Chapter 3 – Independent Contractor Issues:
This chapter lists out some issues that are associated with freelancing and some benefits of course. The list of 20 IRS common law factors seems daunting to someone who looks at freelancing as a possibility, but if one were to jump into doing that, it seems a little bit of legal knowledge and action should be taken before proceeding so an artist/designer doesn’t get themselves into trouble by accident. The rest of the chapter explains the procedures an employer might take hiring a full time or free lancer, which, as always, is interesting to read about because where else are you going to learn about it other than the procedure of getting hired. Having an upper-hand is always nice.

Chapter 4 – Sample Independent Contract Agreement:
Just as the title states. This is something that has come up over the last year in school starting with last semester in Ray’s class and I’m not sure if any of us have it nailed down yet. There are templates on the internet for contracts, but my question is always, is a template like this acceptable to use? I am not a legal copywriter, and i feel that some of the wording I have pt into school project contracts for practice wouldn’t hold up in the real world. The one in this book looks like something even can use, but should they? I’m honestly asking because it’s still something I’m curious about and not sure what to expect when I get out of school.

Chapter 5 – Income Taxes for Freelancers:
As an art student, there were never any classes talking about the law behind art and design.The topic has come up quite often through out my education, and as I am getting older I am learning more about the system, but it is always good to have it in writing somewhere. I honestly had no idea about the Business versus Hobby stuff, so that is good to know that can happen to a free lancer.

Chapter 6 – Calculating a Freelance Rate:
(The money. Get the money. And run?) This chapter explains how a new free lancer might get an idea of how much to charge. Since we’ve been doing estimates for things in class, this will help us figure out what we need to charge for certain things and the amount of time it will take. The couple of steps to take into account seem obvious, but since taxes can be confusing it is useful to have this all together in one place. The break even rate isn’t something I’ve thought about much but seems very important to keep your ass off the streets. Staying competitive and looking at industry comparisons seems like a good way to get a fair rate without de-valuing the current market.