As a contractor or freelancer, you’ll find that projects are often delayed in the summer due to clients going away or taking time out with the kids. Whilst it’s nice not to be overwhelmed by a high workload, a few quiet months can cause the money stream to stop. And that’s when panic starts to set in.
But a low workload doesn’t always have to be a negative thing. Here, we’ve listed three ways to deal with a summertime slump effectively.
Promote yourself
You may feel that you never have the time to advertise what you do. You probably have plans to define your brand, complete your website, attend networking events, and boost your social media profiles, but you’ve not been able to prioritise these tasks since making the move to self-employment.
Well, the summer is the time to do so. You can even think outside the box and find new ways to drum up work too. Self-promotion can be practised at a steady pace, and if all goes well, you may find your workload’s filling up before the summer’s even ended…
Take some time out
Without the standard holiday days there to take as an employee, you may think there’s no need for you to have a break. But even though working continuously helps towards ensuring there’s sufficient funds for a rainy day, it’ll likely affect your productivity and how positive you feel about your work.
The summer is a good time to take a breather, helping you feel refreshed and rejuvenated. Many of your clients will be on holiday themselves anyway, and won’t be in constant contact during the hotter months. It’s a particularly great idea to get away if you work from home, as this can prevent tunnel vision from setting in.
Ensure your finances are covered
With self-employed earnings being taxed later rather than instantly like employees on PAYE, your view of your financial situation can be warped if you’re unsure how much you owe Mr Taxman.
Whilst it’s better to have too much put aside for tax rather than too little, this doesn’t mean you can’t ever dip into your savings. You just need to make sure your tax is adjusted to real-time, which is easy enough when you have access to cloud accountancy software like FreeAgent.
Bright Ideas Contractor & Freelancer provides a monthly subscription to FreeAgent within all our simple packages, so you can reap the benefits. On top of this, you’ll have your own dedicated accountant and tax adviser to guide you on all things tax and accountancy related. To book a FREE consultation with our experts, contact us today on 0161 669 4221 or info@biaccountancy.com.
