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Monday, May 13, 2019
Tips on setting your freelance rates Hey Taylor - I’ve just started doing freelance work because I feel like this is the best way to boost my earning potential and take control of my career. Taylor Kovar Problem is, I have no idea what to charge clients for my design and copywriting services. Is there a standard for this? - Katie Hey Katie - Good for you! The first step is usually the hardest, so I feel like you’re on your way to success already. As for what to charge, there are all sorts of different standards, and you need to figure out what works for you. Some things to think about:
patient and produce good content. After all, you don’t just want to get by as a freelancer, you want to thrive and avoid going back to a job you don’t love. So, while you establish rates in the early going, remember the better your work is, the more you can make in the future. Calculate the cost of your needs. You’re going to have a lot of expenses that standard employees don’t have to deal with. From supplies to certification programs and tax payments, a lot of the invoices you collect won’t go directly into your bank account. That means you’ll have to crunch some numbers before setting your rates to ensure you’re getting enough to survive. After you get an idea of what most people are charging, make sure you know what rate will actually be realistic for you.
What makes sense for you? I know, I know, I’m responding to your question with virtually the exact same question. The thing is, What you charge will evolve you don’t just get to start at the over time, and it may vary same level as everyone else. Like between your clients. As long as with any job, you climb the ladder you value yourself and the work and earn your raises. However, you you do, I’m sure you’ll settle on need to make sure you’re not a price that makes sense. Good underselling yourself right out of luck, Katie! the gate. In your haste to get clients, you might find yourself Taylor Kovar, CEO of Kovar overworked and underpaid, and Capital. Read more about Taylor that’s a very common occurrence. at GoFarWithKovar.com You need to establish a price that isn’t wildly different from what Disclaimer: Information other freelancers are charging, but presented is for educational still feels comfortable to you and purposes only and is not an offer helps you get a few clients. or solicitation for the sale or purchase of any specific Keep long-term goals. If you get securities, investments, or too caught up trying to get lots of investment strategies. Investments clients who don’t pay much, you’ll involve risk and, unless otherwise find yourself hating the work, not stated, are not guaranteed. Be making enough money, and sure to first consult with a constantly behind on deadlines. If qualified financial adviser and/or you’re just diving into freelance, tax professional before it’s best to take your time and give implementing any strategy each project the attention it discussed herein. To submit a deserves as you find your rhythm. question to be answered in this Financially, taking your time column, please send it via email doesn’t make a lot of sense, as to Question@GoFarWithKovar.com, more work means more money in or via USPS to Taylor Kovar, 415 your pocket. However, if you stay S 1st St, Suite 300, Lufkin, TX focused on the business you’re 75901. building, it will help you stay
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Living with children Q: My 7-year-old son, an only child, is giving me fits. He’s overly active and will not cooperate in any instruction I give him. In addition, if I tell him not to do something, John Rosemond it’s a guarantee he’s going to do it as soon as my back is turned. I’m a single mom and I’m embarrassed to admit that he runs the house. I spoke to his pediatrician about him and she is recommending ADHD medication. I don’t want to go in that direction; besides, he has no problems in school, and never has. His teachers love him and are constantly telling me how smart and mature he is for his age. It’s like I’m dealing with a person with a split personality. If he’s not crazy, I’m slowly getting there. Can you give me some tips? A: The completely unscientific nature of the ADHD diagnosis aside, your son is not a candidate for medications that have never reliably outperformed placebos in clinical trials. It never fails to infuriate me when I hear of pediatricians whose knee-jerk response to discipline problems is a prescription. Having said that, I understand completely the pressure they are under to do something “helpful” during a ten-to-fifteenminute office visit. There ought to be a parenting specialist in every pediatric office, someone who can take the time that the physician probably doesn’t have. Your son doesn’t have a split personality either. He’s simply figured out that some adults have claimed their natural authority over children and others, including you, have not. Proper adult authority has a profound calming and focusing effect on children, an effect that no medication can match. In your description of the problem, you used the word “cooperate.” My consistent finding is that parents who use that word actually want their children to obey, but instead of giving clear, authoritative instructions are instead making requests and suggestions, as in, “Would you please come to the
table so we can have dinner?” and “It would really help me out if you’d stop what you’re doing and feed the dog, okay?” When it comes to the discipline of a child, consequences will be necessary at times, but the key is a proper presentation of oneself as an authority figure, and that is primarily a matter of how you speak. Using the above examples, the proper words are “It’s time for you to come to the table for dinner” and “You need to feed the dog now.” The fewer the number of words contained in an instruction, the more authoritative it sounds. The reader might be amazed at the number of parents who’ve told me that simply learning how to properly give instructions and communicate decisions (in both cases, use the fewest words possible and answer “Why?” or “Why not?” with “Because I said so”) has completely turned their kids’ behavior around. I call it “Leadership Speech” or “Alpha Speech” because it communicates to the child in question that the adult is in charge, and a child’s natural reaction to the proper delivery of authority is obedience. Now, you’ve obviously got some lost ground to make up for, but you can do this. Keep in mind that there’s nothing “wrong” with your son. If there was a BIG problem, his teachers would be begging you to medicate him. In my next column, I’ll describe a rehabilitative method I call “Kicking the Child Out of the Garden of Eden.” You’re going to need to do something to get your son’s attention and convince him that life as he has known it with Momma is over. What I have in mind should turn the trick. Stay tuned! Family psychologist John Rosemond: johnrosemond.com, parentguru.com. John Rosemond has worked with families, children, and parents since 1971 in the field of family psychology. In 1971, John earned his masters in psychology from Western Illinois University and was elected to the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society.
Texoma Patriots meet tomorrow The Texoma Patriots' first May meeting is Tuesday, May 14 - 7 p.m at Buck Snort BBQ, 224 E. Jefferson St, Van Alstyne TX. The speaker will be John Antal whose topic will be the D-Day Invasion of Europe Colonel (US Army, retired) John Antal is a soldier, leadership trainer, author, TV and radio personality, video game producer, military historian, and master storyteller. Currently he is a member of the US Army Science Board working on future war
fighting solutions for the Secretary of the Army. He is Executive Producer of a Triple-A video game company with studios in Frisco, TX, and Quebec, Canada, and is co-founder of How2LeadUS leadership team which, in their probono efforts, has trained and educated more than 3,000 Army ROTC Cadets in leadership since 2010. John recently returned from Normandy. One of his latest leadership books is 7 Leadership Lessons of D-Day: Lessons from the Longest Day - June 6, 1944.
