3 ways to improve your freelancer finances in 2017

The start of 2017 is the ideal time to take another look at your freelancer finances.

With a whole year of trading ahead of you, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting every last drop of value from your operations.

Here are three ways you can improve your freelancer finances in 2017:

Cash flow planning

Effective cash flow planning helps you avoid nasty surprises by ensuring you’ve always got enough money in the bank.

However, it can be time consuming, unless you’ve got the right tool for the job. Xero can help you speed up this process by automatically tracking your cash flow and enabling you to visualise past and future outgoings at-a-glance.

Outstanding payments

Outstanding payments undermine your profitability and make it hard to plan ahead. But, regular invoicing can distract you from your primary role.

Xero automates the invoicing process. You can set up a reusable template and the software will do the rest. Digital invoices enable quick online payments, and you can set Xero to send out a series of reminders encouraging clients to pay up on time.

Raising prices/cutting expenses

These are the most direct ways of improving your freelancer finances. You have another year’s experience under your belt, so you might want to think about upping your rates proportionately.

You might also feel that you’ve overstretched your expenses budget. Audit all your expenses to decide which have value and which can be stopped next year.

Call on 3 Wise Bears to find out more about how to improve your freelance finances in 2017.