megancollinsquinlan

Creating The Perfect Work From Home Office

mkcquinlan — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:31:36 +0000

This weekend I spent a good couple of hours tidying and reorganising my home office. I have to admit that I am far from tidy and while my office may often look as though a bomb has hit it, it is in fact quite well organised. It is simply that I am the only person who knows where anything is.

So I decided the time had come for a bit of a spruce up. Needless to say I have come into my office this morning and suddenly my head is clearer and my productivity rate is up. I look around me at the ordered piles, the clear work surfaces and the dust free computer monitor and I wonder how I managed before.

There are certain people in my life who would say a big “I told you so” at this news. But I am now a convert to the importance of a nice clean and well-ordered work space. So, if you are a little like me and you want to create a home office which fits all of your needs, helps you to stay organised and ensures that you can work in harmony, then read on.

Use space wisely

Not everyone has a huge room to spread themselves out when they are working from home. You may be in the corner of the living room, at the kitchen table, in your bedroom or (like me) in the loft space…

Where ever you are, you need to dedicate this area to your work. This means that it is the place you always work and it is always set up as such. There is nothing which will put you off getting started in the morning than the boring job of having to set up your office space each day. You need to be able to work on a spontaneous level and having a permanaent space is helpful.

Don’t skimp on space. Thinking you can run a business from home with a laptop sized desk is madness. You need room for peripherals such as printers, as well as filing cabinets, bookshelves and more.

Inject some personality

Just because it is work, it doesn’t mean it has to be as faceless as your booth back in your old job. Make sure your office reflects who you are and is a place you would want to spend time in. Paint walls, bring in soft furnishings and colour coordinate. Just make it into your space and no one else’s.

Keep important stuff close

As a writer you will be needing access to certain books, reference materials, paper for jotting down ideas and more. Make sure you have enough space for all of these things. Use a book shelf to store your reference books and magazines. Keep a pot of pens on your table and a stack of paper close by.

Extras like cellotape, rulers, staplers and spare batteries have all made their way into my drawer. It just makes sense as you never know when you might need them.

Cleaning materials

I have found that the simple act of having a cleaning spray and a duster in my drawer has meant that I keep on top of the cleaning of my office more regularly. All too often the thought of having to head downstairs to the cleaning cupboard is just too much trouble. If all it takes is opening a drawer – even I can do it!

Work surfaces

Have as many of these as you can. I am lucky as my desk extends around three walls. I doubt I could cope with any less now. I have my computer set up on one wall with a large space for books and papers to be spread out next to me. My printer is at the same desk, making it very convenient. All my stationary is close to hand and I have blank space, just waiting for when I next have a pile to books to place on it. You can never have too much desk space, so build the most your office can handle.

The environment

Your office needs to be a space where you feel comfortable. This means the temperature needs to be easily controlled. You need fresh air, natural light, good artificial lighting, adequate heating, a fan or air conditioning in the summer and comfortable furniture.

You could be spending eight or more hours a day in your office and you deserve the best environment you can get. Remember that if you worked for an employer they would be obliged to provide you with a comfortable temperature and the right furniture for you to carry out your job. Why wouldn’t you give yourself exactly that?

I have to admit that my office is far from perfect, but I have survived quite well up to now. I could do with some better heating, a window I could open and some natural light. But I have peace and quiet and few distractions. I also have a nice a tidy workspace – this week at least!

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

How to SEO a Website (Does SEO Work)
A Guide To Creating The Perfect Social Media Campaign (Does SEO Work)

Freelance Writing: Ethics

mkcquinlan — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 09:43:59 +0000

We all start our writing careers telling ourselves we will never work for less than we are worth or that we won’t write inane articles stuffed full of keywords. But in the pursuit of regular writing work which brings in a regular income, we sometimes find ourselves writing things we wish we hadn’t.

How do we, as writers, maintain our integrity and stick to our own personal ethics while still making the money we really need to get by? Having ethics is all well and good, but it doesn’t put food on the table or money in the electric meter. A little compromise is something we all need to learn if we want to survive.

However compromise doesn’t mean selling your soul. I have a few pretty clear rules when it comes to accepting writing work and I have always stuck to them no matter what. It has allowed me to be flexible and to accept work which I am comfortable with. I would say that my ethics rules haven’t hindered my career as yet, but I suppose time will tell.

