freelance financing
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Being a successful freelancer is about far more than finding clients or even offering a consistent service while operating on a solo basis or as part of a small team. Being a successful freelancer depends on the money involved with your solo business, at the end of the day. Given that you’re the glue which holds everything together and keeps the money pouring in or pouring out, it’s up to you to maintain control of all financial elements involved with your freelance business and ensure that you remain in the green.
Rather than solely focusing on profits and making more money to cover your necessities, you should be putting a huge focus on reducing costs.
As a writer, you’ll run into costs with your blog such as a decent laptop, the camera you use to take photos and any design software you might use to improve the aesthetic of your website. Here are some ways to reduce the non-essential costs of your business so that there’s more money left over for the essentials.
Outsourcing
Yes, you want to save money. However, the quote that you’ve got to ‘spend money to make money’ holds true as running a business is a time-consuming affair. When you’re the solo employer and employee of such a business, you’ll reach a point at when you’re taking on far too much work. While you might think that being a freelancer is great, as you can get everything done by yourself and save money, this won’t hold true if you let opportunities with higher-paying clients pass you by or make mistakes which cost you money to fix.
This is where outsourcing work comes into play. You can’t do everything, and it might end up costing you. Outsourcing menial tasks so that you can take on more highly paid work will save you money in the long run, but you’ve got to outsource tasks in the right places; sites such as Fiverr are home to individuals who work well and cheaply, for example.
Green Living
One way you could save money for your business is to save money around your home, since your freelance office is probably based in your personal study or a spare room.
Much like business owners who implement eco-friendly measures to cut down costs in big office buildings, you can do the same around your home. For example, you could look into an solution of irrigation flow and data logger to keep the sprinklers and your utility bills controlled. You could invest in solar panels, energy efficient appliances and insulation for your office and home as a whole.
If you cut down the costs of running the headquarters for your empire, you’ll find that you’re feeling far less strained and stretched with the money you do make while freelancing.
Continuous Budgeting
Budgeting is important in both personal and business life. Money makes the world go around, no matter how much or how little it drives you and your goals. The simple truth is that, even if your freelance business is a passion project, it can’t keep going and you can’t keep going if there isn’t enough money involved. Being the sole employer and employee, you should find this easier than owners of huge companies might.
Think of this in the same manner as your personal financing. Your expenditures shouldn’t ever exceed your income. If your income grows or changes over time as your business expands, then you can continuously reshape your budget to meet the improved capacities of your freelance company. You can spend money when you have more to spend, but you shouldn’t be living beyond your means; you need to pay for your personal utilities, rent and shopping as well as for your business’ upkeep.
This should all be factored into your business’ budgeting plan; once necessities have been covered, you can then look into the amount of money left over for “improvements” which could be made to the business or the resources you use within your freelancing business. Continuous budgeting is the key.