Being self-employed has a number of benefits, but there are lots of ways you can put yourself at risk. If you aren’t being paid a monthly salary like so many other people, there may be times where you can go a while without a paycheck.
There are also many other financial hurdles you may have to jump over, on your journey through this way of working. Though this may be a reality occasionally, there are ways you can avoid it becoming too much of a common thing. Here are a few ways you can protect yourself as someone who is self-employed.
Insurance
Although some types of insurance are really not necessary, others can really help you as a self-employed person. Looking more into insurance and what you can get covered for, is a great place to start.
Let’s say you’re someone who uses tools or an expensive laptop. What happens if these break or get stolen? If you can’t make money without them, it’s important to get the right sort of cover. Making sure that you can replace these as soon as possible, is vital for continuing with your work.
Similarly, if you get sick for whatever reason and can’t work for a while, how are you going to pay your bills and keep money coming in? There are insurance packages for anything you might need and it’s a great idea to look more into it.
Making sure you’re getting paid
Invoices are something that those who are self-employed or freelance send on a regular basis, but it’s important to chase these up and make sure you’re getting paid when needed.
It’s normal for some businesses to fall a little behind on payment for one reason or another, but if this is becoming a regular issue, you’ll need to have a discussion with those who are paying you. If you are struggling with getting through to them or making headway with getting the money you are owed from work completed, there are solutions for you. A service such as invoice financing from FundInvoice can really help, for instance. While waiting to get your money from your client or customer, you can get assistance from a factor for instant cash that ensures your cash flow doesn’t drop.
Setting boundaries
Protecting yourself as a self-employed person is about more than just finances. In order for you to continue doing your best work, you need to protect yourself from incidents like burn out.
As a self-employed person, you never know if you’re going to run out of clients, so it’s normal to want to get in as much work as possible, whenever you can. However, when you work too hard, you can’t perform at your best, therefore, it will be less likely that you’re called back to do more work by those clients.
Making sure that you set yourself some boundaries, can be a great way to give yourself the much-needed work-life balance that you deserve. Without doing this, you can’t guarantee you’ll be in the same career in the long run.
When you answer to yourself and manage your own work, there is no one else to help you out. Though this may be scary, it’s more than manageable if you are protecting yourself in all the right ways.
