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A Home-Based Business Online
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Practical home business ideas, opportunities
and solutions for the work-from-home
entrepreneur
Issue 147 : August 26, 2002
Sent to 13,069 Opt-In Subscribers
Editor: Elena Fawkner
Publisher: Fawkner Publishing
http://www.ahbbo.com
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome and Update from Elena
2. Home Business Idea of the Week
3. Feature Article - So You Want To Be A Freelancer
4. Surveys and Trends
5. Success Quote of the Week
6. Advertise with AHBBO
7. Subscription Management
8. Caveat Emptor
9. Contact Information
_______________________________________________________________
1. Welcome and Update from Elena
_______________________________________________________________
Hello again and a warm welcome to all the new subscribers
who have joined us since the last issue.
This week's article is for those of you toying with the idea
of freelancing instead of working for someone else. What's
the difference between freelancing and running your own
business? Not a thing. "So You Want To Be A Freelancer"
is at segment 3.
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this
week's issue.
Remember, AHBBO is for YOU! If you have comments or
suggestions for topics you would like to see addressed, or
would just like to share your experiences with other
subscribers, I want to hear from you. Please send
comments, questions and stories to Contact By Email .
_______________________________________________________________
2. Home Business Idea of the Week - Sports Scorecards
_______________________________________________________________
Here's a neat idea that's sure to bring you some cash. It's an
idea that definitely fulfills a need, and has tremendous market
potential virtually any where in the whole world.
As you probably already know, our ever-improving standard of
living is giving everyone more and more leisure time - time to
play, and enjoy doing the things that bring them happiness.
Bowling and golf are two sports that have experienced a
tremendous growth surge within just the past few years. There's
something about both of these sports that challenges a person
against himself - spurs his inner determination to become
perfect in his ability to play the game.
You can capitalize on the abundance of leisure time, the
challenge of the game, and man's determination to do better
the next time out than last time, with Personalized Bowling or
Golf Scorecards. The only investment needed will be a little
bit of your time, and then your idea should just about
perpetuate itself. Here's how to get organized and started ...
1) Design a Personal Score Card form and make several copies.
Paste these copies onto light weight card stock.
2) Make a list of the sporting goods stores in your area,
particularly those in the areas of your bowling and golfing
establishments. In fact, if you have several, it would be best
to group each list of sports stores with the bowling or golfing
facilities by area.
3) With your example Personal Score Card, call upon the owners
or managers of these bowling and/or golfing outlets. Using a
low-keyed sales approach, explain the workings of your product,
and sell them on the idea of putting up the money for the basic
supply of cards and printing. (This will enable you to reap l00%
profit from the sale of advertising on the cards. These facilities
benefit from an advertisement on the "front page" of each score
card.) Your sale to the bowling/golfing facilities managers should
be for the provision of one to five thousand of these cards,
which they'll make available to their patrons free of charge at
their cash control counters.
4) You can either sell the advertising space on the card yourself,
or hire commission sales people to do the selling for you. It would
be best to do your own selling, because once you've got the card
sold, you'll not have to do any reselling - just call on your
advertisers about once every three months to perpetuate their
contracts with you. It will be important, though, for you to "drop
in" on your advertisers at least once a month to check to see how
things are going, and if they are pleased with your advertising. If
you don't drop in on your advertisers except at renewal time, you
will find it very hard to sustain them as advertisers.
5) You should charge each advertiser at least $100 for exposure
of their "one by one" display ad on 5,000 of your cards for 3 months
running. With space for a total of twenty such ads, which the
advertiser supplies for you, each bowling or golfing facility that
you set up with these personal scorecards should mean a couple
of thousand dollars in profits.
6) When you've sold your advertisers, and collected the ads they
want to run on your scorecard, take the "sample card" to your
printer (any quick print shop will do), have them help you with
the "paste-up" and tell them to print 5,000 for you, and to finish
them by folding them for you. Your costs should all be absorbed
within the money received from the bowling or golfing
establishment you first sold the cards to. When your cards are
ready, simply take them to the original bowling or golfing
manager, exchange a few pleasantries and leave them with him
for handing out to his patrons or customers.
From start to finish, the whole project shouldn't take you more
than a couple of weeks. And if you only sold one card every
three months, this would/could mean a very easy annual income
of $12,000. Of course the ideal situation is to go on selling these
cards, using the same principle, to as many different bowling and
golfing centers as possible. In small towns with only one or two
such centers, travel to the surrounding towns and sell the idea
to them.
In the Seattle, Washington area, the people are grossing more
than $150,000 a year while working only one month out of every
three! This is the idea. It's very workable any where in the world.
It's been proven to be a fabulous money-maker in Seattle. The
next step, and the rest is up to you!
