I recently presented a short seminar on choosing the best technology for running your freelance business. My approach is to be purposeful and to choose the tools that work for you - not your friends, accountant or so-called experts.
5. CEO
Finance
You
Marketing Operations HR
IT Legal Sales
6. You
Legal CEO
IT Finance Operations
Sales HR Marketing
7. CEO
HR
Spend time looking at
Operations
the big picture.
Finance
Legal
Don’t look at how you’re
doing things - look at
IT
what you’re doing.
Sales
Marketing
8. CEO
HR Set goals and have a
Operations plan
Finance 1 - Survive
Legal
2 - Live well
IT
Sales
3 - BHAG (big hairy
Marketing
audacious goal)
9. CEO
HR
Operations Pay yourself a regular
Finance
salary
Legal Treat yourself as an
IT employee
Sales
Marketing
10. CEO
HR
Operations
Superannuation
Finance Payroll
Legal Holidays
IT Training and development
Sales
Marketing
11. CEO
HR Organising your time
Operations
Whatever system works
Finance
- stick to it
Legal
IT
Allocate time to each
Sales
major business function
Marketing
13. CEO
HR
Operations
Separate personal and
Finance
business accounts
Legal Suggest income
IT account, tax account and
Sales separate credit card
Marketing
14. CEO
HR Lots of tools out there
Operations
Most are designed for
Finance
bookeepers/accountants
Legal
Find what works for you
IT
and get your accountant
Sales
to fit you
Marketing
15. Finance Tools
Lots to choose from
•Online Services
•Saasu
•Xero
•MYOB
•Software
•MYOB
•Quickbooks
16. CEO
HR Solicitor
Operations
Alliance
Finance
Legal
Ask friends in the
business
IT
Sales Read contracts
Marketing
17. CEO
HR
Operations
Finance http://journoadvice.com/tag/contracts/
Not legal advice
Legal
IT
Sales
Marketing
18. CEO
HR
Operations
Finance
Choose services and tools that
Legal work for you
IT What I'm showing works for me
Sales Free is not always perfect - but
might be good enough
Marketing
19. CEO
HR Cloud services - just
Operations about every app on your
Finance
desktop has a cloud
Legal
equivalent
IT Cloud is a new way to
Sales outsource
Marketing
20. CEO
HR
Operations
Finance
Google - email, docs SkyDrive - storage
Dropbox - storage
Legal
IT
Sales
Marketing Evernote - notes Saasu - accounting
21. Software as a Service
Applications run on a
remote server
Everything is delivered
via the Internet
The web browser is your
terminal
22. CEO
HR Set aside time and be
Operations purposeful when looking
Finance for new clients
Legal
Don’t be random
IT
Relationships are
Sales
everything
Marketing
23. CEO
HR Blogs
Operations
Forums
Finance
Legal
Conferences
IT Socialise
Sales
Never be scared to pitch
Marketing
What I ’m talking about is what works for me I ’ve come from a background that has largely been in the corporate world so that influences my approach But I ’ve also spent a lot of time talking with other freelancers that I see as successful And I ’ve spent time with sole traders in a number of other industries asking them about how they've been successful
Editors don ’t commission freelancers out of the goodness of their hearts. They commission freelancers when they have a problem they can’t solve. Either that’s an expert, to cover a staff shortage, and extra storage that’s needed at short notice or – this is the best one – when another freelancer lets them down.
Where are you? How much time are you burning on stuff that doesn ’t make money
All businesses - large or small - do all of these things. Neglecting any one of them gives rise to potential problems.
Survive - food, roof, clothes Live well - holiday, free time (I schedule half a weekday off when things are going well) BHAG - big, hairy audacious goal - funds a frivolous “something”
Lay off debit cards as if there a fraud issue it ’ll be your trading account that gets hammered and it can take many weeks or longer to recover funds. With a credit card, it ’s the bank’s money that’s at risk and not your’s.
The cloud services I rely on Google - gmail, calendar, docs Dropbox - storage. I have my documents automatically syncing to all the computers I use inc phones and tablets Evernote - note taking with images, recording, etc. Saasu - online accounts software. I can check on things and invoice from anywhere on just about any device as long as I have internet access
The cloud services I rely on Google - gmail, calendar, docs Dropbox - storage. I have my documents automatically syncing to all the computers I use inc phones and tablets Evernote - note taking with images, recording, etc. Saasu - online accounts software. I can check on things and invoice from anywhere on just about any device as long as I have internet access
My experience has been that as editors have moved around that I ’ve been able to keep their old publication as a client and get their new one.