Money tips for freelancers

A shorter version of this article first appeared in issue 238 of .net magazine – the world's best-selling magazine for web designers and developers.

Although the freelance sector has stayed remarkably resilient throughout the UK’s ongoing economic woes, even growing around 12 per cent in the last two years, many freelancers are suffering at the hands of clients who have not been quite so prosperous.

According to research by Bacs, freelancers and small businesses are being paid later and later. In 2010 the average late payment was 22.5 days overdue. That figure grew to 25.6 days in 2011 and again to 29 days in 2012.

Combine this with banks’ increasing hesitancy to lend (access to business capital through the banks is currently at its lowest point since 2006) and you have a recipe for financial disaster. A sudden shortfall in cash is currently the number one killer of small businesses. Once you fall into the red, the associated fees, penalties and interest make it that much harder to climb back into the black, so it’s more important than ever that you keep an eye on cashflow and manage it carefully.

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