Part 2

The day was rounded off perfectly by academic, BBC filmmaker and Guardian journalist Dr Aleks Krotoski talking to an audience of students and staff at the Sussex University Enterprise Thursday’s event — and the good doctor was very happy to extol the virtues of Working for Yourself and Working from Home.

Video: Dr Aleks Krotoski on Working For Yourself:

When asked to talk about her ‘Big Break’ Dr K bounced around the stage telling the eager audience how they can get ahead in academia, media and publishing. Krotoski advised students to be prepared… it’s no good telling an editor you have great ideas if you’ve got nothing to show when they ask ‘let’s see what you’ve got’.

For those who don’t yet have anything to show Dr K’s advice was simple. “Make stuff!”

“Write a blog, show your expertise, be specific, go out there and do it. And make it unique and different. You also need to come up with great ideas, but you need to be immersed in your area of expertise so you know what’s good and what’s not”.

And, when it comes to ‘getting a foot in the door’ you just need to “make those calls and emails” and “be prepared” when opportunity comes your way.

For future Enterprise Thursday’s events and to play their brand, new game ‘Hooked on Enterprise’ go to http://www.sussex.ac.uk/enterprise/

Sales tactics for the digital freelancer

Digital veteran Darren Fell, founder of Pure360.com, freelance advice site FreelanceAdvisor.co.uk and the ground breaking online Accountancy service Crunch.co.uk tells his story of how to sell and really make your business.

If business is slow or you are starting out, attend this interactive lecture and you will leave with fire in your belly.

Event Detail:

• When: March 10th 2010, 2010 18:30 – 20:30
• Where: Westminster Business School
• Location: 35 Marylebone Road, room M228, London, NW1 5LS
• Price: free event (55 places) (sponsored by Crunch.co.uk)

The course will cover…

Do you actually like selling? Do you follow a structured approach to bringing in business?

For some, this is easy, for others this is the hardest part. Bringing in business successfully and following a structured approached will be the difference between a fantastic career or one that is just too painful and very poor!

Darren Fell will guide you through his story from corporate sales in a pan-euro position to his first startup, Pure360.com. Setup on a shoestring and existing on a fierce cash burn rate Darren was forced to sell fast or face personal bankruptcy.

A lot of the tips are common sense however this course will give you the structure to sell well, actually enjoy the process and ensure you create the perfect pipeline!

The seminar will deliver:

• Sales basics, getting the word out there
• Managing the contacts and the actions – picking the right software
• Reasons to stay in touch – keeping up the momentum of the sale
• The importance of the pipeline – ensuring you never end up with a sales black hole
• Closing business – how to close effectively

The seminar will also comprise of an interactive question and answer session to learn from your selling woes and hear Darren’s solution.

Darren helps many other entrepreneurs for free and is passionate about the flourishing freelancing space. He helps people to start-up on their own by teaching them sales tactics to drum up business and ways to ensure continued success. He also speaks at seminars to help freelancers and micro-businesses really make their companies work; ultimately helping them to fulfil their dreams and avoid being stuck in jobs they dislike.

Register here

As a roaming freelancer (working on contracts in other people’s offices, working from home and, sometimes, working from bed) the problem of where to keep my data has always been a difficult one to solve. Not any more.

Pogoplug is a great solution. It’s got 4 USB slots, connects to a home WiFi-router and makes a homepage for that drive on the web. Yes it really is that simple… and now I have access to my portable hard drives wherever I am in the world.

Pogoplug makes working away from home easier, less stressful, and more fun.

So at home, right now, the Pogoplug is connected to my backup disk (I run a backup every Saturday night). And today I’m working from a Cafe in Brighton. My laptop has a 250GB hard drive which is plenty for my operating system, applications and core project folders but I also like to keep it clean (and safe) by moving old project files to a backup.

But what if an old client calls me when I’m working out of my office and she urgently needs some files she deleted accidentally? Previously I’d have had to have given up my comfy cafe corner and trudge home to get the file to email to the client.

Not anymore… I can see the entire hard drive right here on my Mac. Hey I can also see the entire hard drive on my iPhone. So… even if I don’t have a laptop I can find and even share that file with the client – I can give her a link to the folder she needs and she can download the files her self, much better (and safer) than emailing the files anyway.

Bliss!

Turn on, Plug in, Head out

Already a huge success in the US, this fabulous multimedia sharing device gives us way more flexibility than we’re used to.

