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If you were sick in 2020 or the beginning of 2021 due to COVID-19, or you had to take time away from your freelance business to care for a sick family member or to take care of your child due to school closure or other loss of childcare, you’ll want to see if you are eligible for qualified sick and family leave equivalent tax credits with IRS Form 7202, “Credits for Sick Leave and Family Leave for Certain Self-Employed Individuals.” Form 7202 is a new federal form that aims to help those who are self-employed claim sick and family leave tax credits under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). You may be able to claim these credits on your 2020 tax return for leave taken between April 1 and Dec. 31, 2020, and on next year’s tax return (for 2021) related to leave taken between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2021. Note that you cannot claim these credits for the same period as any PPP loan forgiveness you may be eligible for. The FFCRA, passed last March, gives refundable tax credits to eligible self-employed individuals who, due to COVID-19, can’t work or telework for reasons relating to their own health or to caring for a family member. The credits can offset your federal freelance income tax and are equal to either your qualified sick leave or family leave equivalent amount, depending on your specific situation. Here are the eligibility requirements from the IRS: · You must conduct a trade or business that qualifies as self-employment income and be eligible to receive qualified sick or family leave wages under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act as if you are an employee. · You must maintain appropriate documentation establishing your eligibility, such as a letter from your doctor, letter from your childcare facility explaining their closure, etc. IRS.gov has instructions to help you calculate the qualified sick leave equivalent amount and qualified family leave equivalent amount you may be eligible for. In brief, the sick leave credit is calculated using your average daily self-employment income from the previous tax year and can be claimed for up to 10 days of lost work. The family leave credit is calculated at 67% of your average daily income and can be claimed for up to 50 days. Now that tax filing season is here, it is important to look at any potential tax savings you may be eligible for. If COVID-19 impacted your ability to work either directly due to your own illness or indirectly because you cared for a family member who was ill, you’ll want to check out these potential tax credits to lower your taxable income for both 2020 and next year in 2021. Jonathan Medows is a New York City-based CPA who specializes in taxes and business issues for freelancers and self-employed individuals across the country. He provides tax, accounting and business articles for freelancers on his website, http://www.cpaforfreelancers.com, which also features a blog and a comprehensive freelance tax guide. Please note, due to the high volume of inquiries in regard to COVID-19, Jonathan is not able to respond to individual requests for information at this time. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2021/02/10/how-to-claim-covid-sick-leave-on-your-freelance-taxes/
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Maybe you’ve cold called a company or had a referral. Either way, you have a scheduled time on the calendar to talk to a company about a freelance project. Here’s the thing… for your own mental & financial wellbeing, it should be a good fit for both parties. Here are the skills you need to figure out whether this job will work for you. Hone your Spidey senseYour first step is to look for the red flags. In other words, make sure the company you talk to about your services is qualified for YOU before you start talking about the project. You'll know if they’re worth your time if: · You are talking to the decision maker · The timing of the project is reasonable · The budget works for you AND them · The company actually wants/desires/needs your services · Anything that could stand in the way of the project is clearly defined and manageable Over time, you’ll develop a spidey sense for BS and for companies that just want to waste your time or are just seeking pricing to negotiate with someone else. Both red flags. By asking uncomfortable questions, you get right to the root of why a company is looking for a freelancer. You must talk to the decision maker -- usually, this means you go to the CEO, if you're working with a smaller company. Because they are very busy, they generally won’t BS you about their needs. Sift them outSo, let’s say you get an email asking to chat about your web design services. Great. You should have a Calendly account integrated with your video meeting service (this costs less than $25/month) to handle that. In Calendly, you get 10 questions to ask the person making the appointment at the time they request the meeting -- use those questions to get a feel for the user/company. For a web developer, the questions should be: · Name · Company · Title · Phone number & extension · Current website · Why are they interested in a new website? · What timeline do they expect for completion of the project? · Estimated budget · What are 3 keywords they would like to rank for? For other freelancers, think about the needs of your industry and tailor these questions as needed. When you get the Calendly alert and their answers to the above don't match what you're looking for in a project, just email them back that you're not interested. Once you have a meeting booked, you want to send 2 reminders to the person who scheduled with you: an email 24 hours in advance and a text reminder 15 minutes before. The 24-hour reminder can be Calendly's automated reminder, but it should include one of your testimonials. Warm up the person with a testimonial from their niche -- your customers end up selling your own product for you to your target audience. Boom. By the time they