Easy money is what everybody wants to get their hands on. This phenomenon gives rise to the entire idea of freelancing or commonly called work from home. But as they say there exists nothing on earth that is problem free. Similarly, the art of freelancing incorporates a few loose ends here and there. The catch is if you get successful, you are successful; if you aren’t, well you aren’t. Freelancing is mainly based on the idea of having to work from the comfort of one’s own home.
A freelancer does not have to travel to an office rather works in a casual environment for hours that he sets himself. Initially, it seems to be too easy but the reality differs a little. The area of population that is being benefited by freelancing most, are the housewives. Meeting the formalities of a 9-5 job is tough for them therefore becoming a freelancer is the next thing they can consider doing to help ends meet.
A freelance job is usually one that has been turned into a profession and was primarily only a hobby. There are innumerous individuals who have adopted their hobby as a full-time profession and are earning hundreds or probably thousands of dollars. Where the problem arises for these work-from-home professionals is their payment and procedures of payment. In a corporate world, one comes across different individuals and as you meet a new person you expose yourself to a new personality with entirely different set of needs, wants and demands. If your previous client history has been perfectly sound and stable then get ready to meet someone who will change your perception soon enough. Let’s analyze first the type of clients a freelancer can come across:
The Confused One
Such a client always has work for you but would never be able to give clear cut details as per how they want the final product to be. Give them your advice and they’ll love to take it because a defined idea is what they lack.
The Not So Interested One
You may call him/her a disinterested client. These would want to get involved in your work but are rather least interested. Save your special efforts because such client will not want any of those and all he would want is the work done with little care and a lot of speed.
The Rigid One
A rigid client as the name implies is one who has a set plan and would want you to work according to it. Your suggestions are something they would hardly ever involve in. Clean details, pride on their own achievements and a sound outlook overall is what you can expect from such a client.
The Encouraging One
The encouraging client will turn your job into a fun experience. He would appreciate you on all the work you serve him with and will be there to tell you where you went wrong but in a friendly tone. These clients are people who every freelancer wants to work with.
The Budgeted One
To them, if you’ve been communicated a budget that is it. The end of story. No negotiations and no matter how much effort you put in or exceed their expectations with excellent work, a single penny won’t be raised on your project. So a little care is what you need to work with clients like these.
Once you have decided which client you are willing to work with, the next thing is deciding upon which way to charge the client for the work you’re serving him with. Practically, there are four ways a freelancer can propose to charge a client. These are:
When the method of charging the client is sorted out, the next biggest issue is to receive the payment from them on the time decided. For a number of freelancers, getting the money in their hands is a massive problem. Clients use money transfer services such as PayPal and Moneybookers but not all of them are supported worldwide. As a result, all the money a freelancer has earned ends up remaining in the account set up online with no place to withdraw.
Best Online Payment Options
Moreover, every online money transfer system may not be safe to leave your money in. In order to guide freelancers, below are discussed some famous payment transfer systems and their pros and cons.
In PayPal’s terms, “the world loves to pay and be paid using PayPal”, but to what extent is it true? Whether you shop or transfer remittance to your loved ones, PayPal works for both. It claims to be the safest and easiest way of money transfer online. It is estimated that 87 million of the world’s population uses PayPal. Freelancers who are willing to use PayPal to charge their clients can login to www.paypal.com and set up an account. A few minutes are all it takes.
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Another payment transfer processor by the name of 2Checkout is being used by freelancers widely. A simple account set up at www.2checkout.com can give freelancers access to making quick transactions. It offers transactions and credit card payments in 24 currencies and languages. However, it is only ideal for small sized businesses. Overall it is not a good choice for freelancers to use.
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Skrill or Moneybookers as it has been named previously is a cheap and comparatively a simple way to process payments. Serving more than 29 million customers, it has become an alternative for countries which PayPal does not support. If Moneybookers is your choice, www.moneybookers.com is the way to go!
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For a country like a Pakistan, where world famous PayPal does not serve, Payza is a great option to transfer and receive money. The service promises a deadline of 24 hours and your money will be within your reach and in your bank account. Link up any bank account to Payza or ask for your money to be converted to Pakistani Rupees, Payza will do it all.
