4 Tips For Becoming Successfully Self-Employed

Following your passion and working for yourself can have a lot of benefits that you don't get with your regular 9-5 job. It can be more flexible, and you can control the direction that you go in. This doesn't mean that it is easy, and it can take a lot of work until you can comfortably stand on your own two feet. If you decide to go for it and strike out on your own, then there are four tips below that will help you on your journey to becoming successfully self-employed:

Create a work schedule

Although being self-employed allows you to be more flexible, you still need to set yourself some sort of work schedule. A work schedule can help to prevent you from overworking, but it can also help to prevent friends and family members from trying to take up your precious work time. Sometimes, if you work from home, people assume that you are free to do things for them all the time. To stop this from happening, carve out work hours into your schedule that you only move when you need to. Doing this will help you to keep a separation between your work and home life.

Stay organised

When you are self-employed, you are in charge of keeping tabs on everything. You need to know when all your deadlines are, what money you have coming in and going out, and you need to have copies of all your important documents. Make use of software on your computer, such as excel to track things, and put in place a proper filing system for any physical documents that you have. It would also help if you make use of the calendar on your phone or computer, and buy yourself a diary so that you can keep track of everything that you have done. Having a diary, or making use of an app, will also help you to plan your time properly. 

Keep on top of your finances

Are you looking for an expert sage accountant? If not, it might be something that you want to consider. You may not need an accountant straight away, but once you start to earn more money, it may turn out to be something that you can't do without. Having an accountant can help you to file your tax return correctly, advise you in areas where you could be saving money, and save you a lot of time. 

Be selective about your work

When you are self-employed, it can be tempting to take every job that is offered to you so that you know you are making money. There are times, however, when you need to learn to say no. You need to make sure that you don't end up with too much work on your plate, or end up with employers that take advantage of you because you are self-employed. Stick to your guns and know your worth. Have a rate of pay that you stick to, and don't let people try and sway you from it.