Newsletter - November 2024

We talked:

• How they got their start freelancing

• Balancing running a business with raising a family

• Pricing and package strategies for sustainable business

Also inside this edition:

• Latest updates from Rounded

• Free webinar: How to capture leads and engage customers 24/7

• Results from our October Cyber Safety Survey

• Get your website or portfolio featured in our new article on best freelance sites

• Tip of the Month with Lauren Thiel, Accountant for Sole Traders and Creatives

• More resources to help your business

⚙️ Exciting new updates for Rounded

The product team has been hard at work! This month, our cofounder Grant has 3 new updates to share:

Invoice font size adjustment

The first stage of our invoicing update has just been deployed! While this is largely foundational, paving the way for many exciting updates, it does include font size adjustments.

Now, when customising your invoice template or an individual invoice, you can choose from a number of font sizes:

Deeper Stripe integration

We’re busy putting the final touches on a deeper Stripe integration. This will enable a feed of Stripe payments in your Rounded account, similar to a bank feed.

Each Stripe payment can be added to your income along with the associated fee as a deductible expense.

This is a powerful integration, especially for those looking for recurring billing or subscription solutions. Subscriptions can be easily created within Stripe, and each successful charge of your client’s card will appear in Rounded to be added to income.

Next up: Square integration

Once our Stripe integration is deployed, the team will be getting to work on bringing Square payments to Rounded. Watch this space!

📣 Spotlight: From side hustle to sustainable family busines

The Digital Brew specialises in all-in-one website packages for solo and small business owners, including website strategy, SEO, content, design, development, and management.

Angela and Stewart Rodgers, co-founders and high-school sweethearts, joined us this month to take us through the secrets to their success.

Here's some of our highlights from our chat:

Be upfront with pricing

“Having our prices on our site means by the time we chat with a potential client, they’re keen to work with us. They know what to expect. We can invest a lot of energy upfront in having that conversation and really scoping the project out, which can take a couple of days.”

Offering flexible payment plans

"For our main package, we offer by default a 12-month payment plan, as we know it’s expensive for many people to pay upfront. We can do custom payment schedules – say, 24 months, or paying it all before the end of the financial year – but that’s all spelled out in the proposal before we take on the client.”

Angela and Stewart's #1 tip?

“Be helpful, but charge for that helpfulness. There’s no point in being helpful for free because free doesn’t put food on the table.”

Find out more about Angela and Stewart's journey in our full interview.

▶️ Free Webinar: Smart Automation for Freelancers

Want to win more business for 2025?

Rounded Co-Founder Oliver as he chatted to Richard Le Bas from Sabel Customer Success Solutions about how any business can automate and transform their approach to lead capture, customer nurture & engagement by using AI-powered technology.

They covered:

• What a great customer nurture campaign looks like

• How you can implement a cost-effective solution for your freelance/sole trader business

• What success looks like and how to measure the ROI

• How quickly you could get a solution set up and working for your business

🔒 How cyber safe are Rounded users? [Results from Oct survey]

Here's an overview of how Rounded users are sticking to cyber security best practices.

Overall, you're doing great!

• 52% update their software and devices as soon as updates are available

• 52% use strong, unique passwords and a password manager

• 63% have automatic / frequent backups of all important data

• 55% use 2-factor authentication / multi-factor authentication wherever possible

• 16% use a secure, encrypted network with strong passwords and custom settings in their home/office workspace

• 77% avoid opening suspicious emails

• 43% encrypt their files some or all of the time

• 39% avoid public Wi-Fi or use a VPN when accessing

• 58% have have up-to-date antivirus and security software on all devices

  Brush up on best practices here.

📣 Get your website / portfolio featured

We're refreshing our articles on creating winning freelance portfolios and websites, and would love to showcase our users!

We'll be featuring examples of portfolios or websites (with screenshots and a link to your site) as well as:

• Stories about what you learned when building your website/portfolio

• Advice for freelancers starting out with their first website/portfolio

Our articles will be featured on our blog and in our newsletter (read by over 12,000 sole traders and business owners in Australia).

Share your site with us now👇

💡Tip Of The Month With Lauren Thiel, Accountant For Creatives

If you have more than one income stream, it's wise to learn how to estimate your tax bill and put money aside from your sole trader profits for tax, on a regular basis.

Employers may only be withholding what's relevant to that one income stream, but when everything is added together it might mean the total tax bill is different!

🧠 More Helpful Resources

• See how Rounded works in our weekly masterclass

• Building a sustainable freelance career in a gig economy with Lizzie Mulherin – The Content Byte

• How imposter syndrome and a lack of self-confidence can hold small businesses back

• How to earn more as a freelancer without ruining your life with Sarah Greesonbach – The Content Byte

• 59 ways to like your TO DO list again from the Freelance Jungle

• DIY Strategic Planning with Creative Plus Business

• Why you need a business mentor with Steph Gobraiel

• How this small business got +1 million views – and what you can learn for your Instagram reels

💬 What's Your #1 Tip For New Users?

What do you wish you'd known when you first started using Rounded? Are there any hacks you'd like to pass on?

Share your tips here!

Cover Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash