Category Archives: freelancing

Useful resources from Own-It for Creatives

In keeping with our New Year’s resolution in 2013, to organise more regular webinars and to give you access to IP training free of charge from the convenience of your computer we have an upcoming webinar today that aims to grapple with the issues to do with securing funding for your fashion business. If you can’t tune in, don’t worry, we will record all webinars and publish them in our know-how section. Listen to our latest podcasts on fashion contracts and fashion branding with our partner law firm, DLA Piper.

Having a strong online presence is crucial for any business, but even more so for anybody working in the creative industry, where your clients really want to see what you do. Therefore the upcoming Own-it workshop on legal issues to consider when planning your online marketing strategy should be high up on the agenda of all visual creators and designers.

We have just launched Own-it Direct an intellectual property advisory programme for University of the Arts London alumni, who want to start-up businesses or develop new products and services. They can apply for up to ten hours of IP advice from qualified solicitors. The scheme is open to SEED Fund and Start-Up loans applicants but the aim is to extend the programme to any start-up business or entrepreneur with a new product/service idea so if you’re not eligible this time stay tuned for future updates!

Own itI’ve been receiving information from Own-it right from when I started in business. It provides lots of useful help if you design, write or create on protecting your creations.

 

Here are a few of their latest resources:

 

Quick Tips for Freelancers: Working with a Young Family

If you want to work as a freelancer and have young children you will need a double dose of dedication to your work, as you will have more obstacles to deal with. Before starting out on a freelancer career, decide what you want out of life and make sure your work fits in with it. Think about how you wil balance client deadlines and sick kids or broken nights. You may find yourself working late into the night after the day has not gone as planned. Small children do not always understand when ‘mummy is working’ or ‘daddy has to get this finished right now’.

I get a big buzz out of my work: I love seeing clients’ news being covered in the media or my books in print, and really enjoy the great variety of work I do. If I didn’t have a passion for it, it would be very hard to stay motivated. In a lot of ways my work is a far more tangible thing than raising children: the visible outcomes are easier to measure, so it makes a nice balance. I found it incredibly hard having 6 months of maternity leave after the birth of my daughter: just thinking about feeds, nappies and baby groups wasn’t enough. With my third child on the way I really value the chance to balance work and family in the way I want.

Antonia Chitty is author of Family Friendly Working(www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk), A guide to Promoting Your Business (www.prbasics.co.uk) and a number of other parenting and health books. She has a book on earning a living from writing, The Commercial Writing Guide coming out in July 2009. You can find out more about her own freelance writing career at www.antoniachitty.co.uk and her PR business at www.acpr.co.uk

Sunday Night Round Up

We’ve been enjoying a fabulous weekend with beautiful weather. It is Dh and my 12th wedding anniversary too so we had a lovely lunch out with the kids – all good.
Now, I’m just catching up with a little work, planning for the week ahead and trying to work a little in advance to make some time for networking events for Business Mum Week and The Mumpreneur Conference which I’ll be attending in Birmingham on the 3rd of October. I’m mildly terrified about the conference purely because I’ll be driving up on my own (well, with Kit too) and I hate long drives … since we were driven into about 10 years ago. The drive will take around 5 hours.

Anyway, apart from that, this week I’m writing about gifts and traditions for one of the blogs I work on, plus personal finance and money saving for another. I’ve done a good update for Family Friendly Working which should see me past the conference – I schedule features well in advance and have mumpreneurs booked in for the profile slots right up until the end of October.

I’ve done the first chapter for the book on Down’s Syndrome. It is not totally complete and I suspect I’ll need to revise it as I work on the following chapters but it is good to make a start. I aim to do two chapters next month and two in November which shouldn’t be too much pressure.

Writing that up all feels quite under control. The things I can’t control are the volume of sales for the Mumpreneur Guide. The special offer ends on Wednesday, and if there is another big sales day this could push aside all my plans for a week of writing.

I’m also due to do some work on the business. I’m meeting a business adviser next Wednesday, need to do the end of month invoices and have a couple of stray invoices to chase up plus missing parcels to claim from the post office. Such excitement! Let’s hope the weather stays good so I can get all this done in the sun.

Quick Tips for Freelancers: Pitfalls to Avoid

I’ve been working for myself for a number of years now, and there are a few things that I am glad I knew from the start, while others I have learnt along the way.

  • Register as self employed within 3months of starting – contact the Inland Revenue to do this.
  • Start records from day one. Note down each expense and every bit of income. It is FAR easier to update a little each day or week than to create accounts from a pile of receipts. You’ll save yourself money on bookkeeping or accounting fees too.
  • Make a database of customer and client contacts. A good database of contacts makes it easy to work efficiently, will save you time, and can even get you more work.
  • Know when to delegate. Everyone has weak areas and it can pay dividends to get help. There are lots of other freelance specialists who offer affordable services.
  • Set some working hours. It is up to you whether you work best in the early morning or late at night, or have to fit work round the kids. Whatever you do, though, make sure you have some time off and shut the laptop.