-----
This is just one of over 130 ideas from the new "Practical
Home Business Ideas From AHBBO" e-book. Find out more at
http://www.ahbbo.com/ideasbook.html .
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3. Feature Article: So You Want To Be A Freelancer
_______________________________________________________________
© 2002 Elena Fawkner
What's the difference between running your own home-based
business and freelancing? (tick, tick, tick ...) Give up? Me
too. If you want to work for yourself from home and have a
special talent or skill that you think others would be prepared
to pay for on an hourly or per-project basis, why not stop
thinking in terms of the traditional "home business" paradigm
and start thinking in terms of freelancing instead?
WHAT IS A FREELANCER?
Quite simply, a freelancer is an independent contractor who
earns his or her living by contracting for projects on a project
by project basis. A freelancer is not an employee of anyone
and so he or she must actively seek out work, negotiate the
terms and conditions of the project (the contract) and complete
the work to the satisfaction of the client. Once the project is
complete, the freelancer seeks out and enters into another
contract for another project.
Alternatively, the freelancer may have obligations under a
number of different contracts with different clients at the one
time.
Another variation involves the freelancer producing work and then
seeking buyers for that work. A freelance writer of magazine
articles, for example, would fall into this category.
WHO HIRES A FREELANCER?
Those who hire freelancers are as diverse as freelancers
themselves. In some cases, companies will hire freelancers
to complete a short-term project as an alternative to hiring
a new employee. This is often the case where the work in
question is spasmodic or ad hoc and the company cannot
justify hiring an employee for such work. Companies also
hire freelancers to help smooth out the peaks and troughs
in workload. Again, where there is a temporary oversupply
of work, the company will hire the freelancer on a short-term
basis to help cope with the backlog.
In other cases, companies hire freelancers for their special
expertise in a certain area. A company may want to create
a new website, for example. Hiring a freelance website
designer for such a project makes more sense than hiring
a website designer as an employee since once the website
is complete, the function will no longer be required.
Magazine and newspaper editors also hire freelancers or,
more precisely, buy rights to freelancers' work. A freelancer
in this type of situation may write a piece and submit it to
a number of different editors in the hope that his or her work
will be "picked up" by that editor and published, in return for
which the freelancer receives payment. By its nature, such
an approach is speculative since the freelancer can't be sure
that anyone will actually buy the work. Of course, once the
freelancer has been published, it is relatively easier to get the
editor to buy the freelancer's work in the future and, as the
freelancer's reputation grows, so too do the opportunities for
future business.
WHAT QUALIFICATIONS DOES A FREELANCER NEED?
To be financially successful, a freelancer obviously needs
marketable skills. A freelancer therefore needs the same
qualifications, skills and talents as someone who had been
hired as an employee to do the job would need. In other words,
if you are seeking work as a freelance website designer, you
must possess the same skills and qualifications that a full-time
employee website designer would possess.
IS A FREELANCER RUNNING A BUSINESS?
In short, yes. If you do not have an employer, if you have to
source your own work and negotiate your own terms, if you
have to chase payment, if you have to pay your own taxes
(i.e. no one is withholding them from your check), you are, in
essence, self-employed. Ergo, you are running your own
business.
There are a number of consequences you need to think about.
The first is taxation. You need to set aside from every payment
you receive an amount sufficient to cover your state and federal
taxes on the income you receive. Likewise, you need to keep
proper books and records so you can claim the deductions and
expenses to which you are entitled as a self-employed person.
As a freelancer, like any independent contractor, you will also
be expected to provide your own equipment and supplies. If
you are a website designer, you need to have your own computer,
software and other tools of the trade. The party hiring you will
not provide this stuff for you. Similarly, if you are a freelance
editor, you will be expected to have all the reference materials
and style books, word processing programs and other sundry
items any editor would need to do the job.
From a legal point of view, you should also give some thought
to the legal entity of your business. Will you be a sole
proprietor or will you incorporate? If you incorporate, will you
choose S-corporation status? There are important tax
consequences of each of these alternatives so be sure to get
advice from your accountant before starting and then talk
to your lawyer about incorporation.
Think also about what licenses you may need as well as
insurance (health, life and liability depending on the nature
of the work).
WHERE DOES A FREELANCER FIND WORK?
OK, onto the nitty gritty. You've decided to start work as a
freelance website designer. You have the appropriate
qualifications, training, experience and equipment and you've
consulted your accountant to determine the most tax-effective
business structure and your lawyer to set up your new company
and advise you in relation to issues such as business licenses
and fictitious business names. You're ready to hang out your
shingle. Now what?
=> Approach Your Warm Market
Start with who you know. Where did you get your website
design experience? If it was with an employer, consider
whether that employer may not be a source of business for
you. That will obviously depend on the circumstances under
which you parted company but if you left on good terms and
didn't burn any bridges on your way out, by all means contact
your former employer and let him or her know that you are now
in business for yourself and ready, willing and able to take on
new projects. If possible, get a reference or testimonial too.
