Assignment 1

14: Working Freelance in the Creative Media Sector

Name:…Rosie Winslade....

WORKSHEET ONE:

1  What is your chosen sector?

        Graphics

2  What is your chosen specialism?

Graphic design work

      What is full-time work?

Full time work is where you work a contract of around 30+ hours a week. You have a set wage and are paid monthly. In full time work you get paid holiday and sickness pay. The job will have set hours so a set routine. This is why it is ideal for family people or just general people with a lot of bills to pay and children. Redundancy pay applies if you lose your job for no reason of your fault.

4   What is part-time work?

Part time work is a short contract, perhaps of 6 months. At the end of the contract you may get a new contract or just lose your job completely. This type of contract would be good for graduates or students who are looking for experience in the job field. People who are not committed to any major household bills or children would be ideal.

  

5    What is freelance?

Freelance work is where you are working for yourself and do not have fixed work, hours, money etc. Often, freelancers get a lot of money but that depends on how many jobs they get in a month. It has its disadvantages of not being able to plan ahead as you are unaware of how much money you will be making.

6  What qualities do you think you need to be a good freelance?

To work freelance you need to be good with money and be determined to get the work done in your own time.

7   If you could choose a type of contract to have, which one would you pick and why?

I would pick to work full time, as it would be reliable and a set amount of income per month.

8   Search for details online of someone who works freelance in your chosen sector/specialism. Summarise their duties/responsibilities and comment critically on their job. Does reading about them make you more likely, or less likely, to go freelance?

Lee Mason is a freelance graphic designer. His duties include designing logos and other work for clients. Responsibilities include time management and keeping on top of finance.  Some of his work includes designing menus for restaurants. He has 5 years experience.  As he is freelance his pay depends on how many jobs he works on, this makes me less likely to work freelance. 

WORKSHEET TWO:

       Which working environment is best for you? Why? Please answer as fully as possible, comparing and contrasting the two methods of working, giving pros and cons for each.

Hiring office space would be best for me. This is because it would give a more professional feel and would feel like a real working environment. Working from home would be too informal and unprofessional for me. Hiring office space, however, would cost money. Working from home would be cost effective as there are no hire fees, however it would merge work and free time into one and there would be no escapism from work whilst at home. Working from home also gives no social opportunities.

      You have decided to work from home and will need to equip your office. Please list AT LEAST five things you will need for your office, and find out the prices so you can work out how much you will need to spend in setting it up. Make sure you list the websites where you have sourced the prices.

Laptop- Apple Macbook- £1000-Apple Store

Printer- HP Smart Print- £39.99- PC World

Desk- Corner Oak- £249- Staples

Chair- Spinning chair- £49.99- Staples

IPad mini- £260- Argos

Lamp- £5- Asda

Setting up an office at home would cost a lot of money. I researched different websites to get the best prices and products and made a list of the chosen ones (above).

       You have decided to hire an office.  Research and show at least three possible sites in the local area. Discuss the pros and cons of each, together with rent. Again, please list your resources.

Western Road Portsmouth- from £249 a month

Pros-

Kitchen areas

State of the art technology

Staff and support teams

Cons-

Most expensive

Furthest away

Southampton Road Portsmouth- From £200 a month

Pros-

Surrounded by the sea

2 minutes from M27

First month’s rental free

Cons-

No support staff

Not as high tech equipment

Kingston Cresent Portsmouth- From £220 a month

Pros-

Car parking

Printing services

Kitchen

Showers

Cons-

Lots of offices may be harder to get a parking space

No direct transport links

WORKSHEET THREE

Financial stuff

1    What is income tax?

Income tax is a tax levied directly on personal income.

2     What is National Insurance?

 The system of compulsory payments by employees and employers to provide state assistance for people who are sick, unemployed, or retired. 

3    What does VAT stand for and how much is it set at?

 VAT stands for value added tax.  VAT is tax on the amount by which the value of an article has been increased at each stage of its production or distribution. Basic rate is 20%. 

3) Calculating the cost of a job – making sure you don’t lose out.

You are doing a job which involves you travelling to Swindon, either by train or by car, staying overnight. You will have three meals while you are there – dinner, breakfast and lunch.

The job will cost you £80 in materials and the company you are working for will not pay your expenses additionally. You expect the job in total to take you three days.

You want to make £100 a day net – ie after your tax and VAT has been taken out. Work out how much you are going to charge the company for the job.

)          Find a hotel in Swindon where you are going to stay. Don’t ‘take the mickey’ – the company will not be impressed with you using a five star hotel. Look up their rates – is breakfast included, even dinner? Obviously then you would not have to add an allowance for these meals.

n   3 * hotel Jurys Inn Swindon- £47 Per night. TOTAL: £141

     Free Breakfast is included & free wifi. 

        Calculating petrol – using google maps should give you how much it will cost in petrol.

The chosen route will take 1 hour 26 minutes. Googles est. fuel cost is set at £16.28 

d      Make allowances for any meals that are not included in your hotel rate. Again, you are not fine dining – how much does a good meal at Nando’s cost?

      Breakfast in the hotel is included. Therefore I will need 3 days worth of lunch and dinner. As there is a Tesco Express nearby, lunch is covered at £3.50 per day for a meal deal covering a sandwich, crisps and drink. This totals at £10.50. 

      Dinner averages at £10.00 per person per meal at restaurants such as nandos, harvester, pizzahut etc. So i will allow a £30.00 dinner allowance. 

I

e      Add all these costs together – your travel, hotel, and meals, your £80 in materials and the £100 a day for three days you want to earn.

         How much is this?
      Travel- PETROL- £16.28
      Hotel- £141
      Meals- £40.50
      Materials- £80
      Earning- £300
 
    TOTAL: £577.78

Tax at the basic rate is 20%, so how much is that on the total for your job? Find out and make a note of it, then add that to your total. This final amount is how much you will charge for the job.

The cost is £577.78 before tax.
Then the cost is £693.36 after tax.

Then list:

The total you will charge the company for the job.
£693.36

How much are you putting into a savings account to cover your tax?
£115.58. When working as a freelance, tax is not taken automatically it is my responsibility to pay it. £115.58 is how much tax there is on the cost of the job.

How much of the final amount will be there to cover your expenses?

The money charged is £100 per day which is £300. With taxes that is £360. So £333.36 is the cost to cover expenses.