Online storage is great but being able to store personal (or work) content safely in the home, and to be able to access, manage, and share it (on your own terms) from anywhere on the internet is an absolute God-send — especially for the lazy, the disorganised or… anyone who has been taken by surprise by the sudden need for something important that you’ve left at home.

The Pogoplug hardware has a chirpy, quirky pink design — way better than the boring black and grey boxes we keep being given — and supporting up to 4 external drives means you could, in theory, have access to over 8TB of data, files, movies (and more) via the internet.

The sharing capabilities are pretty funky too. I’ve not tried plugging in a camera directly but I can imagine photographers using the drag-and-drop interface to create slide-shows of content, available on the web, but all coming from images on their camera’s hard drive!

Media playback is pretty good. It takes a while to encode a folder of movies but, once done, all you need is a computer and an internet connection and you can access short previews of all your films and TV shows… once you’ve found the one you want you can download and watch anywhere in the world — think business trips and airport lounges… if you’ve got Wifi (or even 3G) access you can watch your stuff wherever you are.

And you can do all that sharing stuff they kids like to do with those Facebook, Twitter and MySpace type sites.

Pogoplug is a really fantastic gateway from home or office through the web — allowing you get stream not just to yourself but to others… it’s personal publishing platform running of your hard disks at home — the possibilities are endless.

Pogoplug is great for freelancers and contractors with their increasingly mobile work and lifestyles and perfect for small businesses in need of simple, inexpensive mobile data access solutions.

The Pogoplug is available to buy now for £99

from www.pogoplug.com

The newspaper campaign and the Britain’s Brain Gain website reflects on the ability, imagination and effectiveness of freelance workers throughout the UK.

Launching the campaign, PCG, the voice of freelancing, has interviewed some big hitters, with industrialists like James Bellini, Sir Tom Farmer and Michael Van Swaaij all lending their voice to the age of the freelancer.

Their view that freelancing is a growing and vital force in Britain is echoed by Richard Lambert, the Director-General of the CBI who said: “Labour market flexibility will remain the UK’s real competitive advantage.”

Figures show that the freelance brain gain is helping the UK economy grow in these challenging times and underlines the talent pool and the increasing importance of freelancers, contractors and consultants who are able to respond quickly to the evolving needs of business. The flexibility of the freelance community is valued at £21 billion.

The campaign comes in a week that the Conservative Party made a commitment to reform the tax system to help the self-employed should they win power at the next general election.

Mark Prisk, the shadow business minister, said the present tax system struggled to cope with people working outside of traditional employment, highlighting the Government’s IR35 legislation, introduced in 1999 to tackle what was seen as a tax loophole as particularly unfair. “We want to reform the system,” said Mr Prisk.

John Brazier, Managing Director of PCG, whose members work in a wide variety of sectors including oil and gas, engineering, information technology, management consultancy, marketing, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals said:

“Britain’s Brain Gain campaign is quite simply a statement of fact. The talent pool of freelance workers offers flexibility to companies, groups and organisations; it helps them manage risk and unlock innovation and talent within their business. It’s a no brainer.

“Britain’s Brain Gain can bolster expertise and improve speed to the market. I would say to every MD in the UK, while your competitor is thinking about it, you could have a team of freelancers delivering it!”

Find out why freelancing is Britain’s brain gain:

http://www.britainsbraingain.com

PCG, the voice of freelancing, is an independent association that represents, supports and promotes the freelance community in the UK. PCG exists to serve the needs of its membership, which has grown steadily to encompass circa 20,000 freelancers, contractors and consultants.

“All too often Government and policy framers have failed to pay adequate attention to the needs of the UK’s 1.4 million freelancers. Freelance businesses are part of the bedrock of the private sector, bringing a degree of flexibility and a skill set to the economy which is a real asset for UK plc”, said John Brazier managing director of PCG.

PCG recently launched its Fairness, clarity, recognition: Manifesto for freelancing in what will be a General Election year. Copies have been sent to all MPs and PPCs as well as stakeholders.

John Brazier added: “There needs to be a clear recognition of freelancing as a valid way of working; fairer taxation, better regulation, easier access to the market for the smallest businesses and a proper appreciation of the changing work patterns for millions of people.”

PCG is leading the way by calling for a fairer tax and regulatory regime.¹ “We want to see a pro-business climate fostered in the UK, a real commitment from policy framers to think small first, not just say it. Fair regulation means regulation that is clear, accessible and not unduly burdensome.

“Fairness means allowing freelancers easier access to the market for their services. The Government needs to ensure regulatory barriers, burdens and costs to tendering are reduced, so freelancers can truly compete with larger businesses,” said John Brazier.