The fact is that avoiding certain jobs keeps my integrity, but it also leaves me open and able to accept he jobs which truly interest me. It is also a fact that the dubious jobs are often the ones with the worst pay. So having morals is actually worth my while. So my rules are as follows – feel free to consider your own – but make sure you stick to them.

I will not work for less than £10 an hour

OK this is a little flexible as I often work on a per piece basis for my articles. This may mean that I sometimes run over or under – but the average time spent works out to be at least this much.

I feel that writers (especially online writers) are notoriously underpaid and some clients expect something for next to nothing. Sticking to my guns means that I miss out on some jobs, but I feel that offering my skills for less than this devalues the profession overall. If all writers want to paid correctly they need to all insist on decent pay.

I will not do rewrites

I couldn’t think of anything more soul destroying than spending day after day rewriting the words and ideas of someone else. Part of being a writer is coming up with new and fresh ideas and getting them down on paper in a way which is uniquely your own.

When I see that someone is looking for a writer to put 100 articles into their own words, I think of the original writer. Do they know their hard work is being used in this way? Are they aware that their article is being used by some to make more money over and above the price they were originally paid?

I have come across examples of my articles which have been blatantly copied and pasted, switched around, a word added here and there and presented as the work of someone else. There isn’t much I can do, as I have sold those articles, but it upsets me every time it happens. I don’t want to make another writer feel that way.

I will not write for industries I don’t support

I am not getting all high and mighty here, but there are certain industries which I will never be able to write for. I simply don’t want my name and reputation associated with them.

These include the tobacco industry, fundamentalist religion and another is the pornography industry. I could add to that any articles which are aimed at encouraging any sort of unhealthy pursuit such as drinking to excess or forcing junk food on children. If it makes me feel uncomfortable and I wouldn’t want my name mentioned in association with it, then I have to say no.

You need to consider where your limits lie. Simply putting your words out there and in effect lying just for the money is immoral. Be proud of your beliefs. Other people will be found to write about the subjects you don’t agree with. Let them get on with it.

I won’t write for people I don’t admire

If I am dealing with someone on a one to one basis and I am agreeing to do some work for them, I need to feel that this person is someone I believe in and like. It isn’t always easy to tell the true personality of someone from emails, so I take a little time to investigate each of my clients both to ensure their integrity, but also to be sure they are the sort of person I want to be associated with.

If I discover many complaints online about their business or that they don’t pay their bills on time, they won’t be working with me. I want to work with people who have the same ethics as I do. This means that they deliver what they say they will, when they say they will, they pay their bills on time and they believe in a cooperative relationship when it comes to work.

You may not find out all of this until you have been working for them for a while, but a client who you dislike, is not going to get the best from you. Just ditch them…

So there you have it. You will have your own set of rules, or maybe no rules at all. But I find that keeping to my set of ethics has stood me in good stead. I have a set of lovely clients who come back week after week. They like me and I like them. It works on a mutual level and I can sleep easy at night!

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Article Writing ? How To Use Keyword Phrases Effectively (longtailedkeyword)
Video Production Business Tips – Why Wedding Videographers Should Move to Corporate Video (World Class Media)

Reasons to Avoid Employment

mkcquinlan — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:52:06 +0000

Ok, I admit it – I have been a little bit lacking when it comes to keeping up with my posts. There has been a very good reason. In fact there has been two: it is currently the school holidays and the kids take up lots of my time. The other reason is that I have been focusing on earning a bit more money so that the kids can have a nice break from school. We can’t afford a holiday – but we should be able to take them on some nice days out.

This is one of the real advantages of being self-employed. If I need more money – I just earn some. It is easy really. In this case I picked up a couple of new writing jobs and put loads of stuff on Ebay. So I now have one new client and more work for an old one.

So I may not have the time to write you a long and detailed post about something to do with writing or working. But what I can do is recommend some extra reading for you which will inspire and hopefully inform.

The following post is from Steve Pavlina. He can be controversial sometimes, but his blog is mega popular and for good reason. If you are new to it, you should take the time to read some of his posts. This one inspired me and made me even more sure that working for “the man” was out of the question!

