You know, with the exception of one deadly and unpredictable midget, this girl is the smallest cargo I've ever had to transport. Yet by far the most troublesome. Does that seem right to you?

Early ,'Objects In Space'


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NoiseDesign - Dec 05, 2011 1:19:50 pm PST #756 of 1418
Our wings are not tired

I suppose for me it means that I don't have it counted as a recurring annual expense. There have been a handful of times over the years that I've needed to talk to a lawyer for the business. So it tends to fall in my budget under general expenses, not a line item for legal.

I think the bristle is because that's a pretty unilateral statement to make. If one doesn't have a line item for legal fees then your business is a hobby. The term hobby denigrates the business.


amych - Dec 05, 2011 1:25:06 pm PST #757 of 1418
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

I'm sorry if the bristle seemed out of proportion or at all directed at you -- but it is genuine, and there for a reason. "Hobby" is a very common way of undermining just the kind of businesses that I (in particular) and a lot of others who hang in this thread do: freelancers get it constantly, but so do many other one- or two-person businesses, even more so if you work online or out of a home office rather than a fixed place like a shop. It goes right along with "when are you going to get a real job" and "so this is a little thing you do on the side?" and "but your spouse must be making good money, right?" and a hundred others like it.

So, yeah, making sensible legal precautions is a part of any business. But "hobby" is kind of a third rail.


Strix - Dec 05, 2011 1:27:45 pm PST #758 of 1418
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger

Yeah, what ND said. And I'm not bristling at you, ita !, but at the writer.

It's just...mine's not a hobby, and I would love to have money laying around for legal fees, really, and it's a sensible thing to build into a budget -- but it's just SO not feasible right now. And isn't for SO many small business owners. Most, I'd reckon, especially young, new businesses.


Strix - Dec 05, 2011 1:28:35 pm PST #759 of 1418
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger

...and x-post with amych!


amych - Dec 05, 2011 1:33:05 pm PST #760 of 1418
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

Freelancer Twin powers ACTIVATE!

Form Of... AN OUTSTANDING INVOICE!!


Strix - Dec 05, 2011 1:36:01 pm PST #761 of 1418
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger

Heh.

I don't have any outstanding, yet. I've just got some stuff lined up that won't come in for a while.

I HAVE had a client who didn't pay me for 3 weeks. It was a $40 payment. I was like, UM -- PAY ME. Due date means due date; I gotta eat, you!


NoiseDesign - Dec 05, 2011 1:37:53 pm PST #762 of 1418
Our wings are not tired

There are always the occasional people that are deadbeats on payments. Honestly for most of them unless it is a very large amount I'd spend more in legal fees to get the money that to just write off the loss.


§ ita § - Dec 05, 2011 1:53:16 pm PST #763 of 1418
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

So is it good advice or not? I get that there's hot button language, but it seems to me to be a couple steps behind accountant on the taking precautions list.


Amy - Dec 05, 2011 1:54:41 pm PST #764 of 1418
Because books.

I HAVE had a client who didn't pay me for 3 weeks.

Whenever I freelance, I assume someone has 30 days to pay. That used to be standard, and I always wanted to build in time *without* the money than expecting it right away.


javachik - Dec 05, 2011 2:06:44 pm PST #765 of 1418
Our wings are not tired.

ita !, considering the guy giving the advice is a lawyer, he isn't exactly a disinterested adviser. I always consider the biases of any source when it comes to recommendations, business or otherwise.