Very long post updated from old blog, with important tips from comments section added. Please bookmark

If you are an artist or a writer working from home, whatever they say, DO NOT BELIEVE YOUR REAL ESTATE AGENT, MORTGAGE COMPANY OR INSURANCE AGENT WHEN THEY TELL YOU THERE IS NO PROBLEM WITH YOU, YOUR MORTGAGE, YOUR ZONING, YOUR INSURANCE POLICY, OR ANYTHING ELSE.

READ THE FINE PRINT YOURSELF!

When I first moved out on my own and bought my little home, I was very poor and qualified for a low income home loan. Great! My tiny 750 square foot condo was more than enough room for me and a little office. I told my real estate agent who I was and what I did, and what I intended to do in my home. I also told my mortgage company who I was, what I did, and what I intended to do in my home.

I got my loan, and set up a little studio space in my dining area.

Yeah, I had read my mortgage agreement, my eyes got bleary after about five pages, and I couldn’t tell you what the thing said if my life depended on it. I bought the house and can draw pictures in the house, right? It’s my house.

All was well. Until I began learning some scary things about zoning, and mortgages, and so on.

I sat down and REALLY read the fine print in my home loan agreement, and even though I had been told that my home office was OK and that my being an artist would not be a problem, the actual language of the loan specifically forbade my running any business from my home.

Ever.

For any reason.

The real estate agent and mortgage company were more interested in making a sale than they were in paying attention to the fine print, and I was more interested in getting my loan than paying attention to the fine print. So, they told me what I wanted to hear to make a sale.

And at any time if I had been called on it, I could have lost my home. The bank could have withdrawn the loan and foreclosed on my home because I was drawing comics in my home. No kidding. One neighbor with a grudge and a little smarts, and I could have lost my HOUSE.

In fact, there are MANY mortgage agreements that forbid home offices.

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Here’s a great list of ten tips for starting and running a small business that also apply to freelance creators. Remember, freelancers are small business people. No matter how iconoclastic you are in your art, it doesn’t hurt to exercise some discipline when it comes to your studio.

At the top of the list, is Set Work hours and Stick to Them. I used to be a lot more disciplined about time management myself. Nowadays, I’ve been working 6 hours one day, and 14 hours the next. Not so good. I pulled out all of my time management training tapes and motivational tapes, and have been a lot more disciplined since January. But last year was a very disruptive one and I eroded my time management and personal discipline skills. So, it’s back to boot camp for me!

A rule I used to break all the time: Even when you really need the money, don’t take just any assignment. While I thoroughly reject the psuedo-mystical explanation provided in the article that “…the universe will take cues from your behavior and provide for you accordingly”, the Occam’s Razor explanation is simply that taking any old job for a buck is depressing, demoralizing, and likely to lead to more bad jobs simply because you won’t do your best work, and the best clients won’t see the work of which you are capable. If people only see second-rate work from you, then you will get second-rate jobs.

The longer you can keep your expenses low, you will be able to afford to take jobs that inspire you until you are on your feet and self supporting. Moving out on your own or getting a nice studio is great, but hold off on acquiring the trappings of success as long as you can. Keep your surroundings modest and try to only take work that allows you to do your best.

This is a REALLY important one: Communicate with clients to keep them happy, even when you mess up. When you are running behind schedule, or overbooked, or your cat died, it’s important to let your clients know if you are going to screw the pooch. They need to know where the project stands, so they can make other arrangements. Editors aren’t ogres. Many of them can squeeze a few extra days (or even weeks) out of a deadline, if you really need it.

What they can’t stand is the freelancer who simply drops out of sight, or, worse yet, the freelancer who treats them as if they are some kind of confession booth. Your editor is not your friend, they are not a psychiatrist. Don’t share every problem and setback. Just let them know you need more time.

If you are too open with your personal problems, the editor will begin to see YOU as the problem. Don’t run to your editor with every little thing: your annoying neighbor, the flu, the car had a flat, etc. These are things that happen in the normal course of everyone’s life, but when that is ALL the editor ever hears from you, they will eventually hear your name and think, “What is up with that loser, now?”

I used to be a lot more chatty about minor personal problems with my editors (and even online) but people have long memories, and they often remember only the bad stuff.

For example, sometime in 1994 or so, I had an accident and got chemical burns in my eyes. I am blind as a bat and picked up swimmers ear medication thinking it was my contact lens drops. The problem cleared up in about three months and there was no lasting damage. However, last year, an editor with whom I have never worked inquired about it, wondering if a twelve-year-old injury might impede my ability to get a job done! I had almost forgotten about it, but 12 years later, that editor had not.

And last year when I postponed a meeting with an editor by one day so I could get over a migraine, the editor’s first question was “Do you get those a lot?” Well, actually, no, but an editor is going to want to know if you have a lot of health problems or personal problems that will make meeting deadlines difficult.

Don’t tell your editor anything about yourself they don’t really need to know. If it’s not relevant to the job, it probably isn’t any of their business.

Editors can be great people, they may even be friends, but in the end, they are talking to you on company time on company matters. Behave accordingly.

Reposted and updated from the old blog. Hope it’s of use.

c

Reposted from the old blog. I double checked most of these links, and ditched a few, but I may have missed some. Hope they are of use.

My Money has numerous articles, downloadable PDF’s, website links, and other resources, all providing you with FREE access to a huge database of important information for saving and investing, buying a home, saving for your kids, retirement, starting and running a small business, and just about anything else you can think of.