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/07/10-reasons-you-should-never-get-a-job/

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Writing Your Own Articles: How To Start And Where To Post? (Does SEO Work)
How to SEO a Website (Does SEO Work)

Pride In What You Do – Writing for a Living

mkcquinlan — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 08:28:47 +0000

When someone says to you “what do you do for a living”. What do you say? Or to be more correct – what do you think? Is your first thought that you would rather be doing anything other than answering that question? Or perhaps you quickly skim over the question, avoiding answering it properly, any way you can.

It seems to be a question which is normal for people to ask as it seems to be the one question which helps us define in our minds what a person is like and if we will be able to relate to them.

When my children visit a new friend at their home one of the first questions I ask them – apart from if they had a good time, is “what does little Johnny’s Daddy do?”. The answer is invariably “I don’t know Mummy, but they have an Xbox 360.” Kids don’t really care what we do for a living.

Why do I care what my child’s friends parents do for a living? Because even I judge a person on the level they have attained in their job. It is for this reason that it has taken me a long time to feel pride in my own job as a writer. The problem I have is that it is hard for me to explain what I do and how I make money. Most people don’t understand it and I assume (perhaps rightly) that they think I am a bit of a bum or that I rely on my husband for enough income.

The point I am trying to get to is that we all need to feel pride in what we do for a living. It is a really difficult state to get to. If we have worked our way up the hierarchy at work we feel the need to point this out. You might say “Oh, I am a receptionist, but I also have control over a number of client accounts.” Nobody knows what this actually means but most of us feel the need to embellish our achievements at our job.

How would it feel if your job was actually exactly what you always wanted it to be and that you loved it more than anything? Imagine how that might feel. It would definitely put you in the top 1% of all workers because I don’t know a single person (apart from me and my husband) who is completely happy with what they do.

Think about the people you are aware of who seem to love what they do. I believe that most of them are likely to be either at the top of their profession or they are self employed or a business owner. What we appear to need in order to love our jobs is autonomy and a sense that what we are doing is achieving something for ourselves and our families.

Professionals are a sub group of workers who achieve work satisfaction. Doctors or lawyers are a good example. They spend many years in training and they often have to work at a very low level before they are able to show their true potential. Yet when they get to the point where they are using their skills, they are able to appreciate what got them there. They are handsomely rewarded for their efforts and have a great deal of autonomy in their position.

Many of us can say that we worked in our job for as many years as any professional and just as hard, yet we will never achieve that level of job satisfaction.

To have pride in the job we do is almost a basic human right and something which any good boss will be aware of. To get the best from workers it is essential to put in place fair remuneration, incentives for hard work and a sense that a person’s hard work is actually achieving something for them and not just for the company they work for.

As a writer you will get job satisfaction, daily feedback, plenty of variety and, hopefully decent pay (this is entirely up to you). Best of all you are in charge and in control. It is a nice way to work and something so few of us get to do. Isn’t it worth the hard work it takes to get there?

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

How to Research and Find Your Niche Online (Does SEO Work)
Using Social Media in Your Job Search (Does SEO Work)

New Ventures In The World Of Freelancing

mkcquinlan — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 06:03:38 +0000

One of the truly magical things about being a freelancer or a self-employed person is the fact that you are not tied to one money making venture. In fact, you can turn your hand to anything you choose.

Of course, it is essential that you give yourself enough time to properly devote yourself to each venture, but the possibilities are endless.

The reason I am writing this today is because my husband and I are in the process of setting up a small online shop to sell items related to his work as a tradesman. We have sourced a product, decided on our niche, bought the domain and are in the process of designing the website now.

You may be wondering why this is relevant to a freelancing blog? Well, what I am trying to point out is that you can turn your natural entrepreneurial spirit to anything you wish. Yes, this is more my husbands baby, but I will be writing the website, providing SEO articles and doing much of the administration work – all things which as a freelance writer I am fully capable of doing.

Thankfully my husband’s skills lie in website design and the technical side of things. Together we make a great team.

As a freelancer you need to ensure that you are putting your skills to the best use possible. It may mean that you walk away from certain avenues and concentrate on those writing jobs which suit you best. But don’t be hampered by the thought that you must stick to online content writing and that is all. Being a self employed person is an evolving process. You do what works and leave what doesn’t.

Spread your wings, try new things and be prepared for any new experience which comes your way. My husband and I have always felt that we were under utilised and finally we are putting our considerable skills together and have come up with a concept which allows us to share in the success and to once again, prove to our kids that sitting at a desk nine to five is not the be all and end all of a working life.

