that process now. Going forward, my records will be more diligent, since I'll be incorporated.

But, I'm wondering...what is the typical state of financial records for most freelance and consulting type businesses? My lawyer seems baffled that I have unaudited records...he's not used to sole proprietors. He seemed surprised that I had been doing my own taxes (for all but 3 of the total years, because, honestly, the accountants never got me any more tax back than I got on my own). For the most part, my business records are my personal income tax records, since the sole proprietorship income tax is part of that. I never saw any point to doing balance sheets and neither did the bookkeepers or accountants. Are other freelancers and consultants in a different situation? (Again, I'll be changing this going forward.)

What should I have on my freelance editing website?

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:10:25 -0800

What would you like to see on a freelance developmental/managing editor’s website? I have freelanced part-time while working full-time for the past four years. With the current awesome economy, it is very possible that I will be let go in the near future. I’ve decided to start preparing myself for that possibility by setting myself up to move into freelancing full-time if necessary. To that end, I’ve registered my name and a variation of it as domain names, and will be getting hosting shortly. I plan to use the website as a marketing tool for myself/my services.

I work primarily with medical books and journals (both at work and freelancing), though I have worked with other science/technical publications. I have various skills, which I plan to list on the site. I have various resources available to me, which I plan to list on the site. I’m also going to contact authors/editors I have worked with in the past, to have them “blurb” me if they are willing.

I know that most freelance jobs in my field are obtained by networking and previous contacts, but it can’t hurt to have something shiny to show potential clients.

What other things should I consider adding to the site? Is there anything I absolutely should NOT include? I’ve perused many other freelancer websites (people’s personal ones, not job boards) and almost all of them are poorly designed, have too much info, or have too little info. I don’t have decades of experience, but I do have several years of varied experience, so I don’t want to include too much or too little.

Anonymous because my full-time job doesn’t need to know what I’m up to.

Can I ride this thing out?

shallowcenter — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:37:33 -0800

Anybody have evidence -- empirical or anecdotal -- about what recessions do to the self-employed? I'm a freelance writer, and am wondering whether my clients are more likely to farm stuff out to me because I'm cheaper than hiring in-house staff or cut their freelance budgets and dump more work on the people they're already paying. Thanks!

Laws regarding hiring a freelance programmer from India.

wdwcuwa — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:36:24 -0800

I would like to hire a freelance programmer from India for a programming project. The programmer would remain in India and operate as an independent contractor rather than an employee. What legal hurdles must I overcome or can I just do it? I have already found someone, and I am not worried about anything but making sure that I don't break any laws.

This is really just a legal question. I will be making payments across international borders for services rendered and I just don't want to break any laws. I am not worried about data security or anything else.

I am pretty sure that the freelancer qualifies as an independent contractor rather than an employee: The programmer would remain in India and would have to supply their own working environment. The freelancer would be responsible for paying his own taxes. Once the project is over the relationship ends. However, I would pay for prgramming services on an hourly basis and any contract we draw would be very rudimentary.

How can I get my calendar and my task list to play nice with each other?

shallowcenter — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:22:10 -0800

My calendar and my task list aren't playing nicely together. Freelancers, how do you manage your schedule and your to-dos so that you can visit clients, conduct interviews, and get the work done? I'm looking to you guys to help me get unstuck. It's not so much a procrastination issue as it is figuring out how the hell to stop overscheduling myself.

My workload consists mostly of small to mid-size projects with numerous, generally tight deadlines. Each week I project out for the next week the tasks I need to get done: interviews of sources, research for stories and projects, and then the actual writing. The problem? Unless it's an actual appointment -- a phone interview, say, or a client visit -- I don't allot time to do these tasks.

So I'll tell myself that on Friday I need to write x, but then on Monday I set up a couple of interviews for Friday for project y because, hey, there's nothing on my calendar for that day! Then all of the sudden I do the interviews Friday and realize I have insufficient time to get x done.

So how do you manage your time, your workflow, your calendar, and your task list to ensure you're not always playing catch-up? Do you slot a specific amount of time to actually do you work and treat it as a sacrosanct appointment that cannot be infringed upon? Something else? Tell me the secret, oh wise, productive ones!

How to Pay Foreign Freelancers?

chrismohney — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:45:48 -0800

As an American employer paying foreign freelancers doing work in their home countries abroad, do I have to withhold US taxes or require my freelancers to file US tax paperwork, etc.? At my American, America-based employer, I'm in the process of hiring several foreign freelancers in various countries to do editorial work about their home cities. At other companies when I did the same thing, it was never necessary to require such freelancers to file US tax paperwork -- they were not US citizens, were independent contractors, and were not technically deriving income from US-based activities. For the same kind of work from the same kind of people, my new accountant is insisting that they have to file for a US tax ID number, or form a US corporation, etc.

