8 tips for freelance life with Epson (+WIN an Ecotank printer of your own)
You might have noticed that I’ve had a bit of a makeover here at The Bloglancer. Whilst I’ll definitely be sharing everything you need to know about monetising and growing a blog, I’ll also be expanding more on the ‘freelance category’ and sharing my tips for being self-employed and growing a business. You might have known that last week I presented my first business workshop on that very topic! I teamed up with Epson and headed down to their gorgeous co-working space in Covent Garden to share everything I’ve learnt about going at it alone.
Although I was quite nervous at first, the event went perfectly and such a great group of freelancers came along! I’m so lucky to have a group of freelancer friends in Birmingham already (hello Em and Mel, if you’re reading this you are the best!) but it was fantastic to meet others and by the end of it, everyone was swapping emails and vowing to stay in touch!
I also spent most of the afternoon working from the free co-working space (Free wifi, free printing and free coffee too!) so if you’re in London over the next few weeks, do head down and work from there- so much nicer than your average Starbucks.
If you’re gutted to have missed my event, don’t despair. I’m holding another session on Wednesday the 10th October all around one of my favourite topics: MAKING PEOPLE PAY. We will be chatting everything invoicing, small claims court, protecting yourself and keeping on top of all your payments.
However, I also thought I’d share some of the talking points from the evening for those who couldn’t make it in the hope they help you too! Keep your eyes peeled to the end of the post: as I’ll be sharing how you can get your hands on the ultimate printer to make freelance life just that little bit easier!
1. Always Diversify Your Income
I’m really really passionate about diversifying income. Being a blogger is tough and, unless you have a gazillion followers, it’s unlikely you’re going to be able to make a living just from your one blog.
It’s not about making all the money-although that would be nice-but having different revenue streams for different time periods. I chatted about how in summer, getting freelance journalism commissions is bloody tough-mainly because every.single.person is on holiday!
So that’s when I’m grateful to have other types of work I can turn to. I’ve already blogged previously about my seven blogging income streams . If you’re new to being self-employed, why not make a list of the potential ways you can earn (there are some ideas on the presentation screen!)
2. Passive Income
Talking of income-one of the things I chatted about during the presentation was why everyone should have some form of passive income. This doesn’t have to be complicated-a simple ebook that’s available for purchase on your website could do the trick.
Not only can this bring in money but it actually saves a lot of time. We chatted about how there’s always that one question we’re asked over and over again-and those quick ‘can I pick your brain?’ type emails or coffee meet-ups can really drain time. What’s yours?
One way to help this is to create a download or ebook around the topic-even if you offer it free of charge, it could save you valuable time as you can simply redirect people to that resource instead of explaining it over and over again! Last time I wrote an ebook, I set myself a challenge to dedicate just 30 minutes a day to it so it wasn’t too overwhelming-it worked a treat! I’m thinking of doing it again so let me know if you fancy a challenge-perhaps I could set up a dedicated facebook thread or email sequence to encourage us all to stick to it?
3. My Favourite Facebook Groups for Freelancers
Facebook is probably my favourite tool for connecting with fellow freelancers, so I shared a list of my favourite groups. Including…
- The Freelance Lifestylers
- Freelance Heros
- Janet Murray’s Marketing Community
- Productive Blogging
- Blogging Your Way to Riches
- PR School
and of course my own facebook group: Pitching and Motivation for UK Bloggers
4. It’s a LONG game
When starting out, we want everything instantly. However, it doesn’t always work that way and sometimes we have to remember that it can be a long game to convert a potential client into paid work.
I read once about needing ‘7 touch points’ before a sale and it made a lot of sense to me. So whilst it might be frustrating when that networking event or huge email chain never led to anything, you never know what might happen in the future!
5. Always Invoice straightaway
I’ll cover this in more detail in my ‘Making People Pay’ workshop but we chatted briefly about invoicing. My top tip would be to keep track of this-always invoice as soon as the work is done and pop a date in your diary to chase (usually 30+days after you’ve sent it). More importantly, make sure you know the payment terms before committing.
6. Deposits and Contracts are key.
Another topic that I’ll be talking about in my next workshop is deposits and contracts. Although it can be a hassle, it is worth establishing your own set of terms and conditions and using a contract for larger projects. The Freelance Lifestylers offers great terms and conditions template that you can adapt. For larger pieces of work, don’t be afraid to ask for a deposit upfront (although this often the done thing in journalism in blogging, it can’t hurt to ask).
