A firm receives six freelance enquiries a week. Each one asks whether they need an accountant, whether they should be a company, what it costs and what they need to keep.
Somebody answers all six individually, every week, in messages that are substantially identical. That is most of a day a month, unbilled and unnecessary.
Why these enquiries arrive unformed
Because freelancing starts by accident. Somebody takes a contract, then another, and at some point realises they have a business and no idea what they are supposed to do.
What they are actually asking
Whether they are doing something wrong, what it will cost to find out, and whether somebody will make them feel stupid. The technical questions are a proxy for those three.
Publish a dedicated freelance page
Addressed to them, using their words. It answers the six questions, states the fee and converts the ones worth having without anybody writing a message.
Answer the company question properly
Not with a rule. Explain that it depends on income, circumstances and plans, what the considerations are and that it needs a conversation. Publishing the considerations is useful and publishing a threshold is not.
Publish the fee for a straightforward client
A figure. Freelancers assume an accountant costs more than it does and never enquire, which is the transparency in fixed fee questions every accountancy practice hears.
Explain what they should be keeping
From the first invoice, in plain terms. It is the single most useful thing you can tell somebody who started three months ago.
Explain the separate account point
Not required in every case and enormously helpful in all of them. It is free advice that makes their first year manageable.
Explain when they need to act
Registration timing, first filing dates and what happens if they are late. Freelancers miss these because nobody told them the clock had started.
Explain the expenses question generally
The categories and the principle, with the point that it depends on circumstances. Freelancers either claim nothing or everything and both cost them.
Address the contractor case separately
Different questions entirely, including how they are engaged and what that means for them. Publishing for both audiences on one page serves neither.
Explain what happens as they grow
Taking on work they subcontract, employing somebody, crossing thresholds or incorporating. Freelancers want to know the path.
Offer a starter conversation
Fixed fee or free, covering structure, records and dates. It converts, it takes twenty minutes and it is the cheapest client acquisition a practice has.
Be honest when they do not need you yet
Somebody with a small income and simple affairs may not need a firm this year. Saying so wins them when they do, which is the same honesty as software questions before an accountant takes you on.
Answer at the hour freelancers work
Evenings and weekends, because that is when they do their admin, which is the availability in an AI receptionist for self storage applied to a practice, and the documentation problem in self employed buyers and the documents they need.
Getting started
Publish a freelance page answering the six recurring questions with a fee, then capture enquiries at any hour without advising on structure. SpideyChat for accountants answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.