There’s also a FREE My Money Tool Kit you can get that will provide you with publications and pamphlets on investing, saving and protecting your money. You can click the link to fill out the form, or just call this toll free number: 1 (888) Mymoney. That’s 1 (888) 696-6639, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. eastern time (except Federal holidays).

Here’s a look at the articles and links available under the heading “Starting A Small Business”. All of these links should work directly from this site, but don’t forget to check out the other valuable resources at My Money. Some of these links include online classes, downloadable instruction, and podcasts. Please take advantage of these resources! Your tax dollars paid for them and they belong to YOU.

• Choosing a Retirement Solution for Your Small Business It helps small business owners understand the various retirement savings vehicles available to them and encourages them to start a plan for themselves and their employees.
• 401(k) Plans for Small Business – It highlights a 401(k) plan’s advantages, some of the options and responsibilities of an employer in setting up and operating a 401(k), and the different types of 401(k) plans.
• Applying for a Loan
• Business Plan Basics
• Checklist for Starting a Business
• Crossing the Bridge to Self-Employment A Federal Microenterprise Resource Guide
• Financing Basics
• Guide for Retirement Plan Management for Small Business SBA’s interactive website to help small business owners understand roles, responsibilities and resources for retirement plans. Business owners who seek out information about retirement plans help protect themselves from risk. The information on this site can help small business owners understand roles, responsibilities and resources for retirement plans.
• Information and Resources for Employers Instructions and forms that will make the life of an employer easier.
• Information for the Self Employed Information that will help the self-employed run his/her own business.
• Is Entrepreneurship for You?
• Marketing Basics
• Multilevel Marketing Plans Explains how MLMs work to sell goods or services through distributors. Cautions consumers to watch out for “pyramiding”- the illegal practice of paying commissions for recruiting distributors.
• SBA Financing Programs
• Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource
• Small Business Startup Guide
• Training How to Start a Small Business
• Writing the Business Plan

Over at MSN.com, check out these nifty, easy to use money calculators that can help you suss out your debt ratio.

Then look at the links on the left of the same page and try the savings calculator, and the spending quiz.

My favorite? The Time Valuator. What is your time actually worth in dollars and cents? Better yet, how much are you REALLY making as an artist? How much does your leisure time cost you? And would it be better to hire help? Are you wasting your more valuable earning time doing chores you can pay someone else to do for you for less than you would be earning in that time yourself?

Since I basically work 1 1/2 -2 times the normal work hours a week, I earn a lot more money than the average person, but in terms of hourly rate, the earnings are actually quite modest. Essentially, I am making money because I am producing the equivalent of two people. But in pure cash, I could earn this kind of money working almost any middle class job (while working fewer hours). After years as an artist, in pure money terms, I would be better off working a government job.

I gave myself a thrill by calculating my hourly earnings from my bad, sad artist days: roughly $1 per hour.

While a government job will feed you better than art will, the perks of not working a government job are obvious: no commute, low daily stress, and doing art you love.

Even though I work far longer hours than most, I can work in my comfortable home and putter in the garden when I need a break. I am not driving two hours a day five days a week. In the ten hours most people spend commuting, I can be earning income drawing.

When I was living in the city, I eventually made enough money to hire part time help. I hired a personal organizer service, and a maid service. This seems like an extravagance, but it wasn’t. The time I was spending sorting papers and scrubbing the bathtub was time I wasn’t drawing. The maid service and organizer got chores done in less time than I did. So, I made more money by hiring help than I did by doing the same tasks myself.

Obviously, I’d also make more money if I didn’t putter in the garden, but I consider that both leisure and exercise time. And I don’t do most household chores, so my time is free to draw and paint. And blog.

My debt ratio wasn’t nearly as good as I thought it would be.

c

PS: Winter storms have made communication problematic. If you have had trouble contacting me, please try again. The power went out while I was on the computer and blew the mail program. It had to be reinstalled.

Here’s a very interesting and fun article about what your mess may mean about you.

According to some researchers, a messy desk may be the sign of an active and intelligent mind. High achievers often have piles of paper and book mess around their offices, but there is order amidst the chaos:

A clean desk really does signify an empty mind. “Office messiness tends to increase sharply with increasing education, increasing salary, and increasing experience,” they write, based on studies that I am inclined to accept without reservation.

My office and home used to be very messy, mostly because of the piles and piles of paper from self publishing, and the fact that I could no longer afford to rent outside office space. Moving about 100 boxes of stuff into a 750 square foot condo made for cramped quarters. I was miserable with the situation.

Read through the posts as well. Here’s an interesting tidbit:

Years ago McClellan offered a motivational theory that suggested people with clean desks and grip and grin photos were motivated by power; people with messy desks/offices were motivated by achievement; people with toys and family photos were motivated by affiliation. The theory went on to suggest that each of us is motived by all 3 factors in varying degrees.

Hm…my office looks like all of these things, with different zones showing extreme organization, minor clutter, and friendly family photos. My clutter increases or decreases depending on my workload, but nowadays, I schedule time to deal with clutter every single day, so it doesn’t get out of hand.

“Messy desk owners typically, for example, have separate piles for urgent, less-urgent, and non-urgent documents.”

A good point, that. But trouble comes when there is no more room for separate piles. They bleed into one another, or start to fall down, or both. By that point, using the desktop to create a new document is kind of impractical.

“As the mess grows, the rate at which the advantages grow tends to slow and eventually trail off,” the authors write. “Meanwhile the rate at which the disadvantages accumulate will eventually start to take off….”
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