Dear EdSeptember 2008I’m a self-employed editor, but it never actually feels like a business. It’s just me sitting on my own in a dusty room. Dear Travis You might not feel like you’re running a business sitting at your computer by yourself, but I believe you are, your clients believe you are and, moving up the scale a tad, the Australian Taxation Office certainly believes you are. In fact, the ATO is convinced you’re running a business; they’ll be around later this month with a bucket asking for donations, so you’d better get used to the idea. (But don’t confuse the ATO with that person in the koala suit who sidles up to your car at traffic lights, waving a bucket: same idea, but a much bigger bucket.) You don’t normally think of Peter Carey when it comes to business advice, but I’ll take advice where I find it. (Besides, I’ve had to quarantine the books I read for pleasure to make sure they don’t crossover into daylight hours and become work.) As Peter Carey put it in Oscar and Lucinda, ‘Owning a business is like having chooks’. Now think about this before dismissing it as just another one of Ed’s foibles. Chooks need grain and water. They need protection from foxes. If you want to collect and eat the eggs, the chooks need looking after. When the mornings are frosty and the grass crackles under your feet, the chooks will be happy to see you. If you want your business to grow, feed it. Contact potential new clients: let them know who you are and how you can help them. Keep your accounts up to date. Invoice as soon as you finish each job. Archive completed jobs onto CDs and get them off your computer. Spring clean your office. Keep your desk clear of everything apart from your current job. And spend some time each week actively seeking new work. I can’t guarantee that your computer will take on the personality of a chook, nor that it will be particularly happy to see you on frosty mornings, but you do need to look after your business if you want to collect the eggs. Ed Previous Dear Ed letters |
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