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The above given pros and cons of famous payments systems can help most freelancers decide the way they think is safer and efficient in terms of receiving money on time. Every business is full of risks and so is freelancing but using the right tools can turn the business into an overwhelming success. Initially when freelancers start working, the salary in the month is not usually much and may arise thoughts of quitting the freelancing business altogether. However using the right tools can help a freelancer work up his way to profits increasing month by month.
Besides, payment processors, proper invoicing techniques can also be of great help to freelancers in managing their money. Some of the invoicing techniques are:
To strengthen the effect of these tiny tips, freelancers may consider using tools specially designed to serve the purpose of efficient invoicing. The five top invoicing tools that are being used round the globe are:
Very popular and first choice. freshbooks deliver fast and simple invoicing and time tracking services that help you manage your business. freshbooks believes running a business is hard enough. We believe financial record keeping should be easy, fast, (and perhaps even fun), but still detailed enough to satisfy your accountant.
It build a strong relationship between hours of tracking, project management and invoice or we can say that FreshBook a management tool. It has all the features needed by a freelancer to work efficiently. Supports automatic invoice in any currency, collect online payments.
The Invoice Machine takes a new clever approach to online invoicing. It’s beautiful and simple-to-use interface makes producing professional looking invoices a very pleasant experience.
It also allows you to send invoices directly to the mailbox of your clients with a PDF file to an email. This way both you and your clients will be required to do the least amount of work.
Harvest lets you and your staff track time and send invoices from one integrated application. Get set up in just a few minutes and instantly start tracking time and invoicing your clients. Contractor and employee timesheet and timesheet approval is included. You can create an online invoice and easily bill your client. Get paid faster by collecting online payments from your clients instantly and securely via the web.
Blinksale is perfect for anyone who needs to invoice clients for services or products sold. Blinksale is an excellent choice for designers, IT professionals, software developers, and more. Basically, if you need to send invoices, Blinksale can work for you.
Blinksale invoices are typically sent via email. You may also print and snail-mail your invoices if that’s your thing.
Zoho Invoice has gained the loyalty and trust of companies and the individuals around the world by providing a feature-rich and user friendly interface. Quickly, easily send elegantly formatted invoices and quotes to your clients. Track invoices, send reminders, accept payments online and acknowledge receipts.
Invoicera make online invoicing a straightforward and uncomplicated process. With a sole objective to deliver its user the quality which they desire while sending invoices and adding to their experience, Invoicera has successfully managed itself to set up as a value-oriented invoicing service provider. With its wide variety of features, user-friendly interface and enriched functionality, it allows you to overcome most of the accounting complications which unnecessarily cause delays in your projects. It also supports a number of languages and currency systems.
If you put to use a good mix of tips and tools given above, there is simply no chance for your money to escape anywhere without your knowledge. Lastly, because your clients are the backbone of your freelancing business, treat them with top class professionalism and prompt responses, they will surely keep coming back for more!
Thanks for this detailed resource. Freelancers tend to face a great deal of problems while getting their dues from clients. One needs to be skillful enough to extract his or her money, otherwise there is always a chance of a client going rogue.
Anyways, your inputs are appreciated.
Regards
Max
For invoicing, I’ve really enjoyed Invoiceable (previously Invoice Bubble). It’s simple and a straight forward payment (recently changed to be a one-time payment). You can use it for free to see if it works for you and then pay to remove ads, etc.
Another amazing online billing system is http://snapbill.com
The features that it has is truly amazing!
I have never found an invoicing app that works the way I want it to. They all have weird templating systems that you have to struggle with to get it to look how you want. And/or they make your logo look awful because they plop a low resolution version of it in the invoice. Invoices are almost always printed at some point, and if you are a designer, your logo needs to look good when it is printed. It needs to be kept as a vector object. I have yet to see an invoice app that does that.
I use Apple’s Numbers and it works great.
Maintaining cashflow is tricky for freelancers. Automated invoicing process will certainly help in money management. Try using Billbooks, it’s handy invoicing software wit great features.