Benefits Coverage Basics for Self-Employed Workers | Business News Daily

April 6, 2023April 5, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Ready to leave the corporate world behind? Here’s what you need to know about getting benefits coverage when you’re self-employed.

Essential benefits coverage to obtain if you decide to become self-employed include liability insurance, health insurance, disability insurance and a retirement plan.
Your options for obtaining self-employed health insurance range from government markets to professional employer organizations (PEOs).
Additional expenses to consider include self-employment taxes, payroll taxes and overhead.
This article is for aspiring entrepreneurs and freelancers looking to get their benefits set up – and their expenses covered – as they go solo.

Should You Hire a Bookkeeper? | business.com

July 22, 2022July 21, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In-house bookkeepers, freelancers, and outsourced partners all have pros and cons. The best choice depends on the level of service your business requires.

If you own a small business, you might be used to doing many tasks on your own. For example, you may be responsible for contacting your suppliers, marketing your products, monitoring sales, and responding to customer inquiries and complaints. You might even do bookkeeping on your own. Although you might think you’re saving money by managing your cash flow yourself, you can actually do more harm than good to your money management.

An accountant or a bookkeeper can help you manage your day-to-day finances. These experts monitor cash flow from different accounts, bills and invoices, and they can organize your books to improve your business’s money management. However, before you hire a bookkeeper or an accountant, it’s important to understand the differences between the two, the pros and cons of hiring one, and what to look for in a bookkeeper.

5 Ways to Support Freelancers and Improve Collaboration | The Startup Magazine

April 4, 2022April 3, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Freelancing is a booming industry right now, with great talent pools available. The percentage of full-time freelancers in the U.S. workforce soared from 17 to 28 percent between 2014 and 2019 and has been continually growing since the pandemic.

Moreover, the demand for freelancers is also set to increase as the gig economy proves that they are equally productive as full-time employees, but arguably, a more cost-effective option for employers. To maximize the benefits of hiring freelance workers, it is important to learn how to support them and work with them properly.

Knowing how to work with a freelancer efficiently will ensure the relationship is successful and the collaboration is fruitful. Here are things you should do when you consider working with freelancers:

1. Be Ready for Them

Hiring talented and skilled freelancers can help cut costs for many businesses. But that is only if you employ the appropriate strategy to find, hire, and onboard them. Depending on your business or the tasks at hand, try to find the right platform where you can find the best ones in their field.

3 Ways to Set Freelancers Up for Success | Entrepreneur

March 11, 2022March 8, 2022 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Freelancers are just like any other tool that you use to complete a task — their effectiveness depends on how you as the user operate them. You wouldn’t write with a dry pen and then blame the pen for not producing ink, would you?

Freelancers can be an excellent resource for your company. They can take a lot of work off your plate and offer a much-needed outsider’s perspective if you set them up for success.

So, here’s how to do that.

Empower them to make decisions

If you’re like me, you’re bringing freelancers on to complete work without the hassle of a full-time employee. This means giving them a longer leash than you would to a full-timer and empowering them to make decisions that most employees would try to leave up to you.

So don’t treat them as disposable — treat them as you would an employee who’s been with your company for a long time and knows what will earn your seal of approval and what won’t. Train them the same way you would a normal employee and take the time to fully explain how you want the job done and what standards they will be held to.

Freelancers Will Soon Be Able to Buy Short-Term Disability Insurance Through This Startup | Entrpreneur

September 10, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you’re a freelancer, you don’t get days off when you’re sick. While you may be able to save up a rainy day fund for the occasional flu, if anything ever happened to you that put you out of commission for weeks at a time, chances are you’d be screwed.

For freelancers who have experienced this misfortune firsthand — or who live their lives trying not to think about the possibility — a new kind of insurance will soon become available. A company called Trupo, formed out of the Freelancers Union by the organization’s founder, Sara Horowitz, will begin selling short-term disability insurance to a waiting list of more than 200 Georgia residents later this month, with a broader launch and additional markets to follow.

Freelancers, Here’s How To Negotiate Raises With Clients | Forbes

October 28, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Asking for a raise is never easy.

Requesting one when you’re a freelancer is downright scary — the client could immediately stop working with you and turn to your less expensive competition.

As I outlined in the first part of this series, how you set your rates should be determined by your expenses, expertise and how you want to spend the one fixed variable in this whole process: your time.

After I outlined the various ways you can use to determine how much to charge a potential client or what rates you’re willing — and unwilling to accept — let’s take a look at how you can increase your fees.

1. Track your time.

Time management expert Laura Vanderkam, who has often provided wonderful advice for my stories, says that you should know how much time your activities take. Having learned this from her while writing an article a while back, I have been following this advice religiously, to my great benefit.

Freelancers, Here’s How To Set Your Rates | Forbes

October 27, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Freelancers often wonder how much they should charge. It’s a thorny dilemma: Quote too high a price, and the potential client may decide to hire someone else. Go with a lower number, and you may end up earning less than you could have.

That’s why you’ll see freelancer forums and discussion boards peppered with questions about how much the poster should quote for a potential gig.

But they’re going about it all wrong. While, yes, it helps to know the general price range for certain types of work, the reality is that the range can be quite wide.

For instance, writers for content mills may earn as little as $15 a post, writers for esteemed magazines could earn $20,000 for a lengthy story, and some authors can receive millions for a book advance. Even for articles of the same length — say, 1,000 words — some outlets pay as little as $100 and others pay as much as $2,000 or more.