While this can mean greater financial security and freedom, it can also bring additional administrative headaches when it comes to taxes.

According to Lauren Harvey, Accounts Manager at The Accountancy Partnership, an expert in accounting and tax for freelancers, she sees many make life harder for themselves when it comes to tax.

“Freelancers in all sectors, whether this be the creative industries or sports, are wearing many hats; one day hosting a workshop, the next day travelling to a client meeting and then the next settling down to take care of the admin.

However, HMRC doesn’t care how many income streams you have; all they care about is that you declare them properly and on time.”

Lauren discusses five of the most common mistakes she sees from freelancers juggling different income streams.

1. Not tracking every penny

When you’re juggling multiple income streams, the most important habit to get into is to record every single payment you receive, no matter how small it is.

HMRC requires you to declare all taxable income, even if it’s just a couple of pounds. It’s often the ‘little bits on the side’ that freelancers forget about, but these are the ones likely to cause the most problems if they’re missed off a tax return.

Make sure you can identify which business or income stream a transaction belongs to for your own reporting and understanding, but it’s crucial to make sure you include everything when you’re supposed to!

2. Understand what HMRC expects

If the total amount you earn from self-employment or other miscellaneous activities is more than £1,000 in a tax year, you’ll need to tell HMRC about it using a tax return, even if you’re also in full-time employment and taxed through PAYE on earnings from your employer.

HMRC doesn’t separate your additional freelance income from your main job, so you’ll need to include everything on your tax return although you won’t pay tax on the same money twice!

3. Claim allowable expenses properly

When you have more than one income stream, it’s easy to blur the lines on what expenses you can and can’t claim back against tax. However, each stream may have its own distinct set of allowable expenses. If you don’t record these clearly for HMRC, then you could miss out on some vital savings or even raise red flags (businesses without any expenses at all may be unusual!).

The golden rule is to keep every receipt and invoice, however small. Many freelancers find it helpful to use digital bookkeeping apps where receipts can be photographed and uploaded straight away. This avoids the classic ‘shoebox of crumpled receipts’ in January and makes it far easier to evidence claims if HMRC ever checks.

It’s also absolutely crucial to make sure that you don’t claim the same expenses twice if they relate to multiple income streams.

4. Budget for taxes throughout the year

Many people forget that tax is a thing until the Self Assessment tax deadline comes, and they think they have more income than they do. Multiple income streams can make it harder to estimate how much you’ll owe by January, so a simple solution is to set aside 20-30% of your income as you earn it into a separate pot. This way, you’re not caught short at payment deadlines, and anything that’s left over is a little bonus!

5. Consider professional support

HMRC don’t always make things easy, and when your income comes from more than one source, the calculations can get quite complex. Having your own accountant can ensure you’re compliant, as well as reducing the stress that comes with having to do your own accounts.

They’re also great at helping you find additional tax reliefs you might be able to claim, so they might well help you save more than the amount it costs to hire one!

 
Head over to our information hub for more guides, news and advice on navigating life as a professional freelancer, from finance to tech and more.

The post FIVE Tips for Freelancers Juggling Multiple Incomes, by a Tax Expert appeared first on Freelancer News.

Before you know it, you’re folding and ironing, and your work is no closer to getting finished.

Relatable?

Procrastination is something everyone deals with, as we convince ourselves we still have plenty of time left – until we don’t.

Thankfully, there are ways to avoid the mad scramble before a deadline, but it starts with you holding yourself accountable and being willing to make a change.

Here are five things you can try.

Set your own deadlines

You might not always get a say when a piece of work is due, but you can still try and negotiate if what’s being asked is unreasonable or unrealistic.

Work backwards from when the client needs the work and determine whether or not it’s actually doable based on your own habits.

If you reach the conclusion that it can’t be done, then say so – or at least ask for a higher pay rate to make up for any potential overtime.

You obviously want to try and be as accommodating as possible, but it still has to be worth your while at the end of the day.

If you’re pitching for work, be sure to pitch deadlines as well. This allows you to space them out according to your schedule (and ultimately work on your terms).

Don’t forget to give yourself a bit of a buffer for potential delays!

Manage your time

Perhaps the most obvious way to improve your overall productivity is by breaking large projects up into more manageable (or “bitesize”) chunks, which you can then tackle one at a time.

Another strategy is to plan your schedule on a weekly basis, as this leaves room for the odd off day where you don’t get a whole lot done for whatever reason. Days like this are perfectly normal every now and then; you just need to account for them.

Establish a method

First of all, you’ll want to decide how many hours you’d like to work in a given day.

It’s worth noting that some people are more productive at certain times, so pay attention to your own habits.

Not having set work hours means you could be working at all hours without realising it!

For example, you might find yourself trying to finish something late at night because you didn’t get it boxed off during the day.

If this works for you, then great, but it’s all about planning work around what’s sustainable long-term.

