Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Being your own boss means that you should ideally be providing yourself with employee benefits, which can be daunting. After all, having a retirement package, health insurance, paid vacation time and an HR department to help is a major reason why people stay traditionally employed. As your own boss, you need to figure out how to fund paid time off, insurance, and pick the right retirement plan. As a sole proprietor, you need to figure out what accounting and tax options might benefit your situation the most. Optimizing your financial strategy might significantly improve your short- and long-term outlook while making it easier to focus on your writing.
Join us for a panel discussion with Meredith Tannor, senior project manager of the Freelancers Union, and Lee Frisari, tax consultant at Brass Taxes, moderated by author Erin Lowry.
Panelists
Lee Frisari is a tax consultant at Brass Taxes. When not at the finance and tax desk, Lee is usually playing percussion instruments or playing in nature. He is a musician and meditation coach, and has freelance hustled as a grant writer, carpenter, fisherman, tour guide and LGBT educator/advocate. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Meredith Tannor is the senior project manager at the Freelancers Union. Raised in Queens, New York, she started her career as a software engineer with the belief that technology can solve every day problems. She transitioned into advocacy and policy work for independent contractors using the same solving problem ideology for a group largely left out of the social safety net. At the Freelancers Union she helps freelancers navigate non-payment, insurance benefits and tax implications.
Erin Lowry, moderator, is the author of the four-part Broke Millennial series, including:Broke Millennial, Broke Millennial Takes On Investing and Broke Millennial Talks Moneyand her soon-to-be-published Broke Millennial Workbook: Take Control and Get Your Financial Life Together. Erin’s been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and on CBS Sunday Morning, CNBC and The Rachael Ray Show. She has written for The New York Times, USA Today, and is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She publishes a twice-weekly Substack newsletter called Broke Millennial with Erin Lowry.
Special Thanks to Our Supporters and Partner Organizations
With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Penguin Random House, and our donors, the Authors Guild Foundation is pleased to make Business Bootcamps for Writers free and open to the public.
Being your own boss means that you should ideally be providing yourself with employee benefits, which can be daunting. After all, having a retirement package, health insurance, paid vacation time and an HR department to help is a major reason why people stay traditionally employed. As your own boss, you need to figure out how to fund paid time off, insurance, and pick the right retirement plan. As a sole proprietor, you need to figure out what accounting and tax options might benefit your situation the most. Optimizing your financial strategy might significantly improve your short- and long-term outlook while making it easier to focus on your writing.
Join us for a panel discussion with Meredith Tannor, senior project manager of the Freelancers Union, and Lee Frisari, tax consultant at Brass Taxes, moderated by author Erin Lowry.
Panelists
Lee Frisari is a tax consultant at Brass Taxes. When not at the finance and tax desk, Lee is usually playing percussion instruments or playing in nature. He is a musician and meditation coach, and has freelance hustled as a grant writer, carpenter, fisherman, tour guide and LGBT educator/advocate. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Meredith Tannor is the senior project manager at the Freelancers Union. Raised in Queens, New York, she started her career as a software engineer with the belief that technology can solve every day problems. She transitioned into advocacy and policy work for independent contractors using the same solving problem ideology for a group largely left out of the social safety net. At the Freelancers Union she helps freelancers navigate non-payment, insurance benefits and tax implications.
Erin Lowry, moderator, is the author of the four-part Broke Millennial series, including:Broke Millennial, Broke Millennial Takes On Investing and Broke Millennial Talks Moneyand her soon-to-be-published Broke Millennial Workbook: Take Control and Get Your Financial Life Together. Erin’s been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and on CBS Sunday Morning, CNBC and The Rachael Ray Show. She has written for The New York Times, USA Today, and is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She publishes a twice-weekly Substack newsletter called Broke Millennial with Erin Lowry.
Special Thanks to Our Supporters and Partner Organizations
With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Penguin Random House, and our donors, the Authors Guild Foundation is pleased to make Business Bootcamps for Writers free and open to the public.