John Brazier continued: “Heavy handed and senseless laws weigh business down like a ball and chain. This is even more so with nano-businesses. Every hour spent complying with red tape is an hour not spent productively. We need to free up Britain’s talents to create wealth, not stifle them with top down bureaucracy.”

Elsewhere, PCG is asking that in future all Government departments will have to ensure that 10% of their procurement budgets will go to nano-businesses and that Government departments and their contractors must not discriminate against freelancers who do not have pre-existing security clearance when it chooses which freelancers to award a contract to.

John Brazier concluded: “It is PCG’s fundamental belief that flexibility in the labour market is the key to ensuring Britain’s future economic success.

“The next Government should encourage freelancing as a flexible, innovative and entrepreneurial way of working that enables business to perform more cost-effectively, especially when recovering from recession.

“The start of a new decade provides an opportunity for fresh, innovative thinking.

“We will be continuing to push this message up to the election and beyond.”

Download the Manifesto >>

Working from home?

You are not alone!

We’d love to know how you’re working throughout this week – twitter tag: #workingfromhome

Small businesses and freelancers continue to work remotely during big freeze

Statistics from Gradwell, the internet services provider, show that employees from many small businesses and freelancers have continued to work this week, despite being unable to reach the office.

Despite the snow, stats indicate that between 9am and 10am on the 5th and 6th of January, almost as many phone calls were made as on any other working day of the year.

Gradwell provides small businesses and freelancers with broadband services including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology, enabling users to make phone calls over the internet whilst appearing to use a business’s landline number.

Managing Director Peter Gradwell said: “Although our statistics reveal a slight dip in the number of calls in the main businesses have continued to operate as normal despite the snow.” Although there are lots of potential reasons for adopting VoIP technology, including cost reduction, one of the main benefits is the ability to use one number from any location. The advantage of this becomes particularly apparent during bad weather.

Gradwell went on to say that 12 members of his staff were unable to reach the office yesterday, yet all are able to work from home.

“Despite the recession, we’ve seen customer numbers rise dramatically in recent months with over 10,000 SMEs and freelancers now using our services. he increased use of VoIP technology is a trend that I think we’ll see throughout 2010 as broadband access continues to increase and more and more people choose to work flexibly.”

Gradwell is a leading independent provider of Internet communications services, from Internet telephony and broadband, to website hosting and email management, they design flexible service packages, ideally suited to the small business customer.

Image by: -RobW-

A pick of the most popular posts in 2009

Go Freelance: The complete guide to help you start freelancing

Leif Kendall’s awesome guide to Starting Out in Freelancing has been massively popular over the last year. Stay tuned for a 2010 update coming very soon.

Or Download the guide if you’re new to freelancing and want to get started right away.

Employment Advice: Working Hours, Rest Breaks and Holiday Entitlements – Working Time Directive – and Bank Holidays

In 2009 we launched our Workline Employment Section which has a wealth of information from WorklineUK’s Lesley Furber on employment, contracts, parental leave and part-time working rules.

The most popular post, by far, was Working Hours, Rest Breaks and Holiday Entitlements – Working Time Directive – and Bank Holidays

Freelance Coaching: SWOT yourself to success

In February author, coach and trainer Dianne Bown-Wilson showed us how a traditional SWOT analysis can be used as a tool to troubleshoot your freelance business.

Freelance Coaching: SWOT yourself to success

Productivity: Thinking inside the box: A method for focusing on freelance tasks

Some great productivity advice from Mark Kirby. How to use Time Boxing to get your work done.

Thinking inside the box: A method for focusing on freelance tasks

Starting Out: Freelancing Fail: Do you make these 4 freelance mistakes?

When you’re a freelancer, stupidity can be expensive. It’s better to learn from the mistakes of others in order to avoid common pitfalls. Leif Kendall shares a few of the stupid things he’s done (or seen others do) so that you might avoid the same fate.

Freelancing Fail: Do you make these 4 freelance mistakes?

Marketing yourself: Six simple tips for your CV and portfolio

Greg Coley’s post on ‘The Death of the Traditional CV’ was very popular among designers and freelance creatives, giving a Creative Director’sview on how to boost your chances of being interviewed.

Six simple tips for your CV and portfolio

Starting Out: 8 (more) common mistakes

Our Starting Outsection has proved invaluable to thousands of readers this year. This time Laura Spencergives us her take on some guide to common freelance faux pas.

Freelancing FUBARs: 8 common mistakes

What is your status?: Are you an Employee, Self-Employed or a Worker?

