The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed: The only personal finance system for people with not-so-regular jobs

by Joseph D'Agnese, Denise Kiernan

Having trouble earning and saving enough as a freelancer? Learn the money secrets every self-employed person needs to know!

Can your earning style be cheerfully described as a cycle of feast or famine? Are the checks for every gig or project you invoice for arriving well after you need to pay your monthly bills? Every freelancer knows it's not easy living on an irregular income. But now you can take heart. Longtime freelancers and bestselling authors Joseph D'Agnese and Denise Kiernan share the easy-to-follow system that allowed them to build wealth and financial security while never sacrificing the creative careers they loved.

Every self-employed person's journey is unique, but wealth-building actually consists of taking the same simple but critical actions with your money month after month. Through trial and error, D'Agnese and Kiernan hammered out a money-management system that allows people without a weekly paycheck to achieve precious financial peace of mind. For the first time, you can get your hands on their best practices for achieving your long-held money goals.

The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed describes a completely new, comprehensive system for earning, spending, saving, and surviving as an independent worker. From interviews with financial experts to anecdotes from real-life freelancers, plus handy charts and graphs to help you visualize key concepts. You'll discover how to pay bills even when the money isn't flowing your way, how to put in place a bulletproof system for saving, how to eradicate debt, and how to plan for all the things you absolutely deserve.

This entertaining book is packed with straightforward, honest, and practical advice, as well as easy-to-follow savings plans you can activate tomorrow. If you like quick, punchy reads, then you'll love having Joe and Denise on your team. You cannot afford to miss the indispensable course that has helped thousands of freelancers take the empowered path to achievable wealth and financial security.

Buy The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed and start on your path to prosperity today.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business, Finance, Money, Personal Finance, Self Help, Entrepreneurship

297 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2006

About the author

Joseph D’Agnese is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other national publications. His work has twice appeared in Best American Science Writing (HarperCollins). His children's picture book, BLOCKHEAD: THE LIFE OF FIBONACCI, was chosen as an honor book for the Mathical Book Prize—the first-ever prize for math-themed children's books. His crime fiction has been selected by guest editor/author James Patterson for inclusion in the prestigious anthology, Best American Mystery Stories 2015, D'Agnese lives in North Carolina.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent primer on personal finances for the self-employed, aimed at freelancers and microbusiness owners. The advice is sound but quite basic. I'm already doing almost everything they advocate.

It covers saving (for emergencies, taxes, and retirement), spending, and debt. It also briefly covers insurance and estate planning.

Notes
How long to keep financial records
• If you owe additional tax, keep for three years.
• If you claim credit or refund, keep later of three years or two years after tax was paid.

Instead of telling people, "I can't afford that" to excuse yourself from spending, say, "I'm saving for X.”

Choose a financial planner who:
• Works for fees paid by client, not by commissions. There's a conflict of interest with commissions.
• Is a fiduciary .
• Is affiliated with NAPFA or Garrett Planning Network.

Saving
• Save at least 30% of income; 50% emergency fund (until maxed), 15% taxes, 10% retirement.
• Saving 40 to 50% is better; 15% emergency fund (until maxed), 20% taxes, 15% retirement, 5% health savings.

[Cara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just got this book last night, and I'm already halfway through. I've been freaking out about wrecking my finances when I become self-employed; this book reminds me that there's no magic to it. Figure out how much money you need for the stuff you need, and put that much aside when you have money so you can get that stuff. Even self-employed people can have health insurance, an emergency fund, a retirement, sick days, etc., if they do the math and follow through.

There is nothing in this book that I didn't know, but I'm still finding it helpful and very reassuring. The advice is concrete, specific, and clearly correct. Yay math!

...

The whole book was excellent. Highly recommended.

...

Notes:
Ch1: treat yourself like a good employer would treat you. That means retirement, benefits, sick days, tax withholding.

Ch2: figure out what happened last year. What did you earn, what did you spend it on? Figure out fixed expenses, 3 top areas to watch/goals, when to recheck (weekly? next month?).

Ch3: Debt. Go through records, find out: how much you spent on interest and fees last year, what kinds of things you borrow money for, what you're still paying on. Rank debts in order of priority to pay off. (small balance first, highest rate first, most hated first?) Don't put any more on credit, pay the minimum on everything but #1, pay it off, then do the same for each debt down the line.

Ch4: Make a big list of the specific things you want. Categorize them into 5-6ish categories. Rank them. Find out how much each one costs--spell out costs and dates in your goals. Focus on a few to make happen first.

CHh5: Save by percentages because freelance income is inconsistent. Have dedicated account for each goal, and siphon off the percentage for each as soon as you get paid.

Ch6; holy trinity of savings: retirement, emergency, taxes. Make account for each, put in a percentage every time you get paid. If you use the emergency fund, pay it back as soon as you can--consider it a short-term loan to yourself. For retirement account, use it to hold funds on their way to your SEP-IRA, Roth, whatever. SEP-IRA recommended: save up to 20% of net self-employment income (income after deductions), up to $49k. Tax deductible; have until April 15 for previous year. But bad if you plan to have employees--must put same amount in theirs. Another good option: Solo 401(k)--can save $16,500+20% of net or 25% of salary, tax-deductible--this offers the most money sheltered but slightly more complicated to set up, may have $250/year maintenance fees. Employees are also problematic with this one.

If hiring a financial planner, get one who works for fees only, not commissions. Choose a fiduciary--required to put your needs first. Get that in writing.

Ch7: Have a spending account at a brick-and-mortar bank you can deposit checks immediately. Link to the other accounts. When a check comes in, transfer percentages from here to other goal accounts. If big, transfer all but one month's expenses to local savings. Move back to spending acct as needed in next month(s).

Ch8: Do it. Start with 3/4/3 emergency/tax/retirement if have never saved before (??? not nearly enough ???) or 5/15/10 (better). Once you get 6-12 months' income in emergency, you can stop putting money in there and throw it at other goals.

Ch9: Debt vs. saving for retirement, emergency, taxes? Save first. Otherwise, you'll probably just put the other shit on credit cards and make the debt worse. Or set up percentages like this: 3/15/5/7 emergency/taxes/retirement/debt.

Ch10: As more money comes in, the fixed percentages automatically mean you're saving more. You could also up the percentages so you're still spending the same amount and saving the rest. Consider setting up a health account to save for health insurance (quarterly or annual) premiums, or to be sent to HSA (if you have a high-deductible health plan).

Stuff you need: life insurance, disability, estate plan (revocable living trust with an incapacity clause, will, living will). Get a real lawyer to do them.

Set up dedicated dream accounts to save for other things you want: new camera, big trip, etc. Add them to percentage system.

Where to save? <3 years: savings account or CD. 3-5 years: low-risk portfolio (20/60/20 stocks/bonds/cash). 5-10 years: moderate-risk portfolio (40/60 stocks/bonds). 10+: high-risk (65-90/35-10 stocks/bonds)

Ch11: Get more income: marketing, expand skill set, make more offerings, etc. Invoice promptly, follow up promptly, work promptly. Be open to offering new things. Envision where you want to be in 1, 5, and 10 years. Location? Employees? Customers? Income? Be detailed and descriptive as possible.

Ch12: Celebrate what's awesome about working for yourself! (or go back to a regular job if you don't like it--that's ok, too.)

Other books to read: Getting Things Done, Just give me the Answer$: Expert Advisors Address your most pressing financial questions, The complete tightwad gazette, The millionaire next door, The richest man in Babylon, Think and Grow Rich

Freelancers' advocacy:
Freelancers Union freelancersunion.org
National Assoc for the self-employed nase.org

Health insurance:
ehealthInsurance ehealthinsurance.org
freelancers union freelancersunion.org
nase nase.org
trade association

fee-paid financial planners
Garrett planning network garrettplanningnetwork.com
National Assoc of Personal Financial Advisors napfa.org

