Freelance practice...
Out of context: Reply #12
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- e-pill0
gpop makes a great point:
"I would recommend going through agencies until you nail your very own clients"
freelancing can be difficult but it takes learning to get it done, once you figure out [your own niche] then its easy and you may question how you were so naive.
get a great accountant... and let them crunch your numbers.
the single most important thing a freelancer must do is to prove your spending. meaning RECEIPTS RECEIPTS!!!
meaning each time you goto the ATM, buy food, supplies, goto the movies, rent, bills, utilities, anything get a receipt and save it. come tax time you may need it in case you get audited. i personaly havent ever been audited but i am not scared either as i have a receipt for every action i do and my accountant always gets me back at $5000 at tax time and usually i am taxing out at a higher tax bracket than i should.
this is something that shouldnt be taken lightly. as a freelancer claiming your quarterly earnings and lets say you are claiming that in 1st quarter 2006 you made $30k but in 2nd quarter you make $35k and now you have to claim for 3rd quarter and you estimate $33k but you dont work and well lets say you only earn $12k. you must pay the amount you claimed weather you made it or not.
this can be an issue for an automatic audit. its a scary feeling. thisis why an account is needed, they need to be there to crunch your earnings into real time money. you have so much that you can do to keep your earnings that we just dont know the laws but an accountant dose and believe me there is soooooo many loop holes in keeping your money...
yes its your money!!! not the govt!!!! always they pay me and i keep all!!!
thats the freelance way!!!
i tripled my earnings last year as i started freelancing and left the full time world.
its not the best life in terms of work but i am working hard and i am now in a new tax bracket and so happy!!!
i am smiling everyday!!!!
when i was fulltime i was stressed and moody and cranky...
:)