You might consider implementing something like the Pomodoro method, which involves 25 minutes of focus with a 5-minute break. Whatever method you ultimately choose, hold yourself accountable to it.

Communicate with your client

Communication is key. If you think you might need to move the deadline, just ask politely.

That’s not to say you should move a deadline for the sake of it, but your client is human too. They’ll most likely understand if you have a legitimate reason. Just try to avoid leaving them in the lurch!

More generally, you can also ask for further clarification if you’re unsure about what they’re asking of you.

Block out the noise

We all know there’s no better way to waste a couple of hours than by going down a YouTube rabbit hole, so don’t tempt yourself and close all non-work-related tabs.

For some people this will also mean you go dark during your most productive hours of the day, although some freelancers will need to balance this with the need for good client communications.

This might mean turning off your phone and silencing your emails.

If you’re not totally comfortable with this, you could consider using a filter for urgent communications such as from family members, or create dedicated work comms channels which you can silence as needed.

It’s not just about setting boundaries between work and life; it’s about giving your full focus to the task at hand and not getting distracted.

This is likely to result in higher quality work, thus increasing the likelihood of you receiving more work in the future.

Head over to our information hub for more guides, news and advice on navigating life as a professional freelancer, from finance to tech and more.

The post A Freelancer’s Guide to Handing Projects in on Time appeared first on Freelancer News.

In that instance, it would actually be better to be something of an expert in said area – as opposed to a jack of all trades who knows a little about everything.

But is it always better to be a specialist? And how do you choose what to specialise in?

What is a freelance niche?

It’s basically just an area of expertise that you specialise in, and that people therefore come to associate you with.

You can also think of yourself as a kind of brand, meaning people will come to associate you with a particular kind of product or service that no one else really offers.

The niche you ultimately choose is of course the thing that will determine how you’re thought of, with it essentially becoming your whole identity as a freelancer.

This isn’t something to fear, but to be embraced. After all, if you don’t believe in your niche, why should anyone else?

Why choose a niche?

First and foremost, you need a way to stand out from the crowd in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

One of the best ways to do this is by picking a lane, as it were, and fully leaning into it so that you become people’s “go-to” for that particular thing.

It’s not about limiting yourself but taking on a unique identity.

Why does this work, though?

Because hiring an “expert” to do a specific job is much more low-risk than hiring a more general freelancer who may only have a working knowledge of the field you’re in.

Furthermore, leaning into a niche enables you to start building your brand, as you now have something to base it on. This is also key when it comes to marketing yourself (which we’ll get to later).

Those who’ve enlisted your services may even refer you to others, and it’s generally accepted that workers who pick a specialty are able to charge more, as the work they do is more bespoke.

You’ll also save yourself a lot of time being a specialist freelancer, as you won’t need to go looking for work. Rather, it will find you – especially if you’re able to build a reputation as a trusted and reliable expert.

Gone will be the days of sending out random proposals to people who aren’t interested!

Why stay more generalised?

On the other hand, there are benefits to being more open as a freelancer.

The most obvious one is that you have access to more opportunities, which (in theory) equals more work. In this sense, generalisation may provide you with a greater sense of security than being a specialist in a specific area.

We also live in an ever-changing and increasingly competitive world, so it can be argued that locking yourself into one thing might not be the best idea.

A more general freelancer is able to adapt to their changing environment thanks to their ability to pick up new skills on the fly, and this means they’re ready for anything.

How do I choose my niche?

The million-dollar question. Generally speaking, there are two main approaches to this, with the first focusing on your own skills.

Consider your strengths and weaknesses, and use these to form the basis of the services you offer, prioritising what you know you’re good at.

Alternatively, you can choose to focus on whatever you think people are looking for, and this obviously involves undertaking a fair amount of research so that you have your finger on the pulse.

The best approach is probably somewhere in the middle. Whichever you end up choosing, though, try to ensure there’s a market for your niche before you go all in.

How do I market my new niche?

Okay, so you’ve picked a lane and found a way to stand out from the crowd. Now what?

Well, people have to know you exist before they can enquire about working with you, and so a good marketing strategy is crucial. This can take a number of different forms, though.

For example, email marketing is now a popular way of getting the word out about yourself, and involves sending promotional email communications to people on your mailing list.

It gives you a direct line to those who are interested in what you have to say (and offer), boosting customer retention while also encouraging any prospective clients to commit to working with you.

It can also be a very cost-effective form of marketing with a high return on investment – so long as you’re able to deliver content that’s useful and engaging.

Some other things you can do to promote your services are:

• Become a member of a professional association
• Network with other industry professionals at things like conferences
• Make use of the internet (for instance by using LinkedIn to network, or raising awareness on Reddit)

Head over to our information hub for more guides, news and advice on navigating life as a professional freelancer, from finance to tech and more.

The post Should I Be a Specialist or a Generalist as a Freelancer? appeared first on Freelancer News.