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a veritable godsend for those of us who have non-traditional jobs with erratic and unpredictable income. Had this book existed three years ago it would have saved me two years of toil and struggle as I experimented with methods of achieving financial security as a self-employed individual. It seems that 99% of financial guides make the assumption that the reader has a regular and dependable paycheck, and this book is for those who experience a "feast or famine" cycle. The authors are insightful and witty, and their recommendations simple and realistic. I found this book to be quite refreshing, as it provides answers for all of the "what ifs" that have been generated for me in reading the standard books by suze orman/jean chatzky/david bach/etc. This book takes into account that the self-employed bear the extra burden of saving their own taxes each quarter, shopping for their own health insurance, administrating their own retirement vehicles, and doing all of it with no steady paycheck. This book was a great comfort to me, if for no other reason that the authors finally acknowledged the difficulties and anxieties that are an inevitable facet of non-traditional employment.

Their philosophy in a nutshell? Create a "holy trinity" of non-negotiable accounts consisting of 1) taxes 2) retirement 3) emergency fund, that you pay a percentage of each dollar earned FIRST.....BEFORE paying for your own bills....NO MATTER WHAT. Luckily, I had already implemented a system like this in the last couple of years. However, for readers who have not finessed such a system, this book would be invaluable. They also go into Health Insurance and Health Savings Accounts, which I believe are financially savvy moves for the self-employed.

An accessible, successful, thoughtful book!

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to personal finance for freelancers and the self-employed. However, it focused a little more on strategies for those with a lot credit card debt or overspending issues than I expected. Neither problem is an issue for me right now (and hopefully, not in the future).

I was also surprised that they didn't address the topic of keeping personal and business accounts separate a little bit more. I've heard from multiple individuals (entrepreneurs & accountants alike) that this is a good idea, but it may not be for everybody.

It also seemed to focus on reactive techniques (i.e. what to do with money once it comes in), but didn't address proactive techniques such as cash-flow projections, but I believe that this was probably a more advanced topic than the authors wanted to address.

It was a little more basic than I expected but there were a few tips and resources that they mentioned that I was not aware of that I will implement after reading this book. Very well written (both of the authors are freelance writers).

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a great book! It was very helpful in giving me direction and motivation. If you are just looking for a self-help type book that just throws out theories and tips, this is NOT the book for you. This book really makes you get hands on with your finances. Each chapter has different objectives. At the end of the chapters it gives a little list of all the things you are to do next or to have done in that chapter. Part 1 seemed like fluff to me but I realized the authors were just trying to set you up for the real stuff and probably trying not to scare readers away with the wealth of information they laid on in part 2. Part 3 was mostly geared toward the self employed and freelancers but it still motivated me to look forward to my future. I will have to read this book again in the future. Since I checked it out from the library I am definitely going to have to copy the appendix. The authors list websites for everything you could need from financial software to online banks to health insurance to investment firms. A must read!

[Tinea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally useful, though quite longwinded to get across a simple message. It's a how-to guide for managing your finances (especially how to save money longterm) if your income is variable and unpredictable, like freelancers and people employed part-time or who work for tips.

The book had a few things that differentiate it from a traditional, holistic personal finance book (like The Financial Peace Planner, which I definitely recommend-- finance geared towards low-income folks). These included organizational tips and how to handle stuff specific to the self- or under-employed: you have to pay your own taxes (no withholding), health insurance, vacation & sick days, and retirement.

The book's main purpose is its savings system for people who can't make regular payments into a savings account. Instead the authors recommend:

(1) Save in percentages of all income you receive, instead of fixed dollar amounts. So instead of saving $50 every month, you would save 10% of every check, which might mean $15 one week and $35 another week. This way you still save even when you're not really earning much money, but it never bankrupts you, and when you're flush, you save more.

(2) Actually open many different savings account so you keep your money separated by purpose, instead of all in one lump. The authors figure that when you have no good feel for how much money you will have in the future, you tend to go through crazy spend and thrift cycles, getting super frugal between checks and then making extra purchases as soon as one comes in. Because of that, they feel that keeping all your money lumped together in one savings account makes it too hard for most people to sort out what they can spend now and what they should save for later. This is purely psychological-- you could easily just keep track of things on paper. But the authors feel that since it's easy to make many free online savings accounts nowadays, it's more effective to actually create separate accounts for each thing you are saving for.

