When Saving Money isn’t Worth the Effort
As a new freelance writer you’ll need to make a few investments to ensure you have the proper equipment to move forward in your career. Unfortunately, there are a few areas in which you’ll find that cutting back to save money will do nothing but cost you more money in the end.
For example, when I first set up my home office it was designed to be just that - a home office where I could browse the internet, pay my bills, and work on a few small projects. When I turned that home office into a home business environment things needed to change.
My desktop computer became my lifeline. Instead of running one monitor I now have a dual-monitor setup. If you’re constantly reading, researching, and printing things just so you can see them while you write this could be a great investment. You can work on one side of the screen and look at your sources on the other. I wasted more ink and paper printing things I was just going to throw away than I’d like to admit.
Which brings me to my printer. This is actually a situation that is still on the list of issues to remedy. My printer loves ink - it eats ink at every opportunity. I’m printing a document and the next thing I know I’m out of ink. Black ink. Color ink. It doesn’t matter. I spend more money on ink than absolutely necessary. Want to know why? Because I have a subpar printer that wasn’t meant to be used in a “business” environment. There’s a nifty little laserjet printer at the local office supply store with my name on it. Soon… soon…
Take a moment or two to check the email address you’re using for business. I learned about this in high school and thought it was common sense, but to some it is not. Do you have a professional sounding email address or are you still using hotchickxoxo at yahoo or hotmail or AOL dot com? Set up an email account on a well known server (gmail; microsoft; or even your own domain) and put that email address on your business cards. Your potential clients will view you in a more professional manner - guaranteed.
It will take time to develop your freelance writing career, but there’s no reason to set yourself back by wasting time and money on a small laptop computer (because it’s so cool to look at); a desk with no drawers or not enough surface space; or anything else you’ll only end up having to replace as your business grows. Make it your goal to make one investment at a time - you’ll minimize waste and eventually increase your profit margins!