It’s a worst case scenario for a freelancer. After spending valuable time and energy completing a project to your client’s exact specifications, they drop contact as soon as your invoice hits their desk. Ordinary employees have numerous protections granted to them under the law, but the legal waters are murkier for independent contractors.
If a client doesn’t pay up, what are your options? Here are a few points to consider. [Read more…]
Celebrities. They’re just like us, only rich and surrounded by loyal followers eager to bow to their every whim. Some of them even have blogs—and if you’re looking for a good lesson on engaging an audience and building a cult following, look no further than these 5 celebrity blogs. [Read more…]
The world of law can be confusing. Too often for us bloggers, a compelling story lies beneath a pile of legalese so thick, the only sentences we extract from it sound dull and wooden. Nobody wants to read about a case that was a real salmagundi of textbook law. That’s because nobody knows what the heck saslmagundi means. If you’re curious, it’s a type of English salad featuring “meat or fish, veggies, fruits, and nuts arranged in a geometrical fashion.” It’s been used by judges to imply the concept of a “mix” or “hodgepodge.” [Read more…]
Working from home. It’s the dream, right? Never again will you have to wake up and drag yourself to the office. Since you’re around the house all the time, your family obligations will be a cinch to take care of. When you work remotely as a freelancer, it’s much easier to manage your work/life balance, right?
The unfortunate reality is that working from home is hard work, indeed. Sure, you don’t have to wake up and drag yourself to the office—but that convenience comes with a price. In our quest to be successful, sometimes we create the inverse scenario: the office never leaves us. As it turns out, your work/life balance may actually be more difficult to manage when your workplace and home are one and the same. It’s hard to keep up with things when you work all hours of the day and night, only sometimes finding time to eat and sleep. [Read more…]
When it comes to freelance writing, there’s more than a few options out there. You can focus your efforts on journalistic or article-based writing, such as writing news stories, listicles, or factoid pieces. You can enter the slightly less fun (but often more profitable) world of SEO blogging and copywriting. Or you could try your luck at an often overlooked option: content writing for websites.
Content writing can be just as fun and profitable as blogging and article writing, but is better suited to those of us with a more technical mindset. How does content writing differ from blogging? First, let’s define it. [Read more…]
Tax season is still three months away, but it’s good to start preparing now. After all, 2016 has been an incredible year for bloggers. There are more of us doing this professionally than ever before. With all the newcomers, it’s always good to remind them that the income you make from blogging or writing online is still taxable. Furthermore, if you aren’t careful–Uncle Sam can give you a nasty surprise at the end of the year.
So, how should we file taxes as bloggers? Here are a few quick and dirty tips for bloggers filing taxes.
A fairly obvious little trick that we hope you’re already doing, setting aside a small percentage of each check you collect and depositing that money into a savings account is the easiest way to make sure you’re covered come tax season. Even ten to fifteen percent is more than enough, especially when compounding interest is added. [Read more…]
Writing about crime isn’t always easy, especially if you’re just getting started as a freelancer. We’ve all read newspaper features that report crime in dry monotone, yet we all know how successful a good crime novel can be. As a blogger, the trick is to strike a balance between the two. To engage readers, you need to cover crime compellingly without making it a complete work of fiction.
Here are some tips for writing great blog posts about crime, law, and justice. [Read more…]
For many, working from home is the dream. But those who do it note it comes with a few significant drawbacks. For one, it’s all too easy to let your suddenly sedentary lifestyle get the best of you, making you lethargic, uninspired, or downright inactive.
Combatting this takes a lot of effort, but once you get into the swing of things, it does get easier. Here are some tips for staying active while working a sedentary job. [Read more…]
Leaving corporate life to strike it out on your own as a freelancer can be scary for many reasons. Among them, the lack of benefits a typical employer provides. What do we mean by benefits? Pretty much the basics: health insurance, a 401k, and paid vacation time.
When you work for yourself, you’re more than your own boss. You’re your own company; and as that company’s most valuable employee, aren’t you entitled to be taken care of? This begs the question: who has your back? The answer, as you may have guessed, is you. Make sure you plan ahead and set yourself up for the future. This is no flight of fancy, it’s potentially your long-term career; something you may be doing until the day you retire.
Here are some tips for giving yourself the same kind of benefits you’d get while working for a major corporation. [Read more…]
Working at home is great, but it comes with a major drawback: it’s easy to start feeling isolated if you never get the chance to leave the house. It’s quite a dilemma. You love being a freelance writer for all the opportunities and freedom it provides, but sometimes you feel like you’ve been shackled to your desk for weeks.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could get out there, amidst all the action, and then come home and write about it? Here’s the good news: it’s entirely possible, if you find a freelancing gig that’s local to your community.