They suggest you keep your checking account at your regular bank, with a debit card and all that. Then you create several savings accounts at an online high-interest savings bank. These do not come with debit cards, so to access the money you have to wait 2-4 days for it to transfer to your checking account, making them still liquid but not available for impulse purchases. These also get slightly more interest than regular banks, but are equally secure (they're FDIC insured).

They suggest 3 separate savings accounts to start:

- emergency fund (5-10%): 3-6 months worth of expenses saved up so that if you lose your job or something really expensive breaks (like a car), you can pull from this instead of a credit card. You set a limit to how big this will be and save a % of your income until you hit that limit. Once it's full, you don't need to add more money here, until you withdraw from it for an emergency. Then you save a % again until it's back to its full size. It's crucial to decide ahead of time what counts as an emergency: the authors recommend only pulling from this account to pay your fixed expenses like rent.

- retirement/long-term fund (10-15%): Choose a low enough % for this that it won't be a burden, but actually go ahead and start saving for longterm stuff like a house or retirement now since even small amounts become a lot of money over time. They recommend you have an online savings account for this, but regularly transfer that money into a higher interest investment like an IRA retirement account (which they explain in detail). As an aside (not in this book), I think a cool option might be to invest this in "socially responsible investments." That term has definitely been co-opted, so I'm not suggesting you throw money at any random organization that uses those words. But with research, it's possible to find things like revolving loan funds or other financial institutions that support good causes; your investment gives them some more capital to give out bigger loans, and you earn slightly more interest than you would in a savings account. For example, the Cooperative Fund of New England gives low-interest loans to housing and worker's co-ops, and they accept really small investments. I tried to do some research on mutual funds that have strict guidelines in what companies they invest, but I didn't find anything worth recommending.

- taxes fund (20-30%): If you earn enough to pay taxes, and they don't get taken out of your paychecks, it's important to prepare yourself for that enormous bill by actually putting like 20-30% of you income in a separate account that you don't touch.

After these three big ones, the book suggests creating more accounts based on your needs and goals. For example:

- [savings goal] accounts (5-15%) - accounts named by the thing you are saving for. Use the money that would have gone to the emergency fund, once that account is full. They suggest having separate accounts for small or regular stuff and large dreams, so you don't end up never reaching the big dream cuz you constantly empty your savings for smaller ones.

- health fund - to pay for things that aren't covered by insurance, if you have it, and to pay for everything if you don't.

- donations (5-15%) - Separate out some money to give to good causes, campaigns, and charities; actually choosing a % to spend on this leads to donating more money overall in a way that doesn't make you feel hard up.

I'm gonna repeat that a lot of this system is mental, and could be just as easily accomplished if you are meticulous about your financial records, keeping track of how much money you can allot to any specific part of your budget. That said, I'm probably going to try some of their recommendations: namely, separating out an emergency fund into a high-interest online savings account (I think I'll use this for dream&goal savings as well, just keeping careful track that the bottom X number of dollars don't count for fun stuff) and starting a retirement/long-term savings account; by starting a retirement account really early, I'm hoping to give myself less pressure later on to either get an amoral-ish high-paying job in my 30s and 40s, and/or struggle with needing to work forever. I also started a running Donations Budget, with a starting balance that I will continuously add to as a % of my income, and subtract from as I make donations; I'm hoping this will allow me the ability to send money out to emergency legal funds and stuff while having the peace of mind that it's actually money that's budgeted towards donations and not, you know, rent.

[Michael Starghill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! I highly recommend this book to all the self employed folks out there. It really helps with getting a grasp on the ebbs and flows of income that come with the self employed life. It also helps with structural ideas about planning for your financial future. Very informative and extremely helpful.