The nature of freelance work is that it’s flexible, meaning it affords businesses a certain level of freedom when it comes to making new hires. If it doesn’t quite work out with a particular freelancer, then the company simply won’t hire them again in the future. It’s also useful if you only need someone temporarily.

More broadly, hiring freelancers gives you access to a large range of skills, and this is where an online marketplace proves invaluable. So where do you start?

Access to a larger pool of available freelancers

While a lot of people like to bemoan the so-called digital age, it does mean we’re more connected than ever. Perhaps the most obvious advantage of using an online freelance marketplace is that it provides access to thousands – if not millions – of available freelancers looking for work.

This makes these online marketplaces ideal for quickly finding freelancers to complete one-time or rarely occurring tasks, and, again, you have the flexibility to trial as many people as you wish without being locked into anything long-term.

It usually won’t cost you, though some sites might charge a fee and/or charge the freelancer a percentage of their earnings.

Larger sites like Upwork and Guru will have the widest possible selection, though you might find there’s actually too much choice.

Access to a diverse range of talent

Not only do online freelance marketplaces give you access to many freelancers, but also to a huge range of valuable skills – skills which would probably be difficult for you to source locally, or even elsewhere online.

The majority of freelance marketplaces even allow you to filter your search for freelancers with the exact skills and experience level you need, meaning you can be sure you’ve got the right person for the job.

Ranking system

Another major advantage of hiring through an online marketplace is that it will most likely have some kind of internal ranking system. This is typically based on a number of key factors, including:

• Feedback score
• Reliability
• Successful/timely task completion
• Onsite tests
• Money earned

Gone are the days of working your way through a mountain of CVs to try and (hopefully) find a half-decent candidate. With an online marketplace, the boring bit is taken care of, and you can focus on choosing the absolute best person for the role on offer.

You also don’t need to spend money on an agency which may not even do a good job.

After all, no one knows what you’re looking for better than you, and an online freelance marketplace enables you to take matters into your own hands and find reliable candidates with great reputations.

Simplified payment process

A common theme here is that online freelance marketplaces make things quick and easy, and the same is true when it comes to making payments.

There’s no need for an array of different payment methods (talk about confusing), as you can quickly and easily pay all of your freelancers via the online marketplace.

Most online marketplaces will allow you to bring over any existing freelancers you may use, so you won’t have the hassle of having to pay them the old way – or even potentially losing them for good in the process of switching to online.

Streamlined admin and communication

In the same way an online marketplace can simplify the payment process, it can help you manage both communication and work submission through its online workstreams and messaging systems. This can be helpful if you’re currently working through WhatsApp, and having to transfer work to a different device.

A lot of sites also feature inbuilt terms and conditions, which ensure you and your freelancers are on the same page when it comes to general expectations, as well as things like deadlines.

In addition to making your life as an employer easier, these terms give you a kind of safety net should anything go wrong, as you’ll have recourse to a third party (the marketplace itself).

Head over to our information hub for more guides, news and advice on navigating life as a professional freelancer, from finance to tech and more.

The post Five Advantages of Hiring Freelancers on An Online Marketplace appeared first on Freelancer News.

So, as a freelancer, your time is your most valuable asset and it’s important to make every minute count. That doesn’t mean you have to work flat out – don’t forget rest and downtime are critical to productivity and wellbeing too. It just means you need to take measures to optimise your time, including scheduling time-effective meetings that add real value.

As a freelancer, setting up meetings can be a bit of a faff, never mind figuring out agendas beforehand. But don’t worry because we’ve got some tips on ways you can schedule more time-effective meetings so they won’t clog up your whole week.

Why are time-effective meetings so important?

Good time management isn’t just an arbitrary addition to a soft skillset. Timekeeping and organisation are essential, especially for freelancers who are juggling so many roles. You’re the business owner, marketer, project manager, and the client relationship manager – just to name a few.

Here’s why time-effective meetings are so crucial:

• You will appear more polished and professional when you can manage time more effectively
• Less time is wasted, which is important when your time can be converted into profit
• You feel more organised and less hassled – and therefore less stressed!
• It becomes easier to give your clients equal treatment, so you don’t end up servicing some more than others
• You can avoid spreading yourself too thin and burning out

Time is precious, so it’s important you use it wisely. Think you could be making better use of your allocated meeting time? Keep reading…

Make the most of your meetings

So, let’s dive into our advice on how to optimise your meetings so you can get the most value out of them and reduce the risk of wasting time.

Avoid meetings that could be an email instead

You’ve seen the memes and the satirical posts – absolutely nobody wants to sit through a meeting that could have easily been an email, Slack message or phone call instead. Consider if the meeting you’re setting up is really necessary before clicking send on the calendar invite.

For example, if you want to ask your client about some overdue invoices, send them an email instead. That way, you also have an audit trail of the conversation.

