• "The world's most powerful graphics chip - imagination" Sheldon Cooper of the Big Bang Theory. You can't bottle imagination. It has power to it.
• Alison Grade of the Freelance Bible. It's available in the library andI will definitely check it out as an eBook for accessibility purposes. It will help me greatly after Graduation.
• Mechanics of Freelancing: compliance piece. Insurance, legal and taxes. UK specific download. Download of mechanics: https://alisongrade.com/downloads in partnership with Coconut and IPSE. How the government gateway works.
• We are responsible for how whether have the right insurances. Public Liability. [Am I allowed on the premises and my freelance work? Is everyone insured?] Level of cover. Annual policy. Lot of cover for being in someone else's building. Main one to have if delivering services.
• Professional Indemnity. If Doctor, Accountant etc. insuring yourself in the millions and paying thousands a year. Worth looking at text side of things, text and files. IT can cover some policies, can cover corrupted files and those kind of problems.
• Equipment / Office Contents. If working from home, someday be covered under home policy. Is it covered to be out of the house? Laptop? if I'm doing editing / graphic design what happens if the computer gets stolen? How quickly will it get replaced? If you are a freelancer and that's your workforce you need a professional cover for a 24 hour replacement.
• Employers Liability. Cover us as an employer
• Personal insurance: Rainy day cover. Income protection covers. Reassurance that if you get sick you will still get paid.
• Motor Insurance: ensuring that the policy that you have is fit for you, driving to and from client meetings. If you are driving distances that you are not used to for meetings are you covered? Should you stay over at a hotel?
• Legal: Terms and conditions. End of the invoices I send, proposals I send as well. What happens when it all goes wrong. Not the same as the scope of work I do. Payment, late payment, boiler-plate T&C's. IPSE, Federation of small businesses etc. Legal documents as part of membership to support freelance community. When there is a problem, where to go.
• Careers and Employability of Leeds Arts University offered in the chat that they "do not offer legal advice but are able to signpost students, graduates, and alumni to the relevant people and organisations to talk to." They do, "however, offer general freelance advice."
• Intellectual Property: At what point do we want to invest in protecting our work, how to exploit it. Valuing work it through different revenue streams.
• NDA: Stops people talking about something in the public domain. Confidential information. Hard to test in court. Doesn't always offer a huge amount of protection. Understanding where the opportunites/implications are when signing one if a client is pitching and asks you to sign one.
• Health and Safety - understanding protocols when on-site to not put you or others in danger. Consider long hours, risks.
• Difference ways of being freelance within UK guidelines. Self-employed, invoicing for your services, freelancing space where you are paid through a company's pay roll. (TV workers whose job is through the pay roll determined through HMRC about which roll is payroll and which is self-employed). Operating as a limited company. Seeing yourself as freelance but it is has different rules around it.
• Unique Tax Payer Reference. 10 digit code on invoice. Register on the government gateway as self-employed. You don't have to register until you have earned £1,000. Once over that you DO need to register. They will expect you to do self-assessment. Doing your tax return. Financial year runs from April to April. Every year a new financial year starts.
• Accountants can help you understand how to navigate it and what you can off-set against, what can be off-set against business expenses, accountants can help with as many costs as possible.
• Tax and NI. Fintech Solution we have talked about before.
• Importance of record keeping. Up to 7 years
• Chargeable Expense
• We invoice for our services, if we have valid expenses along the way we can take those off along the way.
• Office supplies, office repairs, travel, clothing (uniforms for example), staff, things you buy to sell on - what you buy them. Financial. Business cards, advertising, website, training courses. Can all come off as chargeable expenses.
• How the Tax and National Insurance is calculated.
• Total turnover
• Only when we have our gross profit can we calculate our taxes. Reduce the tax liability. Advantage and incentive to us. Understand what we charge and keep record of it.
• Class 4 NI when we are self-employed.
• Net profit is the ready reckoner. Individual living expenses
• Like being an employee there are tax rates.
• The first £12, 570 0% tax
• NI: Class 2
• Accountant and tax returns will help with this but it's important to understand how it's calculated for own own peace of mind.
• You can be employed and self-employed at the same time.
• If self-employed and employed at the same time, only one lot of personal allowance per year so has to be claimed on one job.
• P60: what did you earn, tax, tax code and will calculate all of that. Personal allowance through the pay roll is usually more beneficial.
• Tax and National Insurance Rates 2021/22.
