Freelancing. The smartest Way to be free and highly Paid. Ильгиз Валинуров
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СКАЧАТЬ style="font-size:15px;">      Organizational, legal, and accounting issues look intimidating only at first glance. I know people who are afraid to start their own business because of the fact that they did not know how to solve all the bureaucratic issues. Even in 2019, one fellow admitted that he was afraid to start business because he didn’t know how to organize «protection». The guy is under 30. In the «dashing 90’s», he wasn’t even born. Why the fear of bandits, protection, kickbacks? Perhaps from parents or from internet tabloids?

      Let’s talk about my experience. I started my company in 2000.

      And initially everything was outsourced. Legal services – such as company registration, account opening, contracts with customers and employees. Accounting services – such as reporting, taxes. The only thing I did myself was signing payment orders. Yes.

      There were times when you had to do it by hand and then take it to the bank by feet. Now I make payments to clients using my mobile phone’s Face ID. What bank do I use? The «Tochka» bank. I do recommend it to you.

      Subscribe to its founder’s Facebook. His name is Boris Diakonov.

      Creating corporate identity, business card design, website and office design, IT-administration, document delivery – all this was done by external contractors – companies, or individuals. They weren’t called freelancers then, but in fact they were freelancers. Now these tasks can be solved remotely, even the system administrator can be located in an other city.

      In other words, my company only had recruiters on staff. All functions, except recruitment, were given to external contractors.

      Now it is much easier to get income officially and pay taxes. In Russia, there is a special status of «self-employed». You pay 6 % tax on income received form corporate entities and only 4 % when payment is received from individuals. Everything is automated, Both from the point of view of registration and taxes. Physically you don’t have to go anywhere at all. In Europe, America, and Asia, there are similar rules, but taxes are higher there.

      Let’s go back to the cons.

      1. There’s a need to search for customers. This means – to sell. And this is loved not by all of us. As for me, I like to sell. I like to get into the problems and tasks of customers and offer solutions. And to bill, of course.

      2. Income may be unstable. You have customers today – but tomorrow you don’t. This will be discussed in the following chapters. There are lifehacks and rules for this.

      3. You have no social guarantees. Do you believe in them at all? Now you are your own guarantor of income and expenses. Saving and investing just 10 % of the income, you can save a decent amount over a few years. If you haven’t done financial planning before, here’s the reason to start.

      4. Self-motivation and discipline. Previously, it was possible to obtain the «magic-kick-in-the-ass» from the management. Now you’ll have to do it yourself.

      5. Vacation. Previously, you could relax 100 % during your vacation. In freelancing, on the one hand, you can arrange vacation at any time, on the other – now you have it unpaid and, if the financial reserve is small, you will have to get to work even when on vacation.

      6. Psychological reluctance to work independently. This is partially connected to paragraph 4. This is essential difference between freelancers and employees on the company’s staff who work remotely. If you are on the company’s staff and work at home, you still have a boss, colleagues, common chats, intranet, meetings. And a stable salary. A freelancer doesn’t have that. Socialization is necessary for most people. Well, only if you’re not a 100 % introvert who sits in the office with headphones on and tries not to talk to anyone without a strong need.

      7. Risks of non-payment from the customer. You’ve done the job, but the customer haven’t accepted it. Or he has accepted, but refused to pay.

      And you can’t go to his office. He’s in another city, or maybe even in another country.

      It is necessary to understand that for the employer working with you looks like risky.

      What can this mean?

      1. He can’t control every day whether you ‹ve been implementing the job for him or not. And he ordered it from you; this means, he needs it to be done by the deadline. A freelancer may get sick or get distracted from the job by personal problems. By outsourcing of the same task to a company, the customer avoids such risks, since the executor can pass the task to an other employee.

      2. A freelancer may refuse the implementation of the projects agreed upon before, especially when getting a more profitable order. There is a risk for the customer not to get the result at all.

      3. When passing the project for implementation, the employer can share confidential information about the company’s past and even its strategic plans. For example, if you are an accountant, a marketer, or analyst on freelance. Companies who are afraid of these risks, they commit the freelancers only the simplest work. And they may be blackmailed by unscrupulous freelancers.

      4. The quality of implementation and communication. If the company has common understanding of the rules for preparing documents, their transmission, discussion, approval, and everyone is OK with the rules, the freelancer just can’t take all the nuances into account while working simultaneously with a dozens of customers. This may cause conflicts or disruptions in order execution.

      And the advantages for the customer are even more significant!

      1. The most important thing is that the thing for what you pay is the result, not the process. The customer does not care if you spent 1 hour on the task or 10 hours. He pays for the service implemented. This is not the same in case of office workers. According to statistics, an employee spends 2.5–3 hours out of 8 directly performing their duties. The rest of the time he wastes on meetings, breaks, coffee, chatting with colleagues.

      2. The job of a freelancer is usually cheaper than the same service order from the company or employment of an employee in the staff.

      3. The customer may obtain an expertise absent within the company. And even international specialists, who may not be present not only in their city, but in the whole country.

      Isn’t it cool?

      4. There are no costs for equipping the working places, buying software, and other resources.

      5. Substantial savings in the salary. Vacation and sick leave are not paid. And when signing contract with the self-employed, you pay no taxes.

      6. The opportunity to finish the cooperation at any time, without big sanctions and payoffs, which is impossible while dealing with the employed staff.

      7. The opportunity to experiment with different performers, and choose the best for your longterm cooperation.

      If you are reading this book and are not a freelancer, but an employer, think about which of your tasks can be passed to freelance today.

      If you are a freelancer, before moving on to the next chapter, answer a few questions in writing.

      Having studied the pros and cons of freelancing, what do I think? Is this for me?

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