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Wordsmith

My list for today ... pretty much the same as yesterday's because I got waylaid.

By the end of the day I will have achieved:
admin for training client (did do this yesterday, but have more)
draft web site for sister up for her to look at (got as far as I needed to with the site, but had trouble uploading it and may have to wait for 24hrs for something to be unlocked)
invoices typed (just didn't do it yesterday)
sorted out computers so that I can get technician in to fix them
service with a smile to people picking up their benefits, and to customers if I am working in the shop this evening (don't know yet if I am).

Happy day, everyone.

Horace

Hi Twllwyd

Long time no see. Don't forget that you can offset membership fees of professional associations against tax. Why not take out your own professional indemnity insurance because this will cover you against any mistakes that you may make and you are covered in case someone tries to sue you. This may be better than signing the agreement that you are unwilling to at the moment (I can see why).

Yay - I have sorted out all my receipts ready for my accountant next week.

Jobs to do - sort money out, pay bills
Type minutes from yesterdays meeting and distribute
Sort out my own website and blog - both are in desperate need of attention
Do some marketing for my own events - find speakers for both.
Find speakers and an auctioneer for some DDBC events for this year and next.
start asking for donations for charity auction in October
Book tickets for DDBC events for next two months whilst price is £10 otherwise last minute will mean the price increases to £15:eek:

S'pose I had ought to start looking at doing some work on the diploma in event management that I started last year and got very demoralised after getting a grade D for an assignment that has to be done again - serves me right I guess for listening to a former tutor (now former friend) who gave me duff advice - I have never had a grade D mark in my life:eek:

Best crack on - lots to do.

tyllwyd

Hi Wordsmith / Horace!

No, I haven't got a website although I have thought about it - up until now, I have always had more work than I could take offered to me by my regular clients, so it's never been a priority. Same reason I've never invested in joining the Sfep, really. Still, I think I will join the Sfep as an associate at least, just to see if there are interesting discussions going on in their forums - I'm probably guilty of just working away in my home office by myself and not paying enough attention to what is going on around me.

I am strongly considering buying the pi insurance (coincidentally, I edited a book on pi insurance last year for the same publisher that is asking me to sign the indemnity clause - I will have to dig out the files and read through it again!) The biggest problem is that I have no idea how much insurance I would need - if I take out £100K's worth of cover, if I get sued for £200K then I'm still stuck because the only asset I have that is worth that kind of money is the family home, which I certainly don't want to risk losing for a job that doesn't earn me that much money. If that's the option, I'm better off packing it in and getting a proper job in an office somewhere!

Still, I've just been offered a small piece of work which might lead to more in the future - it's coming from Ireland though and I think they may want to pay Euros, which is not something I've done before.

Hope everyone has a productive day! I probably won't get much done because I've got my younger daughter home from school today (nothing serious, just not quite well enough for school - which I guess should remind me that that is the reason I work for myself).

Wordsmith

Morning all.

Glad you got some work coming in Tyllwyd. I live in Ireland. If you are billing in euros, make sure you add some on to the exchange rate to pay for the bank fees for the exchange when it gets to your bank. I'd add on a bit if you are billing in sterling, too, since they will probably choose a day when the exchange rate is at a low in order to save themselves some money. I do hope it leads to more work from these people. Are you in touch with other freelancers of the client that wants you to sign the contract? What are they doing? You could say that the risk of being sued is small, but the consequences are unthinkable, so I can quite see why you are reluctant. If enough people say they won't sign, maybe the company will have a rethink.

I've got a new job coming in today. Proofreading, which is good. Only told this morning and it's urgent and I have shop work for the next few days, which is all bad. At least they told me this time; quite often I find things in my in-box with a note attached that it's urgent, please get it back asap. I just don't understand it - I am sure that it would be possible to give me at least a couple of days' notice. They must think I don't do any work for anyone else, and I am just sitting at my desk waiting for the odd book to come from them, which I will leap on with joy and work on non-stop for 48 hours so I can get it back to them. Am I ranting? Yes, I am. I am of course glad of the work, and I enjoy the work, and I don't want to make too much of a fuss in case they don't give me any more. It will certainly mean two long nights. I am not going to send it back prematurely, though. So it's a mixed hooray and grrrrr for new work.

So my to-do list today is pretty much the same as yesterday plus proofreading. I still haven't got my sister's web site up, but that is because I am waiting for someone else to do something. I have a bit of new admin to do for training client, but not too much. And I still have my invoices to type up. And I have to do the newspaper and magazine returns for the shop and send out a CV for someone in the village, but not until I have set an email address up for him. I am hoping that I am not going to have to work in the shop this evening, but it is lovely boss man's birthday so his girlfriend might want him to leave early.

tyllwyd

Good luck getting the proofreading done in time - I know exactly what you mean about jobs arriving with unreasonable deadlines. Just because you can work into the night or all weekend, doesn't mean that it is a reasonable thing to ask!

Yes, I'll have to look into the whole Euros thing, and make sure it doesn't work against me. It can make such a big difference if you have a finance department at the client who is sympathetic to freelancers, or one that is interested in squeezing the last penny out by delaying payment as long as possible.

The indemnity thing is mentioned here, so it isn't just me.
http://westfieldeditorial.blogspot.com (28 January entry) I do know a couple of other people who freelance for them, so I'll have to see what the word on the street is.

Horace

Hi Wordsmith/Tyllwyd

I had an interesting day today, I did some of my own work in the morning and had to ring a friend (he is gorgeous) because he had promised he would lend a tent to someone and he is working tomorrow so I had to say that I was having second thoughts about going camping because of all the indecision. I was in work (paid job) this afternoon (which reminds me I must do the invoice for this month) and it was kind of strange because I was receiving instruction from the owners daughter as part of her work experience for school. We are working on a massive project which will take the business in a slightly different direction and it will be profitable for us all. I also get to learn new stuff which I can apply to my own business and website and I may get a payrise:j I even came up with a name for the new branch of the business so domain names were immediately checked to see if they were available and then bought.