• How and when does it get paid? Paying your taxes. At July 15 2021 a freelancer is in a position to do their tax return at HMRC until 31st January 2022 deadline. At that point they will owe them a whole stack of cash: all the tax and NI of the very first year but they take payments on accounts, freelancers use money for all kinds of things so they want paying in accounts. They will ask for 50% assuming they have that money, 50% in January, and then 50% on year two following July. Based on estimates. Two payment on account every year.
• If you had a bad year, you need to ring them and let them know so they aren't 50% of payment that isn't there.
• Student Loans: the amount repayable will depend on your plan. Does your turnover go over the threshold?
• VAT. 2 way street. take proper financial advice.
• Expenses are chargeable.
• We may need to never do these numbers ourselves. Online tax return is relatively straightforward and helpful. HMRC are helpful. Accountant can help with this. Take ownership and understand it. Not there to catch you out but help you through.
• Always know your numbers.
• Each payment if half your previous year's tax bill. Payments are due by midnight on 31st January and 31st July.
• If you still have tax to pay after you've made your payments on account, you must make a 'balancing payment' by midnight on 31st January next year.
• 'Payments on account' are advance payments (50% of your estimated tax bill) towards the current year's tax bill.
• Payments on account do not include anything you owe for capital gains or student loans - you'll have to pay those in your 'balancing payment'.
• Student Loans: The amount repayable depends on your plan. For 'annual salary' read total income for the year. Does total income go over annual salary threshold? E.g. Plan 2 loans start paying back when total income > £26,575 at 9%
Calculated as (Annual income - threshold) x 9% = Total payable
For example:
(£30,000 - 326,575) x 9% = £308.25 for the year
• VAT: Current VAT rate 20%. Threshold £85,000 turnover. Can register voluntarily. Flat rate scheme for small businesses (<£150k)
• Getting started with Clients
• Overwhelm. Control the controllable
• Take time to plan. Break down big tasks. To-do lists, project planning, breaking down in parts. Achievable goals to deal with client work in the right order.
• Write lists - look ahead.
• Prioritise.
• Set yourself achievable goals
• Finding some touch points where you can put something down. Productisation.
• How much is going to cost? What to send? Productisation helps.
• Bronze, silver and gold offering. A gold offering - the luxury of time, staff members, social media links, in the package.
• Can be hard to read the client. Gets us into the project to develop a bespoke proposal. How many straw men you can put into the meeting.
• Your Proposal. Agrees a framework between you and your client.
• Details project and lines of communication.
• Pricing should reflect ALL costs of project for example admin time, specialist equipment.
that has a value and proc/ Reflecting that in pricing.
• Offer discounting as a strategy. Not much of a real discount. Is there a price point where we still make a fair amount but it's a good way in the win the client. Special introductory offer. We still make the money we want to make. They buy into us. We are not losing money at the beginning.
• Can refer back if project creep appears. "What we actually agreed to was..." Blueprint to come back to and everyone has signed up to it.
• Clients don't like nasty surprises. Extra work. Extra pricing. Don't allow for that kind of shock
• SMART targets: Targets in proposals
• Specifics: what work is being undertaken.
• Measurable Days, measurable outcomes
• Key targets and touch-points, review progress. Monthly check in call, daily, or more than that. Understanding that workload.
• Realistic about what you can achieve. You are a freelancer not a superhero. Time. in everything you do, add a little bit extra as you don't know what will crop up.
• Timebound: Timeframes. Outline schedule what will happen when.
• Your proposal outlines: What you plan to do for your client, your deliverables, your credibility to deliver the work, Could be shown to other people in the company. Why it's important, why you are the right person to do it. Your fees for the work, the time period to complete the work. Has a validity period for quote / proposal. "This quote is valid for 30 days" "That was the price 6 months ago, the price now is this..."
• Check everything! Check the numbers. Does it add up? Look at it in its entirety.
• Starting the work: How will the client confirm the work?
• Payment schedule. Within your rights to do so.
• Who and where to invoice.
• Payment terms. When it is appropriate to chase.
• Kick off setting with client. Signed off proposal, meeting up to confirm how you want to work together.
• At what point do you start working? No hard and fast rule with it but ask if the client has the authority to be asking for this work. Read this situation, being aware that if you don't have all the paperwork set up. things can go wrong.
• Beware project creep.
• The scope of what you are doing in the proposal is what you do. be mindful If they're using it for anything else, that want part of the agreement. It's fine but charge for it. more days. Bit extra.
• Just be mindful
• Delivering piece of work for client - on a promise. Commit. Expertises to do that product. Buying our services for a need and we fulfil that ned. Build on that and enable long term relationships.
• Clear communications: check in with the client at the start
• How do they like the comms to take place? How often? How formal? You can align your operations to deliver for them.