I think she's confusing fulltime employee tax issues with independent contractor issues. Am I right? I'm sure forcing potential freelancers to go through this hassle will hurt recruiting, to say the least. If anyone can point me to official documentation of the issue, or a good resource person, that would be extremely helpful. Many many thanks in advance.

chris m

UK Ltd. company formation

nthdegx — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:34:25 -0800

Why would I pay an accountant £300 for UK limited company formation when there are services out there that do it for a tenth of the price? Help me cross the i's and dot the t's. Obviously, I'd rather spend no more than necessary, but that's secondary to making sure the process is completed properly. Any other insights are welcome.

You never forget your first . . . designer?

joshuaconner — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:21:19 -0800

What should I know before hiring a graphic designer for the first time? I've been given the blessing to hire a graphic designer to redesign the menus at the restaurant I manage, but I have no idea what to look for, what questions to ask, how much to budget, etc.

If you've been in this position before, what do you wish you'd known in advance?

Graphic designers, what do you wish first-time customers knew about the process?

Paystubs for Freelancers

philosophistry — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:42:43 -0800

How do I make pay stubs for myself as a freelancer. I'm a freelance web designer and I have my own corporation with a corporate bank account.

I want to be able to have "paystubs" to represent myself paying myself from my company. Basically, whenever I apply for apartments or car loans they ask for these damn paystubs, and so I want to show that I'm gainfully employed.

Is there some software I should be using? maybe quicken? any tips from other freelancers who've had to get loans, or rent an apartment as to how they managed to play the financial game.

I want to quit my frustrating job and become a shareware developer - will this work?

Anonymous — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 17:41:57 -0800

My job is boring and frustrating. I worry I'm wasting my life. I want to quit and write shareware for a living. Is this a sane idea? My situation: I'm 24, have a (very good) university degree in computer science, and have been working at a small software company for the past eleven months. Previously, I had five-month stint at another software company, which I quit because the two-hour commute was eating my life.

Now I'm not very happy at my workplace. The state of our source code is disastrous, and I spend much of my time trawling through obtuse un-commented code, repressing a desire to scream in frustration. The requirements I'm given are fuzzy at best, and I spend a lot of time worrying that it's impossible to do my work properly and being bored and unmotivated. Then I get angry at myself for being so unmotivated, and tell myself that my job's not that bad compared to many others'.

I do have to say that the people are pretty nice, my manager is a sensible person, and they have really treated me fairly.

But I'm painfully worried that I'm throwing away the best years of my life - there's not much scope to rise in the company, and my work is unlikely to become more interesting or less frustrating.

I've been thinking about throwing off my employment-shackles and becoming self-employed. I have a bunch of ideas for shareware games and utilities, and I definitely have the skills to write them. I also have enough money in the bank to (realistically) keep me afloat for ten months with no income. I also have no interest at all in making lots of money. I just want enough to house, feed and clothe myself, and pay for a cinema ticket every once in a while.

What's keeping me from doing the leap is that the one time I previously attempted to write a shareware utility, it was a complete dud - 500 hours of work for a $10 program bought by 40 users. The other problem is that I tend to suffer from SAD, and don't want to have to completely rebuild my routine in the middle of winter. So either I have to quit soon, or wait a year. Another problem is that because of my already somewhat checkered employment history, quitting now may make it hard to find a job again if my self-employment experiment fails. (With five months at one company, twelve at another, and say nine being self-employed.)

So I'm torn between thinking "I'm wasting my life here, let's get out" and "but I will just fall flat on my face and fail". In reality, there's a spectrum of options I could pursue:

1. Give in my two weeks' notice on Monday morning.
2. Ask to work 60% part-time on Monday morning (allowing me to slowly transition to self-employment). They'll probably say no though, because they need me too much.
3. Wait for a few months, see if any of my side projects come to fruition. Quit when something succeeds, even if it's the middle of winter.
4. Wait for a whole 12 months, accumulating ludicrous amounts of spare money, and staying at my company for a CV-respectable time, then quit.
5. Never quit, stay with the company until I die of old age.

I wish I could talk to an older, wiser self who could tell me what is the right thing to do in the long run. In the absence of time machines, I ask you, MeFiItes - have you been in a similar situation? What did you do? Did you regret it? Do you work in freelancing/shareware? Is my dream possible? Am I being whiny about my perfectly OK job, or being clear-headed about my life situation?

