Cash flow difficulties are often a major obstacle to a smooth freelance life. Cash flow is the money you receive and the money you spend during a given time period. Here are some tips to allow yourself the freedom to concentrate on what you really want to:

1. Know how much you spend for both business and personal expenses. Look over the past three years of your expenditures. You’ll see if your expenses are stable or grow each year. If they grow each year, you must factor that into your calculations of what you need. The trick is to make more than you spend so that you can save the difference and not have to spend your life worrying about paying the bills.
2. See what you’ve earned over the past few years. Project the coming year. Will you cover what you need to? What happens if you don’t? Planning ahead gives you the opportunity to organize what you do so that your cash flow is what you need.
3. Keep track of the money you spend on a monthly basis so that you know you are on schedule. Do the same with what you earn.
4. If you are just starting out, you can know what you spend for personal things. Ask friends in the same field what they spend for business. Since you will be freelancing and not working on a W-2, you will be paying your taxes and both sides of your Social Security taxes. Put aside 25% of what you earn in the beginning and adjust this number to what you actually pay. As a freelancer, you will be paying your own health insurance and your own pension.
5. Keep your business expenses separately from your personal expenses. Too many freelancers don’t know what they spend on either their business or their personal life.
6. Remember to bill for your work, if appropriate, and follow up in a timely fashion when payment is late – so you will get paid.
7. Keep three to six months of both business and personal expenses in a liquid account so that you can have access to it when for whatever reason you are not getting paid for your work. Don’t invest this cushion in stocks or equity mutual funds.
8. The lower you keep your overhead, the less pressure you will feel about what you need to earn.
9. In a year where you may think you are earning more, remember to put a higher percentage aside for taxes. Don’t consider the extra money as money that you can spend. Make sure it will be available when estimated taxes are due.

Don’t expect yourself to be perfect. Getting and keeping your finances into a good balance is a learning process. The more you focus on it, the better you will get at it. Remember that the purpose of all this effort is to lead the life you want.