Now we just have to make the website work….

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Writing Your Own Articles: How To Start And Where To Post? (Does SEO Work)
Why Online Freelance Writing? (World Class Media)

Supplementing Your Freelance Writing Income

mkcquinlan — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 06:08:59 +0000

It has to be said that lean times will always come in any business where your income is flexible. For the privilege of making lots of money one month, you may find you are making less money the next month.

Of course it makes sense to save a little during the good months to cover you during the lean months, but realistically you know that won’t happen! So what you need is a way of adding to your income. If you can’t pick up a extra writing job or two, then you need to find alternative ways of making some money on the side.

As a freelance writer you are already very familiar with using the internet as your main source of income. But there are a number of places you can use your writing skills and make some extra money which have nothing to do with writing articles and which are not reliant on finding that elusive client.

Auction sites

Yep, we are talking Ebay here. I am aware that other auction sites exist and these tips could easily apply to them. But I am familiar with Ebay, so…

Writing a killer description of the product you are selling is a great way to get a good price. All too often you turn to the description of a product and all it has is a one liner. This doesn’t inspire the average buyer.Use your writing skills to create a great sales piece and you could get a much better price.

Sell off items you have around the house, or even identify a product which is in high demand and source a supplier for that item. This could be a great residual income source just ticking over for those lean months and beyond.

Start a blog

You may not make huge amounts of money from a blog, but if you write decent articles on a good niche topic you could create a small and regular source of income. Look into selling affiliate products and having advertising on your blog. If you can manage to get a good number of readers, you can expect this income to grow and grow. There may even come a time when the blog takes over from the freelance writing work you do.

Mystery shopping

Sign up as a shopper for some mystery shopping companies. They simply ask you to go to a local store and make a purchase, fitting certain criteria. They will reimburse you for your purchase and pay you a set fee on top of that. In most cases this is about £10.

Your writing skills will come in handy as you need to write up a report on your shopping experience. The better this report, the more likely you are to be asked to complete another assignment.

I do this from time to time and it really is fun. I feel a bit mean sometimes as I am a very harsh critic, but it is nice to have power as a shopper for a change!

Writing competitions/short story magazines

If you have a creative writing streak, you may want to consider submitting a story or two to a writing competition. Personally, my creative writing has stayed firmly as a personal thing, but I am sure that many of you would love the opportunity to get away from dry online writing and try your hand at something a little more left brain.

If you have a few good short stories written you can start submitting them to various magazines. The pay is pretty good although you can expect to wait several months for payment after submission. Just make sure you read the magazine first, so you don’t embarrass yourself with something inappropriate.

Sell your hobby

We all have things we love to do when we are not writing. I like to knit and usually have all of my Christmas presents handknitted and ready to go by the end of the year. I save a little money and it is something I enjoy.

You might like baking cakes, making jewellery, painting or wood-working. If you can get together enough products, you could try selling them at local craft fairs or even boot-sales.

Consider getting together with someone else who makes similar or complementary products and sharing a stall. This can result in a little spending money for a days work. Plus it is fun!

Whatever it is that you feel you can do to get some more income, you need to make sure it is something you can pick up and put down at a moments notice. There is no point if it takes up more time than your core writing work. However being flexible is the byword of being self employed, so if you find your supplementary income is starting to overtake your freelance writing income, you are on to a winner. Stick with it and see where it takes you.

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Writing Your Own Articles: How To Start And Where To Post? (Does SEO Work)
Adding A Butterfly Garden To Your Yard (gbronner)

Staying Motivated

mkcquinlan — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:52:59 +0000

We all have those days when nothing seems to go right, when your writing is mediocre at best and work is thin on the ground. In fact, I am having one of those days (weeks?) at the moment. It is Friday – I have had a slow week workwise, the blog is plodding (to say the least) and I just feel a bit blah.

It is one of those days when I feel like asking myself if choosing this profession was the best thing to do. I know that if I look at it objectively it will become clear that it was absolutely the best thing I ever did.

If I was sitting at my desk in my receptionists office right now I would be feeling stuck. I would feel as if there was nowhere to go, nothing else I could do and that my job was just pants. That is a depressing thought. However what is really happening is quite the opposite.

