The document provides 11 tips for freelancers to do before the new year to help organize their business and finances and plan for the coming year. The tips include organizing expenses and mileage reports for taxes, making last-minute business purchases, evaluating tools and clients, sending holiday gifts and newsletters, updating social media profiles, setting goals for the new year, researching events, and cleaning out their email inbox.

1. 11 Things Freelancers Need to Do
Before the New Year

2. Freelancers have a lot to think
about before popping the
champagne... so let us help!
We've got 10 quick tips to get
you ready for the New Year:

3. 1Organize Your Expenses.
Whether you do your own taxes via services
like TurboTax or pay an accountant, you’re
going to need a report of your business
expenses for the past year. A report via an
accounting program like QuickBooks or
FreshBooks is ideal, but even a simple
spreadsheet containing a list of your
expenses will help you or your accountant
greatly when it comes time to file.

4. 2 Organize Your Mileage
Reports.
There’s also a good chance you’ve
undertaken some business-related travel
over the past year. It’s actually possible to
deduct the mileage you’ve incurred for this,
so keeping a mileage log in your vehicle is
an easy way to keep track of it as you go.
Each year, the IRS publishes the standard
mileage rates that can be deducted from
your business taxes.

5. 3Make Some Last-minute
Business Purchases
Any business-essential purchases you make before the end of the
year will count toward your expenses. Subscriptions to services and
online products count, too.
4Target Your Organizational
Deficits and Make a Plan
The end of the year is a good time for reflection. What did you do well?
What could you have done better? A really good question to ask is,
“Which tools can help me do better?”

6. 5Evaluate Each of Your Clients
Since you’re already going to be in reflection-mode, it’s a great idea
to spend a little time with your client list. Have they all been properly
taken care of this year? Do you expect them to be with you next
year? Can you possibly get more work from them?
6Holiday Gifts
Freelancing is by no means a tiny pool.
It’s a giant ocean full of very, very hungry fish, and you need to
focus on the details if you’re going to stand out. One of those
ways is to send out holiday gifts to let your clients know you
appreciate them.

7. 7Send Out a Newsletter
If you’ve got a newsletter with subscribers, go ahead and send out an
end-of-year message.
8Schedule Some Maintenance
on Your Social Media Profiles
How long has it been since you’ve updated your LinkedIn profile?
Google Plus? Your life is going through constant change, so why
would you keep your business profiles static throughout the years?
Add some new pieces to your portfolio, make any necessary changes
(like phone numbers or adding “LLC” to all of your profiles, if you
made that upgrade this year), and find out if social media platforms
have added new features that will help you market yourself.

8. 9 Set Goals
Take advantage of all of this reflection and financial review to set some
goals for the coming year. Setting financial, career, and personal goals
will give you both the direction and motivation to improve and evolve
the quality of your services and business as a whole.
10Research Conferences
and Events
By sitting down and choosing some of these events ahead of time,
you’ll be able to budget around entrance fees, and possibly even
snag early-bird discounts.

9. 11Clean out your inbox
It’s a simple solution. It’s a mind-numbing
process. It’s one of the most freeing things
you’ll have done in a long time. A full inbox
might seem like a minor annoyance, but it can
severely affect your productivity and efficiency.
If you can turn on some of your favorite music,
fill up your coffee mug, and hunker down for
an hour of email organization and decluttering,
you’ll be able to start the new year with a
clean slate that will make it much easier to find
what you’re looking for.

10. Want to get more information?
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11. Don’t get caught in a courtroom... with a contract
that’s not legally binding.
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