Top Work At Home Moms
    How to make money from home.

Freelancing is a perfect home based business for work at home moms.  This section of the web site discusses the business-side of freelancing which includes.  A lot of the information here, while aimed at freelancers, is helpful for dealing with the business side of any type of freelance business.

§ What is freelancing?

§ Do you have what it takes to freelance?

§ Ways freelance writers make money

§ Where to find writing projects

§ How to bid on projects

§ Resume requirements

§ Writing markets

§ Determining your hourly rate

§ Time management

§ Projecting a professional image

§ Creating a home office

§ Contact basics

§ Protecting copyrights

§ Taxes

§ Health insurance/disability

§ Retirement planning

You can go through each of the topics below, or simply choose the one that interests you.

1.  What is Freelancing? – A freelancer is a self-employed individual responsible for securing paying projects, reporting sales, investing for retirement and buying health insurance.

2.  Do You Have What It Takes To Freelance? – Before you quit your job, let’s take a few minutes to evaluate the traits of freelancers.

3.  Ways Freelance Writers Make Money – What does “being a writer” mean? When people shout, “leave me alone I’m writing!” what exactly does that mean? What are they writing? A report? Novel?

4.  Where to Find Writing Projects – For a small fee, writers have access to auction-style job boards such as Elance or Guru which can be a regular and reliable source of income.

5.  How to Bid on Projects Online – It takes more than a reasonable bid to win on these sites, you must have an online portfolio, experience and a few catchy sentences highlighting why you’re the best freelancer for the job.

6.  Apply for Posted Projects – Freelance job boards are another resource for writers to find job.

7.  Writers’ Resume Requirements – As a “writer” your resume needs to be perfect.

8.  Freelance Markets – Selling your articles and stories to publications is the most popular and sought after form of freelance writing.

9.  Paying Markets – List of various paying markets.

10.  Financial Aspects of Freelancing – Freelance ventures fail for many reasons such as lack of experience and focus, no planning and poor pricing structure.
11.  Fixed Costs – Now list the amount you pay each month for the following fixed costs.

12.  Business Fixed Costs – Now list the amount you pay each month for your business fixed costs.

13.  Figure Out An Hourly Rate – Taking into consideration the amount of your fixed and variable costs, how much money do you want to make per year?

14.  Calculating Overhead – Your overhead are the costs involved in running a business.

15.  Your Personalized Hourly Rate – Now you can finally determine your specific hourly rate.

16.  Output Goals – Now you must determine 1) Who will buy your products and services, 2) How to market yourself to win contracts and bidded projects, and 3) How many projects you must win, or articles you must sell to reach your income goals. 

17.  Time Management – Your output goals will not be accomplished by simply putting a resume online and waiting for people to call

18.  Project a Professional Image – For the same reason you would dress professionally for a job interview, a freelancer needs to put forth a positive image through a resume, portfolio, letterhead, business cards, invoices, basically anything related to your company that the customer will see.

19.  Creating a Home Office – How do you separate work from home when you work from home?

20.  Contracts – Who Needs Them? – What protection do you have without one?

21.  What Should A Contract Include? – List of everything you need to put into your freelance contract.

22.  Intellectual Property:  Protect Your Copyrights – Thanks to the Internet it is now possible for someone to steal and reuse your carefully constructed words with just a lick of a mouse.

23.  Tax Time – As a freelancer, you receive payments without deductions meaning you are responsible for paying these taxes: state, federal, Medicare and social security taxes.

24.  Keep Write-offs In Order – Many freelancers simply throw paid invoices or receipts into a box and sort through it come tax time.

25.  Health Insurance – There are a number of health insurance options for the self-employed individual including COBRA, private insurance, health savings accounts, discount programs, government sponsored programs as well as getting a part-time job with a company that offers benefits.

26.  Plan for Retirement – If you are not planning for retirement, what are you waiting for?