Another example is if your client just wants an update on where a project is up to. They may even ask for these on a regular basis. Instead, you could agree to send a weekly project status report via email or another collaboration tool to remove the need for a meeting.

Just try to balance this with good client relationship management. If having a meeting will keep your client sweet, it may be worth the time investment. It’s your call.

Give meetings a time limit

According to Harvard Business Review, 30-minute meeting slots are the most effective and help people avoid waffling and get to the point quicker.

So, unless there’s a reason to extend or the nature of the meeting calls for a longer session, try sticking to 30 minutes or less. With a concise time limit, attendees are more likely to get down to business efficiently.

In order to do this, make sure you’re actually scheduling meetings in a digital calendar and sending invites. Don’t just agree on a time via email and set up an impromptu link. Send an invite with clear timings so expectations are managed from the beginning. Some great meeting scheduling tools to check out are:

• Google Calendar
• Calendly
• Flowance

Setting a time will also encourage clients to be prompt. Time is money as a freelancer, and you don’t want your billable minutes to be wasted waiting around for tardy meeting attendees.

Create and share an agenda before the meeting

Fail to plan and you’re planning to fail, as the saying goes. Putting an agenda together before the meeting will help keep the topics relevant and the time efficiently managed. Going into a meeting without any kind of plan of action is a recipe for going off-topic and running over.

Compile a short list of bullet points to summarise what will be covered during the meeting and share this ahead of time. That way, the people you’re meeting with have the chance to add their own agenda points and you can adjust the timing in advance rather than having to run over on the spot.

Having a shared agenda also means all attendees can come to the meeting prepared with talking points and any materials that need to be shared. Without preparation, heaps of time can be wasted while people collect their thoughts and search for materials in real-time.

Pick your timing

The majority (87%) of Brother UK’s respondents said they are at their best before midday, with 9am-11am proving to be the most productive period.

Figure out when you’re most on the ball and set as many meetings during that timeframe as possible. Leaving an important client meeting until 4pm on Friday when everybody is tired from the week and winding down for the weekend is not the best idea, if it can be avoided.

Another approach you could try is having one or two days per week dedicated to meetings only. That way, you can condense your meeting days and leave the remainder of the week open for full focus and uninterrupted concentration.

Looking for more freelancing advice? Head to our hub, where we’ve got a whole host of resources ready for you.

The post Scheduling Time-Effective Meetings as a Freelancer appeared first on Freelancer News.

What is more profitable for you?

Analyse your offering and dig into the details of what clients are buying and what they aren’t. If a particular service simply isn’t in demand or costs too much to provide, then maybe it’s time to move on from it – at least in its current form.

If two services generate the same level of income, but one of them costs more to provide, then you might decide to focus on the most profitable of the two. On the other hand, the freelancing services you offer might be complementary, so consider whether removing one would also damage the other.

Choosing a pricing structure

How you price your offering and what you charge for each product or service is another element you should be reviewing on a regular basis.

One of the most obvious indicators that you might need to increase your prices is if you aren’t making enough money. Some other signals that it could be time to reassess your pricing structure include:

• When your outgoings increase: Things like inflation and market demand mean that sometimes, you end up spending more to produce your offering. This is an example of when a price increase is perfectly justified.
• If you hire staff: Again, this will increase your overheads, which might mean you need to bump up how much you charge for what you offer.
• Client feedback: If you notice clients are consistently surprised with how affordable your offering is, this could be a sign that you’re undercharging. You might also decide to charge more for particularly time-consuming clients!
• Competitors charging a lot more: if your competitors’ prices are way higher than yours, it could be a good idea to test an increased pricing structure of your own.

Of course, it is also important to assess whether or not you might need to lower your prices.

If clients aren’t buying what you’re selling or if you’re charging significantly more than your competitors, a price decrease could be what you need to see more sales coming in and boost your competitive advantage.

Client relationships

Contrary to traditional belief, the customer isn’t always right – or, at least, the customer isn’t always right for you. Assess your current client relationships and be honest about which ones are working and which ones aren’t.

If you feel a client relationship no longer serves you or your career positively, it’s probably time to part ways. This could be because it’s too tricky to manage expectations for the customer, for example, or perhaps they’re serial late payers and consistently behind on settling invoices.

Whatever the stumbling block may be, moving away from problematic client relationships will give you more time and energy to invest in flourishing and fruitful ones, both new and existing.

For the client relationships that are going well, you should think about how you can bolster these connections in order to retain the customer for as long as possible.

This is also a good opportunity to put your own contribution to client relationships under the spotlight. Are you doing enough to service your clients? Where could you improve? Putting an action plan in place can help you review and adapt the customer experience, and avoid the risk of complacency.

Payment processes

Look at your invoicing and transaction data to identify any clients that are regular culprits of making late payments, and consider how valuable this relationship is to you and your business.

