Freelancers generally take far fewer holidays than corporate employees – for the simple reason that we don’t earn any money when we go away. (Well, unless you are on a paid monthly retainer, in which case you will have to put in the extra hours either before you go or when you come back.)

And, in the current climate, it’s likely that we are all taking fewer holidays than ever. So here are a few ideas showing how you can take a well-earned break, even if you can’t afford to go away.

Take a series of day trips

Going on five separate day trips will give you a good break from work and from your desk. But don’t forget to tell your clients you are taking a week off – if they know you haven’t actually gone away, they might try and sneak a ‘Can you just’ by you.

Freelancing is a great way to make a living independently or to supplement income from another full-time job. However, the work can be quite unpredictable, and revenue can be sparse at times. Finding ways to make extra money can help you through the lean times. Here are five easy ways to make additional money online:

1. Affiliate Marketing

Start with your own blog or Web site. Affiliate programs allow you to earn a commission on sales generated through advertising links on your page. Some programs pay a percentage of the sale, while others pay a flat fee based on each sale. The key to success with affiliate marketing is to choose a reputable program — Amazon is a popular choice for many bloggers — and to feature quality products that have some natural connection to your site. For example, if you blog about health, you should feature health products. The more organic the affiliate ads appear to be for your site, the less they will appear like ads, which can be a turn off for many readers.

Freelancing gives you a beautiful amount of professional and personal freedom. That beautiful freedom comes with one all-important price tag though—cash flow management.

It’s not quite like a traditional business model where you can get software to take care of your inventory management, it’s more like a second job in and of itself. You have to keep track of hours and work load, invoice and save for taxes, while managing the actual work and saving for the near and distant future.

If you haven’t made the leap into freelancing yet, you may still be taking for granted the structure of traditional jobs. Here are a few tips to help you handle your cash flow as a freelancer.

Tip 1: Look for new jobs before the old one is finished. There is a sizable amount of time lost between jobs, and as much as you may think you’re distracting from your current job, having zero to little downtime between jobs is important to keeping a steady flow of income.

VAT returns. Income tax returns. Anything to do with accounts makes me want to yawn. However it’s important that we freelancers ensure we operate as tax efficiently as possible. If you’re new to freelancing, one of the first things you should do is hire a good accountant or book keeper who can advise you on how to go about this.

As I’m neither an accountant nor a book keeper, I’m not qualified to advise on this subject. But luckily I came across this article in Money Observer last week that gives an excellent overview of the things you should consider in order to be tax efficient. Please note that this information applies to the UK only.

A lot of freelancers I speak to say things like:

“I can’t afford to go on that training course.”

“I can’t afford to do any marketing.”

“My computer keeps breaking down but I can’t afford a new one.”

“My accounts take up so much time but I can’t afford a book keeper.”

My response is: How can you afford NOT to?

• Going on a training course will teach you a new skill that can open the door to new clients. I recently completed an SEO copywriting course and I’ve already had meetings with two potential clients who have contacted me regarding SEO web writing projects.

• Investing in marketing is the lifeblood of any freelance business. In return for £600 I spent on a classified advert that ran for six months in a trade publication, I have earned over £20,000 of business.
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Every freelancer knows what it’s like to have cashflow problems. You may have invoices worth thousands of pounds (or dollars) owing to you but your bank account is just about up to its overdraft limit.

Here are a few tips on how you can improve your cashflow:

• Always invoice promptly. The sooner your invoice is with the client, the sooner you should receive your money.

• Make sure your clients pay you by electronic transfer. Payment by cheque can mean a delay of almost a week by the time you’ve received it in the post, gone to the bank, and then waited for the money to clear. And cheques also go missing in the post.

• When you submit your quote for the project, state in your accompanying  terms and conditions that you invoice 50% of the project upfront and 50% on completion.  If it’s a long project, I generally invoice 1/3 upfront, 1/3 half way through and 1/3 on completion.
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