get on the call with you, they are completely warmed up (assuming they’re serious) and receptive to you and your ideas… before the meeting even starts. Don't be that personWhen you have a meeting set up, use the information they provided and do your due diligence. Look into the person, the company, the company website, the data and keywords. I’d even look into their competitors. Have all of this information researched before hand and ready to go. On the call, have all of your research and a few past project examples open in other windows so you can refer back to them. When starting the meeting, build rapport. Ask questions. Then ask more questions. Listen and write notes. During the first ~25 minutes of the call, the client should be doing 90% of the talking. You are listening, taking notes, and asking questions. Here is when you qualify: when you identify the "Why." Why a business wants this service done now. Perhaps their sales have dropped… or shot up. Perhaps a competitor is crushing them with a new product or they want to rebrand. Whatever it is, you need to hit that button and get them emotionally invested. From there, qualify them. Ask them what the timing is and reference the timing they put on the Calendly field. “So, in a perfect world, you are looking for the new website to deploy in 6 weeks, is that right?” Remember, telling isn’t selling. Ask open-ended questions and let them tell you. It’s more profound when the other person tells you rather than you tell them. This in turn, keeps you in full control. Be a detectiveAsk the uncomfortable questions now. By this point, you have demonstrated that you have your act together. Ask about budget, timing, and what (if anything) would stand in the way of you working together. Now is when you show them your process, share a previous project and how you got there. Refer back to the “Why” you identified earlier. For example, with a new product launch, tell them that you’ll dedicate a new page just for the product and integrate testimonials when available. Then show them a past example. It’s important at this point to mention that because you’ve niched down, you can speak their language and have a knowledge of the industry. By following these steps, you'll get the answers you need — not what they need. This is a meeting to see this project will work for you, not the other way around. You’re not a commodity; you’re an expert and have a high bar with the clients that you choose to work with. If they balk or get weirded out by those qualifying questions, you're probably not talking to the decision maker, or the meeting was scheduled just to suss you out. You want to protect yourself from BS clients who say they’re “in” for the project then don't give you the tools you need, don't respond to your questions, request all kinds of extra work you hadn't agreed up, or don't pay up at the end. Learn to qualify your clients early and spend time on the ones that make the most sense. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2021/02/09/4-skills-to-use-on-your-next-client-discovery-call/
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The most effective email marketing campaigns put customers first, but designing a customer-focused email marketing campaign is tricky at the best of times. In this article, I want to shed some insight on what customer-first email marketing looks like, giving you seven strategies to improve your email marketing campaigns. 1. Use more dynamic contentThe average office worker receives 121 emails each day, which is why it’s essential to use dynamic content in your email marketing. Dynamic content is content that adapts to the person receiving it. This includes personalized product recommendations that are predicted using data from the customer’s purchase history. Creating dynamic content might sound time-consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. Most email automation software options will allow you to send out dynamic email blasts. This allows you to send everyone on your mailing list an email with the same headings, subject line, and text, but different product recommendations. You can see what I mean in this fantastic email blast below. Image via Remarkety 2. Make smart use of email preview textMost email marketing has an open rate between 15% and 30%, but the majority of your email subscribers will still see your email in their inbox, whether or not they actually open it. Usually, your subject line and preview text will determine if someone clicks on your email or not. Depending on your recipient's email settings, they will be able to see the first 40-130 characters of your email. This makes these characters the most crucial. To make the most of your preview text, try addressing your email to the recipient (i.e., “Hey Mark!”), start with an attention-getting fact or use emojis or powerful words like “shocking” and “bamboozle” to grab people’s attention. 3. Slay your subject lineBecause your subject line and preview text dictate whether someone will open your email, your subject line has to be absolutely perfect. As a general rule, the shorter your subject line, the more effective it will be. The best email subject lines are between 40 and 60 characters in length. Great subject lines also keep your email out of the spam folder — which is essential if you want to make sales. According to experts, spam filters flag emails that use trigger words in their subject line. These include:
Keep in mind that spam filters also look for email subject lines that are written in ALL CAPS or are formatted in a way to avoid spam filter detection (i.e., changing “100% free” to “1oo% f r e e”). 4. Test different layoutsIf you want your emails to stand out in a crowded inbox, you’ll need to redesign your email layouts until you have created visually appealing marketing. This will require you to test different design layouts until you find an appealing layout that converts leads to customers. Well-designed emails use layouts that emphasize key parts of the email. They also engage the reader with content like GIFs, animation, video, images, infographics, and interactive tools, keeping the reader on the page for longer. Most software used for email list management will provide you with default email templates you can customize. These templates have been built by graphic designers and tested extensively, making them a great way to test out different email designs without hiring your own design team. 5. Use a mobile-friendly templateWhile you upgrade your email layouts, always check whether they are mobile-friendly and prioritize customer education. The majority of email users view their emails on mobile, making it essential your emails look great on mobile devices. Mobile-friendly email generally:
To check whether the layout you have chosen is mobile-friendly, test it out by sending sample emails to yourself and friends who use different mobile devices from yours to make sure it works for everyone. 6. Have a clear CTAWhile it’s easy to get excited and add multiple calls to action (CTAs) into each marketing email, keep in mind that the law of diminishing returns applies here. In essence, this means that the more CTAs you include, the less effective each CTA will be. Your reader’s attention will be divided between each CTA, meaning they become desensitized and unengaged. Instead, choose a clear CTA and make it the focus of your email. This means placing the CTA in an obvious part of your email and highlighting it—like in this example from Emma. Image via CampaignMonitor The strength of your CTA will be reflected in your customer feedback—the stronger your CTA is, the higher your sales conversion rate will be. It’s crucial to invest in email marketing tools that will help you engage with your customers faster and more effectively. When choosing marketing automation software, I recommend choosing software that includes:
Metrics dashboards display the results of your marketing efforts in real-time, showing metrics like your lead conversion rate and click-through rate.
Content calendars are digital calendars that help you track when and where upcoming content will be published. Content calendars help you plan and visualize campaigns across multiple platforms—making them essential in multi-platform marketing.
Automated social media posting means that your posts can be scheduled by you and published by the software, automating the process. Adopting marketing automation takes some trial and error, so don’t be discouraged if you can’t master it straight away. Most marketing automation software comes with a free trial, giving you ample time to choose a solution that works for you. ConclusionImproving your email marketing isn’t just about metrics; it’s about the customers you support. For that reason, the best improvements to email marketing are customer-driven. When weighing whether a new email marketing strategy works for you, ask yourself: Does this improve the experience of my customers? If it doesn’t work for your customers, it won’t work for you. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2021/02/05/7-steps-to-improve-your-email-marketing/
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Another year has just begun. Online teaching platforms and course creators are aggressively advocating for their courses, boot camps, and conferences through online as, newsletters, and promotional emails. Be it freelance writing, social media management, graphic design, or SEO, online courses and certifications are steadily proving to be useful in freelancing. But if you have never brought an online course, you may wonder if they are really necessary — or worth the cost. You may be skeptical whether an online course can really skyrocket your freelance career. Here are some times when it is right to take that online course: When you need to learn more about digital marketingLet’s say you have a background in psychology or nursing or law and see a lucrative opportunity in offering social media services in these sectors. It would be right to learn the marketing side of things, especially digital marketing or social media management, to promote a business in these spheres effectively. Social media marketing courses can teach you all the ropes about marketing on Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and beyond to achieve greater success in the service you offer. When you need a certificate or some form of accreditation to showA certificate can be useful in two ways: a) To attract clients via referral. Jon Morrow is recognized as among the best bloggers in the freelance writing space. A certificate from him or his course can surely bring you more clients, as he is famous for writing content that ranks. b) When you want to upgrade your services or raise your rates. Getting a certificate will prove that you have more knowledge in your chosen field, positioning you as an expert. Once you embrace the expert level tag, you can increase your rates to reflect your new role or position. When you are new to freelancingThose new to freelancing will find that taking an online course is the quickest way to start their freelancing career. Whether free or paid, online courses can teach you how to tackle the niche problem, optimize your profiles, perform crisis management, understand your clients' goals, break into influencer marketing, position yourself to the market, and avoid the feast and famine cycle. When you want to diversify and assume other titlesWith the coronavirus showing us how every job can be precarious, diversifying to other sectors may be another way to fight freelance feast and famine. Assume you are a skilled social media manager who wants to diversify to other sectors like SEO or copywriting. Taking an online course will catch you up in that new field quickly and improve your freelance income. Getting the necessary training will make not only a difference in your knowledge, but also your paycheck. When it's requested by an employer or clientClients do sometimes ask if you provide additional services other than the one on your portfolio. If you are a social media manager, they