7. The Power of a Newsletter
Epson’s co-working space in Covent Garden
Everyone should have a newsletter! I run 3 and they are definitely a great way to get traffic but to also keep in touch with your audience. I think many people still underestimate the importance of a newsletter and it really can be adapted to whichever industry you are in. You can read my top tips for growing a newsletter if you need help getting started.
8.Establish yourself as an ‘expert’
And finally, it’s time to get known for what you can offer! Being an ‘expert’ or ‘the go to person’ can be really helpful. So if there’s a specific topic only you can write about or something you have experience in, then use it to your advantage.
I know I’ve mentioned using Response Source for blogging but you can actually use it another way too. You can request a free trial if you’re looking for media coverage of your business (Even if it’s not a physical product) and it’s such a useful thing to do. I was in The Guardian a week after doing my trial and gained quite a few Instagram followers as a result!
A Little More About Epson and Freelancers (and how to WIN!)
You might be wondering a little about what Epson has to do with my tips on starting a small business. Well, it’s because they actually recently surveyed 1000 freelancers to learn about their lives. They found 48% found it lonely and a quarter struggled with mental health.
That’s why they’ve launched the Covent Garden pop-up to help offer a sociable free space to self-employed folk. The area will also showcase their EcoTank printers-which are thought to help you save 90% on your printing costs; ideal for small start-ups who need to watch every penny!
To celebrate, I’m giving away a cartridge-free Epson Ecotank! Not only will this printer be perfect for your home office but it’s cartridge-free system means it comes with enough ink to print thousands of pages and will save you 90% on your printing costs. To enter, simply use the Rafflecopter widget below…
This post is in collaboration with Epson
Such a useful post Jenna, thank you. And I clicked through from your newsletter so what you say is true!!
haha-worked like a charm!
Very useful as always Jenna, thank you.
no problem!
I found this super useful, definitely going to be going through your blog posts in detail over the next few weeks to see what tips I can pick up as I’ve had a complete change in circumstances! The printer would be useful on my new journey!
Trying to start making a bit of money from my blog, finding it hard going from a hobby blogger to actually making it a business. This printer would be fantastic to help me keep on top of things!
Great tips Jenna! Definitely need to work on some of these. And huge congrats on your workshop 🙂
Thanks for the information.
I’m so proud of you. You absolutely smashed this talk and people definitely benefited from hearing about how to convert customers, and how to diversify your income. I’d love an Epson printer to help me work better. I’m always buying new cartridges so this could help save a lot of £££ across the year! Love you and well done again. xxx
Great tips you’ve offered here, I clicked through from your newsletter! With five of us in the house we are always using the printer for work, blogging, homework and pretty pictures! I am always changing the cartridge!
We haven’t had a printer for years but are in the middle of researching which one to get so winning this would be fab!!
Great post full of brilliant tips, I didn’t know about some of those FB groups so thanks for the heads up. Winning the printer would mean that I could print off all the fantastic courses that are available to bloggers and work my way through them.
So fed up with expensive messy cartridges and blocked ink heads. This printer would help me prevent printing no-gos when I can’t afford them.
life
the kids and myself do alot of printing on a friends machine we could do with our own one
This would be very useful as we do a lot of printing / invoicing and it could help us reduce costs. Thanks for the comeptition.
It would help my daughter doing her GCSES
This would be incredibly useful to me as I do lots of printing at home
I’ve just started a masters as well as deciding to start selling handmade clothes so I would really enjoy having a printer instead of printing off papers and labels at the library!
I would love this for professional invoices for my singing business! and contracts!
It seems to be really hard to convince people that you are a tax paying full time professional when you work in arts an entertainment!
Some great tips thank you your very organised wish I was lol
So useful a printer to do things I need printing photos Copying excellent prize to offer thank you xx
Iy would mean getting more done through out the day making things much easier
Fabulous prize, nobody likes changing ink.
I would be able to print my own high quality fylers
Volunteering to teach English to asylum seekers. The project is totally disorganised, very little funding and pupils of all levels. I believe visual aids are what is needed. This printer would be very useful for that purpose especially without the need of constant cartridge replacement.
This would help me print out some stunning photographs
Great tips, be great for work.
We are a busy household with 5 children and I have to take usb’s to the stationery shop or library for printing. It would be great to have our own printer for the kids homework/ documents etc.
I would love to win this great printer as mine is so old and it would help with my work
I always feel really guilty about the amount of little plastic cartridges I use so this printer be much greener and the monetary savings can only be a positive thing.
this would be very useful as our printer is no good now.
We would be able to print off all sorts for our business but generally we don’t need to print in high quality but somehow many to go through ink like nobodies business! Saving 90% of our printing costs would be huge for us!
Some lovely general information that we all need whether new or need to revisit as someone more experienced – thank you!
This would make such a difference to me as my old & trusty Kodak printer broke on me recently – going through the minefield of reviews to check what would suit me fills me with dread – so many machines/so little time!
I would be able to print my own posters and leaflets for the shop
Glad to have discovered your blog. Looking forward to reading more!
Brilliant blog post full of useful information, Starting a business is really stressful.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
This printer sounds fantastic! It would be super handy for using to print out labels and flyers, great that it saves money too. Perfect.
well done Lindsey- you’ve won my giveaway and I’ll be emailing you shortly!
Less Is More
It would save me a ot on ink costs.
I run a shop on ebay so this would really help with printing postage labels!
I would love to win this to help me with my work – my current printer decides not to work periodically which is really difficult when I’m working to a tight deadline for a client.
Hi thanks for a great article. As someone (very nervously) just geting ready to launch my own blog in order to diversify my self employed income, this had lots of great ideas. The printer would be so helpful to cut costs, as I’m really in the early days here and have no start up funds, so everything helps!! Thank you
With a teenage daughter printing school work off and me working from home 2 times a week this printer would be so useful. The one we have is on its last legs and costs so much for ink cartridges! xx
would enhance our efficiency and make us more reliable
I would be able to print my postage labels! It would save me soooo much time and possible manual errors!
My daughter and I are dipping our toes in the world of knit and crochet pattern writing and blogging and I also do a bit of photography so this would be really useful.
we do a lot of printing but using an old printer that isnt very cheap to run so this would help save some money for us!
I do a lot of printing for my job, and for my new course- a printer would be so useful and save me borrowing other peoples!
Great for connecting to my iPhone and iPad. I can then work on the go
Hi.. Im new to blogging but have a few blogs which are still in the early stages and i love the content side but the technical and improvement side i lack.
I am due to set up in business mentoring life coaching so blogs etc will be included.
Ive found this page really helpful as some starters so thank you.
How do i follow or pin this post or connect with you.
it would mean I could print photographs
Would love to use this printer – so much better than my outdated one
This would be a fabulous help in our home.
my daughter has a few educational issues and struggles with certain things, but when she is typing stories she is amazing and so imaginative. it would be lovely to be able to print them off so she can make herself a book.
Winning this printer would really help my business. I’m often scrambling to get resources printed for my workshops, as I don’t have my own printer and am just starting out. It feels a little unprofessional to always ask the client to print things for me, I would love to be able to turn up with resources in hand ready to go!
Some really great tips, and I found the article through your newsletter. Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom, I’m looking forward to reading more. I’m also going to check out the Epsom Coworking space 🙂
because i needa new one my old one is very tempermental
My daughter is in Year 11 so studying her GCSEs. There so much homework too so this printer would be fab!!
I would love to print off photos and artwork.
Great tips and tricks!
Money saving on the ink and good for the environment too, bonus!
Help me finish on schedule
It would help most with studying! I recently returned to uni and have to keep popping to the corner shop to use their printer because mine has broken down. lol.
This would reduce costs, but most of all it will be helping the environment with less ink cartridges going into land fill
I would be able to print off my photos with good results and few hassles.
As a writer I always need to print things – this would help
I have just started my own tuition business and I’m currently using an old printer from years ago! That is when it decides to work…quite temperamental! A new one would be amazing and this looks so much more economic than my ink cartridge guzzler. Thanks for the info. X
I’ve been self employed for nearly 20 years, it can be lonely, and you really have to be self disciplined that when you are “at work” even if its in the house, you aren’t “at home” I have a really old Epson scanner printer that its virtually impossible to get inks (sea horse by the way) for now so I need to get one to keep working!
Great advice! Fingers crossed for the competition!
It would save me trips to the library every time my children need printing done for homework 🙂
This would be a great boon.. My children print off a lot of stuff for Uni. I also print off photos and my old printer has started complaining about it’s workload. I’ll maybe come in one day and find it’s gone on strike.
Mainly for grandchildren with their homework
I do a lot of fundraising for charity and need to do lots of printing this would be awest
It would be a real boost to my son’s business as our printer is possessed by dome sort of demon that only lets it work when it deems fit plus he would save a fortune on ink and paper, our printer also has a bit of an appetite for chewing up paper
It would help me a lot running our junior cricket club when needing to send info home to parents
would help me alot, in printing out coupons and vouchers for discounts and then printing out things for travel too
would be great to win
Our current printer has broken – this is proving quite problematical when printing out home work and etickets (everything nos is electronic) – a new printer would be so much help! The greener the better
full of helpful information
I’m currently building a new website, and my printer is unreliable. The quality and reliability of this brilliant printer would save me a huge amount of time and stress and would mean I could concentrate fully on my business.
It would help massively with work emails I have to edit, sometimes they’re a bit small to do on my phone, plus my son has started secondary school and they post a lot of homework that needs printing which is a real pain without a printer!
Wow this would help me and my family massively in regards to my partners business x
My husband is in the first year of running his own business but our printer is useless and won’t connect to our laptops for some reason! This would help him out enormously and also our two teenage kids for homework completion.
this would be great as our son stated uni last year and he keeps having to go to his aunties every time he needs something printed
I am looking for ways to diversify my income, and start my own online business, but am very much in the infancy stages. However, lots of ideas and advice on your blog which is very much appreciated. And, whichever path I follow this printer would be a blessing xx
Great information x this would be amazing for our family home
very inspirational.. I have never know where to start 🙂
Would help me printing boarding passes for holidays
Fab post, very informative.
perfect for me to help out all my family members with their paper works
I have a small business card making, business cards etc and researching peoples family trees, so i use and need a good printer everyday, mine has seen better days now, but to get good pictures and to be able to print old papers, i need something that has a good print
very useful prize
Great post – this printer would really help our household as we seem to run out of one colour at a crucial time – and ours come in a multipack of 3 different colours, this sounds a lot more economical
Gone through quite a few printers in my time but this one seems to meet all of my criteria.
the printer i currently have is only black and white so not good for printing photos etc
Brilliant
Mines broke so would help me print out my son’s homework
I do loads of printing for my crafting hobby, this would let me really enjoy myself and not have to keep changing the yellow cartridge every few days (not sure why it is yellow…)
I do lots of printing. It would help with the costs.
It would be so useful to have a printer of my own, in my room at university, so then I could print work without having to go to the library!
This would be brilliant, it seems I am the only one in the family who can replace ink cartridges, although I print less than the rest of them
This printer would be more cost effective and would make the prints better quality
This would really help our small family run business to stay on top of invoicing and also be able to give it a much more professional feel to our business as we could print our own headed paper which would also save money.
It would help me print out my coursework for my web developer course
This would be fab for our family to print out my photos, recipes and sons worksheets would be so handy!
My sons have to print off all their homework at school so having a home printer would be a massive help
Winning an Epson ecotank would allow me to print leaflets and price lists for my hair salon & would be so useful.
Buying new ink cartridges is expensive. One can buy “look a like” ones but they never work like the ones made by the printer company. This printer would simplify my life and save me money.
I run a small typing service from home and my current printer has just given up the ghost – the second one that has conked after just 18 months! I would love to win this printer as I can’t afford to replace mine until the new year so am currently doing my printing at the local library which is not ideal. Wouldn’t mind but I’d just bought a new set of expensive ink cartridges for my printer – wondering if this ecotank printer would be cheaper to run…
This would be perfect for my son’s homework and for printing out invoices for my business.
A quality printer will save my foot from injury, when I don’t have to give it a hefty kick when it doesnt print for the 10th time
Help me finish early
it would help my daughter, has she is writing her first novel, and she can print of all her research
Would be a great way to print things I need x
This would immensely help our small business. We own a small tea rooms and are forever spending a fortune on getting menus printed. This would mean we coukd do a lot of it from home.
