You receive an invoice from the HVAC repair guy who recharged the freon in your unit. You get a receipt at a restaurant.Īn invoice is a request for payment. What is an invoice?Ī receipt is what you get after you have paid. Becoming an expert with invoices, as well as the other parts of your business ecosystem connected to them, will take you full circle back to your first love: writing. Allow me to translate: Sidestepping “weird” means that you end up getting paid more often and getting frustrated less often. The more you learn about the business side of freelancing, the fewer weird situations you encounter. For a client to ask you to do a small project before they pay you anything so that they can evaluate whether you have the right skills? Run away.For a client to ask you to start working right away while they process your invoice? Normal.For you to require a down payment before you start writing? Normal.What is normal with freelance writing? What is weird? Suddenly, you’re trying to decipher nuances like these: In fact, we’re talking about two different skillsets-a dog versus a cat. Those two things, love and alignment, propelled you into freelance writing.īut understanding the mechanics of a good blog post is a far cry from being a shrewd businessperson. And you like the idea of getting paid to write. If you’re anything like me, you love writing. (In the same vein, be sure to read “ 5 Things That Freelance Writers Can Do to Keep from Getting Stiffed.”) Why is an in-depth article about freelance writer invoices worth your time? Even if your clients typically handle contracts and invoices themselves, you’d do well to learn the basics. I’d like to put your fears to rest and help you learn the ropes. Let’s get you set up with the right tools and tactics. Unless you’re a pack rat and tend to hoard business-y “collateral,” you may find yourself without an accurate map and sextant, so to speak. These uncharted waters call for contracts and freelance writer invoice templates. When that awesome new client asks for an invoice, you’ll already have a rock-solid template on file. Now you need to figure out your own standalone system.Įven if you don’t yet have private clients, it’s better to be prepared now than to scramble to save face later. Upwork and the other marketplaces took care of all the time tracking, invoicing, and payment processing for you. You’re ready to transition your freelance writing business to private clients. Or maybe you have found your writing clients through bidding sites. You may find the business side of freelancing confusing or intimidating. I wish I didn’t have to fool with the admin stuff.” The story you tell yourself is “I’m just not good at business” or “I just want to do the writing work. Perhaps, like me, you tend to ignore business fundamentals. There’s more to them than you might think. I’m going to share my rationale for freelance writer invoices. Today, I’d like for you to learn from those mistakes. I’ll help you navigate the nefarious freelance writer invoice. That mindset, as well as my avoidance, at least in the early days, of business fundamentals, caused me to make mistakes. “Invoice” sounded awfully business-y, and I tended to shy away from things business-y. I thought what every smart, talented, ambitious writer thinks: “Uh….” I had never sent an invoice in my life. I had no freelance writer invoice template. The first problem, the first No in my business, didn’t become apparent until I needed to invoice the creative director. I pounded out the web content, press releases, and ad copy at local coffeeshops. That first freelance writing project was a pressure release valve, for sure. He needed to re-hire me, only as a freelancer. He said he couldn’t finish the projects I had been in charge of while on his team. My so-called “business” was an assortment of No’s: no website, no Facebook page, no business cards, no business name. Like a freshly-hatched bird, forcibly pushed from the 9-to-5 nest, and I had no clue how to fly-or rather, how to run my own business. I was so new to freelancing that I couldn’t have given you a succinct definition of it. I remember what it was like back in 2009.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |