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P.S. They pay well, too.

If you’re already freelancing, you may be looking to either improve the disciplines you already offer or to add to your skillset to make your total package that much more valuable to your clients. Businesses used to consider proficiency in Microsoft Word foundational, but recent years have seen the addition of basic SEO and WordPress proficiency to the list of foundational skills f0r many occupations. Businesses are also looking to keep their data safe from hackers, stand out on an increasingly-crowded information superhighway, and tell their story on diverse platforms that will reach their clients. While it may seem like a lot (too much?), it also means there is plenty of opportunity out there. Whether you’re freelancing or looking for full-time traditional employment, being proficient in these skills will make you ultra-hireable.

Here Are Four Skills To Enhance Your Resume

Network and Information Security

Just like the internet and the world itself, hackers and scammers are ever-evolving. Once upon a time, a thief might’ve stolen the cash out of your pocket, but with the ability to steal an entire identity, the stakes increased. And of course now, with battle being waged increasingly in the online sphere, the stakes are even higher. A hacker can blow up an individual’s life and shut down a hospital all in a day’s work. It is sobering to consider that it’s happened to Equifax, multiple government institutions, and Zoom. So yes, it can surely happen to (or through) you.

Businesses increasingly need more than a security officer at the front door. They need safeguards in place to protect the sensitive data on their computers. In addition to the technical firewalls and other fortifications to their systems, they’ll need to fortify where they’re most vulnerable. In many cases, that’s their people. User error is responsible for most security breaches and hackers are getting more and more subtle and skilled to outsmart very smart/savvy people.

All of that to say that becoming at least proficient in security is good for your own financial world and becoming a pro makes you invaluable to businesses. Being able to offer security advice to your clients or employer makes you that much more attractive. Whether or not you’re consulting as a security expert, just being savvy enough not to fall for a scam (like this one, which took a Shark Tank judge for nearly 400K) could save your job and reputation.

Udemy offers The Complete Cyber Security Course: Hackers Exposed, along with a boatload of other courses to solve nearly any business challenge. With cybercriminals making headlines, it’s no surprise that people who can combat this threat increase their desirability. Whether you’re primarily a writer, video producer, website developer, or designer, being able to offer clients additional peace of mind is priceless. Especially for small businesses, who may not have a team dedicated specifically to security, your expertise adds value and makes you an essential team member.

All Things Webby

WordPress: With new sites being added daily, the Internet is basically one big WordPress matrix. Even if it’s not their core business, content creators who can build, update, or fix WordPress sites will keep businesses from having to hire additional people. Saving clients money is one surefire way to get in their good graces. Many free courses will absolutely give you a return on your time invested.

SEO: The only thing as constant as change is change itself…and SEO. The clever behind-the-scenes glut of the right words may have worked in the Space Jam days, but it doesn’t get results anymore. SEO has gotten much more sophisticated and tough to crack. The real key is increasing traffic organically. Having the tools to have an intelligent conversation on the subject and being able to point clients toward solutions makes you extra valuable.

Sales Funnels/ List Building: Sales funnels are a key to converting all that organic traffic into action. If you already have some knowledge of landing page design and content strategy, ClickFunnels (or something similar) is a great way to take your skills to the next level.

Instagram API: There are a lot of ways to use Instagram’s API—from turning a website into a living museum to converting sales. Often, companies spend a lot of time creating and posting content but fail to convert views into action. Add knowledge of Instagram API to your resume and you can become a conversion superhero. Learn more at Consuming the Instagram API by LinkedIn Learning and Build a Photo Web App Using Instagram API (cape not included).

Storytelling

Businesses are always looking to tell their story. Anyone can convey information through bullet points and data, but not everyone can weave those facts and data into a compelling narrative. It’s famously Apple’s storytelling and skill at communicating their “why” that made their “Think Different” ads so effective. Storytelling is important in writing, videos, podcasting, social media, and more. Get the principles of story and you can apply it to just about any medium.

Bottom Line

The way the IRS distinguishes between employees and independent contractors guides what benefits a worker is entitled to, what tax obligations they’re subject to, and which paperwork is required to make their status legally sound.

Worker Classification (The BIG Question)

While the paperwork is important, the most important aspect of this whole conversation is making sure you get a worker classified correctly in the first place. The classification guides all other questions, including whether to file a W-2 or a 1099. It also determines whether the employee or the employer is responsible for withholding taxes, which labor and employment laws apply, and how the work gets paid.

Thankfully, the IRS provides some guidance guidance for determining how a worker should be classified. It considers how much control the worker has over how, when, and where work gets performed as well as whether/how much the employer provides in order for the work to be completed.

Employees Require W-2s

W-2: Wage and Tax Statement is a document that reports an employee’s gross earnings as well as the amount of taxes the employer withholds on said employees’s paychecks. Employers are legally required to fill out W-2s for any workers earning $600 or more in one year from whom they’ve withheld any taxes. The Social Security Administration receives a copy of the form as well as the state, city, or local tax departments. Employers retain one copy for four years.

The deadline to file W-2s with the SSA and provide copies to employees is January 31 of the year after the year of employment. Employees use the forms to complete their own individual tax returns and future social security and Medicare benefits are computed based on these figures.

Non-Employees Require 1099s

People who perform work for the company without being on the payroll require the Form 1099-NEC: Nonemployee Compensation. Note that as of 2020, the IRS no longer uses Form 1099-MISC.

While independent contractors keep track of their own tax obligations and file their own forms to the IRS, employers are still required to file a 1099-NEC for each person who is not an employee and was paid at least $600 during the course of the year.

Similar to a W-2, copies of the 1099-NEC of to the IRS, state tax agencies, and the independent contractor while the employer retains a copy. The 1099-NEC is also due January 31 the year after the work was performed.

Bottom Line

Employers that need help making the determination can work with a partner (such as PayReel!) to make sure they get that status right or may wish to file Form SS-8, Determination of Worker Status for Purposes of Federal Employment Taxes and Income Tax Withholding to let the IRS make the official determination. Since that process can take up to six months, any business that has frequent hiring needs may be better served by working with a partner (such as PayReel !) that is specifically qualified to make the determination and handle all of the associated risk and compliance issues as well.

If you’re looking at onboarding your first employee, congratulations! It’s a big step in the life of any business. Since you’re dealing with paying someone else, you need to be extra sure you do it correctly! You’re dealing with someone else’s livelihood, which in itself is a big responsibility, but you’re also subject to government rules. If you break them, you’ll eventually face consequences. So here are some questions you might be asking and resources to help you find the answers you need.

1. What Paperwork Do I Need To Gather?

Typically, you’ll need to gather the following forms:

• Form W-4: This form helps you determine federal tax withholding
• State W-4 form (if applicable): Some states either don’t have state income tax or use the federal Form W-4 to determine state income tax. Check if your state has a specific form.

2. How Will I Pay The Employee?

You’ll want to consider frequency as well as the actual method of getting money into your employee’s hands (cash, check, direct deposit, etc.). When considering whether to pay your employee(s) weekly,  biweekly, or monthly, you should make sure you brush up on pay frequency requirements by state. Whatever you land on, just make sure you follow your state’s rules and also notify your employees what schedule they can expect.

3. How Should I Calculate Taxes?

Your W-4 form(s) will help you make this determination. Unless the employee is exempt, you’ll usually need to withhold social security, medicare, and federal income taxes. Other possible withholdings include state or local income taxes. If this is making you want to lie down for a nap, you can make it very easy by using a payroll software with a built-in system for helping you get it right.

4.What Other Deductions Should I Be Aware Of?

In addition to the standard deductions, employees may be subject to wage garnishments, child support payments, health/life insurance premiums, or automatic retirement. If any of these apply, have new employees fill out the appropriate forms.

Bottom Line

Payroll software can help simplify deductions and payroll big time if you’re handling them on a small scale. For large scale onboarding and payrolling, most businesses are best served by hiring a partner (like PayReel👋 !) that specializes in handling frequent, high-volume hiring and payrolling.

I was one year and two weeks into teaching high school when I realized it was–without a doubt–not a good fit. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I’d won awards in the position I had left the previous year but, while I was certainly happier in sales than in teaching, that profession didn’t speak to me either. With a measly three years of post-college life under my belt, I’d experienced success without satisfaction in my first “real” job and then neither success nor satisfaction in my second. (Today is a good day to thank a teacher, people!).

I had harbored the “someday” dream of having my own business the moment I realized it was a thing. But picturing a future of business suits, uncomfortable shoes, and having a schedule set for me felt like going backwards. Oh and by the way: nobody was responding to my resume anyway. The timing didn’t seem right and I didn’t have the experience, but I was feeling backed into a corner. So with a little nudge from my circumstances, I went for it. Here’s what I would tell myself after a decade plus charting my own course.

The true risk isn’t the first one that comes to mind. In comparison with a 9-5 job, freelancing is risky. You absolutely could lose everything…or at least be very, very hungry at times. I mean it. You could have clients who pay late or don’t pay at all. You will have slow months that land you in the red and times you’re trying to figure out how to create a meal from whatever you can find in the freezer and the last quarter cup of rice in your pantry. Risk aversion is real, but if it keeps you in your swivel chair at a 9-5 you hate, then you’re afraid of the wrong kind of risk. Because there’s nothing more risky than staying in a job where you feeling like you’re wasting your life.

The biggest companies take the longest to pay. I won’t name names, but I can say that our biggest clients often take the longest to pay. I followed up with a Fortune 500 company for two years before they finally paid an overdue invoice. It wasn’t malicious. I just had to navigate their system and got passed around from person to person. Cash flow is a big deal when you’re a small business. When we’re paying our mortgage based on that invoice, I’d rather work with the mom and pop shops that pay right away than get a recognizable logo on our client list.

The freedom is fantastic, but it comes at a price. Yes, the dreams of working from the beach and choosing the jobs that excite you are real. To overworked, under-appreciated 9-5ers, freelancing may seem like the holy grail. But going out on your own isn’t just a world of free-flowing creative juices, coffee breaks, and wads of money. Freelancing can make you feel just as burnt out and unstimulated as whatever made you take a hike from your previous gig in the first place.

Your “boss” may be liberal about time off, but you still have to answer to your bank account. You’re your own boss. That means you can take Friday off because it’s a great powder day (that’s the Colorado girl in me speaking). Still, if you want to build a solid business, you have to put in the work. And if you want leave of any kind–vacation, maternity/paternity, sick days, etc.– you have to create it yourself. Ideally, that means building yourself a solid savings account with 3 months+ living expenses. The hope is that, because you’re building your own dream (and not someone else’s/one you don’t believe in) that you’ll at least enjoy it more. While it can be enormously satisfying and liberating to build your own business from the ground up, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Some days, you’ll get to take a Friday off because you want to. Others, you’ll grind away on a Saturday because you have to. Any workday can be a weekend and any weekend can be a workday. 

You don’t have to starve. The “starving artist” is a familiar refrain for a reason, but it doesn’t have to be your reality. Start by producing work you can be proud of. From there, you’ll get some experience and can feel good about charging fair prices for it. Getting to a point where you can walk away from that don’t exactly stimulate you is so satisfying. My husband fondly recounts one of his early video editing jobs for a veterinarian client. He got feedback to show a dog’s anus at 50% opacity (i.e. tone down the butt shots). Keep the long-term goal in mind and you can keep the less than stellar projects in perspective. You’re building something. You’re building your thing. Once you have a steady flow of clients, you can be more selective and you can charge more as your experience grows. Remember that being able to walk away puts you in the best position to negotiate more freely.

It’s easier than ever to burn out. I know how easy it is to have your life and energy sucked away by a “regular” job. The counterintuitive truth for many freelancers is that it’s even harder when it’s your business. You can pay your mortgage and your car loan and your grocery bill because you pounded the pavement to find the client and then pounded it again to produce a product they valued. When you’re in business for yourself, it’s easier than ever to just do, do, do all the time. The trap is the lie that you have to. But you give yourself out completely and guess what? There’s nothing left. There’s nothing left for your bedtime routine with your kids, or those glorious miles on the trail with your sneakers and your earbuds. Here’s the real, counterintuitive kick in the pants: If you don’t have time for the stuff the fuels you, you don’t have a business. As a freelancer, your business is you. It’s’ your creativity, your talent, your brains, and your guts. That’s something you simply cannot phone in. You have to be fueled, which means you can’t give everything to your business. You have to give something to yourself, which in turn, gives everything to your business.

