I’m willing to bet that you’re reading this because you’re self-employed. Or, you’re on the verge of starting a self-employed career and need some advice. Either way, I have some important tips for you to follow if you want your career to succeed.
Advertise Yourself Online
My number one tip is to advertise yourself online. You need to take your work seriously, or people aren’t going to hire you. What you should do is create a website promoting yourself. It can be a way for people to find your services online. List all of the work you’ve done and the services you offer. Make sure you have lots of contact info on there so people can reach you however they wish. I must note that it’s important you look for work yourself and don’t rely on people to come to you. However, advertising yourself online does give you a better chance of being noticed and approached by companies.
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Don’t Forget To Pay Your Taxes
Self-employed people have to deal with taxes by themselves. Unlike people in full-time work, who get their taxes sorted through their employer. All of the money you earn during the financial year needs to be taxed. Failure to do so can lead to you paying big fines that can seriously damage your personal finances. If you haven’t already, you should be thinking about 2017 tax planning. Organize all your invoices and make sure you have records of all the money you’ve earnt. This can help make things a lot easier when the time comes to file a tax report and pay your taxes.
Try And Tie Down Some Contracts
Being self-employed can have its positives and negatives. One of the negatives is that you’re not assured of work all the time. However, there is a way you can establish some job security. Instead of looking for small jobs here and there, try and search for big contracts. Look for people/companies that are looking to hire someone for a big project. You can get freelance contracts that last for months and keep you tied down to a company. Securing these long contracts is good because you still may be able to do other work as well. So, you continue doing your little jobs, while having the safety net of guaranteed payment from the contract.
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Create A Comfortable Workspace
My advice to all self-employed people is to find a comfortable place to work. If you have enough space at home, then create a neat office. Get everything set up so it feels professional and helps you be productive. If you’re doing well, then you may have the money to hire a small office for yourself. This helps improve your image and makes you seem professional. It gives you extra respect points if you hand someone a business card with the address of a real office on it. Plus, working in a proper office environment is far more comfortable and peaceful, meaning more work can get done.
It can be difficult to be self-employed if you don’t follow this advice. But, if you do, then you should find things easier and start getting lots of work.