Taking the Big Dive Part 3 – The Lean Months

photo credit: jamtea

Before leaving your day job to get a freelance career, you probably setup a financial safety net for yourself and your loved ones for the exciting (and often bumpy) road ahead. Whether you’ve built up a sizable nest egg to keep you going for a little over 6 months or you’ve substantially diversified and upgraded your investment portfolio, the truth is that there is a possibility of all that cash burning out in the future.

As a freelancer unchained by the trappings of a regular day job, keeping to your own work schedule also means that you manage the first tier of your cash flow; if you don’t get enough gigs or there just isn’t that much work out there at the moment, you’re headed towards a lean month. Like the Israelites out of Egypt during the Exodus, some freelancers look back at the life they led during their day jobs and yearn for the comforts that they used to get on a monthly basis, which apparently have become scarce since they’ve headed into the lean months.

Managing your career and finances is a big part of staying successful in the freelance industry. Aside from executing your freelance duties on time and following up payments from your clients, an important part of maintaining a comfortable lifestyle out of the office is through getting your finances in order, and I don’t just mean saving up for a rainy day! What are the small things you can do you do to prevent yourself from living out of a cardboard box when there isn’t any work headed your way?

1. Set A Monthly Budget – It’s all too easy to get caught up in the spending game, especially if you’ve been jonesing for some “Freelance Office Supplies” that you’ve been excusing yourself to get, such as a 30″ Cinema Display, surround speakers (”I love listening to 5.1 while working!”), and Starbucks twice a day everyday for the rest of your life. Setting your budget from the get-go is smart not only because you get to save those hard earned pennies for that metaphorical rainy day (or a hundred years in the desert), but it gets you into the habit of penny pinching here and there, when and where it counts. Trade down your gourmet coffee for a generic but tasty dark roast, and I’m sure that a decent 2.1 channel speaker set for your entertainment pleasure will suffice for the time being (unless they dig DVD-A out of the grave it’s in). Keep building that nest egg and working your investment portfolio; if you don’t have one yet you might want to consider getting in touch with a financial planner or broker.

2. Keep Track of Your Finances -You can’t run your career, much less your life, with financial accuracy if you don’t even bother to check how much last night’s dinner check was. There are a couple of ways to keep tabs on the flow of cash in your life; you could go the old school pen and paper route, or you could purchase software such as Quicken to help you out. Both methods assume you have some knowledge of finance, but if you don’t check out CNN Money’s Crash Course.

3. Blog Blog Blog – These days, you’ve got to keep a blog to retain visibility on the web. Apart from being active on social networking sites like Facebook, keeping a blog that holds your work portfolio as well as other tidbits you might find useful makes for a practical way for potential clients to check out your work (and even see what you’re really like). As such, keeping a regularly updated blog might help you cushion the impact of the lean months by increasing the chances of getting spotted by potential clients (as well as giving you something to do while you’re waiting for the all important Job Order/Acceptance e-mail) Blog like your career depends on it, because nowadays it usually does!

4. Price it Right – Your quality work should demand the proper price it deserves! Apart from your professional image and work output, your pricing determines the type of market you’re bound to attract and serve. Price your work too high, and you might find yourself catering to a market that is beyond your present reach (maybe you could help them in the future, though). Price too low, on the other hand, and you’ll be swamped with low-paying work that you wish you weren’t bothered to do because of the minimal returns. Some potential clients also extrapolate the quality of your work based on your going rate, so be sure that it’s a good representation of what you are capable and how much you think you’re worth based on the present fair market value for your segment. Writers click here.

5. Don’t Turn Back! – Just because you’re being forced to hold on to the last dollar bill more so than usual doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with being a freelancer; it may just mean that your budgeting and marketing skills aren’t as polished as your current lifestyle would want them to be. Do your research on the net and start building a larger network to help you cope up and minimize similar low income months in the future.