{"id":18241,"date":"2016-08-17T12:15:03","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T12:15:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getflywheel.com\/?p=18241"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T17:35:00","slug":"cut-costs-increase-income","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/resources\/cut-costs-increase-income\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for Freelancers to Cut Costs and Increase Income"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post was written by Emily Belya of Bel Creative. To learn more about her work, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The adage that \u201ctime is money\u201d is especially true when you\u2019re a freelancer. After all, you only get paid for the work that you\u2019re actually doing, and time wasted is time (and money) lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you are your own shop, you\u2019re responsible for everything \u2013 your time, your finances, your marketing, and everything else. It\u2019s important to keep a careful eye on your expenses so you can maximize that income you\u2019re working so hard to earn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are some easy things you can do to reduce your freelancing expenses and, in turn, boost your income. Generally speaking, they fall into two categories: cutting costs, and using your time better. Let\u2019s discuss!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cancel Ruthlessly (and Downgrade the Rest)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at all your monthly expenditures. Are you paying for memberships that you aren\u2019t using? Cancel them. Is there a monthly service that provides something you no longer need? Out it goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"cut-costs-increase-income-subscriptions\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You can also think about downgrading. It\u2019s easy to convince yourself that you need the absolute fastest, top-shelf internet speeds. And while that\u2019s certainly nice to have, you can probably downgrade a few notches without losing much in service. If nothing else, it may be worth an experiment to see if pocketing the difference in monthly cost will make the slightly lower load times more palatable (we\u2019re talking fractions of seconds here).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve also been able to contact service providers to work out smaller custom packages when their advertised packages don\u2019t work for me. For example, my current invoicing software\u2019s smallest package offers about four times what I need in my business. When I called to see if they had any unadvertised packages for smaller businesses like mine, they offered me an option that fit my needs perfectly. It never hurts to ask!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pay Less Frequently<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many services bill monthly but offer annual billing options that come with price cuts built in. If you\u2019ve got the cash on hand and you want to do some overall cost-cutting, consider switching from monthly service fees to quarterly or annual ones. Things like video hosting and email providers often have monthly and annual packages. Similarly, you can renew domains for multiple years instead of one year at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look for Free Alternatives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The idea of Illustrator to come up with custom icons and Photoshop to make jaw-dropping images and InDesign for awesome page layouts could make any designer salivate (especially a boot-strapping designer). But before taking the plunge (or continuing the expensive monthly fees for something you might not need), look for alternatives. Canva<\/a> is a great free alternative for a lot of image design pieces, and there are free and low-cost icon sets popping up all over the place that might save you not only money, but time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"cut-costs-increase-income-photoshop\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pay Off Any Debts (and Get Positioned for the Future)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t have a post about cutting costs without a section on credit card debt, and with good reason: interest and finance charges will eat away at your profits faster than you might care to admit. If you\u2019ve got any business-related credit card debt, make it your #1 goal to pay it off as fast as you can. The sooner you can get that compound-interest monkey off your back, the more quickly you\u2019ll be able to strengthen your bottom line. If you do nothing else, doing this will make a big difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, once your debts are paid off, keep socking away a bit more money until you build up a good reserve. I\u2019d recommend at least $1000 for an \u201cemergency fund\u201d to cover surprise expenses like equipment failures, unexpected migration costs, etc. And while you\u2019re in savings mode, start setting aside money to cover major expenses you know are coming up, like next year\u2019s computer upgrade or the tablet you really want. By saving up now, you\u2019re skipping on interest, fees, and finance charges later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attend Events for Free<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If there\u2019s a big event coming up and it will cost hundreds of dollars to attend, see if there are ways to get your admission covered. My favorite thing to do is present a session \u2013 many conferences waive registration fees for presenters, and you can add public speaking to your resume (which boosts your authority and looks great on your website).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may also be able to attend an event for free by volunteering to work part of it. Check with the organizers to see if that\u2019s an option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t Pay to Work Somewhere<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While there\u2019s inherent value in renting a coworking space \u2013 you get all the benefits of an office without the drawbacks \u2013 you may want to rethink your work environment if you\u2019re setting up shop in establishments that pull your wallet open. Things like coffee shops can be a nice place to work, but the tab you rack up by the end of a full workday can eat a hole in your pocket if you aren\u2019t careful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"cut-costs-increase-income-coffee\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to get out of the house, try looking for a community building that offers free wifi. I\u2019ve worked in libraries, on the local college campus, and even in a (community-centric) church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use Your Time Better<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re trying to cut expenses, it also makes sense to look at how you\u2019re using your time. It could be that your most expensive \u201cexpense\u201d is YOU. It seems counter-intuitive, but think about things you do that can be outsourced. You know what your hourly rate is, so take it into account when looking for tasks to pay someone else to do. These can either be things you hate doing and take forever (which drag you down and keep you from your profit-earning activities) or things that someone else can do faster and\/or more cheaply than you can. If you can pay someone else $20\/hr to upload files and images to WordPress\u00ae<\/sup> so that you\u2019re freed up to spend those hours on the design work that gets you $100\/hr, you\u2019ll come out ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final Thoughts on Cutting Costs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many freelancers are boot-strappers, but many of us who\u2019ve had a degree of success — or who are used to working in-house and not having to worry about costs as much — might have blind spots when it comes to expenses. Take a fresh pair of eyes to your monthly and annual expenses, and you\u2019ll have a good sense of where to cut (or where to focus on cost-cutting solutions). And if you get stuck, it never hurts to have a trusted friend or colleague look over the books with you and make suggestions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was written by Emily Belya of Bel Creative. To learn more about her work, click here. The adage that \u201ctime is money\u201d is especially true when you\u2019re a freelancer. After all, you only get paid for the work that you\u2019re actually doing, and time wasted is time (and money) lost. When you are…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":297,"featured_media":150576,"template":"","resource-topic":[],"resource-role":[],"resource-type":[916],"class_list":["post-18241","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nTips for Freelancers to Cut Costs and Increase Income<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are some easy things you can do to reduce your freelancing expenses and, in turn, boost your income. 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