How to Minimize Freelance Paperwork

As a freelancer, you spend a fair amount of time marketing yourself and seeking work. But handling the inevitable paperwork is an unproductive burden. You can minimize the pain by organizing yourself and taking advantage of many free services.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Organization skills
• Inexpensive computer-based bookkeeping software

1. Purchase PC-based bookkeeping software and learn how to use it. You can start with personal finance versions and then move up to small business editions when your business takes off. Spending a hundred dollars now will save you hundreds of hours of work over the long term.
2. Handle your money electronically whenever possible. Pay bills online, sign up for "paperless" billing from utilities, the phone company and others that offer it. Many credit card companies even allow you to download your statement information directly into your electronic bookkeeping system.
3. Turn any remaining paper into ones and zeros on your computer. Quality is up and prices are down for multi-function printers so you can put the paperwork into the feed tray, push a button and quickly end up with images of everything in the .pdf format. This also allows you to easily make copies to put into multiple folders organized by client, date, project, type and so on.
4. Set up a file backup system. Free or cheap software schedules the automatic backup of your files to an external drive. You can also explore online storage services that handle the automatic backup and keep your information safe on their servers.

Tips & Warnings

• While steps 1-4 might feel awkward at first, it will soon become routine and save you hours of time.
• If you can't give up paper entirely, just toss it into a box and forget about it. Your filing system is already organized on your computer.