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  "title": "Archive · Sidework",
  "description": "Every Sidework issue since May 2026, newest first.",
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          "eyebrow": "Archive",
          "title": "Every issue",
          "lede": "24 issues since May 2026, newest first. Issue 1 is free to read; the rest come with the paid letter."
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            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Pricing",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-10-20","read":{"minutes":5,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Pricing a rush job",
            "dek": "A rush costs your evenings twice: the work and what it pushes out. Price both, and say the rush fee first."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Work",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-10-13","read":{"minutes":7,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "When to quit the day job",
            "dek": "Three numbers decide it: months of costs saved, months of revenue booked, and the hours the side work takes."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Tax",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-10-06","read":{"minutes":6,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "The year-end checklist, early",
            "dek": "Twelve items to clear in October, so January holds a return and not a search for receipts."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Marketing",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-09-29","read":{"minutes":5,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "An email list of fifty",
            "dek": "Fifty readers who asked to hear from you outsell a thousand followers. How to collect the first fifty."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Work",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-09-22","read":{"minutes":6,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Your first contractor",
            "dek": "What to hand off first, how to write the brief, and how to pay so the work stays yours."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Pricing",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-09-15","read":{"minutes":4,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "The case for a second offer",
            "dek": "One offer caps what a client can spend. A second, larger offer gives the willing ones somewhere to go."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Pricing",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-09-08","read":{"minutes":5,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Packages instead of hours",
            "dek": "Hourly rates punish you for getting faster. Turn the three jobs you do most into fixed packages."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Clients",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-09-01","read":{"minutes":4,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "A scope that stops creep",
            "dek": "One paragraph in the agreement that names what is out, and the sentence to say when a request crosses it."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Tax",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-08-25","read":{"minutes":6,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "The quarterly estimate",
            "dek": "Estimated tax from your own numbers, with the arithmetic shown and the dates to pay it."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Work",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-08-18","read":{"minutes":5,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Before you tell your employer",
            "dek": "Read the employment agreement first. Three clauses matter, and one of them is usually missed."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Money",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-08-11","read":{"minutes":4,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "A deposit before the work",
            "dek": "Ask for half up front, in writing, with a date. The clients who refuse are the ones who pay late."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Marketing",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-08-04","read":{"minutes":3,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Your first referral ask",
            "dek": "The best time to ask is the day you deliver. The exact words, and what to send with them."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Tax",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-07-28","read":{"minutes":3,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Receipts in one folder",
            "dek": "One folder, one naming rule, five minutes on Sunday. A system that survives a busy month."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Time",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-07-21","read":{"minutes":4,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "The weekly review in twenty minutes",
            "dek": "Five questions every Sunday evening: what shipped, what is owed, who is waiting, what is next, what to drop."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Pricing",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-07-14","read":{"minutes":5,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Raising prices for existing clients",
            "dek": "A notice period, a reason, and a date. The letter to send, and what to do when a client pushes back."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Money",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-07-07","read":{"minutes":3,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "A late-payment reminder",
            "dek": "Three reminders at 1, 7 and 14 days past due, each shorter and plainer than the last."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Time",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-06-30","read":{"minutes":3,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Tracking hours without a timer",
            "dek": "A paper log beside the keyboard beats a timer you forget to start. The four columns it needs."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Clients",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-06-23","read":{"minutes":4,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Saying no to a bad fit",
            "dek": "Four signs in the first call, and a reply that turns the work down without closing the door."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Marketing",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-06-16","read":{"minutes":5,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "The one-page website",
            "dek": "What it says, in order: the job, the price, the proof of work, and one way to start."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Tax",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-06-09","read":{"minutes":4,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Setting tax aside each month",
            "dek": "Move a fixed share of every payment the day it arrives. How to pick the share."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Clients",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-06-02","read":{"minutes":6,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "Your first written agreement",
            "dek": "One page: the work, the price, the dates, the way out. A template to copy."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Money",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-05-26","read":{"minutes":3,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "The separate bank account",
            "dek": "Open it before the second invoice. Everything else in your books gets easier from that day."
          },
          {
            "href": "/subscribe",
            "tag": "Pricing",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-05-19","read":{"minutes":4,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "A price you can say out loud",
            "dek": "Write the price, say it to a mirror, then say it to a client without adding a discount."
          },
          {
            "href": "/issues/the-first-invoice",
            "tag": "Money",
            "dateline": {"date":"2026-05-12","read":{"minutes":6,"unit":"min read"}},
            "title": "The first invoice",
            "dek": "What goes on it, when to send it, and the one line that gets it paid on time."
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          "title": "Open the whole archive.",
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