1.Pay on time
2.Don't confuse freelancers with employees
3.Pay on time

its from the date of invoice.

yup. 06/07 is in for Jan 31st.

They'll probably send you a form mid way through the year.

I do mine online, I find it easier as it fills in some of the less obvious duplicate entry boxes for you, and does a lot of the sums. You can also, do a bit... leave it, go back to it, do a bit more, like the paper version? it saves your progress.

there are two schools of thought on this.

1. decide how much an hour of your time is worth (lets put a stick in the sand and say £20 an hour), then estimate how long it will take you to produce the logo, and multiply the two. So, let’s say three hours, at 20 quid an hour = 60 quid.

2. whatever you think you can get away with charging.

Now number 2 at first, looks like I’m being facetious, but think about it.

Let’s forget your current ability and experience just for the moment.

If ‘Boots’ approached you for a logo for a new hair tonic they’re launching, would you charge them 60 quid? Probably not. Boots are a large firm, they’re going to sell millions of bottles of hair tonic with that logo on it. They’re going to make a lot of money using that logo. Plus, they expect a certain level of cost for certain things? If you under-quote, it sets off alarm bells that you may not have the experience or ability that they thought you had. There’s a certain logic in Stella Artois strapline ‘reassuringly expensive’.

Now, again, lets say you’re approached by a different company. Let’s say ‘Bob the builder’ from down the road? You say 5 grand to him for a logo and he’ll tell you to b*llox.

So you weigh it up?

if you're selling website copy writing services, craft your copy to reflect that.

Pretend you're the client. what would you do for them (you)?

I'd show as much of your product - i.e. your writing style - as you can.

Make sure you've got some case studies of work in there, again to showcase your skills.

could you post up all the details? commerce software. version. hosting partner. Protx account type etc etc

unless you were employed under contract by the company, its yours under copyright.

who are you claiming your expenses from?

When you become a freelancer, all the tasks that are done by the various departments of a large company, you have to do for yourself.
All those things we take for granted like a company advertising, marketing, payroll, sales, tax and insurance etc you have to do yourself (don’t worry, its not as daunting as it sounds!).

To that end, get as much experience and knowledge about ‘how a company works’ as you can while you’re there. Same goes for other companies that you do work for. This usually comes naturally anyway over time, but keeping your eyes an ears open is always good advice. One thing I learnt was it’s sometimes a good idea to get involved with ‘internal’ projects when there’s a chance you might learn something new (maybe about a different department)? It could even be something as simple as learning what file formats other media sectors use?

Anyway, hope this helps.

contacts.

Working in industry first isn’t just about learning the trade – although that’s a major part of it. Its also a ‘way in’ to agency contracts when you go it alone. Every person you used to work with? That’s a lead. Every company you outsourced to, every company you bought stuff from, even the competition you pitched against. All potential paths to work.

Oh, and, ha. yes, you get into the habit of assessing everyone you meet as a potential client. That lovely couple you met at the BBQ? The ones that have their own business?

That’s a job right there. 😉

Unfortunately the promise of work tomorrow does not put food on the table today.

If you don’t charge consistently, you devalue your offering.

I’ve found that the best long term collaborative relationships come from quality of service, not from deals and discounts.

You said it yourself “there are others who will always work cheaper”, but I would suggest, you get what you pay for.

Get in touch with your local business link.

They usually do free “starting your own business” and similar workshops/seminars.

Also, a little tip.

If you’ve got a website (and you should have) you can do some really simple conversion analysis.

Most hosting packages will offer some kind of user stats. If they don’t, sign up with Google Analytics – I additionally do this anyway, as it’s got some good tools in it. Either way you should be able to track how many people visit each individual page per day.

Now create a duplicate of a page in your site. This could be your portfolio page, your home page – whatever you think would be good for people to land on. You could even create a brand new page of you feel the need.

In your email, make one of you calls to action “click here to see my portfolio” and link through to the page you’ve just created.

Now say you send out 20 mails on Monday. On Tuesday, you reword your mail and send out 20 more?

By looking at your stats package, you can see how many people have clicked through to your site, depending on how you phrased your email? Its not terribly scientific, but it could give you an insight into ‘what words make people click’.

if the To: or From: field is blank on incoming mail, most corporate filters will mark the mail as spam and junk it, yes.

give them a miss.

I wouldn’t use them. They put an additional charge on top of what you’re charging, making you less competitive compared to the next guy.

Also, they don’t do anything that with time and inclination you cant do yourself?

Take a day to find websites for agencies/companies in your area (in your field) who you could potentially work for. Local searches on Google and yell.com can be good for this.
You’re looking for contact details and the type of work they do.

Get as many email addresses as you can, but try and find out who is the ‘freelancing decision maker’ for each particular company. Personal addresses. Its best to call their reception and ask this – you don’t actually have to be put through to them! Be creative ;-)

Next draft your email. Make it as short as possible while getting your sell across, and make sure you have a call to action “call me for a quote, have a look at my online portfolio, Reply to arrange a meeting” etc. keep it simple, polite, and don’t stick lots of html, images, wiz bang stuff in it. Ideally you’ll have an online portfolio to link through to? Make sure your subject line is again, concise and relevant. Don’t be ‘kooky’.

Send these out to each of the personal addresses you’ve got from above. Don’t send out one bulk mail with all the addresses in the To: field, and definitely don’t hide the address in the BCC field. Straight into the junk bin if you do.

Sit back and wait for the responses. DON’T be disheartened if you only get 2 out of 50 emails, that’s actually not bad going, and don’t keep sending repeat mails. Give it time.

Hope this helps.