I handed in my notice for my FT job 3 years ago this month to start freelance writing. Here are 10 things I've learnt that I wish I'd have known back then [THREAD]

1/ Create a separate bank account for all of your income, and pay yourself a salary from that account. Stops you living invoice-to-invoice and helps you manage cashflow. Also good for saving $$$ if you only take X amount each month. Anything you earn on top is saved.

2/ Tax is expensive. Create another bank account (or space inside your existing one) to save for it. Put 20% of every invoice in there. Have an emergency back-up, too... Especially in your first year. Payments on account in the UK are a nightmare.

3/ Relationships are EVERYTHING. I wouldn't have 99% of my clients, nor work with companies with such high budgets, without an intro to them (or vice versa.) Some of my freelancing pals I'd consider to be close friends:
@MarijanaKay, @AndraZaharia, and @upmostmike

4/ Never stop learning. Set aside *at least* 1 hour/week (preferably an afternoon) to learn new stuff. Never think you've learnt it all.

5/ Do what you said you'd do, when you said you'd do it. Simple.

6/ If your rates don't scare you, they're not high enough. Think of the value you bring with your content, and charge an extra 20% for the benefits you don't get for being a freelancer (i.e. insurance, PTO, sick leave, etc.)

7/ Ask for testimonials. They're your bread and butter as a freelancer; it's what makes people trust you'll do a good job. Don't expect them to come your way naturally, though. Ask for them whenever you wrap-up a new project.

8/ Don't work without a contract. Emails aren't enough; phone call agreements are even worse. Invest in a freelancing template like this one: https://katboogaard.com/contract-template to cover your ass if something bad does happen. (Fingers crossed it doesn't.)

9/ Work-life balance is HARD when you do both in the same house. Have a dedicated workspace and office hours. Don't work outside of those. Nothing is ever that urgent.

10/ Don't feel pressured to set long working hours. Just because you worked 8 hours/day in an office, doesn't mean you have to now. You'd probably drag out the same work you could do in 4 hours by cutting distractions and focusing. (Now, I only do "real work" in the afternoon.)

11/ BONUS: I thought of this after the last one: there's more to freelance writing than writing. Planning, researching, emails, accounts... the lot. Plan that into your day.

12/ Another bonus I just thought of & applies only to SaaS writers: TAKE A DEMO OF YOUR CLIENT'S PRODUCT!

I only started doing this about a year ago and it's made a huge difference. I can talk confidently about their features within my content which always makes clients happy

12 cont./ Most SaaS products have a webinar/product demo you can watch publicly on their site. If not, ask your client to schedule you a demo with someone on their team. Win-win for everyone. You get to know the product; the client gets better content