Late payments can be extremely damaging for your freelance career, hindering your cash flow. Focus your energy on clients that don’t need chasing for payment and regularly fulfil their invoices on time.

Secondly, review your own outgoings and how you pay for business-related costs. Are there any payment processes in place that you could change or optimise to support things like cash flow and budgeting? Could you spread the cost, for example, or pay something upfront to save some money in the long run?

These are the types of questions you should ask yourself when it comes to analysing what works and doesn’t work financially for your freelance business.

Where you work

Another key thing to consider when you’re reviewing what works for your freelance career is where, when, and how you work.

As your own boss, you can structure your working life however you like – this includes the hours you work and where you work from. This has many brilliant benefits, but it also means self-employed people are often more at risk of burnout and a poor work-life balance.

For example, if you spend most of your time working from home, you might notice this impacting your physical and mental health as it reduces social connections and daily movement. As a result, you might choose to invest in a co-working space for part of the week to boost wellbeing, productivity, and networking opportunities.

This might also encourage you to work more structured, sociable hours, which will have a positive impact on your motivation and productivity too. The other side to this is the added cost though, so consider what this means for your profits.

How to measure the growth of your freelance business

Consistent growth and stable profits are usually a sure sign that something is working for your freelance career. Below are some of the most effective ways to measure and monitor this success.

• Review your client base: A growing list of regular clients is a really positive sign that freelancing is going well
• Assess your earnings: If your business is becoming more and more profitable, this shows your career is moving in the right direction.
• Use financial reports: Accounts and financial reports showing more money coming in than going out are a great indication of growth.

Looking for more advice on all things freelance? Head over to our hub where we have a whole host of handy guides and interesting resources for you to get stuck into.

The post Reviewing What Works Best for Your Freelancing Career appeared first on Freelancer News.

Expanding your offering can be a smart way to encourage business growth, get ahead of the competition, and stay relevant in your market. That said, it’s vital to be strategic about it.

We look at times when adding to your services could be a great idea, versus when you should probably hold off and address other areas first.

Reasons not to expand your freelance services

Adding more services isn’t the only way to attract or retain clients. Depending on your current offering, the answer to business growth might mean staying in your niche and honing your existing skills.

Although broadening your offering to include a wider array of skill can help you win more business, it’s important to make sure you can actually deliver on any new promises!

With that in mind, we want to focus on three key points to consider before making any big decisions.

Do you have the skills to offer?

It takes lot of hard work to win over freelancer clients and build up a reputation for reliability and high standards. Even if you’re not yet at that point, consistency is key. You want customers to have a good experience of working with you no matter which service you provide.

Offering a wider range of skills can be a smart business move, but if you’re not sure you have the skills or expertise just yet then perhaps learning, rather than expansion, should be your next step.

Educate yourself in the area you want to grow into and train yourself up before promoting it as a paid service. Launching when you aren’t adequately skilled puts your reputation, client relationships, and competitive advantage at risk.

You could even offer the service to existing clients for free, just while you’re learning, to refine your skills and gain experience. In other words, you could soft launch your new offering and gather feedback from clients so you’re on top of your game once you’re ready to launch in full.

Do you have the contacts?

Offering new services might mean you need to team up with specialists or experts in specific fields. If this is the case, but you don’t yet have the contacts to connect with, then it’s probably worth expanding your network before you expand the business.

When you find other professionals whom you want to partner with, it’s essential to get a feel for this working relationship before launching your new service. This gives you the opportunity to iron out any teething problems behind the scenes before you go client-facing with your new offering.

Do you have the time and capacity?

Skills and resources are vital when you’re thinking about offering a wider range of services to your clients – but so is time. If you haven’t got the capacity to execute the work involved, now isn’t the right time to expand.

For a new service to add value to your business, increase your profitability, and support your client relationships, you need to be able to give it your all – without burning out and damaging your work-life balance.

When to expand your services

We’ve explored three areas you need to have covered before you consider expanding your offering: skillset, contacts, and capacity.

So, if you’ve got the expertise, the right people for the job, and the available time, you could be primed and ready to offer a wider range of services and take your freelancing to the next level.

Here are some signs adding to your offering could be a smart move for your business:

Market demand is calling for something new

If your clients are regularly asking for services which you don’t yet provide, now would be a great time to widen your offering and plug this gap.

This is particularly important when considering your existing clients. Attracting new customers is one thing but losing your existing customer base is another.

Where there’s demand, there’s a need for supply, which suggests expansion would be an effective way to retain your clients, grow your business, and boost your revenue.

So, if your clients are asking if you can provide additional services or if you’ve noticed a market trend that you feel you should be diversifying into, go for it – providing you have the skills, resources, and capacity.

Your competitive advantage needs attention

Keeping a close eye on the competition is a crucial part of running a business at any stage. This includes regularly assessing what services they do or don’t offer – both provide invaluable insights that you can use to shape your own approach.

