Self-Employed Freelancers & Home-Based Businesses: Cutting
Costs can significantly increase your small business income
By Lori Redfield
As a work at home Mother, I know the value of a deal. Any
smart business person knows that the best way to make money
is to SAVE money.
The Best Way for a Freelance, Home-Based, or Small Business to Make Money is to Save Money
Recently my husband quit his 9 to 5 salaried career to work
from home with me. In order to afford this we had to take
a good long look at our typical expenses and determine what
we could do to cut our costs.
We quickly realized how much money is spent to make money.
A quick peruse through our refrigerator revealed a lifestyle
of haste. Almost our entire diet consisted of prepared foods.
We made a pact to take turns cooking meals and freezing leftovers
to see how much money we could save.
What we found out is that it was actually easy to cut our
grocery bill in HALF on a consistent basis, simply by preparing
our meals! It may not take a rocket scientist to figure that
one out, but it was shocking to us to see how much money we
had been spending simply for the convenience of quick meals
to support our unbalanced, quick paced lifestyle.
Food that may have been wasted in the past is now the source
of one or two more meals. We freeze a lot of food so that
it doesn’t feel so much like eating leftovers and when
we shop we look for deals. We actually find that we eat healthier
then ever and certainly enjoy the quality of our meals more.
One of my favorite ways to save money is using online coupon
codes. When I have to purchase any item for my home office,
birthday gifts, clothing for the kids, etc. I always do a
search for a coupon code first. You would be amazed at how
many merchants that you shop from on a regular basis actually
offer coupons for free shipping, 10 – 20% off your entire
purchase, etc.
To use a coupon code, simply visit a website that carries
them such as http://www.promotionhub.com and locate the store that you plan to shop at. If there is
a code noted, make sure to copy it down in case you are asked
for it when you go to pay for your order. Generally though,
the coupon code is embedded in the link you click and you
will receive the discount simply by arriving at the website
through that link.
Another tremendous source of savings… gasoline! My husband
had been commuting two hours a day, five days a week. The
gas tank was filled on a weekly basis. Since he has been working
from home, we fill the tank only on very rare occasions. Our
trips are short and infrequent.
We also became acutely aware of our energy usage. Turning
off lights became religion. Warm clothes is mandatory before
even considering turning on heat.
Cutting expenses is an extremely viable way to help make your
real dreams a reality. For us, it was that both of us could
be ‘work-at-home parents’. To me, that is the
ultimate American Dream. To you it may mean saving money for
a vacation you never thought that you could afford, or paying
off debt that could otherwise have taken years.
Find ways to cut your home & small business expenses and you have instantly increased
your income, allowing you to stay home! Happy Savings!
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Lori Redfield is a freelance Internet entrepreneur.
She and her husband work solely from home and support their
family of five comfortably – with plenty of time for
play!
You can obtain more information by visiting her websites, http://www.freelancemom.com and http://www.associatehub.com.
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Category: Getting Started - Freelancing & Self Employment - Lists - Freelance Resources | Trackback | No Comments »
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BUSINESS PLANS : A Collection of Articles for How to Outline and Write a Business Plan for Freelancers Starting a Small Business
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Category: Getting Started - Lists | Trackback | No Comments »
FEB
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HOW FREELANCER WRITERS CAN DEFEAT WRITER'S BLOCKHelpful hints and tips to overcome the dreaded White Page Syndrome - There is probably nothing more dreadful and problematic for a writer than not being able to get going, being stuck on a menacingly white page. Read on for more ideas on how freelance writers can overcome Writer's Block.
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FEB
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WAYS TO GET MORE CUSTOMER REFERRALS FOR YOUR FREELANCE BUSINESSThe amount of customer referrals will often determine how successful one’s freelance business can really be. As word spreads quickly, having customers refer others to you and your services is a wonderful way of gaining new freelance business and making more money. There are a few distinct ways to get more client referrals for your business.