might inquire if you can also do copywriting, editing, or SEO. Rather than let the client source these services from another freelancer, consider taking an online course in these sectors or attending a conference and use the knowledge or certificates to convince clients of the additional benefits or services you can provide their business. If you are an employer who wants to learn about freelancingMany freelancers of all types will attest that their clients don’t really understand what their work entails. There are Facebook groups and online chat rooms for social media managers, for example, to share how clients belittle them for not helping improve sales or ask them weird questions. Clearly, such entrepreneurs do not understand the role of their freelancer. In this example, if you're the client in a constant battle with your social media manager regarding their responsibilities, online social media management courses can help you understand their job better — and help you set reasonable expectations together. Is an online course right for you?Whether online courses and certifications make you more employable is still an issue of great debate. Many freelancers have gained from online courses. Similarly, others have succeeded without them. You'll have to decide for yourself if the time is right for you to pursue an online course. If it is, you'll find can be a real boost to how you conduct yourself, market your services, convince clients, and even increase what you charge. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2021/02/04/is-this-the-right-time-to-take-an-online-course/
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As the founder of the Freelancers Union, I’ve always known that freelancers would provide the template for the creation of the next safety net. All over America, freelancers must exhibit ingenuity to get by economically and lead meaningful lives. Some make themselves into mini companies where, as CEOs, they determine their own training, benefits, and customer base. And some, knowing that this hyper-individual strategy is not sustainable, instead make efforts to connect with others for solidarity, friendship, and political engagement. Notice that I have yet to mention “government”? We clearly need an active government to support the institutions we rely on. But that government role must pivot to an extreme focus on helping to build unions and other community-based institutions, rather than replace them. These kinds of institutions — known collectively as the Mutualist sector — are uniquely equipped to meet the needs of their communities because they have on-the-ground knowledge about the particular problems their constituents face. We need a government that recognizes the power of local mutualist organizations and marshals its resources to support and plan for their growth, instead of superseding them. My new book, Mutualism, was my way of putting these ideas together so that others who share this intuition and view would have language, a policy agenda, and an orientation to build. But buying and reading this book is just the start of a longer relationship. I’d like you to gather with myself and others who want to build the next safety net — mutualistically. Workers in the U.S. today are faced with the tragic realities of an eroded social safety net and no clear plan to rebuild it. For freelancers, however, this has long been the reality, stemming from their exclusion from the protections of the New Deal. Freelancers have never been able to rely on governmental support programs, and have been forced instead to build their own safety net from scratch. NYC freelancers both new and seasoned have seen firsthand the power that we have as a community to actually change the landscape. Freelancers Union’s advocacy led to the passage of the Freelance Isn’t Free Act and created myriad institutions and programs such as our own health insurance company and the recently founded Freelancers Relief Fund — all of which center the particular needs of our community. Despite these achievements, we have been told time and again that the efforts of the Freelancers Union were only a stop-gap until government programs would come along to replace our efforts. Though this line of thinking has been widely adopted without enough critical thought, I have come to understand that it is not only harmful to our union particularly, but also deeply detrimental to the progressive movement as a whole. Building mutualist power starts from the ground up, with the recognition that everyone has the capacity to participate in mutualist endeavors, engage with their local communities, and start solving problems. Whether that means shopping at a cooperative market or joining your neighborhood mutual aid group, mutualist engagement opens the door to understanding the unique challenges faced by your community and the ways people are already coming together to address them. Once you’ve taken these first steps, start with what you need and find others with that need so that you can join your efforts reciprocally. Take a look around at the other mutualist organizations operating in your vicinity and learn what you can do to help build them. Solidarity with the work of other organizers is a crucial step towards establishing the larger mutualist ecosystems that will foster new kinds of interconnectivity and allow communities to flourish. Here, finally, is where the government can come in and help to build the kind of environment where mutualism is most effective. We need the government to take on the role of catalyzer-in-chief, creating new laws and regulations for new capital and markets, and supporting the growth of unions and other mutualist organizations so that they can effectively deliver the safety net. It's tempting to think of government as the solution, but in reality, government works best when it has a base of independent and vital community organizations that develop what their members need, work in coalition for policy agendas, and then mobilize to engage the political process