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The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) recently announced a delay in resuming wage garnishment for borrowers with defaulted federal student loans. This offers temporary breathing room if you are a freelancer with such a loan. The following summarizes this new development and how freelancers can use this delay student loan garnishment to get ahead of potential financial strain and avoid the negative implications of garnishment. As you may be aware, when garnishment hits your radar it has strong potential to disrupt cash flow, jeopardize your tax planning and create other financial challenges. What’s Behind the DelayThe Department of Education has been working to transitio…

Artists are freelancers — among the most underpaid and structurally unsupported. What happens in the arts is a mirror of what happens across the entire freelance economy. Why Art Matters Without art, we lose what makes us human. Art generates meaning, but what is less acknowledged is that meaning is the foundation of what we choose to invest in. Without meaning, any possibility of sustainable profit collapses. Growth Requires Resources Making art demands growth. Growth requires resources. Ask a corporate worker to leave a stable 9–5 to start their own business and see how destabilizing that transition can be. Ask an author what it takes to write a book. Art requires this…

It’s easy to assume that landing clients and building your portfolio are the hardest parts of freelancing. However, the numbers paint a different reality. More than half of new freelancers never make it past their first six months, not because of a lack of talent, but because their money management falls apart before the business can grow.​ Here’s what the data actually shows. According to Bonsai’s 2025 freelancer survey, over 60% of independent workers admit to starting without a budget or financial plan in place. Industry-wide reports back this up: most new freelancers do not separate business and personal finances early on, nor do they consistently track cash flow, res…

Towards the end of 2025, we circulated a survey to our members, asking how they as freelancers will be affected by the expiration of the Affordable Care Act enhanced subsidies. Of the over 600 respondents, 58% said that they purchase their healthcare plan through the state marketplace. Seventy-seven percent of freelancers said that without the ACA enhanced subsidies, they would lose coverage, downgrade their plans, or need to cut back on essential spending, like housing, groceries, and transportation. Freelancers are overwhelmingly in support of the Affordable Care Act subsidies, with 91% of respondents saying they want to see the ACA subsidies extended. Whether or not f…

At the end of last year, we put a call out to the Freelancers Union community, asking our members for their favorite accomplishments of 2025. It didn't necessarily have to be the "biggest" or "best" accomplishment — though it certainly could be — but whatever their favorite accomplishment was. Read on below for these achievements shared by our members; hopefully their proudest moments of the year will inspire you to celebrate of your own, and consider what you want to achieve in 2026. "My favorite accomplishment of 2025 was finally turning twenty years of research into something tangible. I've spent my career exploring how health (mental, physical, chronic conditions, lif…

Many freelancers believe inflation is just a distant line in government reports, something that barely dents their day-to-day hustle. If you find yourself thinking, “It’s just a few extra dollars at the store,” you are not alone. Yet behind those small changes is a slow but steady force that can quietly chip away at your financial security, often without immediate warning signs. Here’s a fact that may surprise you. Data from the 2025 Freelancer Rates Report shows that while rates have gone up slightly on average, many freelancers adjust their pricing less than once per year, often falling behind the real cost of living. If you skipped a rate adjustment, you are already ma…

This article is courtesy of our partner Solo Health Collective. Learn more about Solo at: https://freelancersunion.org/solo. For freelancers, independence isn’t just about clients or schedules. It’s about control — over income, time, and long-term stability. Healthcare should work the same way. For years, the conversation has focused on one question: Do you have coverage? But freelancers are asking better questions now: Can I see the doctors I trust?Can I predict what healthcare will actually cost?Do I have any real say in how my plan works?Coverage alone isn’t enough. Freelancers want control. Control Over Doctors: Choice Still MattersTraditional insurance keeps narrowi…

Ah, the holiday season — filled with joy, festive cheer, and maybe just a pinch of family drama! Let’s be real: navigating holiday interactions can sometimes feel like a game of emotional dodgeball. But fear not! Setting boundaries is like having a trusty shield that helps you enjoy the festivities without the stress. What is a boundary? A boundary is a limit you set regarding other people’s words or actions towards you. You can set different boundaries with different people. Good boundaries can: Create positive rapportPromote mutually productive collaborationsEnsure smooth, effective communicationDefine and clearly communicate expectationsProtect your time and energyPr…

Not sure what to get the freelancer in your life for the holidays? Do you want to show them you support the independent path they’re on? We’ve created for you the Ultimate 2025 Freelancers Gift Guide, with gifts that will help empower the freelancer you’re shopping for in their work, and help them take a well-earned break when they need it. And as a bonus — all of these gifts are created and sold by freelancers and small businesses themselves! For the New FreelancerMutualism written by Freelancers Union founder, Sara HorowitzBreak Up With Your Job hat, from our friends at Freelancing Females99 Classics headphones by Meze AudioFor the Work-From-Home WarriorMain Character C…

This post was produced in collaboration with Hustle Culture, a free Substack newsletter. Every freelancer brings a unique mix of technical and creative expertise to the table, but most of us share two key skills: self-discipline and time management. Without those, working for yourself can look like long, slow days on the couch or weeks jam-packed with endless tasks. I’ve fallen into both of those modes, but over time I’ve developed a formula that helps me create a manageable and productive weekly schedule. It’s difficult for me to sit and focus on one task for many hours at a time. Instead, I break up my days and weeks into dedicated blocks for each of my weekly obligati…

