The Self-Employment Blues
Current debt score: $4,501.55 owed on the Prius, $5,000 owed on the medical bill.
I got to go to a free concert last night- my friend had an extra Iron Maiden ticket and couldn't find any takers, so he gave me a "pity ticket" fo' free. :) I had never been to an Iron Maiden concert... In fact I do not know any of their songs. But they were incredible. Metal is definitely not my kind of music, but I appreciated the experience! My ears, this morning, do not.
I have some anxiety this morning. I was supposed to be working today, and both sessions got cancelled last minute. Two weeks ago I changed my Policies so that I no longer offer one "freebie" the first time that a client cancels within 48 hours of session start time, but I can only require that with clients who have signed in the last two weeks- not before. My friend who gave me the concert ticket, who is also self-employed, said that because of similar problems, all of his clients must pay a $50 non-refundable deposit to even get on his calendar. I love this idea, and I told him to let me know in a month or so if it's working well- If so, I will likely follow suit. I'm incredibly fortunate to have a successful full-time self employment gig, but unfortunately there are three times when self-employment sucks: Tax time (not for me, since I pay quarterly), out-of-pocket health insurance, and last-minute cancellations when you don't have a firm cancellation policy in place.
This is quite a slow month. Every year is different, and January seems to be the only month that is consistently slow, but last year July was pretty busy. As much as I dislike networking, because I don't like the "Let's set up a one on one over coffee!" that comes with it, I'm going to have to. Except that all coffee dates will be rerouted to dog park dates, because those are free.
Oh and today marks week three of the Spending Freeze. I have just one week left. Although I think I might briefly pause the Fast to buy dinner for a few awesome people who have bought me dinner, and then jump back into it. The Fast is hella effective: So far I've paid off $2,211 of debt, just in July.
I got to go to a free concert last night- my friend had an extra Iron Maiden ticket and couldn't find any takers, so he gave me a "pity ticket" fo' free. :) I had never been to an Iron Maiden concert... In fact I do not know any of their songs. But they were incredible. Metal is definitely not my kind of music, but I appreciated the experience! My ears, this morning, do not.
I have some anxiety this morning. I was supposed to be working today, and both sessions got cancelled last minute. Two weeks ago I changed my Policies so that I no longer offer one "freebie" the first time that a client cancels within 48 hours of session start time, but I can only require that with clients who have signed in the last two weeks- not before. My friend who gave me the concert ticket, who is also self-employed, said that because of similar problems, all of his clients must pay a $50 non-refundable deposit to even get on his calendar. I love this idea, and I told him to let me know in a month or so if it's working well- If so, I will likely follow suit. I'm incredibly fortunate to have a successful full-time self employment gig, but unfortunately there are three times when self-employment sucks: Tax time (not for me, since I pay quarterly), out-of-pocket health insurance, and last-minute cancellations when you don't have a firm cancellation policy in place.
This is quite a slow month. Every year is different, and January seems to be the only month that is consistently slow, but last year July was pretty busy. As much as I dislike networking, because I don't like the "Let's set up a one on one over coffee!" that comes with it, I'm going to have to. Except that all coffee dates will be rerouted to dog park dates, because those are free.
Oh and today marks week three of the Spending Freeze. I have just one week left. Although I think I might briefly pause the Fast to buy dinner for a few awesome people who have bought me dinner, and then jump back into it. The Fast is hella effective: So far I've paid off $2,211 of debt, just in July.
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