Which services or products have your competitors removed from or added to their portfolio? Which services seem to be the most popular in the case studies or client testimonials they share, or on their online reviews? What are your competitors winning market awards for?

The answers to these questions can tell you a great deal about the market you’re operating in and what your target customers are looking to spend their money on. Use this information to structure your unique selling points and enhance your competitive advantage.

You want to reach new business objectives

If you have specific goals or targets you want your freelancing career to reach, then adding to your services might be the way to unlock new milestones.

Monitor your current performance and use this data to identify where you need to level up, and how you’re going to go about it.

If you’ve got a financial objective that you’re working towards, for example, offering a new paid service to clients could be the perfect way for you to generate more income and reach this goal.

Ultimately, the decision to offer a wider range of services should be based on a thorough analysis of your skills, market, goals, and lifestyle.

It’s important to strike a balance between specialisation and diversification to align with how you want to shape your personal and professional future.
 
Find more of the latest news and guidance for freelancers in our info hub.

The post Do I Need to Offer a Wider Range of Services? appeared first on Freelancer News.

Naturally, these goals will change and evolve over time. Your circumstances or interests might go in a different direction, or an opportunity might present itself that’s impossible to ignore.

You might even need to refocus the targets you set for the business because of the progress you make. For example, if you hit a target sooner than you had anticipated, you may be able to consider more ambitious aims in that particular area. On the flip side of this, struggling to meet a goal can help you identify where you need to invest in new skills, budget, or time.

The formal term for these goals in the world of business is Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

Here, we explore some general KPIs and business goals you should be setting, as well as how to measure them successfully.

What are macro and micro goals?

If you ever need to write a business plan, outlining the goals in your business is a key part of it. They can often be divided into ‘macro’ goals, and ‘micro’ goals.

‘Big picture’ macro goals are critical to the long-term success of your business. These include the bigger decisions and objectives that are going to take more time or money to achieve, such as:

• Ongoing client retention
• Increasing earnings from one year to the next
• Building a more sustainable and secure future for the business

Macro goals are usually set and reviewed on a less frequent basis, such as annually, bi-annually, as even as part of a five-year plan, for example.

On the other hand, micro goals are smaller, more achievable milestones that can be seen as quick(er) wins. These are aims that can be reached in the near(er) future, often with a less intensive investment of time and money.

Examples of micro goals could include things like increasing your social media following, setting out to capture more customer data, or immediate cost-saving exercises to improve cash flow.

Different types of freelance business goals

There are a whole host of different goals you can set for your business and many of them will depend on your individual circumstances.

If you’ve been working from home at your kitchen table for a long time, you might aim to start hiring a spot at your favourite co-working space a couple of times a week. Another target could be to clear your debts by the start of the following tax year.

Business goals are all about where you want to go and how you plan to get there. That said, there are some general types of goals and KPIs you should work towards to set your freelance business up for success.

Financial goal setting for freelancers

It goes without saying that you’ll want to set some financial goals for your freelance business. Below are some ideas to point you in the right direction.

• Revenue: Set clear goals for how much money (total income) you want to make by a set period of time, whether that’s per quarter or per year. This will help you work out the volume of sales you need to make to achieve that target.
• Net profit: Making lots of sales is one thing, but high costs can damage your ability to actually make a profit. Review your figures, and create a plan to achieve a certain amount of net profit once all the necessary deductions have been made and let this influence your strategy.
• Cost saving: Savings goals are key for businesses of any size or structure and can be managed on both macro and micro scales.
• Investment and funding: If you plan to invest your own money or secure funding for your business, add this to your financial objectives. It will help you understand what you want the funding for, and how you will use it (which any lender or investor will want to know too!).

Customer success and client retention

One of the other ways you can steer your business strategy and set performance-indicating goals is by monitoring customer success and retention.

This simply means setting a goal for how many clients or customers you want to acquire, and then setting additional aims around how you plan to work with them all, and retain them.

The goals that you set for taking on new customers will usually overlap with your marketing goals, for example. It might sound a bit corporate for one freelancer working alone, but the principle is still the same!

Marketing

If you choose to execute a marketing strategy to promote your business and maintain an online presence, there are a number of marketing KPIs you can measure your digital performance against. Common marketing metrics include things like:

• The number of people who visit your website, profile, or page
• Click-through rates and conversion rates, to understand what actions people take on your page or profile
• Number of social media followers, and the volume of interactions on specific posts (which helps you understand what sort of content your audience likes!)

And many more! Under the marketing umbrella, you should also set yourself some networking-related goals. Think quality over quantity and only attend networking events, whether online or offline, that are truly going to boost your business in some way.

Professional development

As a self-employed freelancer, your skillset is your business. You don’t have a workforce of staff with different expertise to diversify and expand your offering for you.

That’s why it’s so critically important, when you run a freelance business, to ensure personal professional development goals are high on your priority list.