I have more control now than I ever had when I was employed. I can choose to spend the morning at the library and treat myself to a cup of tea at my favourite bookstore (that is what I have done today) and I can choose to look at what I can do to turn things around. In fact having choices is worth all the down days in the world. Choices turn frowns upside down!

I have managed to come to the conclusion that my income and my success is entirely in my own hands. How well I do is simply dependant on how hard I work and I am recognising the fact that I have not been working hard enough in recent weeks. Knowing that even a few weeks of long days will result in some major results is better than the “accept your lot” attitude of the employed person.

So here is my list of things I need to get done over the next few weeks. You can all hold me to account…

Get my writing website written and earning.
Sort out some of the technical glitches with my blog.
Get a program of guest posts running. (one a week?)
Set myself a more regular schedule of blog posts.
Pick up another client or two and get in touch with some old clients to sound them out for more work.
Write an e-book.
Get back into running.

The final one was added as an after-thought. I suddenly realised that work is not the be all and end all of life. I have to make time for my health and fitness. Life is all about balance after all.

What about you. Do you have some short term goals which you need to take care of? Perhaps just writing them down will help you to clear your mind and get rid of those cobwebs once and for all.

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

A Week Before Christmas At The Urban Garden (gbronner)
My Internet Marketing Secret Weapon (longtailedkeyword)

When is it Time to Say Goodbye to a Client?

mkcquinlan — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 06:43:33 +0000

There comes a time in every freelancers working life when you need to make a decision about a client: are they still worth having?

I recently had to let one of my clients go. Unfortunately their working structure was a little too corporate for me and their expectations far too high for the level of pay they were offering. These felt like insurmountable problems to me and the increasing level of work, time commitment and expectations for no more pay was starting to make me feel stressed and put upon. The main thing was that I felt they were taking advantage and I couldn’t feel like that in my own business. Walking away from that client was easy.

There are lots of reasons why you may have come to this point.

Your clients was one of the early ones and is still paying you at a low level.
Your relationship has broken down due to creative differences or a loss of trust on either side.
Your client is asking too much from you and you are feeling taken advantage of.
The work you do for this client takes up too much time which you would rather spend on other ideas or looking for other jobs.
You have started to find the work boring and need to move on.

There are probably as many reasons for ditching a client as there are for taking one on. But at some point in your career you will have to “fire” your client and doing it in the best possible way is imperative.

Remember that you have built up a relationship with this person and they have come to rely on you in one sense or another. They may well assume that everything is going fine. They may be very happy with the situation and if they are paying you less than you are worth, they probably should be. You need to approach this whole situation carefully, but firmly.

Try to change the thing you dislike

So maybe the only reason you want to move on is because they are not paying you enough. If this is the case, your first port of call is to ask for a payrise. You will be surprised how often this works. If you have produced good work, on time and of good quality for a period of time, your client will not want to lose you. Writers of that sort are not exactly a dime a dozen. Your client may well come back and agree and everything can carry on as before.

The main point here is – don’t walk away until you have tackled the problem. Be open and honest with your client and explain what has happened and what your feelings are. They may agree that it is time to go your separate ways, or they may offer a solution which works for both of you. Give it a go at least.

Leave in an amicable way

Never walk away from your client with a bad taste left in everyone’s mouth. Treat them as you would expect them to treat you.

Give them notice of your intention to leave. This may mean writing for them until the end of the month or until they find a replacement. Whatever you feel is fair. Don’t leave them in the lurch.
Issue a final invoice and give them reasonable time to pay.
Send an email or even a letter as your resignation. There is no need to explain why – unless you think it would be helpful, but you should express your thanks and regrets regarding leaving.

Your main aim is to walk away with your head held high and with a possible future client. Let’s imagine that in six months time they are looking for a new client. Their budget is more and they realise what they have lost. You want them coming back to you with an offer you can’t refuse. Put yourself in the driving position with every client; who knows where it might lead.

Don’t be scared

Walking away from a perfectly OK writing job where you are getting regular money is scary. This is true and there is no denying it. But if it is making you unhappy, stressed or you are feeling exhausted – you need to put yourself first.

Other jobs will come along and with the time you now have spare you can usually fill it with something you enjoy more or which pays better. Over time you will replace all of your poor paying cleints with those who pay more and your income will increase.

It is just the way of the freelancer and you should never feel tied down. The whole point of being a freelance writer is the flexibility and this extends to your working relationships as well.