Antonia Chitty is author of Family Friendly Working(www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk), A guide to Promoting Your Business (www.prbasics.co.uk) and a number of other parenting and health books. She has a book on earning a living from writing, The Commercial Writing Guide coming out in July 2009. You can find out more about her own freelance writing career at www.antoniachitty.co.uk and her PR business at www.acpr.co.uk

Quick Tips for Freelancers: Freelancing for Parents

For anyone thinking of becoming a freelancer, my advice is to plan, plan, and plan some more. This applies double for mums and dads. If you have children you may have more financial pressures and more need to make a success of freelancing. You are also likely to have less time to work in, and no time to go back and make up for mistakes that you made when starting in business.

To make sure your freelance business is set up correctly, go on a start up course at your local enterprise agency. You will find out about whether you are best starting off as a sole trader or a limited company. You may get the chance to speak one-to-one to a business adviser about your plans: make sure you ask for an appointment if not. And chat to the Inland Revenue, who have a team of friendly and helpful advisers for people embarking on self employment. You’ll make a better start armed with all these facts.

As a parent, the other thing you need to plan is childcare. Some parents manage to work without it, but you will find yourself working evenings and weekends to make the most of time when your partner is available for childcare. This can lead to a fairly joyless relationship. Try to set up some regular childcare: if you want to avoid costly care while starting up do a regular playdate swap with a friend or get grannie to commit to a time to help out each week. At the very least this gives you a chance to make vital calls without little voices in the background. As your career takes off you may want to find a childminder or nursery, or just take things slowly until you get a whole six hours a day when your child starts school.

Working freelance as a parent is an amazing experience: you will find that you can cram more in than you ever did as an employee and still be there when your child needs you.

Antonia Chitty is author of Family Friendly Working(www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk), A guide to Promoting Your Business (www.prbasics.co.uk) and a number of other parenting and health books. She has a book on earning a living from writing, The Commercial Writing Guide coming out in July 2009. You can find out more about her own freelance writing career at www.antoniachitty.co.uk and her PR business at www.acpr.co.uk

Quick Tips for Freelancers: Dealing with Emergencies and Domestic Crises

One of the great upsides of freelancing is that you can drop everything if you need. Sick children, neighbours who have locked themselves out – everyone will think that you can drop what you are doing and help. Trouble is, you then end up working into the small hours to catch up. It can be hard to set aside time for holidays too, when a break from work equals no income. With practice you will work out a way to be around for the family without letting your work slip too far: after all, that is one of the benefits of freelancing.

Antonia Chitty is author of Family Friendly Working (www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk), A guide to Promoting Your Business (www.prbasics.co.uk) and a number of parenting and health books. She has a book on earning a living from writing, The Commercial Writing Guide coming out in July 2009. You can find out more about her own freelance writing career at www.antoniachitty.co.uk and her PR business at www.acpr.co.uk.

Quick Tips for Freelancers: Managing your Time and Money

It was all so different when you were employed. Now you’re master of your own time, time management is key. One of the big ups of freelancing in the chance to take time off during the week, to go for a swim when the pool is at its emptiest or meet a mate for a long lunch. However in order to do this AND have money to pay for the treats you need to plan ahead. Work out how much you need to earn each month to pay your bills and have spending money. Allow for tax and National Insurance too. You might wonder what this has to do with time management….but time is money. Your income will depend on the hours you put in. It may take a while to work out how much work you need to do to earn the amount you need to live, and it can take time to build up enough good contacts to have a ready flow of commissions too. You may spend more time pitching or generating business in the early stages so try to have some cash in reserve.

Antonia Chitty is author of Family Friendly Working (www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk), A guide to Promoting Your Business (www.prbasics.co.uk) and a number of parenting and health books. She has a book on earning a living from writing, The Commercial Writing Guide coming out in July 2009 . You can find out more about her own freelance writing career at www.antoniachitty.co.uk and her PR business at www.acpr.co.uk.

Quick Tips for Freelancers: Should you get an Office?

If you’re considering renting an office, think about the pros and cons. It is lovely to have a clear office space, but can make a great difference to your business finances. Your earnings now have to cover rent every month.

If you find working from home an isolating experience a shared office is ideal. You get the buzz round the watercooler and the chance to chat to others. Do visit a few times to see the office in full swing, though, to find out whether you desk would be next to a loud sales person. And if freelancing is just the start of grand business ideas, you should incorporate the cost of an office, business rates, insurance etc into your plans.