Recommendations for a financial advisor/accountant for a young couple?

scazza — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:51:24 -0800

Recommendations for a financial advisor/accountant for a young couple in NYC? We've read a lot about finances, but I would like to sit down with a person. I'd prefer someone who can do it all; to slog through all of our financial life, to ask questions of, to plan, to do taxes, not just someone interested in investing. I don't know if it should be someone who specialises in freelancers (arts and computing) if there is such a thing, and I think I'm looking for someone independent because I don't want to worry about prejudiced advice.

We both have irregular careers: his as a specialized-but-underpaid programmer doing both freelance work and a day job that changes every couple of years; hers currently studying but eventually working in a performing art that involves lots of travel and work accomodation (apartments) paid out of pocket (but tax-deductible) and pay on a performance-only basis.

With this in mind, we have no idea how to achieve our goals. We are relatively good at our basic budgeting and financial management but need help with saving for retirement (IRA) and a baby someday, managing his 401K (503b), improving credit, buying a home as soon as practicable (we feel like we're throwing money away on NYC rent), affording travel to stay close to family on three coasts of the US, plus the UK and NZ, and very necessary vacations. A wedding would be nice too but it seems too complicated already.

Thanks!

LifestyleDesignFilter - Is the Four Hour Work Week Feasible?

wisdom-seeker — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 06:52:12 -0800

I have finished reading Tim Ferriss' "The Four Hour Work Week" and I am curious, has anyone out there who has read the book actually implement the strategies mapped out in the book? I am in the process of creating a business that I can run from virtually anywhere on the planet and want to know if others have done it.

USA freelancing from abroad?

LongDrive — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 19:38:06 -0800

Are there any US citizens here who have lived abroad but did freelance or contract work for clients in the States who can share their experiences? I am a US citizen living in Australia as a Permanent Resident since 2001. I have just gotten some freelance work from the States and need to figure out who I need to talk to on which shores to figure out the details. My obvious main concern is how I can invoice and get paid. All my US bank accounts were closed for inactivity around 2002-3. Factors that may make a difference:

-I still have immediate family in the states.
-The businesses that I will be invoicing will be fairly large companies, so in the hopes of getting future work, the process would have to be as straightforward as possible. IE, no money wiring, paypal transfers, etc.

My secondary concern is how this affects my taxes. A previous post turned up a great link on the Australian Tax Office site with regards to foreign income, but alot of it is really greek to me. I am estimating the total income would be no more than 10-15k per annum, and I have no other source of income in the states (investments, etc) Should I be speaking to an American or Australian accountant?

Help me hive mind! Thankyou!

Writer's Market: What's the big hairy deal?

Jess the Mess — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:02:33 -0800

Writers: What's so great about Writer's Market? I've been thinking about trying freelance writing and one of the most common pieces of advice given by more experienced writers seems to be to get the annual edition of Writer's Market.

Looking through it though, many of the magazines I read or would be interested in writing for are not listed. These aren't obscure underground publications either. They're well-established magazines available at any Borders, Barnes and Noble, etc. And I know they do accept submissions.

I realize there are other avenues I can take and I plan to but I just don't understand why this particular guide is so revered when it doesn't seem at all comprehensive.

What gives?

Should I go with H&R Block, or find a "real" accountant?

misanthropicsarah — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 06:56:44 -0800

My 2006 taxes are going to be complicated, for me at least. I had one full time job, and a ton of freelance gigs. I don't think I'll be able to muddle thru TurboTax like I have in past years. So, is H&R Block a good deal or should I find a "real" accountant? I'm not richy-rich. I don't have any assets to speak of. I have one salaried full time job, and dozens of freelance gigs, for which I kept extensive records. I don't have a home office to speak of, though I did buy a lot of stuff (printer, office supplies, etc.) that I use only for the freelancing (and yes, I have the receipts).

Basically, I want to make sure I do everything as correctly as possible, to avoid getting audited (and maybe get some money back).

The past many years I've just used TurboTax, but since this will be my first time with freelancing and a possible home office on the books, I'd rather have a professional walk me thru doing the taxes.

Will H&R Block be good enough for my rather modest needs (meaning the people working there know what they're doing and will talk to me about my questions) or should I find a full time accountant with a permanent office and everything?

Bonus question: If it's decided by the hive mind that I should not use H&R Block, can you recommend a good Center City or South Philly accountant?