It would reduce costs, but importantly it would help the environment with less cartridges to be disposed off.
My printer died a long time ago and I get anxious now when I have something urgent to print and cannot!!!
I work at home on Saturdays and a printer would really speed things up!
would make life so much easier not to have to worry about replacing and buying cartridges
It would be very handy as I can print off homework worksheets for my sons
It would help my families life because as I am the only one with a printer it is used a lot. This would enable another family member to take away some of the pressure from our only machine.
It would make printing things so much easier, we don’t have a printer so my husband has to print my stuff at work for me
This would be great for my daughter as she is doing her GCSE thank you for the chance 🙂
This would help me print out some family photographs
Really useful piece – I enjoyed reading this.
it would help me be more efficient and productive
This would mean not always having to traipse to the library whenever I need decent printing, it would save me hours!
Just getting started, so this would be a very useful piece of kit.
I like crafting at home and so much of my work needs to be printed to go onto fabrics etc. Instead of have piles of backing papers and cards I can print my own from cds or design my own. I’d love a printer that’s economical and reliable.
This would be so helpful to me as me and my daughters as need to do alot of printing but our printer has broken so my daughters are having to print all their coursework at uni and college. Also we are all struggling on low incomes so it would be great not to have the extra expense of needing to buy ink cartridges. Thanks for the chance to win x
It would be brilliant to win as our current printer is leaving puddles of ink inside and outside the machine!
We currently don’t have a printer so would be a huge help for my daughters home work and general things we need to print. My daughter also loves doing crafts so is constantly needing to print things off.
They are great printers and very economical so it would greatly help family life and when my daughter asks if she can print out a load of things for school
I would be able to print off my correspondence so much easier with this fab printer
It would help me massively as I’m pretty housebound at the minute. I had a baby last year and woke up one day numb on the left side of my body. It turned out to be multiple sclerosis. So I struggle to get out to the library these days to do any printing especially with little one. I’ve been unable to return to work and looking for new ways I could make an income. I know this would prove useful. Thanks for the chance.
It would help me print things for my husband’s business more quickly and easily. I’d also be able to let the kids print out pictures to colour in, copy and use in collages.
This would make such a difference to my daughter. She has a serious and very rare medical condition, that amongst other things, renders her in constant pain, and with all the joints in her body extremely hypermobile, which dislocate or semi dislocate on a daily basis. As a result she is unable to hold a pen, and cannot handwrite. She is able to type, albeit very slowly. She has recently begun her A-Level studies, and uses an ChromeBook for her work. When she has work to hand in, she has to email it to staff members, which they don’t really like, and also, studying for exams etc, is very difficult via computer. This would enable her to print all her work, all her notes, her homework and her essays which would be a real life changer for her.
My cat has taken to sleeping on my Canon printer ‘cos it is warm, little blighter broke the paper feeder so the printer would be super useful
It would help with teens doing A Levels and exams.
It would help me massively. The one I use is just awful and time consuming because nothing goes right with it! This would be amazing to win xxx
It would be so beneficial to the family, especially my Daughter Lauren who has recently passed her training with the WMAS but is now currently enroled on various coursework relevant to the role.
Perfect for printing out the children’s school work
I would love to print pictures and photos of my grandchildren which I could then frame it would be much cheaper than sending them to a printers
Anything that saves money is a massive bonus when you pay your own overheads!
My printer has just packed up and i’m lost without it. I didn’t realise how many things I print, Scan and copy.
This would be so useful to myself and my teenage daughter who is always printing stuff for school. I do some work from home so would be great x
handy tips
Winning an Epson EcoTank ET-2650 would change my life as I have autism, anxiety and it would enable me to print things relevant for myself as i currently don’t have a printer. I love Epson products in the past and I am ethnical minded and like saving moving where can do Been cartridgeless ticks these boxes Aswell as sounding easy maintenance, why wouldn’t I want this.
Winning a Epson EcoTank ET-2650 would enhance my life as I am an elder person with son with additional needs and don’t have a printer in house. It sounds amazing quality and simple to operate. It would make life easier and could also be easily transported if need be without messing with inks
I’m forced to share a printer with 20 odd other people. Usually there is a paper jam , no ink or no paper. It would be bliss to have my own to print photos.