The Freelancer’s Survival Guide: Insurance Kristine Kathryn Rusch First, I’ve gotten a lot of great responses to last week’s post on staying positive. Many of those responses have come through private e-mails or on some social networking sites. I’m glad the post helped a lot of you. If there are other topics that you’d like covered—from business-related items to the personal, let me know. Interaction will keep these posts fresh, and will provide you with what you need now, which is why I’m doing this online in the first place. Second, please do share this blog with people who might be interested or with websites that might cater to freelancers. You can either hit the Share button at the end of this post or you can direct people to the site … Read entire article »

The Freelancer’s Survival Guide: Staying Positive Kristine Kathryn Rusch It’s been three weeks since I stopped answering questions and in that time, the questions and the comments slowed down. I think I scared everyone with what I called the bread and butter posts—giving a freelancer’s job description, figuring out when to quit your day job, and what you should have in place before you do. I need to move onto more bread and butter topics—insurance, money, time schedules—and would love to hear which folks want covered first. But this week, I’d dealing with some issues of my own, mostly to do with my office cat. She has lived alone in my office for more than a decade because she doesn’t play well with others (tries, in fact, to kill anything with fur, including raccoons), … Read entire article »

The Freelancer’s Survival Guide: Things You Need Before You Quit Your Day Job Kristine Kathryn Rusch Let’s assume that last week’s essay didn’t convince you to keep your day job. You’re going to take the plunge no matter what. Good for you. That’s how most of us have entered this crazy profession. On the afternoon that I write this, I heard a woman on National Public Radio who confessed to starting her fulltime freelance business when she lost her job in the 2003 recession. Then I picked up the April More Magazine, and find a series of articles about women who started green businesses—often against all advice, often while in the middle of a job loss or downturn or personal crisis. Most fulltime freelancers you know didn’t have that three years worth … Read entire article »