and get things done. President Biden’s agenda will only work if he taps into the power of the mutualist sector — unions, cooperatives, mutual aid groups and faith-based communities — and advocates for conditions where these organizations can thrive. These kinds of organizations are already intimately familiar with the needs of their communities, and they will be perfectly poised to address their most pressing concerns as soon as they are given adequate support and room to grow. We have seen the explosion of mutual aid during COVID. But we need to see this not just as a response to the pandemic, but as something deeper and enduring, with hyper-local structure and strategy and a mandate for generosity and reciprocity in the community. With these kinds of mutualist relationships as a foundation, we can start to put together a new economy that actually serves the needs of workers in all sectors. If you want to learn more, I'd like to invite you to join me in our Mutualism activities. Right now, that means:
These are just some of the plans we have for the future: 1. We will hold book clubs for those who have read the book and want to talk about the central ideas, hear practitioners, share ideas and have a chance to meet others from a different part of the mutualist sector. Sign up to host a book club with your friends and community. 2. Start to find those who share these views. While disagreement is valid, we are looking for like-minded mutualists and enthusiasts at this time. 3. Share your ideas with me. Let’s start a conversation! In these uncertain times, I believe that mutualism will give us the framework to go beyond critiquing our current system and start building a new safety net that supports every American worker. We will be measured by what we build. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2021/02/03/how-do-we-build-the-next-safety-net-freelancers-already-hold-the-answers/
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Last year's CARES Act for COVID-19 relief brought with it a lot of changes to the tax code that may benefit freelancers. One of the key changes that may have gone under your radar is the loosening of restrictions on the net operating loss (NOL) deduction, which were put in place as part of 2017's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. If your freelance revenue was lower this year and you sustained losses, you may be able to use this NOL change to lower your tax bill—or even get a refund. What’s an NOL and how does it impact me?In simple terms, an NOL is a situation where your business deductions exceed your business income. When the difference between the two is so wide that it offsets other taxable sources of income, you may result in having negative taxable income on your current year tax return. That's an NOL. For freelancers whose income varies from year to year, you could have an NOL in some years (when income is lower) and have other years where your income is higher. Using the NOL deduction, you can carry the NOL losses forward (or back) to lower your business' tax burden in the good years. What does the new rule do?The CARES Act temporarily reinstated a carryback period for all NOLs generated in years beginning after Dec. 31, 2017, and before Jan. 1, 2021 (i.e., it applies to tax years 2018, 2019, and 2020). The carryback period for these tax years is five years under the CARES Act , so if you had an NOL in the 2020 tax year, you could carry it back to the 2015 tax year, if you had taxable income then, and potentially realize a tax refund. You can also carry a NOL forward so you do not have the hassle of amending tax returns. However, if you are looking to reduce your taxes now, this won’t be an effective strategy. I had an NOL. What do I do now?Did you have a loss in 2018 and 2019 and do not want to carry back the losses? If so, you need to make sure you identify this on your 2020 tax return and waive the carryback. The IRS is granting a six-month extension on the due date to file paperwork with respect to the carryback of an NOL that arose in any taxable year that began during calendar year 2018 and that ended on or before June 30, 2019. Individuals must file Form 1045 and corporations file Form 1139. The CARES Act NOL guidance also includes provisions to disregard certain amounts of foreign income subject to transition tax that would normally be included as income during the five-year carryback period and the temporary suspension of the TCJA’s 80% limitation on taxable income applied to all NOLs incurred in tax years beginning after December 31, 2017. The CARES Act suspends this 80% taxable income limitation, so you can carry forward 100% of your NOL to fully offset taxable income in tax years beginning before January 1, 2021. The CARES Act is providing taxpayers with a short window of opportunity to temporarily use the NOL deduction to their advantage. Freelancers with NOLs for tax years 2018, 2019, and/or 2020 could be able to reduce their taxable income and create or increase their opportunity for a tax refund this year with these changes, which could be one small positive from the overall negative effect of COVID-19 on many businesses. Jonathan Medows is a New York City-based CPA who specializes in taxes and business issues for freelancers and self-employed individuals across the country. He provides tax, accounting and business articles for freelancers on his website, http://www.cpaforfreelancers.com, which also features a blog and a comprehensive freelance tax guide. Please note, due to the high volume of inquiries in regard to COVID-19, Jonathan is not able to respond to individual requests for information at this time. via Freelancers Union Blog https://blog.freelancersunion.org/2021/02/02/a-new-tax-rule-can-even-the-playing-field-for-up-and-down-freelance-income/ |
AuthorI have 5+ years experience working as a medical transcriptionist. When I am not working, I enjoy sports like playing basketball or judo. I love making friends and connections. Archives
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