www.inkthinkerblog.com — I can’t tell you much about them other than that they exist, but I came aross Network Freelance today and found it interesting. Not interesting enough to join off the bat, mind you, but interesting nonetheless.

It’s a newish site with the tagline, “Contracts & Community for Freelance PR & Marketing Professionals.” NF is based in the UK, and that’s where the vast majority of its job offerings seem to be. The most recent job posting, as of this writing, is December 21, and the earliest is November 27, so they haven’t been around long and it doesn’t look like a particularly active job board.

The community aspects seem potentially beneficial: forums and links to member blogs. But the thing is, there are hardly any forums members and only one blog posted.

My take on it: They’re new and an unknown quantity, but it could be worthwhile to join. I’m going to keep an eye on things and see how fast/if it grows before I make a decision.

Do you have any experience with Network Freelance? Leave a comment, please!

Tags: freelance writing, network freelance, online writing community

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — I posted over on Biz Chicks Rule about how Jesse and I sat down and figured out our budget for 2008 based on past spending, current and projected income, and sensible life adjustments.

One of the changes we decided to make is trading in our vehicles (mine is paid off, his has a monthly payment that’s killing us) for 2 vehicles that would be collectively cheaper than what we had, as well as more appropriate for our lifestyle. Case in point: Imagine trying to cram two adults, two mastiffs, and a pug into a Honda Civic. Now imagine them sitting pretty in a Honda Pilot, one wiht a leather interior that won’t get dirt ground into it every time the dogs jump in the back seat. Ahhh…

Before:

After:

Tags: freelance writing, freelance income, managing your money, finances, new car, honda civic, honda pilot

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

What does $70,000 mean? (www.inkthinkerblog.com) —  A whole heck of a lot of work, that’s what! But seriously, Susan asked and I’m glad someone is interested because I’ve been thinking I should break this down for you folks who (a) don’t believe I did it, (b) don’t believe it’s possible, or (c) want to do it, too.

Susan said…

Since you’re so open with your financials, I’m curious where the bulk of that income comes from. If not from blogging, then from speaking? Or print work? Or consulting?

I think we all know that it’s tough to get rich relaying on blogging or consumer pubs, after all.

Here’s where that $70,000 came from:

• Blogging, ~$1.5K — Including base pay and traffic for paid blogging and ad revenues for my own blogging
• Editing, ~24K — Mostly oncology clinical research articles, but also books, websites, and miscellany
• Copywriting, ~$8K– Websites, brochures, etc
• Writing for publication, ~10K — Print and online mags, etc
• Resume writing, ~$24K — This was all since May, btw. If I did it independently rather than through a company and maintained the same workload, I would make literally twice this much (which, btw, is part of the plan for next year: more independent resumes!)
• Other, ~$3K– random other writing, consulting, etc.

For the sake of simplicity, projects that combined consulting with copywriting are under copywriting rather than breaking it out. Whatever the dominant task was determined where the money was categorized. So in other words, blogging and writing for publication make up a mere 16.4% of my freelance income.

Now, where does the money go? Well, at my old job, the salary was only about 75% of my total compensation package, so let’s use the same proportion. If you take out 25% of my freelance income to cover taxes (which in my case is 15% of 93% of my income, or 13.95% — I don’t know why they don’t just say that in the first place), vacation time, sick leave, and health insurance (which, btw, is costing me way more than it was at the old job — $574 a month!!!), you get only $52,500. Oh, and retirement matching. I don’t get any of that, and I haven’t been saving for my retirement since I became self-employed, which I really need to start doing.

Then, factor in overhead expenses: phone, Internet (absurdly pricey out here in the boonies, where satellite is the only option and high-speed costs several pints of blood and your first and second born, or $200 a month on top of the $700 dish), Efax, website hosting, postage, PO box, electricity and mortgage (based on percentage of the home used for office space), business cards, advertising, office supplies, and of course the not-so-cheap computer parts, etc… Not to mention travel, conferences, subscriptions, and training that would all be covered by an employer. Average it all together and we’re talking somewhere around $500/month x 12 months = $6,000.

So after that, I get a measly $46,500. Yeah, I’ll definitely be getting a refund on mileage, tuition, and my overhead and other expenses, but that’s a lot of money to shell out throughout the year! And there’s a lot I don’t get back. So the bottom line is, I got a raise in take-home pay from my “real job,” but I’m not exactly rolling in dough. Hence, my new goal.

To follow: what I’m going to do to reach that goal.

Tags: freelance writing, freelance income, self-employment, finances, goals for 2008, taxes, overhead expenses

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King

www.inkthinkerblog.com — So I’ve been thinking about my strategy for next year as I review how things went this year, and I have this crazy idea. What if I decided to make $100,000 in 2008?

I know talking about money is all taboo, but I don’t care. If it makes you uncomfortable, stop reading. I made about $70,000 this year from freelancing only (including my blogging income, which so far is on the negligible side, but has increased every month), averaging around $6,000/month. Considering that 2007 was my first full calendar year of freelancing, I think that’s pretty darn good.

To bump it up to six figures next year, I need to earn more like $8,000/month, which breaks down to $2,000/week 50 weeks (yes, I’m trying to build in 2 weeks of paid vacation next year!), or $400/day 5 days a week. (See what I mean about breaking things down into attainable chunks so you know what you’re doing?)

Originally I was thinking I’d shoot for $80,000 next year, because that was my goal for 2007. And I would have made it, too, had it not been for a really terrible month right around the move this spring and a month of being desperately ill from August to September. So coming in just $10K below my goal and setting the same goal again just doesn’t seem like enough of a challenge.

I would have to work harder, and smarter, to make it. I would have to be more productive, more efficient, and more consistent. In other words, I would have to do all this stuff.

It’s a tall order, but I think I’m ready. I think. Maybe.

What do you think?

Tags: freelance writing, self-employment, income, finances, goals for 2008

Contents Copyright © 2006-2014 Kristen King