Overhead expenses

Accounting fees

Advertising

Bank charges

Books (research-related)

Casual wages

Cell phone

Client gifts (year-end/referrals)

Computer costs
Hardware
Software
Internet
IT/computer support
Website hosting

Consulting fees

Depreciation
Car
Computer
Cell phone
Printer
Etc.

Entertainment

Insurance
Motor vehicle
Home office
Laptop

Interest paid

Landline telephone

Maintenance, appls & repairs

Motor vehicle expenses
Fuel & oil
Repairs
Parking
Annual license

Newspapers/journals/mags

Office equipment

Printing, copying & stationery

Rental paid

Small items written off (under R7k)

Subscriptions

Training

Travel

Other

End note: Please be aware that I am not a financial services provider and that you should contact an accountant or book-keeper who specialises in freelance/small business tax if you need more guidance.

For the last three years, however, I’ve backed off. I send the quote through… and that’s that. If they want me to do the work, they’ll let me know. Eventually. And hopefully I’ll still be available.

Vanessa Clark wrote a fantastic column for Freelancentral, entitled ‘The Silent Treatment (or Zen and The Art of Stress-Free Pitching)‘ – inspired by Peter Bregman‘s similar piece: ‘When Your Voicemails and Emails Go Unanswered, What Should You Do?‘. So I checked out Peter’s piece, with which I agree wholeheartedly. His position?

“Follow up once, after the meeting, and the moment you send that follow up — not a week later but as soon as you hit send or hang up the phone — assume they’re not interested. They’ve said “no.” Close the book. Take the follow up off your to do list. Move on to the next thing. If they do call or email back, it will be a nice surprise and you can discuss how to proceed. If they don’t reach out, you haven’t stalled in your other work, knocked your head into a brick wall, or wasted any energy stressing about it. You can always send other information unrelated to the open issue — articles, updates, referrals — that might be of interest and deepen the relationship. But don’t follow up on the open issue.”

For many freelancers, this is an entirely new way of doing things. You may find it uncomfortable at first; even painful. But trust me – there’s a lot of power in making the move, confirming receipt once and once only and then taking that big step back, so that you can focus totally on what you’re currently busy with.

Needless to say, off I went to http://menwithpens.ca/, where I devoured Dean Rieck‘s piece – compellingly entitled, ‘WHY GOOD COPYWRITING GOES BAD: YOU’RE NOT STUPID. YOU’RE JUST IGNORANT.’ Here’s the intro:

“One of the worst mistakes copywriters make is to assume their job is about writing. It’s not. Now I know that sounds a bit odd. After all, the word “writing” is in the word “copywriting.” So it’s understandable why you might misunderstand. But writing and copywriting are two very different things. When you write a novel or a poem, readers want great words. They enjoy the rhythm, the imagery, the wordplay. People expect this kind of writing to deliver a certain art and beauty. When you write websites, ads, white papers, or other business materials, readers simply want information. They don’t care about the artistry. They aren’t looking for beauty. They just want to find out how to solve a problem or meet a need.”

And it just gets better from there. For the full version of this superb piece, please click here to be re-directed to Men with Pens. And if you’d like to check out Dean Rieck’s free copywriter’s cheat sheet, click here. It’s expialidocious.

“Freelancing is hard. Not only do you have to face feast and famine cycle, do everything yourself, struggle to maintain a good work/life balance, and have a plan in place for emergencies–you might have to deal with difficult people. Whew! Is it any wonder that some freelancers fail? We’ve already explained why freelancing may not be for everybody. I’ll never give up on freelancing, though, for reasons that are personal, professional, and people-related…”

To read the rest of this fantastic article on freelancing, and the benefits, click here to be re-directed to FreelanceFolder.com.

• “I’m new-ish to the game. How do I charge: per word, per hour, per job?”
• “Do you charge different rates for different sectors – like a higher rate for corporates and a lower rate for community newspapers?”
• “My friends and family always need work, and I tense up when it comes to quoting/invoicing.”
• “I’m a creative. That’s why I went into freelancing. This admin stuff kills me: quoting, invoicing, chasing money, keeping books. Can you help?”
• “Clients often ask me to quote and then say, ‘Well, we’ve only got [R2000 less than I quoted]. Can you do it for that?’ What do I say?”
• “I’m not sure what other freelancers’ payment terms are, but I find 30 days challenging on my cash flow! Do you have any guidelines?”
• “I’m skaam when it comes to chasing money. Help!”
• “Sometimes there’s such a long wait to get paid that I think client never will. But I don’t want to make waves and have them use someone else next time.”
• “When do you, eventually, write off a bad debt?”

My latest Bizcommunity article, entitled ‘Get the most out of your freelance copywriter or editor‘ went live today. It deals with teaching clients how we work and what we need from them, in order to deliver the best job possible. It also provides a short list of questions for the client, to be used by clients in briefing their writers/editors or by freelancers in trying to locate the Holy Grail that is a clear brief. This is what Jo Duxbury of Freelancentral had to say about it:

“Tiffany, you’ve got this spot on… Many clients don’t see the value of getting their copy professionally written or edited, but it truly is a skill and can add so much to your communications. There’s no point spending thousands on beautiful design or a great web site, only to undermine your credibility with text that’s peppered with spelling and grammar mistakes, or copy that’s clunky and difficult to digest. Getting an outsider – a professional writer/editor – to review your copy may also help you spot the little gems in your offering that you perhaps can’t see as you’re too close to your business. At the very least, clients should hire a professional copy editor to ‘sanity check’ and proofread their copy. The Facebook group ‘I judge you when you use poor grammar’ is nearly half a million members strong… that’s pretty telling.”