6 Tips for Starting a Freelance Life

To be your own boss, calculate your income differently, set your price, and prepare your work environment

São Paulo - Being your own boss has its challenges, but just organizing the money and routine makes it easier. The goal of having more freedom will only come to fruition if you plan so that the financial instability, typical of a freelance career, does not negatively impact your life.

“There is no profile of people who cannot work as a freelancer. It's all about organization and discipline, ”says a business coach Renato Pradillas of the Brazilian Coaching Society.

In a recently published story, EXAME.com listened to accountants to clarify the costs involved in being self-employed, individual microentrepreneur or entrepreneur. Now we explain in six simple steps how to plan your freelance routine, where work and personal life easily blend together.

1. Prepare for life change

Make the transition from salaried to freelance life in the least radical way possible, because you don't know exactly what your income will be. Prepare a “financial cushion” in the words of coach Roberto Navarro, founder of the Financial Coaching Institute. “It's natural to take a while to make money in the beginning, to network and build a customer base,” he says.

The ideal financial reserve must have a sufficient amount to pay a year of its expenses, according to Navarro. To accumulate this money with interest, let it go to a liquid investment such as a CDB or government bond so you can withdraw any amount you need at any time.

For the financial educator Eduardo Coelho, an amount equivalent to three months of expenses is enough. He also suggests doing work outside the company so that you are more certain that this choice will work. “Were people looking for their jobs regularly or was it just a specific project?” He asks.

2. Calculate Your Income in a New Way

Freelance life can be a seesaw. In some months you can accumulate several projects and earn a lot, but in others, you may risk having fewer jobs than you would like. It is, therefore, safer to set a goal of how much you need to earn per year, not per month, as Navarro recommends.

Remember, too, that you will no longer have benefits such as the company's health plan and pension fund, or paid leave. Add these items to the expense list.

Another tip is to set three different income goals: the minimum you need to earn to survive, the ideal average and the maximum if you can exceed expectations far. They are used to calculate if you need to look for more jobs, as Navarro points out.

Even after the freelance routine gets into gear, Coelho suggests keeping the habit of investing 30% of income in a short-term application instead of 10%, as usually recommended for salaried employees. “Saving 30% is plenty, but remember there is no medical certificate for freelancers,” he says, to say that unforeseen events can happen and you will not have a guaranteed income.

For Padilla, always having a reserve of at least six months of expenses is ideal. Every two months, he suggests that the investor present himself with something he wants to be motivated to keep the reserve.

3. Know how Much your work time costs

Pricing your time is indispensable. To find out how much your work time costs, look at your competitors and your audience. “Feel how much your customer is willing to pay,” suggests Navarro. If time is short or delivery time is too tight, increase the price.

The financial coach also advises working with different price goals: the basic value of how much your service costs, the minimum price you accept to work for, and the standard discount if the client asks to negotiate.

Padilla's suggests another way of calculating the price of your working hours: dividing how much you intend to earn in the year by 2,000, an approximate universal formula that usually works.

“This is important to understand where you should put your workforce and what you will outsource,” he explains. For example, if one hour of work costs more than moto boy charges to mail an envelope, it is more worthwhile to hire this service.

this article was originally published on ------- Read More –