Freelancers
- Started
- Last post
- 42 Responses
- jteore0
Just make sure it looks as though it justifies 45-50 hrs work ;)
mirrorball
(May 8 07, 18:48)correct
- mirrorball0
Just make sure it looks as though it justifies 45-50 hrs work ;)
- jteore0
Creatively bill. Say it took 45-50 hours at your hourly rate.
- Momentum20
when being an outsourced freelance designer with an agency... do you charge hourly per gig... so lets say a website.. it took you 36 hours... do you simply charge them 36xyour hourly rate... or would you quote them much more?
Thanks
- jteore0
*bump
I have tasted the freelance nectar.
By god it is sweet. Currently looking for gigs in the NYC area. Please_only respectable right brained long timers email. I vant' a happy web of network in my world.
[I have a lovely pdf with resume and sample work for viewing pleasure]
- ian000
Reading all the answers I have to say that everyone seems to be doing good. I would say that a good rate in NYC is between $750-$1.000. What do you think.
W_Associates
(Feb 17 07, 05:45)per what? day? seems like alot to me.
- sherman0
work hard and smart but also dont forget to get the next project organized ahead of time.
Dont forget the details.
- terlizzi0
Hi guys, great tips. I just made the move to freelance. I was wondering what most of you guys do for insurance? freelancers union? go under a wifes or husbands?
- W_Associates0
Reading all the answers I have to say that everyone seems to be doing good. I would say that a good rate in NYC is between $750-$1.000. What do you think.
- mrbee28280
You can calim all kinds of things but remember they are only percentages. IE if you work out of the house you can only claim the percentage of the utilities that are equal to the space you have. So if your office is 25% of your house they you can claim that much on say heating or phone line. As for 40%, fuck that. 30% is playing it safe. Pay quarterly and don't screw yourself at the beginning of a brand new year. There is nothing like starting January worrying about taxes.
- kerus0
i let my estimated taxes sit in an ING account and collect interest until they are due :)
- edd-e0
tk-
i used to do quarterly but lately i had a nice fulltime gig for many years in between the freelance time. so now i didnt do it quarterly and i have to shell out a super large check in one shot.
yay!!
:)
- tkmeister0
yeah, doing the taxes is very tricky. eddie, you pay estimate every quarter?
i freelance for mostly big corporations and agencies, i haven't had any downtime in the past 4-5yrs. sometimes, i get greedy trying to make more money and don't let myself take time off. but i've learned my lesson. it's all about maintaining good balance between work and life outside of design.
try to do a good job at every place you go to. like someone said before, people move around so if you have a good rep, you get more contacts and consistent work from many agencies.
oh, don't go spend all the money you make.
- JesseJensen0
I haven't used an alarm clock in years.
Congratulations,
- edd-e0
you can get a Tax ID # and begin to charge tax for your work but not sure how some clients will feel about that "extra" fee.
i personally dont do this as i feel my clients would look at it as me being cheap or stingy.
in not common practice but i know a "few" that do it, buit they also dont charge what i may or they arent as aggressive as i am, so for them it works out.
- arthur0
I'm an illustrator. I don't charge sales tax because my clients are never buying anything tangible. They are only buying rights to reproduce work.
- material-10
I followed this rule of thumb:
If I delivered things to clients via ftp, no sales tax. If I delivered via disk or other physical media then, yes, sales tax. Needless to say I uploaded everything I could.
- ian000
kerus, I used to run my own shop back in Austin and we charged sales tax for everything we did. We collected it and then paid it to the sate at the end of the year. Keeping solid books was a necessity!
However, there is debate about wether you HAVE to charge sales tax. The state (os Texas) says that you have to charge for any "tangible" product. Consulting is not a tangible product so I think alot of design houses don't charge sales tax. I have no idea what the laws are like here (NY).
There's some really great advice in this thread. Thanks all!
- kerus0
in the us, should we be applying sales tax to everything we do?
and how does that come into play? do we have to turn in that x% at the end of the year?
im clueless
- Daro0
true, when doing estimates remember to include tax if applicable.
Tax deductibles include gas, electric bill, office supplies and even some lunches, ask your local friendly accountant for details, really. Sometimes we tend to forget the accounting side of freelancing.