[Joel B Pryde · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic and essential book for anyone who works for themselves.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

i think this would be a really good book for anyone who has never read anything about personal finance or who is just starting out freelancing. since i've been freelancing for 6(!) years now, i'd figured a few things out by trial and error. but it would have been nice to have this book at the get-go to clue me in on a few things!

one thing the book didn't seem to mention at all though is the federal self-employment tax. it's 15.3% of your income off the top if you're self employed. so, saving just 15% of your income for taxes isn't going to do much, as you'll already be behind! you need to save enough for your federal (15.3% plus your tax bracket), state, and city/municipality (if applicable).

if you're a personal finance junkie, you probably won't find anything new in this book. but, like i said, if you don't know your ira from your 401(k), or you're just starting out on your own, this would be a good book to read. it spurred me to create an "emergency fund" account in addition to my "tax account" (well, that and a crown that fell out the same day i was going to write my 2010 tax checks!). next to come, a "retirement account".


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i won this book in a good reads give away. i was so excited! i never win anything! it arrived earlier this week and i started it today (3/31/11). hopefully there will be some GREAT advice in it that i can use to get our shit together.
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[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great resource for people with irregular income, whether that means you're part-time, freelancing or self-employed. Authors teach a simple, scalable finance system that shows you how to make your money work for you so you can avoid the "feast or famine" lifestyle. Of course, the book can only provide so much information, so you'll still need to hire a CPA and/or business attorney to make sure you're making the best financial decisions for yourself/your biz, but the book is definitely a great starting point!

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very direct read, with plenty of exercises in it to reevaluate one's personal finances. Doing the exercises helps one to get the most out of this book. Even if you don't, and you aren't a freelancer (yet), this is still helpful to read. It is geared towards freelancers, so anyone else in a different situation would have to reconfigure it to better match their lifestyle. However, the main lesson in the book can apply to everyone: save your money!
It is helpful that this book does not get bogged down with big financial terms one might expect in a book about personal finance. It is clear to anyone, especially those who are the opposite of math geniuses (and the math they do talk about is so simple). The narration is enjoyable, and sometimes it is like having a financial coach talking to you, steering you away from bad habits. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn how to save money.

[Zeniya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm giving this four stars instead of five because I'm a young, aspiring freelancer and can't implement all of the book's financial wisdom quite yet.

But I'll definitely return to these tips later and probably for the rest of my life. One thing's for sure, this book helped me respect, not fear, money. And not just for money's sake -- but for my sake.

[Lisa McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had known about this book years ago! Completely indispensable for freelancers and the self employed. I went through the entire book first and now will go back and complete the exercises. This book is a game changer.

[Rachelle Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The basic advice in the book is solid.
However it is quite dated and very centred on American small business. Not a bad thing just not for me.
Some of the language is also a little patronizing and gimmicky for my taste.

[Rachel E. Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so glad I picked up this book. It's incredibly helpful for me as a freelancer who wants to make good money decisions, but doesn't entirely fit the Dave Ramsey mold. I hope to start implementing some of their wisdom to do better with my finances.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very practical and useful guidance for independent contractors and the self-employed. The book is nicely peppered with humor too: "credit cards are the handmaidens of Satan."

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "must" for freelancers.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good financial guidance for the not regularly employed, but also solid advice for all.

[J. Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very practical and helpful book for those of us in the gig economy!

[Kasun Pathirage · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book for a new freelancer or one who is not good with money. Valuable advice on saving and client relations.

On the flip side, light on investment advice specifics in my opinion. Also seems to be assuming that all freelancers are under significant debt.

[Armin Ogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read.

[Sfdreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, although I am not self-employed (yet!) though I plan to be in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future. I got this book at the library, but plan on buying it when I actually do become self-employed to have on hand. Actually, I just now noticed that it being given away--perhaps I could win it!!

This is very well-written book with a dash of humor. And it is very understandable to someone whose mind goes numb when confronted with legalese and financial mathematics. Plus, I really like that they confront emotional issues of practicing asking for what you deserve and talk about building prosperity.

The last chapter (Chapter 12) is entitled: The Final Word on Financial Empowerement. Don't you just love that title? Financial Empowerment!! I'll have some of that!! Actually, the third part of the book is entitled: Growing the Plan and Living the Dream. Love that too!

Reading this book, while helping me sort out my current financial woes, also makes me long for the day when I have the freedom and creativity of working for myself!