More from Lesley Furber this time on how the HMRC decide on your employment status. Fascinating and potentially vital reading if you’re unsure of where you stand with your employers and clients.

Am I an Employee, Self-Employed (Freelance) or a Worker?

Freelance Questions: “How do I set up a Limited Company?”

Setting up a Limited Company is one of the smartest way to get paid for your work. With a Ltd you get to define your brand, own everything you do, run your business in the most tax-efficient way and pitch for work you wouldn’t be able to get as a sole-trader.

Freelance Questions: “How do I set up a Limited Company?”

But don’t worry, nothing else has changed; it’s the same form and the process is secure.

Doing your return online also helps reduce errors, provides automatic calculations and with an on-screen acknowledgment that it’s been received you don’t have to worry. What’s more, its available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so you can do your return at a time that suits you.

If you’re using HMRC Online Services for the first time, you will have to register for an online account.

For more information go to www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat

For further help, watch the video guide on the basics of VAT at www.businesslink.gov.uk/hmrctaxhelp or you can find it in the Tax Widget on the right-hand side of this pave, just choose ‘VAT: the basics’ from the dropdown.

By going limited you can:

• save tax
• open more avenues for employment
• benefit from limited liability if you get into trouble

If you’d like to test the different legal structures through which you can earn more money for your time and how you can get tax savings by going Limited our partners Crunch can give you a free accountancy health-check.

If you call Crunch today you will get to chat to experts who can look at your current setup and earning and help you compare the different methods so you can see which option is best for you.

Call 0844 500 8000 (Monday-Friday)

The call will only takes 5 minutes of your time, all they need is your estimated annual earnings (turnover) and an idea of your expenses (they can help you with that too).

In return you’ll receive an email from Crunch with a clear, plain-English breakdown of which option is best for you.

Before you go for that great rate….

• Decide your ideal price and the lowest compromise you are willing to settle for.
• Know your strengths and make sure you have facts or quotes to back these up with.
• Find out what other freelancers or contractors are charging.

While you negotiate that great rate….

• Treat yourself as a business

• Ask lots of questions

• Think about the commercial value of the work you are being asked to do

• Work out the ‘time-cost’

• Find out if there will be on-going work

• If the client won’t move on price, try offering less of your services for the reduced rate

• If you decide to go for a ‘set-rate’ be very clear about what that rate includes

• Find out if your work is going to be used in more than one medium e.g. print or online

• Be clear whether you plan to include costs such as travel, meetings or anything else.
• End on a positive note.

After you have bagged yourself a fantastic rate!

Image by DavidDennisPhotos

Opening a Limited Company bank account is easy:

• Shop around for your bank account – don’t just take the convenient route and go with the your current bank as this may not be the best deal.
• Look for banks with a strong reputation to ensure that your money is safe.
• Pay attention to account interest rates as these can hugely vary.
• Go for a bank that has a specialised small business unit. The set up process is likely to be simpler and more informative.
• Check to see if your bank has online banking and if it’s easy to use.
• Set up a business account.

You will need:

1. Your Certificate of Incorporation with limited company name and number.
2. Your passport and/or driving license to prove your identity
3. Recent utility bills and bank statements

Photo by gordasm

If you’re using HMRC Online Services for the first time, you will have to register for an online account. You will then be sent an Activation Code within 7 days to activate your account.

Doing it online has many benefits:

• it’s safe and secure
• helps reduce errors
• provides automatic calculations and an on-screen confirmation message when your return is received safely

Registration is quick and easy so do it now, visit www.hmrc.gov.uk/SA

For further help, including a ‘Step by Step’ guide to Self Assessment online filing and a bite-sized video, visit http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/hmrctaxhelp

Too busy making money to find time to do your Personal Tax?

“60-odd people, meaty dialogue, and freelancers ranging from coaches to consultants, IT contractors to piano tuners and beyond. One conversation of particular value concerned ‘trust’, which is a fundamental prerequisite for most people in close relationships, work or non-work.  So-far-so-obvious….

The sense I got from the discussion was that the creation and/or presence of trust was crucial to all freelancers, both in terms of maintaining existing client relationships and generating new business.  If there was a shared assumption that trust exists and is important, how it manifests and how a freelancer can proactively create trust in their relationships was less evident. So I came up with a Top 10 tips for building trust, specifically with freelancers in mind.”

[ read the rest of Steve's post ]

Our time and our attention are our most precious assets, if you’re in a busy café or co-working space it can be hard to get down to getting things done when your co-workers are constantly interrupting and distracting you.

