Feast and famine as a freelancer
Every freelancer and small business owner knows the feeling of being completely overwhelmed with work. You’ve got so much work, so much to do that you can’t move.
At the other end of the scale, especially in times of recession or negative image in respective industries, each and every one of us knows what it is to feel the pinch of lack of work.
There are a couple of things you can do though, to make sure you can survive through the tough times, and thrive when things are good.
Tough times
The tough times require a bit of forethought. Every business I’ve consulted with recently on how to prepare for the downturn has done one small thing.
They’ve taken a ten percent ‘take home’ cut.
In realistic terms - this means taking $10 from every $100 and putting it away. You should do this for every member of staff you employ - even if this means paying them slightly more.
A VA that earns $40 an hour, should automatically put $4 away, before tax. These ’savings’ are then your buffer against hard times, while you gear your business, or supplement a lower income (though, of course, remember, you’ll still get taxed on any income you draw ;))
Booking in advance and client incentives work in some businesses, but most of the time, some prudent belt tightening helps out more than looking for clients, or pressurising old ones.
The good times - the best times
Other than putting away ’surplus’ wages + your 10%, it’s important to remember that you can hire casual workers, that you trust. My article business has casual freelancers on a mailing list - we post our overflow work to them, and I’m part of one or two lists like that myself, just so that when the tough times do hit, I’ve got another fallback.
Hiring freelancers is easy, but make sure you audition them, you pay them what they and you consider to be a fair rate, and you’ve got a basic contract in place. We’re publishing a couple of basic contracts at http://wahm20.com in a couple of days, for people to use and modify. Most of all though, remember that even if they are brilliant, you also have to be pretty good - you have to check their work before passing it to a client.
Whether you’re in feast or famine, freelancing and working from home is often the most rewarding job you can have.
Enjoy it!
D Kai Wilson is the head writer at http://wahm20.com - Wahm 2.0, a site dedicated to helping work at home parents understand Web 2.0 technologies and how to navigate the mine-field that is online working.
Web 2.0 technologies and how to navigate the mine-field that is online working.
3 Responses to “Feast and famine as a freelancer”
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These are great tips to remember, Kai.
My dh doesn’t earn enough for us to live on. We have lived off of the income the business has provided since our first month in business. What a blessing but there is nothing to put aside. While my business has been growing each and every year, it is not yet at the point were I can put anything away. We usually don’t even have enough for us to do much investing back in the business. And this year with all the money we spent on college prep for my dd our expenses grew right along with our income! LOL
What are some other tips for feast or famine with regard to planning? What can you suggest in the way of planning to grow your business during those down times and to manage your chaos during the busy ones?
Summer is usually a busy time for curricula sales but since the economy is down it was slow. So we devised a sale and now we are swamped! Talk about feast and famine. lol
Thanks so much!
From one busy work at home mom!
Hi Jo Jo.
How about increasing your prices slightly? Just a little - generally, people understand and will follow the quality.
Partner with someone that offers something else to the homeschool community and see if you can’t joint venture and drive even MORE sales.
I know you already article market and work through ideas like that, but kick it up a notch - do you use Digg and sphin and del.ico.us?
We’ll be talking more about driving traffic via that soon too.
You could monetise your podcast - if you aren’t already - or your video archive.
Look for places where you can inobtrusively add value, and add revenue would be my main advice.
Another thing to consider is affiliates of your own. Can you get other people (or do you?) to sell your products for you, for a cut of the proceeds? I’ve never seen you mention it, so I’m wondering if that might be a good area to head into.
Also - look at the costs you’re incurring. Is there any way to reduce them, without sacrificing quality?
It’s just some thoughts off the top of my head, but if you want to brainstorm some more, you might really LOVE the next post
Kai, this is a great article during a time like this, my daughter is 9 and I’m making her aware of the financial situation so when it repeats itself she’ll know how to handle it.
She will pinch a penny until it screams. Since she was 2 I’ve had her to split her money in three ways, 1/3 goes to the bank, 1/3 goes to the church and the last is for her to buy what ever she wants and I guess that consistency pays because she does well with money. I even have her read a paragraph from ING Direct-kids this summer.
I’ve been hearing this method of saving really works, it something like dollar cost averaging, no matter what happens set aside a certain amount of money every week and once you’re in the habit of “paying yourself first” it really adds up.
It’s hard for me to save as well, as a single parent and trying to launch my business I have no money left after my pay check, sometimes I’m struggling harder after I’ve gotten paid.
I have faith that if I make the first step the universe will see my efforts and bless me.
The incentive is a great suggestion for bring revenue to your business. I will launch my business 1/2009 and am trying to learn as much as I can. This has been encouraging.
I look forward to the brainstorm session.
Lukeither Willinghams last blog post..‘Neurobic’ Exercise