How you go about this will depend entirely on what you do. Professional development for a freelance photographer, for example, looks a lot different from professional development as a private chef.

Whatever your niche, set goals for improving and expanding your skills on a regular basis – and stick to them. This will help you stay relevant and competitive – two essentials for growth and success.

Personal

It’s also important to consider personal goals outside of your working life. After all, you can only do your best work and optimise the potential of your freelance business if you’re a happy, healthy version of yourself.

Good examples of personal goals you could set include:

• Take up a new non-work-related hobby
• Spend more time with friends and family
• Pursue passions that get you outdoors and away from your screen or workshop more often
• Exercise regularly to improve both physical and mental wellness
• Plan a holiday or a break away from work to rejuvenate and reset
• If you’re feeling burnt out, put a plan in place to reduce stress and strain, such as figuring out how you could work fewer hours but still be productive, for example.

Personal goals like these will help you strike a good work-life balance and nurture your non-professional relationships too.

Measuring KPIs as a freelancer

Once you’ve set your goals, the next step is understanding how to monitor them. You need to keep track of goals and KPIs meticulously so you can use their progress or performance to inform your next move.

Here are some great ways to measure the success of your freelance business goals:

• Use your business plan to track your performance against your proposed timeline
• Client retention and how satisfied your customers are (qualitative), alongside how many new customers you acquire (quantitative)
• Profit, revenue, and your overall financial status
• Marketing metrics such as return on ad spend (ROAS), website traffic, or social media following
• Skills, qualifications, and certifications
• How happy, healthy, and productive you are as a professional freelancer

Find even more advice and guidance for freelancers in our info hub!

The post What Goals Should I Set for my Freelance Business? appeared first on Freelancer News.

As a freelancer, you may worry that AI could take work from you, which is a very valid concern. After all, there’s very little it can’t do! But what if you used AI to your advantage?

By treating AI as a tool rather than a replacement, freelancers could improve their work in a more efficient way. In this blog, we’ll explore how you can make AI work for your freelance business.
 

What is AI?

In simple terms, artificial intelligence is inspired by human intelligence, and its main focus is the brain – especially when it comes to how we think, learn, and execute tasks. It essentially makes computers, smartphones, and machines act more like us.
 

What do we use AI for?

AI can do a multitude of things, and at a much faster speed than humans. It can problem-solve, make decisions, search the web, and even create art – not to mention switch your lights on or off in any room, or regulate your air conditioning without you lifting a finger.

You’re likely to have interacted with AI in one way or another, whether you’ve spoken to a customer service bot, asked Siri or Alexa a question, or used an AI art generator. It’s part of our lives these days, and most people don’t even realise how much we interact with it.
 

What are the benefits of using AI as a freelancer?

As a freelancer, it can be difficult to see AI as something positive – especially when it’s being used to create art and write content – but one thing AI lacks is the human touch, meaning freelancing isn’t dead (and never will be).

There’s plenty of things AI simply can’t replicate, and collaborating with it can help:
 

Boost your efficiency

As a freelancer, you’ll spend a lot of your time on admin. In fact, lots of freelancers will admit to spending a good chunk of their working hours scheduling meetings, sending out email reminders, and ensuring there’s no clashes in calendars. Using an AI scheduling assistant app can save you hours on admin, so you can focus on what you do best.
 

If you want to be efficient as possible, an AI scheduling assistant like Clara can give you a helping hand. Apps like this give you a real-life-human virtual assistant feel, simply ask her to find a time in your diary to schedule a meeting and she will do just that.

If that feels a little weird, you can use other AI Calendar apps like Clockwise!

If the financial admin side of things is slowing you down, take a look at cloud-based bookkeeping software providers such as Pandle, which offers lots of powerful automations at a decent price.
 

Improve your accuracy

If you’re a copywriter, marketer, or someone who needs to write a lot (which is most freelancers), you’ll know mistakes are easily made. Especially when you’ve read over your work for the fifth time and words somehow lose all meaning.

Using AI tools can help you spot errors quickly, so you can focus on writing that killer article or piece of copy.
 

Tools like Grammarly highlight any errors, and in some cases offer suggestions to reword sentences so they read better for your audience. This is a massive help if you don’t have an extra pair of eyes to make use of every time you’re writing.

The likes of Grammarly aren’t there to replace you, but rather to assist you in writing clear, engaging content.
 

Assist you with ideas

We assume you have lots of ideas – after all, you’re a freelancer, and your business runs off the back of your creativity! But sometimes you need help getting the bones of an article or piece of copy, and AI can assist you in doing just that, while also keeping your content original and yours.
 

If you’re looking for inspiration on how to put an article together, AI tools like copy.ai can help get your creative juices flowing. You could use it to get the bare bones of an article or to see your topic from a different perspective. Make the article your own though, of course – the content needs your unique human perspective!
 