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Writing Your Own Articles: How To Start And Where To Post? (Does SEO Work)
Making money with your affiliate website (longtailedkeyword)

Why Do Freelancing Bid Sites Get a Bad Rap?

mkcquinlan — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:49:19 +0000

Anyone who is considering a career as a freelance writer will sooner or later come across a freelance bidding site. In some cases the site may be embraced as a great option for getting started or even as a way of developing a full time freelance career.

But for each person who finds freelance sites to be the perfect bridge from employment to self employment, there are just as many people who have either become disenchanted with them or who never saw the point in the first place. Why do these people dislike freelance sites so much and is there a grain of truth in what they say?

Cheap jobs

Most often the argument against bidding sites is that only cheap jobs are advertised and that the employers are only looking for a way of making a quick buck off the back of talented writers.

It is true that you will come across a number of jobs every day where the going rate seems to be ridiculously low. For example, £1 per 500 words. However it is important to realise that these employers are looking for a certain type of writer and are happy with fairly low quality. This must be the case because it is clear that this is all they will get.

Just ignore these low paid jobs. Don’t get sucked into the mindset that you must accept very low pay just because other people are bidding on these projects. Something which is higher paid will come along soon. It always does.

Bidding sites, however, must accept some of the responsibility for the level of pay which is offered on their sites. They ought to ensure that all jobs at least reach minimum pay levels. That is for them to decide. Your job is to carefully avoid low paying jobs and hopefully the employer will accept they must pay for quality.

A level playing field

Another reason for avoiding bidding sites seems to be the fact that the jobs are open to people from all over the world. This can make it very hard to compete.

If someone from a country with a much lower cost of living is bidding for the same job as you, they will be able to afford to pitch at a lower level. For them, £3 an hour is a decent living. For us, £10 an hour may seem like we are scraping the bottom of the barrel.

However it is worth pointing out that the majority of those offering work will choose a bid which is somewhere in the middle range and that they will have a list of criteria which might be hard for a foreign writer to fulfil.

While you may have to charge more for your writing, you should push the fact that you have English as your first language (this is often a requirement anyway), you live in the same country and are in the same time zone as your potential client and you have some knowledge of the topic from the readers perspective.

Someone from India, as an example, may find it hard to write about the Blackpool Illuminations. However if you have been there and seen them, you already have a huge advantage over other writers and you can bid more based on that alone.

Fees

It has been suggested that freelance bidding sites tend to take too much in fees and can be slow in releasing payments. While this can be true, the key to avoiding this is to always build the cost of your bid into your initial quote.

Be quite clear that you are charging X number of pounds to complete the job and that you have added the fees on top of that. Elance is one site where the fees are clearly laid out as being separate from your bid. The client can see that you have not inflated your bid in any way and they will notice exactly how much you will receive and how much Elance will get.

For me, it is fair enough that a bidding site should get recompense for their service. Where else would you be able to go to find so many potential clients all in one place? For the convenience alone it is well worth 10% of the overall payment.

Bidding sites do their bit

It is true that bidding sites have their faults, but for someone who needs to build up a client base or those who want to test the waters with regard to their writing, you can’t really go wrong. Bidding sites take care of all the hard work and make it easy to get on with the writing.

Once your confidence has increased you can drop the middle man and try to get clients yourself. But don’t knock a freelance bidding site until you have tried one out. You might just be surprised at what is available.

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

WordPress SEO and A Definitive Guide To Higher Rankings For Your Blog (Does SEO Work)
The Best Ways To Become A Successful Freelance Videographer – Editor (World Class Media)

Getting Your Invoices Paid On Time

mkcquinlan — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:53:05 +0000

Being a freelancer, your income is going to be very sporadic and you cannot rely on it. You may have come from a job where you pay was put into your bank account every month on the same day. You would have a predetermined amount of money and then your bills will come out.

Not so with freelancing, I am afraid. Every month your income will vary and you may be paid several times during that month – or not at all. You need to be prepared for all eventualities. However having an idea of when your invoices will be paid is a great start towards having a little control.

So how do you make sure that your client pays your invoices when you expect them and what can you do to prevent them being avoided or worse still, ignored?

