Welcome back!
This is the first in a series for WAHM, dads, grandparents, or anyone else who works from home.
Posts will discuss a variety of ways to earn money as a writer working from home, and also show you the pro’s and cons of freelance writing. However, this information will also be helpful for anyone working from home.
Freelance Writing Defined
When thinking of freelance writing, many people assume the term means writing for magazines. That is not the case at all.
Freelance writing simply means you are writing as a contractor and not ‘employed’ by anyone. The dictionary defines freelance as “a self-employed person” and that’s a great way to explain it.
Freelancers are required to keep their own tax/income records, then pay tax on that income at tax time. That means you should always allow for this when working out your income requirements.
*Please note I am not a tax consultant and any information provided is generalized. Please consult a tax consultant for professional advice.
Setting Up Your Home Office
Because it’s logical, I’m going to start with setting up a home office. In the majority of cases, you won’t need anything more than you already have:
Desk
Chair
Computer
*If you’re buying new equipment, make sure your desk and chair are ergonomical. I’ll discuss this in more depth in a later post.
Those are the basics of a home office, and you probably already have each of those. There are extras you may need, but aren’t essential at this point:
Fax
Scanner
Printer
Let me discuss each of these –
Fax – I’ve never had a fax, and have rarely been asked to provide a fax number, but I know a lot of WAHM who use them all the time. It really depends on what you’re doing.
Scanner – more than anything, I use my scanner for clips. This makes it simple to send proof of past publication to potential markets.
They can be printed out for posting, or they can be saved as pdfs and then attached to an email.
Note: I haven’t queried a market via snail-mail for over 5 years, so pdfs are the way I work.
Printer – not essential. I have a printer next to my desk, and I use it more for printing out work for proof-reading than anything.
Getting Organised
I will go into this in more depth in a later post, but organisation is extremely important in a home office.
Every day should start with a plan. Decide on your work priorities for the day and write them down. Make sure you tackle those items before anything else, and mark them off as they’re completed.
Not only does this show you what you’ve achieved, it helps you to move onto the next priority project.
A word of warning: Do not allocate more than five priority items per day, especially when starting out, as you’ll find it overwhelming.
Mindset
This was one of the most difficult things I faced when I began working from home.
Here I was sitting at my desk, working from home, and knowing I had a ton of washing to do, floors to sweep, dishes to put away, beds to make etc.
It took a few months, but finally I was able to get housework out of my head. Your mind tells you to do those unfinished or not yet started household tasks, but your logical side tells you that work must come first.
And if you’re working for a client then it must. Because more likely than not you’ll be on a deadline.
If you can’t get beyond that housework mindset, start your day by adding a load of washing to the machine, load the dishwasher, and get the kids to make the beds for extra pocket money.
Doing this will ease your mind, and get your focus back on your workday.
Most people working from home are doing it for a variety of reasons. Here are a few of the most common reasons: illness and unable to go out to work, recently had a baby and want to work from home, need extra money.
Your Needs
Okay, that’s it for today, but I am going to set a bit of homework. I’d like you to think about what sort of work you want to do (if you haven’t already started).
My next post will discuss various forms of writing – what they are, what they pay, and the pros and cons.
Don’t forget to leave your comments about this post!
