The Codex
Freelancing guides for each stage of your business
Find practical guides to getting clients, setting rates, agreeing scope, getting paid, and managing delivery. Filter by your stage or topic, then use the linked templates to put a decision into practice.
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Filter by stage or pillar, then open the page that matches your current bottleneck.
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Freelancing is game theory: incentives, trust, leverage, and repeat business
Many freelance problems are not isolated. They are incentive, information, leverage, or coordination problems that show up in different places. Use this hub if you want the whole model and the sequence behind it.
Open Freelancing is game theory: incentives, trust, leverage, and repeat businessChoosing a freelance business structure
Start with the simplest structure and switch to an LLC, S corp election, or company only when profit, liability, or clients give you a clear reason.
Open Choosing a freelance business structureCold email for freelancers: templates, follow-ups, and rules
Short, specific, and sent to the right person: a cold email system with copyable templates, a follow-up cadence, and the numbers to track.
Open Cold email for freelancers: templates, follow-ups, and rulesContractor or employee? Classification for freelancers
Your contract label doesn't decide your status. Control, financial risk, personal service, and how you actually work do.
Open Contractor or employee? Classification for freelancersFind freelance clients without an audience
Client acquisition is a system: a clear offer, a list, a weekly rhythm, and follow-ups that do not rely on motivation.
Open Find freelance clients without an audienceFreelance contract clauses that matter
A good contract does three things: defines scope, defines payment, and defines what happens when reality changes.
Open Freelance contract clauses that matterFreelance platforms compared: Upwork, Fiverr, and alternatives
How Upwork, Fiverr, Contra, Toptal, Freelancer.com, and PeoplePerHour work, what each charges freelancers, and how to pick one and win your first jobs.
Open Freelance platforms compared: Upwork, Fiverr, and alternativesFreelance tax deductions: what you can claim
Deduct the business share of what it costs to run your freelance business, keep the records, and know the 2026 rates for home office, mileage, and equipment in your country.
Open Freelance tax deductions: what you can claimFreelancing basics: start guide
Your job in week 1 is not to build a brand. It is to pick an offer, line up a way to get paid, and start a simple pipeline.
Open Freelancing basics: start guideGetting paid internationally
Agree the currency, payment method, who pays fees, and due date before work starts, then compare what you actually receive, not the headline fee.
Open Getting paid internationallyHealth insurance for freelancers
Compare a spouse's plan, Marketplace coverage, COBRA, and HSAs, estimate freelance income for tax credits, and protect your income if you can't work.
Open Health insurance for freelancersHow to build a freelance portfolio that wins clients
A portfolio is evidence, not an archive: three to six relevant case studies with the problem, your approach, the result, and proof.
Open How to build a freelance portfolio that wins clientsMoney, tax & bookkeeping for freelancers
Most freelance money stress is a systems problem: payment terms, tax set-asides, and a weekly tracking habit. Fix the system, then sleep better.
Open Money, tax & bookkeeping for freelancersSet freelance rates
Rates are math plus positioning. Start with a floor you can sustain, then price the outcome as your proof compounds.
Open Set freelance ratesFreelancing is game theory: incentives, trust, leverage, and repeat business
A large share of freelance work is strategic interaction under uncertainty. See the incentives, reduce the hidden information, and make the good outcome easier than the bad one.
Open Freelancing is game theory: incentives, trust, leverage, and repeat businessGetting paid on time
Getting paid on time is mostly policy: clear due dates, a written scope, and an escalation sequence you actually run.
Open Getting paid on timeHow to screen freelance clients: signals, discovery questions, and red flags
Better clients do not come only from more outreach. They come from better signals and better screening.
Open How to screen freelance clients: signals, discovery questions, and red flagsTaxes: weekly tracking workflow
You do not need perfect bookkeeping. You need a weekly habit that prevents surprises and makes filing boring.
Open Taxes: weekly tracking workflow