If you have a not-so-regular job, this is the book for you! If you have a regular, convential job, this book's concepts can be applied to you as well. (Except that you don't have to worry about making quarterly tax payments!)

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads firstreads Giveaway. I have recieved the book last week, but no chance to read it yet. It is on the list to read soon. I am looking forward to learning something from it.

OK - I am working my way through the book. I was looking forward to it, then I was hesitant. Really, who wouldn't want to improve their fincancial savy, but the actual effort part was a bit of a scary prospect. I also didn't know the best way to approach this at first. I love the way this book is written, it puts some things into perspective, and is written to the people, for the people! It isn't just information, this is a system - so it does take some effort. I found it slow going becuase I would read, and then wait until I could complete tasks before reading more. That could take forever, so I have decided to finish reading, then go back and start over to actually follow the system. I will definately post an update again.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book through the give-a-away from here. Even though this was written for the self-employed it had a lot of practical advise the people with regular jobs could apply also. I found this a very easy to read in every day language with step by step guidelines to help manage your finance system. There are so many areas that the self-employed MUST take care of that those that are employed by others have automatically done by our bosses. It is so important that one covers all the financial bases before a crises hits. I definately feel that if you are self-employed or thinking about becoming self-employed you must read this book. It is very easy to follow and has lots of web-sites listed that can be great tools for you.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed is a straight-forward, accessible guide to managing an inconsistent income. The authors offer financial advice alongside personal anecdotes, which helps to make the book readable as well as informative. There is also an appendix that lists financial software options, web resources, and top investment firms to supplement the suggestions provided by the text. While not all of the information was specifically relevant to me, I found the book engaging and instructive. I anticipate I'll find myself referring back to The Money Book and its candid approach to personal finances. I received my copy as part of a First Reads giveaway.

[PopcornReads - MkNoah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Money Book for Freelancers, Part-Timers, and the Self-Employed by Joseph D'Agnese and Diane Kiernan is an excellent resource for everyone who chooses to work outside of the regular corporate world. The subtitle says it all: "The Only Personal Finance System for People with Not-So-Regular Jobs."

Working as a freelancer or self-employed person comes with all kinds of money issues that never arise for someone who chooses to work within the "system." This resource can save you a lot of headaches because I can tell you from experience that this is not something you want to learn by trial and error. There can be serious personal and consequences if you don't know what you're doing. I recommend it for your business operations bookshelf.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from a goodreads.com giveaway. I really liked it. I have read over 25 books on personal finance and money and I feel like this book has encompassed much of what several other books have discussed. It is an "all in one handbook" and well written. I feel it is easy to follow. Good for someone struggling to learn how to get their finances under control and good for someone like me who knows and understands the methods but could always use a refresher or reminder to stay on track. I would recommend this to anyone who can read whether or not they are self employed or employed by a company. A great system to follow!

[Lindsey]

I can not recommend this book enough. When I first bought this book years ago, not everything applied to me. I took from it what I needed and put it away. Every few years, or when something changes in a big way, I pick up The Money Book and re-evaluate. Each time I read through it, I gain new insight based on my experiences and the changes in my life.

Though much of the book references freelancers, anyone can gain help from this book. I've always worked some form of retail and currently also have a side business with my husband (who also works retail). This book is incredibly helpful in making sure we stay on track when our pay isn't always the same each month.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book and am so glad I did. The book was sent quickly and signed with a personal note by the authors.
Even though this was written for the self-employed it had a lot of practical advise that people with regular jobs could use also. It was written in everyday language with step by step guidelines that were easy to understand. The book was interesting with a touch of humor that made you want to keep reading. I've already recommended this book to several family members - self-employed and not. If you're starting a business or trying to keep one going, this book is a must read.

[Christopher Obert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has it all. If you are just starting out in the world of self-employment or you are a long time outworker, you should be able to find something useful in this book. The book, in my opinion, is geared to the newly self-employed. It takes you by the hand and brings you step by step to where you want to be with your personal business finance system. I found the book to be well thought out and is so detailed that even long time freelancers should be able to find something to help them improve their situation.