Deciding to become a freelance worker can be a scary proposition. Sure there is an allure to picking what projects you work on, but it can also be stressful not knowing where your next paycheck will come from. Luckily there are numerous resources out there that not only help you find more work, but also loads of tools to help you do your job more efficiently with a professional edge.

Tax time can be especially stressful for freelancers: despite paying estimated tax payments throughout the year, it’s rare that a freelancer doesn’t still have to come up with some money for April 15 — or come up with a long enough list of deductions. There are quite a few deductions available to freelancers that may not seem obvious when you first sit down with all those 1099s and receipts.

Despite how magnificent it can be to work for yourself, there are some things about freelancing that just plain suck. And no matter where you specialize, these vicious drawbacks usually find a way of asserting themselves.

The idea of making a comfortable living without leaving your home or putting pants on in the morning is an idea that makes many people drool all over their office clothes. No more commutes, no more company politics. There are negative aspects to freelancing—clients can be slow to pay or demand millions of revisions that decrease the quality of the product—but the positives by far outweigh the negatives. But, if you want to work for yourself and from home, you can do it.

One of the biggest challenges for new freelancers is pricing. Pricing projects isn’t easy. There are plenty of factors that come into play. And then you also have to decide how to charge: hourly, fixed price or on retainer? Or a combination?

Freelancing is by no means easy. You are given responsibility of your own future, your own earnings, to choose who and what you want to work for; but this responsibility comes with a whole set of unique challenges in itself. You’re in charge of your own future, so if you make a mistake, you’re the only one to blame. You dictate your earnings, so it’s up to you to hunt down clients and make sure you’ve got a consistent cash flow. These are but a few of typical freelancer’s worries.

Maximizing productivity is a never-ending task for most freelancers. There’s always some way that we can improve or some area that’s lacking the attention it deserves. This post serves as a guide and a reminder for ways that we can get more done and make better use of our time.

Back in 2005, long before we started Envato and FreelanceSwitch, I came across a site called iStockPhoto and discovered I could sell illustrations there. Now I’m not much of an illustrator, but I do like experimenting with making money. So I set about creating some little icons and graphics - mostly leftovers from my design work.

What’s the difference between high-earning freelancers and all other freelancers? For the most part, the high earners have a professional mindset. And what does that mean? It means making a shift from the paycheck mentality to the professional mentality. Here are 11 tips for doing just that.

Handling the legal aspects of doing business has got to be the most dreaded part of freelancing. Most of us have very little knowledge in this field without taking the time to do some research, and even then it can be confusing and frustrating. Of course, this isn’t one of the core functions of your freelance business, and it’s easy to see any time spent on legal issues as a loss in terms of available working hours. For this reason it’s good to take advantage of the legal resources that are available to freelancers.