Will Online Freelancing Work For You?

Have you considered working online as a freelancer?

 

Whether full time, or starting online as a part-time gig, many people make the move.

 

Today’s digital environment allows you to take your skills, services, and products online and reach a worldwide audience. Working as a freelancer is a vehicle to pursue your true passion, and provides work flexibility. Freelancers can fit their job around other commitments like childcare, or work on a freelance basis due to their time limitations or lifestyle preferences.

Nowadays, if you have the skills people need and a laptop, you can enjoy doing your hard work from the comfort of your sofa or favorite coffee shop.

 

The Tools

 

To work effectively as a freelancer, you need to right tools.

 

Whether you’re an illustrator, designer, writer, or you’re great with numbers; now is the time to get to grips with the software you’ll need, and build your knowledge and portfolio. Here are some ideas, inspiration, and advice for those who want their job to be flexible, and are ready to embrace working as a freelancer.

 

Do You Know Enough?

 

Invest into training, learning, and honing your skills- on a continuous basis.

 

Potential employers want someone with a specific set of attributes, skills, and knowledge. Do you meet the criteria? If you don’t you can learn online.

 

In addition, you’ll need to handle a variety of administrative tasks that an employer would handle, such as business taxes and a retirement plan (to replace the plan you had as a full-time employee for someone else).

 

 

Depending on your location and income level, you may need to address self managed super fund taxation, or federal and state tax payroll tax rules. Get an accountant to help you understand these requirements. There’s plenty of professional help out there, so make sure you find reputable companies to do the complicated stuff- so that you can concentrate on your client’s needs.

 

Are Your Solving a Problem?

Customers buy solutions to problems, and your freelance business must provide a compelling solution.

Reedsy is a book cover designer, and they solve the problem of getting a book noticed. All books need an attractive cover design to explain the title, point out the genre, and to capture the right audience. Reedsy can help the writer design a book cover that is adapted into a header on the website.

Comfort Zone

 

It might be tempting just to keep going with whatever role you’ve found within a company, especially if it means you can work remotely. However, freelance work tends to have a time limit, so it’s important to be mindful of this at all times.

 

Successful freelancers are always looking for new projects- even when their time is fully booked with business. This may mean taking on more work (and working more hours) than you really want to, but you’ll have options if you lose a customer.

 

Financially, it’s important to create a contingency fund. Saving regularly is a great place to start, so that you know you’ll have enough to live on while you secure a new role. It’s also worth keeping your eyes peeled for potential long-term opportunities every now and again. You never know what may crop up, and you’ll be glad you took a little extra time out of your day to scope out the digital job market.

 

Negotiation Theory

 

I think everyone can benefit from an overview of negotiation theory. For starters, you need to keep in mind that, in a negotiation, both sides are giving consideration. In your business law class, you have learned that consideration refers to giving something up. In a freelancer scenario, the employer gives up fees, in exchange for the worker’s time and effort.

 

Here are some negotiation terms you should know:

 

• Reserve price (reservation price): The minimum dollar amount that a party is willing to accept. Think about the owner of a painting at an auction who won’t take less than $10,000 for the artwork. In a fee negotiation, you may have a minimum rate that you’re willing to accept.

 

• Small pie bias: Many people in salary negotiations underestimate the size of the bargaining zone– the range of salary that both parties are willing to accept. The concept is referred to a small pie bias. Is it a $5,000 range , or $15,000? If you bring value to the firm, it’s probably $15,000.

 

• Zone of possible agreement (ZOPA): What need to find is the zone of possible agreement, or the range within which a deal can be reached. Think about a company sale, for example. The seller says: “I can’t accept less than $15 million”, but buyer doesn’t want to pay more than $13 million. Maybe the parties can tweak the negotiation and come up with a price range between $14 and $14.5 million.

 

Keep the strategies in mind, as your negotiate fees for your work as a freelancer.

 

You Got This

 

Freelancing isn’t for everyone, so make sure that you’re ready to roll with any variables that may pop up. If you’re passionate about working on your own, however, freelancing can be rewarding.

 

If you think it might work for you, give it a try. You got this!

This post is for educational purposes only.

 

Ken Boyd

Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies

Co-Founder: accountinged.com

(email) ken@stltest.net

(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/

(you tube channel) kenboydstl