The Bottom Line

Once you go out on your own, you live and die by your own work. The allure of working from home in your pjs and not having a boss breathing down your neck is real. But the struggle of life without a full time, “safe” job is real, too. It’s awesome. It’s terrifying. It’s not easy. Whether you’re on your own or working a “safe” job, you will kill yourself if you don’t find balance. But here’s the truth about freelancing, if you can handle it. And you can handle it, by the way, because you are scrappy enough to think about launching out on your own in the first place. It’s hard, gut-wrenching, kick you in the seat of your pants, pride-swallowing work. And it’s all yours, which is absolutely fantastic.

You’ve hired a team to professionally film and broadcast your event. You’ve considered the content to be sure it translates well both in-person and online. When you’ve already gone to the effort of putting together a hybrid event, you may as well get the most you possibly can out of said event.

Three Ways to Get More Mileage Out of Your Hybrid Event

Social Media Snippets

Your most important camera crew is the one capturing the event and live-streaming it live, but consider getting an additional camera in the mix. Give your additional videographer direction based on what you’d like to accomplish after the event. Their goal should be to capture footage that can be edited together with the primary footage for social-media friendly montages, teasers, and more. For example, they could get b-roll from the location or close-up audience shots. You may even want to set up interviews with your most in-demand presenters. Whether you’re seeking to advertise future events or offering online training sessions after the event, collaborate with your marketing team and engage top-notch editors to make the most out of the footage. There are endless ways to choose your own adventure based on your marketing goals.

Training Sessions

Look for ways to offer more value to customers. Consider both follow-up content for those who attended the conference as well as any materials you can offer to those who didn’t. You’ve already vetted the content and information for your event so you know it’s helpful to your audience. See what other ways you can leverage that content into training sessions/programs and more.

Sponsorships

Anytime you increase engagement, you also increase opportunity to capture sponsorship dollars. More eyeballs and more enthusiasm demonstrate that a sponsor’s money will be well spent. You can offer ads, event website sponsorship, commercials, and more.

The End is The Beginning

Once you’ve pulled off your event, have a quick celebration and then get back to the grind. The work is just the beginning. Use a survey of attendees or other customers to find out what content they liked most or are most interested in after the fact. Use that information to improve future events and to engage customers who didn’t attend while also increasing value to sponsors. The bottom line is that it would be a crime to let all that awesome content sit on a hard drive after it’s over.

What are your favorite ways to make the most out of your post-event strategy?

Want more on hybrid events? This post is the second in a series. Check out last week’s post that debunks the #1 myth about hybrid events. 

The workplace was already evolving, but you might’ve noticed things accelerated in the last year and a half or so. For many of us, work relationships are no longer made up of people we see on a regular basis. It is more and more possible by the day to have an entire functioning relationship without ever seeing a person or even hearing their voice. Of course there’s also the Zoom phenomenon, which paradoxically means that there are people we talk to and see each other virtually more than we ever did in person. Talk about an evolution. An office building is no longer a prerequisite for office relationships.

Three Ways You Must Adapt to the Changing Workplace

Office space = Any Space

Working in the same vicinity as people used to be a necessity. If you couldn’t walk down the hall to knock on someone’s door or get together in a conference room to discuss the next initiative, you couldn’t get much done. Now that you can work from anywhere, you can have meetings across time zones and without even leaving your home. You may still see your coworkers virtually, but you’re less likely to have spontaneous conversations at the proverbial water cooler.

Yes, you can work from anywhere and this part isn’t new. But thanks to the virus that shall not be named, it seems like now everyone expects you to be on camera. Well dang. At home, you really should step it up a little. Seth Godin has some ideas that make a big difference. They’re worth investing in if you can. If you must work from vacation, at least pack a ring light.

Blurred Lines

It may seem counterintuitive, but working from home has made the work/life balance worse for many of us. There used to be a somewhat forced separation of work and home. While you could take your work home with you, it was a lot harder to reach people with a random thought or question late at night or on the weekend. You were unlikely to call someone’s home and risk waking their kids at 9 PM. But shooting off an email or a text at 9 PM is socially acceptable and reading work communication as you’re going to bed or first thing in the morning is expected. Getting responses in a few minutes is so much the norm that a “delayed” response of even 10 minutes can cause concern. Now, it almost seems like you literally have to go underground (on the subway) or take a flight in order to get a break from electronic communications.

