You’re an independent contractor. This usually means you’ve been hired for a specific service and are not on an employer’s payroll.
It’s not easy to work independently. There are a lot of things you have to do on your own. For example, bring your own tools, control your own hours, or be in charge of materials.
Everything that a company does, you need to do for a single person. If you’re a 1099 independent contractor, then here are 3 tools you will need to make your life easier.
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The Benefits of a 1099 Independent Contractor
The norm used to be: go to university, get a job, and stay at that job until retirement. But things are changing. If you’ve decided to become an independent contractor, here are some of the benefits you can expect:
- You are your own boss
- You could pay less income tax
- You can earn more than employees
- You can have flexible work hours
- You can test new expertise
- You get a ton of experience
As you can see, there’s a lot of reasons why it’s great to be an independent contractor. You learn a lot because you’ll have to track your own hours, pay your taxes, manage payment schedules … basically, the responsibility of success lies on your shoulders.
But you don’t have to do it alone! Below are 3 tools that will help you.
Tool 1: Managing Finances
One of the most important parts of your job will be to manage your own expenses. Luckily, we have the perfect suggestion for you. And Co is the ultimate freelances suite that helps you process invoices, track expenses, and pay your bills on time.
It has an in-built schedule so you never send an invoice too late. You can also easily accept different payment methods from your clients. Plus, you can connect your bank account to automatically categorize expenses. It’s a dream, even if it’s a little expensive.
There are other tools out there if you don’t want to pay for this full package. For example, here’s a pay stub generator that helps you make paystubs in less than 3 minutes.
Tool 2: Tracking Hours
If you want to invoice your clients accurately, you will need to keep track of all your hours working for different projects. This is a tedious task. Luckily, there are a ton of hour tracking tools out there.
Our favorite tool is Hours, since is it simple and elegant. It can sync across all Apple devices and help you switch from one project to another. It will (almost) get you excited about tracking work hours!
Tool 3: Tax Calculators
Lastly, every contractor has to submit their own taxes. There’s no way around this rather unpleasant task. It can also get rather complicated when you’re juggling different clients or if your income flow is not consistent.
Tax calculators are here to save the day. These are useful tools where you just enter all the necessary information, and it will spit out your tax earnings and payments. We are especially impressed with the Quarterly Tax Calculator.
Become a Successful Contractor
You don’t have to have an entire company behind you to be successful. With the right tools, a 1099 independent contractor can become successful on their own.
Are you looking for more tips and tricks for your business? Check out our blog!
