The Freelancer's Bible

564 Pages·2012·3.7 MB·English

THE
FREELANCER’S
BIBLE

SARA HOROWITZ,

FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FREELANCERS
UNION

WITH TONI SCIARRA POYNTER

WORKMAN PUBLISHING, NEW YORK

FOR BERNICE

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION: WELCOME!

PART 1: GETTING STARTED

Chapter 1 | Seven Start-up Steps

Chapter 2 | Your Office Setup

Chapter 3 | Your Freelance Portfolio

PART 2: GETTING WORK

Chapter 4 | Getting Clients

Chapter 5 | Closing the Deal

Chapter 6 | Clients 360°

Chapter 7 | Troubleshooting

PART 3: GROWING YOUR BUSINESS

Chapter 8 | Marketing You

Chapter 9 | Marketing Yourself Online

Chapter 10 | Moving Your Freelancing to the Next Level

Chapter 11 | The Nimble Freelancer: Subcontracting and Building
Teams

Chapter 12 | Community—Where Personal and Professional Meet

PART 4: MANAGING YOUR BUSINESS

Chapter 13 | Managing You

Chapter 14 | Managing Your Office

Chapter 15 | Taking Care of Taxes

PART 5: YOUR BUSINESS AND YOUR COMMUNITY

Chapter 16 | Working, Playing, and Staying on Top of Your Game

Chapter 17 | Your Safety Nets

CONCLUSION: THE FUTURE IS NOW . . . AND IT’S US

APPENDIX: SELECTED SOURCES AND OTHER HELPFUL
RESOURCES

INDEX

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Peter and Rachel—who make my life so full.

To Sidney Hillman, Bayard Rustin, FDR and Eleanor, and to my

Grandfather Israel and Aunt Esther, whose lives have taught me so
much and who act as my northern star.

To my sister Anne and to Ron and Natalie—I love you so

much—and for my nieces Josie, Sage, Paulotta, and Tessa: the next
generation. To Michele Molotsky, my dearest friend.

To Toni Sciarra Poynter, who is divinely inspired in taking all forms

of intuitive knowledge or ideas and expertly turning them into
thoughtful, understandable, logical prose. You made this book journey
a pleasure and I know that meant crazy extra amounts of work for you.
Your ideas are genius and you are a good friend to boot.

To my agent, Heather Schroder, who had lunch with me for ten

years before I could finally birth a book. I love your toughness and
charm.

To Mary Ellen O’Neill, who added extra zing here and there and

made the book leaner.

To Savannah Ashour for reaching out and gently persuading me to

make this book happen.

To the team at Workman—many thanks for working your magic.

And to Peter Workman, who is such an entrepreneur and steward that
his publishing company flourishes amid much ruin.

To the Board of Freelancers Union—Joe Caserto, Trisala Chandaria,

Ohad Folman, Andrew Kassoy, and especially to Charles Heckscher,
Hanan Kolko, and Stephanie Buchanan, whose wisdom and kindness
know no bounds.

To the staff at Freelancers Union, who have spirit, resolve, and ded-

ication to independent workers. I would especially like to thank Althea
Erickson, Caitlin Pearce, Dan Lavoie, Gabrielle Wuolo, Kaitlyn New-
man, Gillian Sewake, Hollis Calhoun, and Jen Stern for all their great
help on this book. Thanks also to Dina Sena, Diallo Powell, and Ann
Boger for being great leaders and friends. And to Bob Belfort, whose
legal brilliance is matched only by his wit and tolerance of my grumpi-
ness (on rare occasion).

To those funders and friends who want to catalyze resources for

great change, including Janice Nittoli, Nancy Barrand, Mara Manus,
and Maria Gotsch. And to the Ford Foundation for getting Freelancers
Union started and moving us forward.

To Bill Drayton at Ashoka, who shares with me a love for Bayard

Rustin and for realizing that a life of persistence toward something
good is truly a life well lived.

To Cheryl Dorsey and Echoing Green for setting me on the course of

social entrepreneurship and catalyzing much support along the way.

To Nick Salvatore and the late Clete Daniel for giving me a deep

love of labor history and for constantly reminding me that unionism is
part of a social movement for all workers.

To Richard Winsten and New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon

Silver, who have made New York the most freelance-friendly state in
the country. To Shelly Korman, a true legal warrior, and Jean Tom, an
expert navigator through all storms.

My deep thanks to the following accomplished professionals who

agreed to be interviewed for this book and who generously gave of
their time and expertise—with a special thanks to Howard J. Samuels,
CPA, MST, and Galia Gichon for their time and effort in reviewing
portions of the manuscript:

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Ilise Benun, cofounder of Marketing Mentor (marketing-mentor.com)
and author of numerous books, including The Creative Professional’s
Guide to Money.

Erica Ecker, owner of The Spacialist (thespacialist.com).

Galia
Gichon,
founder
of
Down-to-Earth
Finance

(downtoearthfinance.com) and author of My Money Matters, a boxed
set of affirmations, tips, and workbooks.

Evelyn Hecht, PT, ATC, president of EMH Physical Therapy (emh-
physicaltherapy.com).

John Indalecio, OTR/L, CHT.

Peggy Post, etiquette expert, a director of The Emily Post Institute
(emilypost.com), and coauthor with Peter Post of The Etiquette Ad-
vantage in Business, among others.

Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers (careersolvers.com).

Howard J. Samuels, CPA, MST, KDMS LLC Certified Public Account-
ants (