It’s worth making it a priorirty though. Do what you gotta do to have a break from the computer. Take a walk. Meditate. Lock your phone in a safe. Really. Everything will be better for it, including your work.

Communication is Easier. Except When It’s Harder.

With this level of access, it’s incredibly easy to communicate in a moment. But we arguably have more communication errors since we can’t truly read people over email or text and emojis don’t quite replace seeing a live human face. Replacing live communication almost completely has its own challenges.

It also really sucks to feel you have to respond on evenings and weekends. If you want a hack for respecting work hours for others (even if you work at odd times) use your schedule send option. It’s the best! Instead of sending at 1 AM, schedule an email to send at 8 AM the next day. It’s minor, but worthwhile both because it shows respect for their time and doesn’t condition others to expect you to work at all hours.

The Bottom Line

Work relationships have changed massively in the digital age. And then you-know-what came and just blew the roof off everything we expected. FaceTime often substitutes for face time, emojis often substitute for actual facial expressions, and all our “time savers” eat away at more and more of our time.

It will be interesting to see if  the pendulum could end up swinging back to more personal interaction. What do you think? Will we be so starved for human interaction that we run back to the office? Or are we too happy with our sans-shoe lives and lean even more and more on technology to replace the live interactions that used to be necessary?

If the internet was the spark that started the digital revolution fire, COVID-19 certainly fanned the flame. Humans did what we do. We stretched our resources to adapt to the new reality. Technology carried the flag and enabled many companies and workers to stay afloat with remote workplace solutions. But, as always, technology has limits. No matter where your workers are located and whether you ever see them face to face or not, human capital is still your most valuable resource. It’s worth taking a little extra care to keep the human in your human capital management. 

Unfortunately, the reality for many temporary or contract workers is difficult. Often, they lack access to benefits, work overtime without corresponding compensation, and deal with clients who pay late or don’t pay at all. So when you go above and beyond, you earn trust and loyalty from you workers and for your brand as a whole. 

As the workplace becomes increasingly digital, the human piece becomes even more important. 

Here Are Two Ways to Keep the “Human” In Your Human Capital Management Even In a Digital World

1. Classify Workers Correctly

It’s easy to think of worker classification in terms of compliance. And it’s true! Classifying correctly keeps the IRS off your back. But it’s also a way to take care of your people. The better you do up front at classifying accurately and setting expectations clearly, the happier workers will be. 

Accurate worker classification is an essential starting place. It’s easy to get wrong, but with your reputation and large fines on the line, it’s also important to get it right. Here’s a list of the most common classification errors and how to avoid them. Here are some basic guidelines for identifying the difference between employees and independent contractors.

On the other end, employers often have a difficult time keeping up with contractor and freelancer management. It’s time consuming to stay on top of ever-evolving laws, minimum wage and overtime changes, benefits eligibility, and the differences between state and local regulations. It is a worthwhile investment, though. It raises businesses to preferred client status among contract workers and helps protect them from costly fines, to boot.

2. Pay temp employees and freelancers accurately and fairly

Pay accurately and on time. Some big companies make a habit of net 90, but we don’t recommend it. Net 30 is more ethical and ultimately better for business. Here’s why. Overtime regulations or minimum wage debates are in constant flux, but here are our suggestions on this front.

Be proactive about benefits and keep up with evolving state and local laws rather than waiting for workers to knock on your door. Transparency is a great way to build trust. 

The bottom line

We know you care about your freelancers, but they only know it if you show it. Taking these measures can help you keep the “human” in your human capital management. The major bonus of handling your freelancers in an ethical way is that it keeps you compliant.

We know you’re busy. If you don’t have the time, resources, or desire to pay attention to all the details, hire an expert to keep track of contractor and freelancer management for you. Our team of experts and our PayReel OnLine software are fully equipped to help you sort out the rules and execute processes while also balancing contractor expectations, legalities, and company budgets. This quiz can help you decide if you’d benefit from hiring a team like PayReel.  

We help you care about your workers even when you’re short on time. We think happy workers and peace of mind are pretty close to priceless.