As a freelancer, you know that managing your money can be a tough task. You may not have an employer to help out with benefits like vacation time and health insurance. It's up to you to make sure you're saving enough for retirement and investing in ways that will grow your nest egg over time.
Here are some money habits that can help any freelancer stay financially secure:
I'm sure you've been there: you've finished a project for a client, and they're supposed to pay you the agreed amount. But they haven't paid yet, and now it's been weeks since you sent them your invoice. So what do you do?
You can keep calling or texting them every day asking where the payment is until they pay up. Or, you could be polite and friendly while also making it clear that this isn't acceptable behavior anymore—and how soon would it be possible for them to send over that wire transfer, PayPal, Payoneer, whatever?
Freelancers receive payments from different companies, using different payment systems and many times that can involve different ways of transmitting the money. When you are paid, it is important to receive as much of your money as possible in a timely fashion.
To make sure payouts are meeting your needs, I suggest trying the $100 audit.
Are you a freelancer constantly on the move? In a world where living as a digital nomad is again an option, it leaves us wondering how to transition from a traditional lifestyle to one unencumbered by physical boundaries.
One of the largest concerns is financing; how do freelancers bank without a home? Let's discuss how freelancers can bank while on the move.
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While most experienced language professionals know how to invoice their clients, sometimes calculating taxes, keeping a good backup or sending reminders complicates the process and takes time, extra time they could use on actual projects, marketing or learning. Not to mention the number of late or incomplete invoices that result in non-payment issues!
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Have you recently completed a job? Do you need to send your client an invoice? At ProZ.com, it is easy to create, send and track your invoices online through the invoicing tool.
Membership allows you to create as many invoices as needed. Non-members are afforded five invoices to try out the platform.
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Just like Business Pages, the ProZ.com Blue Board works as a business card. Not only are Blue Board records an important risk management tool for language service providers since 2001, but they also show a company's reliability in terms of payment and commitment.
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For two decades, freelance translators and language companies have met at ProZ.com and often completed transactions with payments through PayPal. The two companies were founded around the same time and PayPal has made it easier for freelancers to receive money, fast.
In some places, however, government regulations do not allow receipt of funds via PayPal. This adds complication for the language company in its payment processes and makes it difficult on the freelancer.
When outsourcers and service providers connect via ProZ.com, neither side is charged any commissions or fees. However, to make payments for work provided there is always a cost to getting money from one party to another. They are commonly referred to as payment processing fees.
So who pays these fees?
Freelancers are looking for the best way to get paid. ProZ*Pay has been built for the language community to speed up payments, make language companies more efficient on payouts and help freelancers keep more money.
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You have completed the work for your client. All aspects of the project have been submitted as requested. You have sent an invoice for your services. However, the client has not started your payout from the work. Why not?
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When agreeing to work with a client, it is important to discuss or understand the employer's process for sending out payroll. Is there one unified method or outside service used for sending payments? Are there multiple ways to receive your money? Can this company pay you in your country?
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Are you new to the translation industry? Would you like to work as a translator, but you are unsure about how to get started? Do you have questions about ProZ.com, the platform, the community, the tools available? Then this post is for you. Just keep the following in mind, and you'll find your way in the ProZ.com translation workplace in no time:
« ProZ.com is different than what you may be expecting »
The following questions and answers will show you why.
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Your business opportunities require the services of language professionals across many languages from many different countries. Features exist at ProZ.com and other freelancer platforms for you and your vendor managers to quickly recruit many freelancers for your job in translation, interpreting, subtitling, transcription and more. Your project managers may deploy these tools to recruit talent to complete the work.
How will you pay this crowd of freelancers?
The overpayment scam may be the most active scam affecting online freelancers. This scheme is very simple, and many are entrapped with it.
You are offered a job with part of the payment coming in advance, but the scammer sends you a larger than agreed upon payment and asks for a partial refund. Or, a payment is made in advance and then the project is unexpectedly canceled.
