Our 5 Top Money Tips for Disabled Freelancers
The world of freelancing can be vast and daunting. So we’ve compiled 5 top tips that will help you navigate as a disabled freelancers.
1. Tracking
Our number one top tip for disabled freelancers is simple, track yourself. Track your time, track your expenses, track your taxes, track your transactions, everything. We highly recommend that you use a tracking tool. By using a tracking tool you can stay on top of what you do with your money as a freelancer.
One of the main advantages of using a tracking tool is that you don’t have to rely on your own memory to keep track of your expenses, taxes or rates. Having a tracker will allow you to have no uncertainty about your activities as a freelancer as you can regularly look back at what you have tracked so far. This will ensure that your records are organised.
Plus, it’s something that simple to make by just using Excel or Google Sheets.
Tracking is also extremely useful when it comes to negotiating your rates. Tracking will help you visualise how your expenses have changed and can give you an idea of the impact of inflation. Tracking will also help you keep in order the different rates, late fees and agreements with specific clients.
2. Regularly negotiate your rates
That is why our second tip for disabled freelancers is to always feel that you hold the freedom to negotiate your rates. Regularly negotiating your rates is one of the best steps you can take to ensure that as a freelancer, you are charging the appropriate amount for your services. Your minimum acceptable rate should follow your cost of living and inflation. Your rates should always be able to cover your outgoing expenses, if your expenses go up due to inflation then your rates should too.
Moreover, when the cost of living changes, you should be negotiating your rates to align with this. As a disabled freelancer, if your cost of living goes up because you have a lapse in health, then negotiate your rates in line with this. Equally, if your cost of living is high due to the need for physical therapy / a mobility aid / medical treatments / food deliveries / a service dog / a therapist / dietary requirements etc. then you are entitled to negotiate your rates with these living costs in mind.
It is important to remember that you are entitled to regularly negotiate your rates as a disabled freelancer. When negotiating with new clients you should not be afraid to be forthcoming with the fact that your rates reflect the fact that your cost of living is higher than a non-disabled person's.
Also remember, that as time goes on and you gain more experience, you’re automatically worth more. Think of it as your own regular pay rise and promote yourself whenever you progress.
3. Expenses
Another top tip we believe is essential for disabled freelancers is to have a system of monitoring your expenses. We recommend the best way to monitor your expenses is to keep a digital record. Keeping a record of your expenses has many benefits because you can easily calculate what percentage of your expenses are going where. This will allow you to monitor increases or decreases in specific expenses.
Alongside this, taking photos of receipts and keeping these alongside your expenses record will make your knowledge of your cash flow air-tight. This is a good way to see the direct impact of economic inflation on you as a freelancer. Plus, this knowledge can be used to inform your decisions on how much to negotiate your rates for each client.
As a disabled freelancer, the benefits of this are like the benefits of tracking yourself on the whole. It allows you to have clear and organised records which enables you to understand yourself and your activities as a disabled freelancer.
4. Keep records of rates and agreements with different clients
To complement digital records of expenses and photos of receipts, we also highly recommend keeping records of your rates and agreements with different clients. Just like tracking your broader flow of money as a disabled freelancer, keeping distinct records for each client enhances your ability to keep your expenses and income crystal clear
Creating files, and records devoted to each client containing rates and agreements allows you to compare rates against one another as well as your minimum acceptable rate. By having separate records you can always be aware of any specific details or agreements for individual clients. This means that there is no chance of confusing rates for different clients/services. By keeping records like this, you take the burden of organisation off your memory and allow yourself to see clearly things like when payments are due and what unique rates you have agreed with clients.
5. Late fees
Something that can often be forgotten or ignored is the importance of late fees. Our final yet truly essential tip would be to seriously consider introducing late payment fees, and making all your clients sign a contract that states these. As a disabled freelancer, your cost of living is likely to be higher than that of a non-disabled freelancer. As such, being paid on time is extremely important.
If a client cannot make their payment to you on the agreed date then you are entitled to charge late fees as compensation. This reinforces a respectful relationship between you and your client. This also means that you have the means to make up for whatever you lost out on when you did not get the money which was supposed to be paid to you on the agreed date.
As a disabled freelancer, explaining your late fees to clients can be useful. Ultimately, if you experience fatigue / have a chronic illness / an energy-limiting condition / use a mobility aid / suffer from brain fog etc. then it can take you more time and effort to get work done than a non-disabled person. On top of this, as we all know your cost of living is statistically much higher than that of a non-disabled person. Therefore, not only are you entitled to negotiate rates with this in mind but you are also entitled to put in place late payment fees to ensure you are fully compensated if a client is unable to make a payment on time.
If you would like more help with incoming clients, head over to the SIC shop to view our financial tracking tool and invoicing tool for disabled freelancers, which are all ready for download.