Here’s a simple solution and a code we could all adopt.

You’ll need headphones for this video (and your ongoing sanity).

Work for yourself… not by yourself

Simple Rules #1: Headphones from BLANKSPACES on Vimeo.

The Brighton event was a massive success with a great turn out and a very lively discussion, chaired by Change Consultant Steve Hearsum, on everything from Tax to Trust, and from the Future of Freelancing and working in small teams and ‘guilds’ to what defines a freelancer and how management and government can learn to recognise the skills and knowledge that single people can bring to bear on projects.

It was fantastic to hear directly from Freelancers and Contractors as to the challenges we are all facing and, aside from the normal tax/IR35 debate, there was the beginnings of some excellent networking and discussion of how freelancers can cooperate to become even more useful to UK PLC. Freelancer Advisor would like to thank everyone who came and thank you for supporting what promises to be a cause worth fighting for, protecting and nurturing.

Thanks to the PCG – The Voice of Freelancing

If you’d like to join the PCG and become part of the ‘voice for freelancing’ membership is just £120 per year. As well as helping freelancing become stronger with greater representation in government you will be helping the PCG investigate cases of bad practice in the industry, collect evidence and follow up with appropriate action and the more members the PCG has, the greater their influence.

PCG membership will also give you professional expenses insurance to rescue you during a tax investigation (covering eligible cases up to £75,000 in cost) plus joining will unlock the full PCG resource, including free tax and legal help-lines, contract templates to mitigate IR35 and other business risks, plus online forums and a regular concise update through our quarterly magazine, fortnightly newsletter and network of workshops – a fantastic set of tools for you and your business.

And thanks to Crunch for buying the beers!

Crunch founder Darren Fell says “we’ve created this offer because we are committed to freelancers and the freelancing community and the entire Crunch service will cost you 10% less than advertised of you sign up before the end of the year” – to take advantage of this offer, and to change the way you do your accounting forever, visit www.crunch.co.uk or call 0844 500 8000 quoting FANFD09 before January 1st 2010.

Future of Freelancing Videos

These video’s were produced by PCG, the voice of freelancing as part of National Freelancers Day, for more information about the day visit:  www.nationalfreelancersday.org.uk

Shout it from the rooftops, it’s National Freelancers Day! To celebrate and create some debate on The Future of Freelancing the PCG have released a special webcast with Freelancing experts taking a look at the evolving trends in the world of work and how they could affect freelancers over the next ten years.

The future of work: role of the freelancer

Views from the marketplace Various commentators A number of people share their perspectives of the current state of the freelance market. Commentators include freelancers, managers of businesses from small to very large, as well as the freelance trade association PCG.

These video’s were produced by PCG, the voice of freelancing as part of National Freelancers Day, for more information about the day visit:  www.nationalfreelancersday.org.uk

Shout it from the rooftops, it’s National Freelancers Day! To celebrate and create some debate on The Future of Freelancing the PCG have released a special webcast with Freelancing experts taking a look at the evolving trends in the world of work and how they could affect freelancers over the next ten years.

Each expert takes a look at the evolving trends in the world of work and how they could affect freelancers over the next ten years.

The future of work: role of the freelancer

It’s about choice and balance Michael van Swaaij Skype and eBay’s experiences of striking the balance between a core internal team and expert help from outside, and why it is in everybody’s interest to let people choose how they want to work.

Michael is a global technology leader, currently Chairman of Skype and investor in www.crunch.co.uk. He was formerly the managing director of eBay Europe, where he started up and ran their European operations – it now has over 10 billion Euros per year in trade. View all Future of Freelancing videos

These video’s were produced by PCG, the voice of freelancing as part of National Freelancers Day, for more information about the day visit:  www.nationalfreelancersday.org.uk

Each expert takes a look at the evolving trends in the world of work and how they could affect freelancers over the next ten years.

The future of work: role of the freelancer

Optimistic about the future Sir Tom Farmer Sir Tom reflects on the role of freelancers in the success of the Kwik-Fit group and explains why for companies in the future “bigger” may in fact be “dummer”.

Sir Tom set up his first business in the motor trade in 1964. In 1971 he founded Kwik-Fit, which he later sold to the Ford Motor Company for over £1 billion. He is one of Britain’s foremost entrepreneurs and now oversees a portfolio of business investments.

View all Future of Freelancing videos

These video’s were produced by PCG, the voice of freelancing as part of National Freelancers Day, for more information about the day visit:  www.nationalfreelancersday.org.uk