Start with the right intentions

Before you even agree to do any work for your client, you need to tell them what your terms are and how soon after you deliver the work you expect to be paid. Most clients are happy to pay their invoices within a day or two of the work arriving in their inbox. Others may have a monthly payment structure or a policy of only paying once the article has been published.

Whatever the payment system, you need to know in advance what it is. This way you can work around it and you both know what to expect.

In my opinion, work should be paid for within one week – but you will have your own expectations.

Be professional

Make sure that you actually send an invoice. A casual email telling them what they owe you is not enough. You need to show that you are a serious business, so take the time to create an invoice which includes your details, your clients details, a list of all the work delivered to them and the total amount owed. Your invoice should also tell your client when you expect payment.

A business-like approach is always going to be treated with more respect than a relaxed and informal attitude. When it comes to money, nothing should be off the cuff.

Don’t wait

Always send your invoice on the same day or preferably with the completed work. Unless you have an agreement with your client to invoice them monthly or weekly, you should invoice as soon as you can.

This helps you to keep track of what work has been invoiced and it allows your client to put the invoice together with the work. They will be more likely to pay it quickly if they can track it back to the work you did.

Give thanks

If your invoice is paid promptly, you need to knowledge it. Once the money has entered your bank account, you should send an email confirming you have received it and thanking them for paying so quickly. This is just nice to do and will encourage them to pay quickly next time as well.

Chase up

Never leave an unpaid invoice longer than one day over the agreed time. In my case, I always send a follow up email exactly one week after the invoice has been sent. My terms are seven days, so I am justified in doing this.

I am very polite and just remind them of the invoice and give a time limit on when I want it paid by. By doing this you are then allowed to follow it up once more and more forcefully if it is not paid by the time specified.

Don’t use guilt tactics such as telling them your mortgage needs to be paid. Being made to feel guilty will not encourage them to pay it any quicker – especially if it is a genuine mistake.

If after three emails your money still not arrived, you need to get on the phone. This usually works pretty well.

What if…

If your invoice has not been paid two months after you expected it and you cannot get any response from your client, you have some big decisions to make.

If it is a relatively small amount you may just decide to chalk it up to experience, vow never to work with that client again and learn from any mistakes you made. You may decide to take a deposit in the future.

For larger amounts you could decide to take it through the civil courts. For a small cost you can attempt to recover your invoiced amount. For some clients the threat of legal action is enough to get them to cough up, but still never work with that client again. (my guess is that this goes without saying!)

In three years as a freelance writer I have to say that I have never had a client not pay me what I was owed. I have certainly had to do quite a bit of chasing – some people are just a little disorganised when it comes to paying their bills. I am always nice about it and it has never been enough of a problem to make me not want to work with that client again.

For the most part, as long as you develop a good relationship with your cleint, ensure you know all their details and you produce work which is to the standard they expect, you will be paid.

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

SEO Hints and Tips – On and Off Site (Does SEO Work)
6 Tips to Survive Working As a Freelancer in the Film, Television and Video Business (World Class Media)

megancollinsquinlan

Creating The Perfect Work From Home Office

Use space wisely

Inject some personality

Keep important stuff close

Cleaning materials

Work surfaces

The environment

More From megancollinsquinlan

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Freelance Writing: Ethics

I will not work for less than £10 an hour

I will not do rewrites

I will not write for industries I don’t support

I won’t write for people I don’t admire

More From megancollinsquinlan

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Reasons to Avoid Employment

More From megancollinsquinlan

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Pride In What You Do – Writing for a Living

More From megancollinsquinlan

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

New Ventures In The World Of Freelancing

More From megancollinsquinlan

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Supplementing Your Freelance Writing Income

Auction sites

Start a blog

Mystery shopping

Writing competitions/short story magazines

Sell your hobby

More From megancollinsquinlan

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Staying Motivated

More From megancollinsquinlan

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

When is it Time to Say Goodbye to a Client?

Try to change the thing you dislike

Leave in an amicable way

Don’t be scared

More From megancollinsquinlan

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Why Do Freelancing Bid Sites Get a Bad Rap?

Cheap jobs

A level playing field

Fees

Bidding sites do their bit

More From megancollinsquinlan

megancollinsquinlan Recommends

Getting Your Invoices Paid On Time

Start with the right intentions

Be professional

Don’t wait

Give thanks

Chase up

What if…

More From megancollinsquinlan

megancollinsquinlan Recommends