“I just get really anxious saying no, sometimes,” a client shared with me recently. As a career coach I often hear this sentiment from clients who are struggling to maintain their professional boundaries. Past experiences where saying ‘no’ was met with rebuke or criticism, have made many of us very cautious with this word. Some of us avoid it altogether. For us freelancers, this disconnect from our ‘no’ can be especially destabilizing: we’ll take on projects we know are not a good fit, appease clients who make unreasonable requests, or accept unethical behavior from our associates. As this kind of misalignment grows, our energy drains. And as these burdens lead us into p…

Effective bookkeeping is the basis of any thriving small business. Correct financial records offer crucial insights into a business’s financial health, enabling sustainable growth and the ability to make informed decisions. However, numerous small business owners, managing several responsibilities, usually make common bookkeeping mistakes that could create cash flow problems, financial discrepancies, and tax issues. Knowing these mistakes and understanding how to avoid them is vital for preserving the financial integrity of your small business. #1 Mixing Business and Personal Finance Let’s begin with one of the worst common mistakes of DIY small business accounting: mixi…

From Leo Aquino, founder and financial coach, at Queer & Trans Wealth With the cost of living, health insurance and taxes all rising, saving for retirement as a freelancer can feel impossible. In part, that’s because as a freelancer or small business owner, you’re wholly responsible for creating your own retirement savings. Workers at large companies have some notable advantages in this area: many employers offer 401(k) or 403(b) accounts to full-time workers. This lets employees automatically contribute portions of every paycheck before that money hits their account. These contributions are often tax-free, and some match workers’ contributions up to a certain amou…

It is now official. The U.S. federal government will require nearly all payments to and from federal agencies—including the IRS and Social Security Administration—to be made electronically. Essentially, refunds are being moved to e-refunds for the coming tax season and in the next two years, the IRS is anticipated to phase out accepting payments via check. The IRS provides several electronic payment options for freelance businesses. To prepare for this change in your freelance business, it is important to familiarize yourself with electronic payment methods including IRS Direct Pay, which allows free payments from your bank account, and the Electronic Federal Tax Payment …

The door for Open Enrollment will begin in most states on November 1. If you’re choosing your healthcare through the government’s marketplace, November through January is your opportunity to enroll in one of these healthcare plans. Exact deadlines vary state by state, so be sure to double check the pertinent dates for your location. While we don’t yet know what the outcome will be of the fight to extend the Affordable Care Act tax subsidies, we do know it’s important to be educated and informed of your options, including what health plans are available via our partners. Take this quiz to determine which health plan is right for you and read on below to learn more about ea…

Freelancers across the country face a common challenge: figuring out how to structure their business to minimize taxes without triggering compliance headaches. No matter where you are working, staying on top of the local and state taxes you are responsible for is a critical part of the complex tax trade-offs that can come with forming and operating your freelance business as an entity like an S corporation (S-corp) or limited liability company (LLC). Now, under the new "Big Beautiful Bill" tax provisions, it is more important than ever to understand how you can optimize your tax strategy, taking into account all levels of tax: local, state and federal. Below is a breakdow…

We talk a lot about how to make sure your clients pay you, fairly and on time. Sometimes, though, the people who are hiring you for your talent and services are not clients, companies, or businesses as we traditionally conceive of them — they’re your fellow freelancers. Whether it’s being hired by a photographer to style a shoot, writing for a friend’s blog, or even performing on a comedy show, it’s important to set expectations, communicate clearly, and follow through. Set clear expectations from the beginning No matter who you’re working for, in whichever capacity it is (and yes, performing counts as work) it’s important to know from the outset if it’s a paid opportunit…

This post was produced in collaboration with Hustle Culture, a free Substack newsletter by Olivia Rockeman centered around financial and creative guidance for working writers of all genres. Subscribe here. Last summer, when I quit my corporate journalism job to freelance full time, I thought I’d be lucky to earn enough in the first year to cover my rent. I left the corporate world for the autonomy and flexibility I hoped freelancing would provide, but I worried constantly about my financial prospects. The rates for freelance journalism projects are notoriously low, and I’d heard horror stories about writers being out of work for months at a time. In the months before I q…

If you’re like most freelancers, many of your best clients come from referrals, word of mouth, and your network. But this is a recipe for feast-and-famine months. Your network is finite. If something unexpected happens — like a client has to reduce your hours or end a contract early — you could have a dip in income without a warm pipeline of high-quality leads. If you’ve never done proactive marketing and lead generation before, you’re not alone. Freelancers and consultants often come to me after three, five, even ten successful years in business because their referrals dry up and they realize they never built a proactive marketing strategy. Believe me, I’ve heard it all.…

Whether you’re self-employed or employed and work in a tipped profession, there is a new opportunity to lower your federal income tax bill—thanks to the newly enacted 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA).' For the first time, qualifying freelancers can deduct up to $25,000 in tips from their taxable income starting in tax year 2025, but as of right now, this deduction only qualifies until 2028. But before you celebrate, let’s unpack what this means and how to make it work for you. What’s New Under 'OBBBA' The “No Tax on Tips” provision applies to federal income tax only. That means while you can deduct tips from your taxable income, they still count toward your self-employ…