That will come in handy when it comes to touting for new
business from strangers.
Next, turn to your network of business associates you developed
while working for your former employer. Note, we're NOT talking
about clients of your former employer, rather your own network
of colleagues. Contact them and let them know about your
new venture and your availability for project work.
Be extremely cautious about approaching clients of your former
employer if your current business puts you in even indirect
competition with that employer. In fact you may be contractually
constrained from approaching former clients if you signed a non-
compete covenant in your employment contract, for example.
=> Create Brochure/Resume
Go to the time and expense at this stage to prepare some
sort of resume of your experience and services. Get this
professionally printed as a brochure and send it, together with
your business card, to your former employer and colleagues
as a follow-up to your conversation. By giving them something
tangible about you, it is more likely that you will come to
mind when next they have a need for your services. If you've
already provided them with your brochure/resume, when the
time comes, the person concerned will think "hey, Joe's doing
this sort of thing now. Where's that information he sent? Oh,
here it is. I'll give him a call and see if it's something he
might be able to do for us."
=> Approach Your Cold Market
Once you've approached your so-called "warm market", it's
time to start on the cold. Start by gathering up a list of
businesses in your local area or industry that you think would
have use of your services. Prepare a letter of introduction and
send it, together with your business card, to your list of
prospects. Your letter of introduction should make it very
clear why you are writing. Identify yourself and the specific
skills that may appeal to the reader and why.
Follow up in a week with a telephone call to make sure the
materials arrived safely. If the other person is approachable,
try and strike up a conversation about what you could do for the
business. Otherwise, thank the person for their time, ask them
to keep you in mind for future work and calendar to contact them
again in 30 days' time.
Continue to work your market like this. Remember, persistence
pays off. Don't be discouraged if you receive little warmth or
interest in response to your approaches to your cold market.
It takes time and persistence. Just don't take it personally.
A good way to approach it is to tackle a fixed number per day.
Start out by making a list of, say, 300 businesses you want
to approach. Develop your list from the Yellow Pages, local library
and the web to start with. Calendar to approach 10 businesses
a day for the next 30 days. That means ten calls a day, followed
by 10 letters of introduction (together with a copy of your
brochure/resume and business card) and a follow up phone
call a week later.
Where there is interest, you may be able to schedule a
meeting. Where there is no interest, schedule for a further
follow up call in 30 days. If there is still no interest, schedule for a
further call in 90 days. Or maybe you would prefer to do something
else to stay in contact. A good way is to publish a newsletter for
your clients and colleagues. Make it relevant to the recipient and
it's a good way of keeping your name in front of your prospects. A
quarterly newsletter is probably frequent enough. Send it, with
another of your business cards, to your list and, over time, you will
see that it will start paying off in the form of business.
=> Samples
Another idea to think about is to produce a set of samples of your
work; a portfolio if you will. Make 8.5 x 11 copies of your work and
keep them in an artist's portfolio for presentations when you're
able to arrange face to face meetings with potential clients.
=> Advertising and Promotion
Next comes advertising. If you're a website designer, possibly your
best advertisement is your own website. But don't stop there.
Advertise in the publications your target market reads.
Another good way to generate business is to join associations and
groups affiliated with your industry. Chambers of Commerce
are a good place to make handy contacts.
You will probably find that in the early stages of your freelance
career you spend more time marketing yourself and your
services than you spend actually working. There's a financial
cost to that, of course. How do you finance your marketing if
you don't have any money coming in? For this reason, the
early days will be lean and mean. Make sure you have the
financial wherewithall to survive this period.
HOW DOES A FREELANCER MAKE MONEY?
You will only make money as a freelancer if you charge more
that it costs you to do the work in terms of your time, expenses
and materials. Factor in a profit component to every job you quote
for and make sure that that profit component is in ADDITION to
an allowance for your time. For more on pricing your services,
see "Pricing Yourself To Get and Stay In Business", at
http://www.ahbbo.com/pricing.html .
Some freelancers charge by the hour and others by the project.
In reality, you will probably use a combination of both methods
depending on the nature of the job and the client.
You can get an idea of current market rates by surveying your
competitors. Don't be obvious about it though; competitors are,
naturally enough, reluctant to divulge information about their
businesses to their competitors. So you'll probably need to
employ a bit of subterfuge here by posing as a potential
customer, for example. In fact, it's in your legal interests
that your competition doesn't give you pricing information if it
knows you're a competitor. Such conduct can be construed
as price fixing which can land both of you in extremely hot
water. So, keep it safe and use circuitous methods of
obtaining pricing information from competitors.
PROTECTING YOURSELF
A question often asked by freelancers is "do I need a contract?".
Well, to start with, once you've negotiated a deal with a new
client you have a contract. The question is whether it's oral or
in writing. An oral contact is just as enforceable as a written one
but the problem becomes one of proof. How do you prove the
terms of your contract if all you have is one person's word against
another's? For this reason, a written contract is always a good
idea. It needn't be anything too elaborate. In fact, even an
exchange of letters will do. Just be sure to include the basic
terms:
=> Describe the job
What must you do to perform the contract? Be as specific as
possible here and try not to be open-ended. "Create a website
for client" is too vague. What would you do if the client came back
after you'd finished and said, "but there's no shopping cart, there's
no feedback form?" and you hadn't quoted your time for these
things in striking the price? Better to say, "Create website
at client's direction consisting of (a) home page; (b) products and
services page; (c) order page; (d) shopping cart and (e) feedback
form". By requiring the client to be very specific about what it is
they want from their website, how they want it to look etc. you
can go a long way to avoiding misunderstandings caused by
vagueness.
=> Set the price
State in unequivocal terms the price you are to receive for the
job. This can be either a project cost such as $5,000 or an
hourly rate such as "$150 hour or part thereof; minimum of
ten (10) hours" or whatever.
=> State time for performance
Performance means not only when you will complete your part
of the bargain (i.e. delivering the completed website to the client)
but when the client must complete his or hers (i.e. by paying you).
FROM THE COAL FACE
Here's what real-life freelancers have to say about the freelance
life ...
=> Once you leave the workforce and start freelancing, it can
be very difficult to get back in and the older you are the harder
it is. Once you've been out of corporate life for any length of
time, the more likely it is that employers, rightly or wrongly,
will see you as not "corporate" enough to fit back into the
traditional 9 to 5 routine.
=> Isolation and loneliness. No surprise there. It's the same
bugaboo that anyone working alone from home must face.
For ways of overcoming the isolation monster, see
"Overcoming Isolation In Your Home Business" at
http://www.ahbbo.com/Overcoming_Isolation.html .
=> Procrastination. Again, a common problem for many who
work from home without a boss to crack the whip. For ways
of overcoming procrastination, see "Overcoming Procrastination
In Your Home Business" at
http://www.ahbbo.com/Overcoming_Procrastination.html .
=> Hard times with no checks in sight.
=> Pay is usually better. A very good freelancer can generally
do much better than the average employee doing the same work
but it takes time to develop a reputation that people are prepared
to pay a premium for.
=> You have to chase payment. Not everyone is going to pay you
merely because you tender your invoice so be prepared to have to
spend precious time chasing payment from slow payers. For
more on getting paid see "Getting Paid ... Minimizing Bad Debts
In Your Home Business". It's at
http://www.ahbbo.com/gettingpaid.html .
=> If you don't like cold-calling, selling and marketing yourself,
freelancing is not for you. A good proportion of your time will
be spent doing exactly that.
When you think of all the things the freelancer must do to generate
business and income, it quickly becomes apparent that freelancing
is really just another term for working for oneself. It brings with
it the same challenges and opportunities as any home business
and really doesn't introduce anything new to the mix. Hopefully,
though, this article may have got you thinking about YOUR skills
and talents and how they could form the basis of a home business
of your own. For all you know, you may not need to go out and find
widgets to sell to start your own business. Start with what's already
in your own head and everything else will surely follow.
------
** Reprinting of this article is welcome! **
This article may be freely reproduced provided that: (1) you
include the following resource box; and (2) you only mail to
a 100% opt-in list.
Here's the resource box to use if reprinting this article:
------
Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ...
practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for the
work-from-home entrepreneur.
http://www.ahbbo.com
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4. Surveys and Trends
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© 2002 Ryanna's Hope
Larry Wack is on vacation this week. Surveys and Trends
will return next issue.
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5. Success Quote of the Week
_______________________________________________________________
Be yourself and think for yourself; and while your conclusions
may not be infallible, they will be nearer right than the
conclusions forced upon you.
-- Elbert Hubbard
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7. Subscription Management
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8. Caveat Emptor
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Although all of the information presented in AHBBO is
published in good faith, I accept no responsibility as to the
accuracy or otherwise of the information presented. By making
use of the information contained in AHBBO the reader assumes
all risk that certain information may prove to be incorrect.
**I do not endorse any advertisements unless stated to the
contrary. Your money, your decision, your responsibility.**
All advertisements are accepted in good faith. However,
advertisers are solely responsible for the content and
accuracy of their classified advertisements and I give no
warranties, nor accept any responsibility, in relation to any
classified advertisement appearing in this publication. ALWAYS
carry out your own due diligence! Remember, if it sounds too
good to be true, it probably is.
_______________________________________________________________
9. Contact Information
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Elena Fawkner, Editor
A Home-Based Business Online
Contact By Email
http://www.ahbbo.com
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