5 Tips on Managing your Freelance Writing Business from Abroad
© Tracy Bowens
In my previous article "Freelance Writing and Your International Job Search" I told you about the advantages of starting a freelance writing business as an alternative to working for a corporation if you want to live abroad. Now I'm going to give you a few tips on managing that business if you should decide to take that route.
Determine a fixed mailing address
Working as a freelancer gives you the ability to travel. But in order to maintain your corporate image, your business mailing address should not travel with you. Think how you would feel about a company who gave you a differnet address every three months. How much would you trust them with important projects? I think the answer is not much.Also, consider your checks. Unless you are lucky enough to work for a company who has direct deposit for freelancers, how will you get paid? Do you want your checks following you to different locations or even worse not finding you at all?
If you are a U.S. citizen working abroad, and you are working for U.S. clients, you may want to use a U.S. address. Clients will feel a bit more secure and will be willing to hire you for rush projects and those involving telephone interviews if you are considered to be "local."
To establish and maintain your corporate image, find a service or a friend that will collect and, if necessary, forward your mail.
Have a process for depositing your checks
Unless your clients provide direct deposit, you will have to have a process for depositing your checks into your checking account. If, for example, you are a U.S. citizen and you use a U.S. mailing address, consider having a friend or family member deposit the checks into your U.S. bank account. The money can then be wired to your foreign bank account. This process is much quicker than having the check sent to you via mail.
Use a local internet service provider, but have an e-mail account that can be accessed worldwide
It may be expensive to access your present internet service provider from abroad if they don't have a local telephone number in your adopted country. So consider signing up with one that is local to your new country. However, even though they may provide an internet account, make sure that you can access it from anywhere in the world (i.e. msn, hotmail, yahoo). This way, you can communicate with your clients from anywhere in the world.
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