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FEB
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FEB
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FEB
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60+ UNIQUE LOCAL & OFFLINE MARKETING IDEAS FOR YOUR CONSULTING BUSINESS Although online promotion is important for your freelance business, it’s crucial to remember to go back to your basics and do offline promoting as well locally, nationwide, and worldwide depending on who you are marketing to. Here are over 60 ideas to market your consulting services locally. Let Freelance work find you.
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WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE GOOGLING INFORMATION ON YOUThis can be an issue for freelancers whose customers google them and try to find out information relating to them and their business. The following is a list of what to do when your customers are googling information on you.
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JAN
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26 THINGS TO DO WHEN BUSINESS IS SLOW AND IN DOWNTIME MODESome freelancers are anxious to work day in and day out which may present a problem for them when business is slow. However, there are many things which freelancers can do to bide their time while waiting for new freelance work to come in. Here are 26 ideas for staying productive during your consulting business downtime.
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TOP 150 PLACES TO TRAVEL WITH YOUR FAMILY WHEN YOU STILL NEED TO GET WORK DONEWhen you are self-employed, there is no vacation time to save up, and there is no one to cover for you when you’re away. For many that mean giving up on vacations altogether, and this is what I have been doing for awhile. Most of These All-Inclusive Family Resorts Have Kids Clubs in Which Your Child can enjoy supervised and fun activities while you and your spouse can have fun or get freelance work done. Take a look below and enjoy!
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DEC
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LIST OF ARTICLE SITES, BLOGS, AND INFORMATION DIRECTORIES FOR FREELANCERS, CONSULTANTS, AND THE SELF EMPLOYED Do you ever get frustrated when you can't find the information that you need about freelancing? Well, I've just compiled a list of the best article sites, blogs, and directories for freelancers, consultants, and the self employed.
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DEC
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DECIDING WHETHER OR NOT TO FREELANCE OFFSITE OR ONSITE Deciding to work onsite or offsite sounds like a relatively simple decision, but it’s actually one which isn’t easy to make. Sure, when you’re lying in bed just after the alarm has gone off and you see that it’s raining outside and all you wish was that you could go back to bed for ten minutes and then do your freelance work from home, working offsite sounds ideal. But there are as many cons to the offsite work job as there are pros and you need to weigh them carefully when making the decision about whether to work onsite or offsite.
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DEC
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IS FREELANCING RIGHT FOR YOU? Freelancing, a term introduced by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), is when you work without being committed to an employer. With development of internet and communication technology, there has been a dramatic rise in the number of people going their own way and leaving behind the cubicles. You are reading this book, so you must be contemplating becoming a freelancer, but before you make your move there are a few things to consider.
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DEC
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FREELANCER'S GUIDE TO TIME MANAGEMENT The most common problem that freelancers face is figuring out the balance between work and the rest of life. While there are a few freelancers out there who don’t work as much as they need to in order to pay their bills and improve their business, most freelancers have the opposite problem – they work ALL the time. And that’s why there are a great number of freelancers who “burn out” after a short (or if they’re lucky, a long) time. In order to make sure that you aren’t one of those people who “used to freelance but got burned out”, you need to set limits on how much you work. Then you need to stick to those limits.
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DEC
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SHOULD I TURN DOWN FREELANCE PROJECTS? As freelancers, we often feel as if we have to say ‘Yes’ to every single job out there. However, we as freelancers are in a position where we can choose to say ‘No’ if we want to. Believe it or not, there are certain projects that you probably shouldn’t accept. Turning down work is probably the hardest decision you will need to make when running your business, but sometimes turning down a gig is necessary. In this article I will explain to you the details that you need to consider when you aren’t sure which route to take. Consider the following:
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DEC
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COOL IDEAS FOR YOUR BUSINESS CARDS As freelancers, we need to promote ourselves with business cards. How about putting yourself ahead of the rest of them by designing and printing completely unique business cards? You are about to take a look at the coolest and most innovative business cards that you have ever seen.
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DEC
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LIST OF FREELANCE FORUMS & MESSAGE BOARDS Looking to get together with other freelancers? Want to network? Want to ask questions about freelancing that you can’t find the answer to anywhere else? Look no further than the freelance forums that we have listed below. Feel free to let us know about forums that we have missed.
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