Electric Trainer

Business advice for thesps and other freelances

I'm always on the look out for places that support one-person businesses and freelances. Working for yourself is hard enough so all tips and tricks are very welcome.

I was asked to supply some blurb for The Stage the other day, and their Dear John section is a wonderful font of wisdom.

Check it out.

Keeping track of invoices - the low tech way

There are any number of software providers who will sell you some clever widget that will alert you to outstanding payments. Personally, I prefer something simpler and much more low tech - a whiteboard.

I'm not talking about anything huge - just a small version. Mine leans up against the wall just to the right of my computer screen.

It's so handy that every time I send an invoice I simply pick up the whiteboard and add the number, the client, the amount and the date. When I get paid I just cross out that line. When I get to the bottom of the board I rub everything out and start again at the top.

See if you can spot it:

It's disarmingly simple and means I never lose sight of payments I should have received.
As for getting paid on time...that'll be the subject of another posting.

Top tip 2 - We all hate filing

One of the reason people hate filing so much is that they'd rather be doing something more exciting.  Unfortunately if you run your own business and have an office at home you can't avoid it.

The trick is to make the filing so easy that you can't put it off. Don't use filing cabinets for the stuff you need to deal with every day. A filing system that relies on unlocking filing cabinets is doomed to fail; all you will do is put the stuff in a pile on any clear surface - and leave it there.

So have a little shelf within arm's reach and keep things like invoices, receipts and current project files nice and handy.

Another good tip is to touch any piece of paper only once. Never put it in an 'in tray' to deal with later. Just put it straight away in the place that it belongs. If you're not sure where it belongs it probably needs to go in the shredder.

Any more filing tips? I'd love to hear them.

Top tip 1 - The unwanted visitor

One of the thing I love about the small business training is meeting so many people with great stories to tell.

I'll be repeating many of them here, and passing on some great tips for smoothing out the bumps of self-employment.

Here's one which was passed on by someone who'd started her new business at home after working for many years at the BBC.

She was re-adjusting nicely to being self-employed, but one thing was getting to her; her friends would see her car in the drive and assumed that she was always in for coffee.

Being a well-brought up kind of person, she found it impossible to tell her friends to get lost. They'd be in the kitchen boiling a kettle before she had a chance to explain that she was in the middle of some work. So how to diffuse the situation?

She decided to leave a file full of old papers next to the front door. Whenever the doorbell rang she'd come to the door, pick up the file and cradle it in a business-like fashion in her left arm. When she opened the door the friend would see the file and say "Oh, sorry. I see you're working now. I just wanted a coffee and a chat. So when would you like to meet?"

She reports that it works every time. She doesn't see her friends any less, but she sees them at a time convenient to her. Briliant.

Got any other tips for home working? I'd love to hear from you.