Keep you up-to-date

When you run your own business with clients from different industries, you’ll need to stay ahead of the curve with access to all the latest data and insights. It can be hard to do that sometimes, with information flying at you from every angle.
 

Chat GPT is big news at the moment. This AI chatbot is trained on a large dataset of up-to-date information, so asking it the right questions might be a useful way to find the latest data analysis and trends.
 

Will AI be the end of freelancing?

AI does have the capability to take some work away from freelancers – for example, if businesses want to cut costs and use AI to write a blog post – but there will always be a demand for freelance work somewhere, and this is because:
 

You can’t replicate human creativity

AI is brilliant for writing clear and concise content, but it doesn’t go much further than that. It can’t think outside of the box and it doesn’t have a deep understanding of real human emotions. So, while AI can write a decent piece of copy, it will always need a human touch to make it relatable.
 

Some content can be duplicated, and in some instances, false

There are two issues here that could damage your website authority. Firstly, if lots of us are asking for AI to write specific things, there’s a likelihood somewhere along the line content will be duplicated.

As well as this, if we were to ask AI to pull up quotes and statistics, it may pick out-of-date or incorrect information. Without human judgement, it could be tricky for AI to pull statistics that are factually correct.
 

It lacks original thought

AI is all about gathering data and looking at algorithms. It can’t come up with an idea that isn’t there, as all of its thoughts are ones that have been written before. We humans, on the other hand, can come up with a unique fresh perspective for everything we write.
 

It has knowledge, not experience

A lot of our learning is through experience, successes, or failures. And that’s what makes our content so unique. We can suggest things from our own personal experience and give examples or advice that AI can’t – simply because it hasn’t lived through it. It’s that personal touch readers want, and what clients love for their websites. Tapping into real human emotions will always be vital, whether you’re writing content, producing art, or creating designs.

Freelancers will not be replaced any time soon.
 
Head over to our Freelancer Hub where we have a whole host of guides and resources.

The post How Can AI Work for Freelancer Content Creators? appeared first on Freelancer News.

Recording the financial life of your business

As a business owner it’s crucial that you record every single transaction that happens. Each invoice that you send out for freelance work, every train ticket you buy to meet a client, the works. OK, so you need this level of detail ready for your tax return anyway, but it’s not all about HMRC.

Detailed bookkeeping also helps you to build a complete picture of how your freelancing business is really performing. Good records make it easier to see:

• Where you’re making money (are you surprised to see that a particular service actually outperforms another?)
• Where you’re spending it. For example, are your costs higher than they need to be?
• What areas might need a little attention in order to deal with any imbalances
• When you can expect pinch points (which in turn, can help you plan to avoid them being a bit too pinchy).

Using financial reports to keep things in order

A bit like saying the same word over and over, stare at any list of numbers for too long and they start to lose meaning. Particularly so if they didn’t mean that much to you in the first place.

Rather than scraping through endless lists of raw data, accountants arrange bookkeeping figures in a way that helps them make sense of what they’re looking at. If you use bookkeeping software (and with the approach of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, you really should), most providers include reporting functions which do this for you. Don’t be shy about shopping around and comparing accounting software!

If it all sounds like too much, you can talk to your accountant about producing regular financial reports for you, as well as for their recommendations about any action to take.

What sort of things should I be looking at in my financial reports?

The classic example is that turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, and this is exactly what you’re looking for in your reporting. Focus too much on the income that you’re making, and you might miss an opportunity to spot that your actual profits aren’t doing so well.

This could be for lots of different reasons, like costs being too high, or your prices too low. Your financial reports will tell you which. There are different types of financial report, and you can use these to look at things like:

• Are you making a good profit, or running at a loss despite high sales
• Whether customers are late paying their invoices. If so, are you sending invoices out in a timely manner? Could you send them reminders? Is it a particular customer each time (and if so, can you ask for payment up front instead?).
• Where you might be able to make cost savings
• If you can afford to make a purchase for your business and if not, what you can do to plan for it.

What different types of finance reports do I need?

This can be a really long-winded list, but most freelancers will only ever need a few core reports to look at. For example:

• Profit and loss reports allow you to see whether or not your work is profitable in a particular time frame.
• Cash flow forecasts use data about your finances to identify trends and then turn this into a projection of where your cash will be and when, so you can plan around it.
• A balance sheet keeps track of all your income, expenses, assets, and liabilities

Using this information will help you make more informed decisions about how you operate. For example, if a particular service is far more profitable, you might consider making that the focus of the work that you take on, or outsourcing projects to other freelancers.

You’ll also be able to clamp down on any unnecessary spending, and be more proactive about following up late payments. It all adds up to more efficient freelancing (and hopefully a more restful night’s sleep!).

Visit our Freelancer Accounting hub for more guides and tips to managing your money.

The post How Do I Monitor My Finances? appeared first on Freelancer News.