Hey there and thanks for taking the time to read. For the last few years I have enjoyed writing for various clients around the world, through DP, alongside with other internet sites and word of mouth. It's been great earning some extra money on the side, but I am finally ready to create my own company, which I hope to turn into a full time business. I'm asking for help and advice from anyone who has had experience in this sort of field before. What kind of things do I need to do to go ahead with actually doing this. How do I take it from paper and take the steps to start making it happen? Where should I adveritse? A website I suppose is vital. Basically anything you can do to help me or give me some advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot, Alex
1. Choose a name for your company. 2. Develop a logo for your company.3 3. Launch your company website And you are on the go. After that, write at site the services your company is providing and start delivering those services. Pretty Simple.
There is a little more to it than that. Step one: Develop you business plan: What services will you be offering? For those develop a: - Short term goal - Mid range goal - Long term goal Make a calculation of your costs, and make sure your rates cover those expenses, then add a profit percentage(Monthly cost of living + 30%) That is your minimum rate - Website: Make it a blog, as you can use that for SEO purposes, showcase your articles, and have a professional front all in one. - Promotion: As a writer you should have no problems using article marketing to get your site to any level you require it to be. Now the most difficult question comes: Are you going to present yourself as a freelancer or a company. If the latter you need a chamber of commerce entry, and also pay taxes over your profits/income. In that regard it is wise to first choose where you will set your company up(Gibraltar is a good choice tax wise) If you will remain a freelancer, but with a professional front you can forget that last part obviously. Hope this helps
Wow thanks a lot mate, really appreciate the input. I live in the UK, so could I set up a company and base it in Gibraltar? How would that work? Also how should I go about publicizing the business, obviously I don't want to be using DP regularly as nothing amazing work wise usually ever comes, should I aim to get high on google? Or go about other methods? Thanks a lot, Alex
Where potential clients hang out at. Boards, blogs, Elance, portal websites on the subject (freelancewriting.com), About.com's article pages on the subject.... Don't forget those affiliates who need help also. Beat the bushes for them also. Well, uh, yeah, it would be helpful. Put up an About Me page. Put in free tips, samples on what you can do for them, several profile pictures of yourself, your past works.... Perhaps call it: AlexWrites.com. If the extension is taken, don't be afraid to use the Net, FM, US.... I use FM. Good luck, Burford.
Yes to all of it. Ranking your site will show prospective clients what you can do as well as drive them to your web site. As for setting up shop in Gibraltar This link may provide some insight. (No it is not mine LOL )
Remember that if you are a UK resident, you'll still be liable for tax on your personal earnings. If you do set up an offshore company, you might be able to limit the company's tax liabilities, but not your own. If you're sticking as a freelancer or an equivalent to a temporary worker in the UK, I'd read up on the HMRC IR35 legislation. This is legislation specifically designed to reduce the number of personal limited companies (in the form of the people themselves) underpaying income tax in the UK.
Forget about setting upo a company in Gibraltar and all that stuff. You are a newbie and you might crash hard. Here is what to do. FIrst, find out what you REALLY love to do (what topic/area holds your interest and what do you like to talk about??) That is #1, 2 and 3.... Then find a way to make money from your interest. Then keep persisting and keep your dayjob because you will make tons of errors the first 3-7 years. When you are successfull (meaning you turn a profit for at leasty 6 months ) - at that time you can do the gibraltar thing.
Sorry to disagree Luther, but it sounds to me like this guy has been keeping his day job whilst working away at the content part time. If he feels like now is the time to jump into this full time I say go for it. I'm based in England though and I find it is fine to register as a company here in Great Britain. Ok the taxation is not going to help you, but if you can find a decent creative accountant then they will make it worthwhile having your business based in the UK. There are lots of ways to offset some of your earnings so that the amount you are taxed for is actually significantly less then the amount you earn. Remember you can offset a percentage of all your heating bills, phone bills, large purchases such as cars (needed for attending meetings with clients) Television's (get one that can work with a computer so you can use itv for work) If you think however that you are going to and you can even offset someof your mortgage or rent payments because you will most likely have your working premises at home. If you think you might have a net profit over £100,000 in your first year then you might want to worry about the tax implications, but plenty of businesses set up their business in their own country in a legitimate way and become very successful. Also, this is highly unlikely, unless you are a very lucky man
Jeremy, I think you missed the main point of Luther's post -to drop an affiliate link and promote his watch site. As to the original question...I'd start with getting all the legalities straight for taxes and whatnot in your country first. If you've been working for a while as a freelancer, you may already have much of that in place. Second I would come up with a company name and corresponding domain name. I disagree with Perry about the domain name. If someone else is already using the .com or another extension you will have to compete with them just to rank for your own company name. (While few new customers will find you via your company name, I see ranking #1 for a company name as something that should be part of your branding efforts.) Then I would create a website to promote your services. A blog is a good idea as well. But IMHO, a blog alone doesn't have the professional feel a typical content site does unless the blog software is used more as a CMS and less as a blogging platform. Good luck!
My apologies Luther, it would appear that Shaun is using some new contextual advertising which is making links out of words in random posts. Your post had one of these links the first time I read it.
Sorry...I meant it as an example, as a way to think outside the box. AlexWrites is already taken anyway. http://alexwrites.com/ But, for God sakes, have a better site than that!
Yeah what's with the weird bent paperclip coming out of the rubber on top of his pencil?! As for the text...