LIFESTYLE Feels like a crisis? Don’t panic! Tips for freelance writers

Feels like a crisis?

Let’s be honest. Even the best writers feel nervous when the economy closes down. I’ve been freelance 28 years and I’ve no idea what’s ahead. But I do have some top tips.

BE A CONTACT VAMPIRE

Now is not the time to be socially restrained. I’m not saying you should suck people’s blood, but your freelance lifeblood IS the people you know. Without contacts, you are one thirsty writer.

Go through all the projects you’ve worked on. Which clients did you love to work with? Who is likely to be working now? What did you do for them that made a difference to their work, or made their day easier?

Who was that interesting woman you chatted to at that conference and were going to stay in touch with?

Put a star next to the people you most want to work with and are probably working right now. Email them, individually. Yup. No bland template emails. Write to them like you know them. Remind them of the last thing you did together and how much fun it was. It’s a kind of love letter so make it sound like you mean it.

This takes time so do a handful each day and don’t fret when they don’t reply. Some will be too busy. Some are terrible at email. I reckon it takes on average six months from sending a marketing email to someone asking me to work with them.

BURY TREASURE

As soon as cash starts flowing, put some aside every month. You need a savings pot when you’re freelance.

Stuff happens. Appendectomy that took three months to recover from? Yup. Nasty parasitic bug on a delicious tropical fruit. Mmmm, that took a year out of my working life. But I’ve always saved, so we had food on the table.

SHARE YOUR LOVE

Work for lots of clients. One time I gave all my copy love to one client and when they reshaped their business I was out in the cold. Don’t do it. No one owes you work, love or loyalty if you’re freelance. So enjoy the freedom and flexibility of working for many clients and you’re always likely to have work.

DON’T BE A DIVA – ALL WORK IS GOOD

If you’re going to starve if you don’t get a writing gig in the next month, my message is get over your pride and apply to stack shelves. No experience is ever wasted as a writer. And you’ve got to be alive to land that next writing gig.

I’ve cleaned public toilets, I’ve sold sausages, I’ve programmed computers. Every job taught me something. And I got my first role in publishing because I wasn’t all doe-eyed about books – I knew about scheduling and budgets from two years of manufacturing paper. Make your work count, whatever it is.

DREAM BIG

Use this time to think about what makes you sing in the morning. Rate your clients: why are you still working with people who score low on pay, respect, value and interest? Build knowledge, skills and contacts in areas you’re personally committed to. It’s a slow process but doing work you love is the best thing about being freelance, so here’s a chance to make it happen down the line.

CONNECT AND LEARN

Read other people’s copy obsessively. How did they do that? Why does it work? Why is that copy so terrible? Try Richard Shotton’s The Choice Factory for a new angle. Storythings’ weekly newsletter (storythings.com) is a jewel and they run great events. Sian Meades (sianmeadeswilliams.com) is generosity personified: every Thursday she sends us a bulging list of freelance writing jobs. Join a writer’s organisation. I’m in 26.org.uk, a friendly bunch of professional writers – find your tribe and have fun.

BIO

SJ Butler is a writer, consultant and trainer. She’s been helping all kinds of clients communicate for 28 years and every day is glad she went freelance. She finished her first novel in March, set during a viral pandemic (ouch). Find her at

www.looseleafproductions.co.uk

Five tools to help businesses weather the storm

Small businesses have been facing a lot of uncertainty recently, so it’s more important than ever that the tools they use can help them face their challenges head on.

The hosts of our April webinar, Starling Bank, offer a business bank account with no monthly fees and 24/7 support, alongside features designed to help you stay in control and do all your banking admin from home. Read on for a rundown of their app’s most helpful tools.

1. Keep track of outgoings

In the current climate, it’s really important to get a clear picture of what’s coming in and out. Starling’s Spending Insights feature can help answer questions such as: What are my largest outgoings? Is my spending this month higher or lower than my monthly average? What is my most important income stream? You can then use this information to cut down on non-essential spending, meet key payments and monitor income streams.

Your business income and outgoings are automatically categorised, to help you and your accountant (if you have one) understand exactly what you’re spending. You’ll be able to see how much you spend on Admin or Equipment, both as a percentage of the total spend and as its own amount, with a breakdown of your revenue. It’s great news for understanding your average monthly takings and outgoings and taking stock of any cash reserves, as well as outstanding invoices or loan repayments.

2. Manage invoices and tax

For extra tools to manage your business finances, take a look at Starling’s business Toolkit. It allows you to create invoices and match them to incoming payments, as well as upload bills, estimate tax and VAT, and pay VAT with a Making Tax Digital submission. You can join the waitlist to explore the Toolkit’s features while it’s still in beta, completely free of charge.

3. Deposit cheques from home

Being able to deposit cheques on your mobile is handy at the best of times, but especially so right now. After a flurry of customer requests, Starling Bank recently introduced this functionality to its app to make sure their customers really can do all their banking from home. It works simply by taking a photo of your cheque in the app, then Starling’s team will process it within two working days (which is generally faster than sending it by post).

4. Reduce your admin

In the Starling Marketplace, you’ll find integrations with a range of third party products and services. This includes the likes of Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent,

allowing you to connect your real-time bank transactions with your accounting software. By making it easier to reconcile payments, you’ll spend less time on financial admin and more time on your business.

The Starling Marketplace has insurance options, too; for example, invoice insurance from Nimbla or cybersecurity or indemnity cover from DigitalRisks or CyberSmart. For project management tools, there’s UnderPinned and to help you keep track of your digital receipts, there’s Flux.

5. Stay organised with Goals

To help you organise your finances, you can separate your money into different Goals in the Starling app. Label them however suits you: ‘Tax or Cash Reserves’, for example, and you won’t be able to spend the money in your Goal unless you move it back into your everyday account. This way, your finances are kept organised and visible and you’ll never accidentally spend something you should have been saving.

So, there you have it.

Five ways that Starling’s business account could help you make sure that for your banking at least, it’s business as usual. Download the app here.

0800 023 4617 help@starlingbank.com

@StarlingBank starlingbank.com

Any money you hold in Starling’s business account is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to a value of £85,000.