• Reassures the client that you are putting them first. Gives you valuable intelligence.
• Dealing with challenges: don't flap and panic, consider options, refer them up at the appropriate time, consider the best mode of communication.
• Problems come up all the time. that are unforeseen. How do I solve and what is the best way to refer to my client? Extra camera not in the budget. Is email or text or WhatsApp appropriate? What kind of relationship do we have? "Something has come up, can we have a chat? Someone has dropped a camera and we need a new one." Telling client what the issue is and making them aware. Have that communication. Phone call usually. Inquest how do we deal with this and prevent it from happening again.
• Managing Expectations: set realistic time frames, use SMART targets, trust, and know the boundaries and what you can and will do. Healthy respect for deadlines.
• Doing the Work: measure your time. We are losing days where we could be winning business or doing their work.
• During a project keep track of the hours put in.
• Project reflection exercise: make sure not to repeat same mistakes with next client. Next time I can scope project based on experience.
• Finish the job which includes handing in the paperwork. Many freelancers forget to hand in the paperwork. They could be wonderful freelancers but this makes them hard to work with. The paperwork is just as important!
• Temptation of overdelivering. You've won the client, done/doing the work, and now thinking "lets do loads and they'll love me!" Sending 30 pages of research instead of the proposed 3: Can go two ways - you've added extra workload and time to your clients schedule to read these extra pages of research and they are NOT happy. This was not part of the agreement. On the other hand: they could have loved the 30 pages and want it again for the same price - the price of 3 pages of work.
• When writing proposals, think of selling while delivering. "There's 3 pages here but potentially 27 cracking ones behind it." We could be overcomplicating someone's life whilst undervaluing ourself.
• Concluding the work: Have you done everything required and outlined in the proposal? Invoice promptly. Ask for feedback. Ask for a testimonial.
• What direction do I want to go in? Being the finance director, the CEO of your career.
• See how it all fits together with the stool
• Really focusing on 'why me'? Finding clients who will value that and based on the skills I have.
The floor was opened up for concluding conversation among all attendees to share our thoughts, feelings and share resources.
Possible resorurces for help with developing freelancers and businesses:
- The Prince's Trust
- Arts Council
- Local Support and activities
- Greater Manchester - Creative scale up programmes
- Growth Hub for local funding and support
- In leeds there is a local LET, Yorkshire combined authority, depends on your criteria if there is a pot available
- Contacting local places for off-cuts of materials
• STEM
• Sustainability
• Funded Studio Spaces specifically for alumni. Depends on what you are doing. (Duke Studios and Patrick Studios)
• Yorkshire Social Enterprise
• As alumni we are supported up to 5 years and can drop in on events like this at any time. We can always get in touch for one to one sessions and support. https://www.leeds-art.ac.uk/study/after-graduation/funded-studio-spaces/
• SCRAP in Leeds. People take their canvas, paints and ribbon, apparently for free, to recycle and upcycle? Recycled paint.
• Seagulls on Kirkstall Road students and artists tend to go for free or low-cost paint.
Reflection:
This session has been one of the most valuable yet! I got to really unpick the mechanics of freelancing, delivering for clients, what the problem with overdelivering is and how we can be taken advantage of, managing the process of client work and why feedback is important - to drive future projects. I feel much more structured about what want to do and how to get there. What stage do I want to achieve my goals? Reaching out to people in network for opportunities, taking time for my value. Initial reactions with freelancing, coffees and conversations and start to grow my network. What are my priorities? Why are clients buying from me?
Reflecting on the summer School "How be a Great Freelancer" Sessions as a whole:
• Initially, I had an idea of what freelancing was like but after looking at the nitty-gritty of it, it isn't really like that at all. There are a lot of aspects to think about and you are really managing every single aspect of your career from the amount you are paid, to the way you are paid, to your pension.
• I have a much clearer understanding of the mathematics-side of it (the taxes, the vat, etc.)
• Lots of detail, lots to unpick which will take some time to do. it has given me a direction to head in after direction where I will refer back to these webinars.
• Many aspects I would never have considered. Lots of instances of case studies and sharing of experiences to better understand the context.
• I will need to have lived experience to implements some of these things.
• Collecting my assets: which assets do I need to have? What will boost MY visibility?
• Registering on different databases for different projects is absolutely fine
• Clear parameters to use it. Structured. Can be hard to achieve. It has been useful structures to have in place depending on business.
• It has certainly guided my thinking and the beginnings of my journey
• I had lots of questions initially and these workshops answered those
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