I phoned male friend when I got home after logging on the computer and finding that the camping venue had changed and to be honest I had had enough of the indecisiveness by then and decided that rather than spend money on campsite fees, unnecessary petrol (darn it I filled the car again today with £40 of fuel) and drinks/meals in the pub, I would stay at home and work. I have a stack to do including tidying my flat which looks like a dump that Stig would be very happy to live in:eek: I will miss seeing male friend but no doubt I will catch up with him again seeing as I have his mobile number programmed into my phone:D

Jobs to do

Go shopping - I have no food in (woman cannot live on cereal alone)
Type up DDBC Minutes
Do Marketing for the Thursday Business Club events
Sort out paypal buttons for website - maybe I will do eventbrite bookings too (oh yes paypal was eventually sorted out and my business account is attached to it)
Get quotes for banners and leaflets
Draw up plans for Terms & Conditions, Contracts, leaflet wording, in-house documentation for new project.
Tidy flat and do some washing, tend to seedlings.
Update website and blog with pictures etc.
If I have time, I will look at coursework but I am not promising anything.

Horace

Hi all

Hope you had a fab May Day break?

I have been rather busy and will be becoming busier - I finished work on Friday at 4.15 when my client and friend suggested that we would have a brainstorming session regarding my business and in particular the networking events. As a result of that brainstorming session a new domain name has been purchased, a new website with forum is being built and my client/friend is going to build the site and host it for 12 months for free and then we will discuss fees.

Today, I sat down and wrote up my business plan as I plan to launch in July and will need a logo by then, stationery etc and I may have to become a Limited Company due to future plans for the business and to protect the business name. Not to worry, I am still doing event management this new thing will be in addition to what I am doing now. I can't tell you anything more because I will have to shoot you:eek:

You would have laughed at me on Thursday, I had a meeting in town with a friend and as I was a bit too early to go to a networking event I had been invited to (it was a free event), I nipped into TK Maxx for a mooch - I came out with a new smart black leather handbag and co-ordinating purse. I had to carry them in a bag to the meeting and I think I got called Bag Lady a few times. I was nervous about going to this event because I don't class myself as a Marketeer but I guess I am really. I needn't have worried because I made some great connections including with a guy who looks after all the marketing for brands like Jaguar Cars - he could be passing some business my way:cool: I also said that I would organise the next meeting because the venue was wrong - so the company that organised it will be contacting me in 3-4 months to organise the next one:cool:

Called Mum this week - she is ok but dad fell out of bed on Wednesday morning and refused point blank to go to the hospital, somehow he has cut his hands and his leg and he was unable to hold a knife and fork on Wednesday night so it was sandwiches for dinner. I am going round on Sunday to see how they are although I doubt I will be let in because I am sneezing like mad with flippin' hayfever.

Here's hoping that you are all safe and well, and beavering away like busy bees.

tyllwyd

Hi folks!

I'm trying to do a proofreading job, but it is dull as ditchwater, so I keep interrupting myself to come on this site, make a cup of tea ...

Things are looking up a bit - I've been really quiet since Christmas, which is becoming a bit of an issue because I've got hardly any invoices waiting to be paid, and we always get hit at the start of term because my (clever and talented, obviously!) kids are signed up to do a whole list of activities which need paying around now. But now two publishers I've not heard from for a while have been in touch with work, so that should be good.

I've finished the work for the Irish client, and if they are happy I should be on their regular freelance list, which is good. I spent ages trying to see if I could open a Euros savings account because I thought that might give me a bit more control than paying straight into my normal bank account, but although it isn't impossible, it seems more difficult to find a suitable account than I expected, so I've shelved that idea.

Still not resolved on the indemnity clause for the other publisher. A local solicitor was kind enough to have an informal chat about it with me the other day. I think I still need to pin them down to a cap on the amount that might be claimed, so that I can be confident that I can take out insurance to cover it - we'll have to see.

Wordsmith

Morning all. I'm glad things are looking up tyllwyd. Have you tried one of the Irish banks that are in the UK? I think there are branches of the AIB and Bank of Ireland around.

I had another rush proofreading job on a novel at the end of last week. I was feeding corrections to the typesetter a bit at a time - I do so hate working that way and I always feel dissatisfaction at sending those kinds of jobs back. Today I have a pharmaceutical annual report the proofread - should be riveting (yawn). Oh, and it's needed urgently ...

Hope your job goes well today.

tyllwyd

Wordsmith wrote: »

Morning all. I'm glad things are looking up tyllwyd. Have you tried one of the Irish banks that are in the UK? I think there are branches of the AIB and Bank of Ireland around.

Yes, I had a look but couldn't see a simple savings account with a low minimum opening requirement and no monthly fee - the trouble is that if I'm paying a £5 monthly fee, I've lost the advantage of having the account. I had thought that by now there would be lots of different accounts available, especially since all the major banks are international nowadays, but it seems that it's still quite a specialist thing to want in the UK.

I had another rush proofreading job on a novel at the end of last week. I was feeding corrections to the typesetter a bit at a time - I do so hate working that way and I always feel dissatisfaction at sending those kinds of jobs back. Today I have a pharmaceutical annual report the proofread - should be riveting (yawn). Oh, and it's needed urgently ...

Hope your job goes well today.

Good luck with the jobs! I hate doing corrections piece by piece, because I always get to the end of the job and decide that I should have done something differently at the start ...

Right, better get on since I am actually busy for a change!