Go your own way
Continuing from last month, Alex Davis shares insider advice on going freelance in literature
Last month, we started to explore some of the challenges – and indeed the opportunities – that could come with starting life as a freelancer. Hopefully from that you were able to take away the kind of uncertainty it comes with, and the type of organised, self-motivated and dedicated individual it requires.
Getting yourself rolling is one of the main difficulties that any freelancer can face, but that’s not to say that you should allow for any kind of complacency to set in later on. The aim to keep earning money to ensure that the bills are paid – and, indeed, that you can have enough for a few of life’s luxuries – is a very real one, and even one bad month out of the year can have serious consequences for the financial health of anyone working for themselves. So, having discussed some of the key factors in getting started, here’s some advice on how to keep yourself going as a freelancer!
Keep on top of tax affairs
When I first started as a freelancer, I went to a training day at the local HMRC office for them to inform us about the tax implications of being self-employed. One of the key things to come out was that many people don’t tend to put enough aside of their earnings to cover themselves when it comes time to pay up at the end of January, and as such end up signing up to all sorts of different deals and arrangements – assuming that such a thing can be put together, of course, and that there aren’t more serious implications to not being able to pay your tax bill. Make sure at least 25% to 33% of your income gets put to one side for the end of the financial year.