Author Archives: admin

Finance for Freelancers: Do I Have Enough Saved for Retirement?

  Conventional wisdom says you should have at least 10 times your annual income saved at retirement.  Most experts suggest you should plan on retiring at age 70, and delay taking Social Security until then. But you should spend some … Continue reading

Your Back Office ,

6 Tips for Writing Your Family’s Story  

The Alexandria Library asked me to talk about how this story in The Atlantic, about my great-grandfather’s suicide, came about. I gave a small workshop on writing family stories — you can see a few attendees in the picture. These … Continue reading

The Lifestyle, Uncategorized , , ,

Kissed By A Shark and Lived To Tell the Tale

A few weeks ago, I found myself in Penn Station at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning, sipping a disgusting coffee, wearing a cream-colored cocktail frock, and carrying my 30-lb computer bag with a red velvet cupcake in a jar … Continue reading

The Lifestyle, Your Back Office , , , ,

Best Pieces of Financial Advice for Freelancers: Part II

Put Aside Your Emotions For years, I’ve been writing about behavioral economics. Because we are human, we are motivated about 80% of the time by our emotions. Even when we think we’re not being emotional, we probably are — we’ve … Continue reading

Growing Your Business , , ,

How To Finance a Freelance Passion Project

I’m in Amman, Jordan, this week, reporting on entrepreneurs in the Middle East. As I explained to people that I was going, many of my writer and photographer friends talked about how much they wanted to do similar things. Most … Continue reading

The Lifestyle, Your Back Office , , , , , , , , , ,

What’s Your Number?

After I wrote an article about secrets of $200,000 freelancers, a reader on LinkedIn commented: “I’d just be happy with $50,000 a year.” Many people feel just as intimidated by the prospect of trying to earn a full-time income when … Continue reading

Growing Your Business, Making the Break, Uncategorized

What Makes For A Good Freelance Client: A Rare Word

One of the best things about being a freelancer is that you chose with whom you work. When things are going well, of course, you have MORE choice, but you always have at least some choice. My best freelance clients … Continue reading

The Lifestyle , ,

Promoting Articles Via Twitter

My pitch landed! A few months ago, I wrote about my first-ever attempt to pitch a personal project onto a major media outlet. Yesterday, my story, Suicide and the Economy, appears on the Atlantic.com. It’s about the suicide of my … Continue reading

Growing Your Business , , , ,

The Surprise Upside of a Home Office

For the past four-and-a-half years, I’ve made my professional life in a tiny windowed sunroom off the dining room of my rancher in Northern Virginia. From my home office window, I watch the birds feeding outside , and I have … Continue reading

The Lifestyle, Uncategorized , , ,

How To Form An LLC

In the 200kfreelancer’s latest post on AARP’s Life Reimagined, we offered five questions to ask if you’re thinking of forming an LLC. Most entrepreneurs form LLCs to protect themselves from liability. An LLC creates a separation between yourself and your … Continue reading

Growing Your Business ,