Sports writer/reporter - Los Angeles based website

[RyanLA]

Publisher of a successful college sports website on the Rivals.com network is looking to add a sports reporter to the staff.

Main focus would be covering USC football in Los Angeles, attending practices and offseason workouts, conducting interviews, reporting and writing features.

You would also be asked to contribute with USC basketball coverage as well as recruiting for both football and basketball. Most recruiting interviews (high school athletes) can be done over the phone.

Applicant should have a degree in journalism, knowledge of college sports, sports terminology and AP style. Good spelling and grammar skills are a must.

Good knowledge of the web is required. Any photography, video production or Photoshop experience a plus.

This is a full time position with salary depending on experience. Writer will be paid as an independent contractor, receiving a 1099 at the end of the year.

If interested, please email your resume and clips to [email protected].

 

[Raoul Duke]

sounds interesting, if i was looking for a gig i'd be on this one. only thing that jumps out, no mention of benefits and/or insurance?

 

[Boognish]

sounds interesting, if i was looking for a gig i'd be on this one. only thing that jumps out, no mention of benefits and/or insurance?

If you're being paid as an independent contractor, that's your responsibility. Plus you have to withold your own taxes or pay quarterly, or else -- if you're like me -- you'll find out come tax time that you owe a hefty sum since Uncle Sam hasn't withheld them for you.

 

[Songbird]

I grew up in LA and this was my dream job.

Only I'm an East Coaster now and don't think I could live in LA again.

Man.

 

[Raoul Duke]

sounds interesting, if i was looking for a gig i'd be on this one. only thing that jumps out, no mention of benefits and/or insurance?

If you're being paid as an independent contractor, that's your responsibility. Plus you have to withold your own taxes or pay quarterly, or else -- if you're like me -- you'll find out come tax time that you owe a hefty sum since Uncle Sam hasn't withheld them for you.

shows ya how much i know about how these things work

 

[RyanLA]

sounds interesting, if i was looking for a gig i'd be on this one. only thing that jumps out, no mention of benefits and/or insurance?

If you're being paid as an independent contractor, that's your responsibility. Plus you have to withold your own taxes or pay quarterly, or else -- if you're like me -- you'll find out come tax time that you owe a hefty sum since Uncle Sam hasn't withheld them for you.

shows ya how much i know about how these things work

You would get a check each month from Rivals (maybe Yahoo! in the near future) with no taxes taken out. After the first year it is a good idea to do some quarterly payments to the government.

You are also able to write off things you need for your job and that helps reduce your reported income.

 

[ThatGuy]

Try incorporating yourself..that can give you some tax advantages...RyanLA is right, if you don't take care of the taxes it can hurt! But if you have your own company there's a lot you can write off, legally, that can really help...

 

[wickedwritah]

If you have your own company, don't you also have to pay yourself a salary and deal with payroll taxes on that?

 

[Jones]

Wicked, I'm not sure how it works in the U.S., but up here in these fair lands, you can pay yourself a considerable sum of "corporate" money through dividends, which aren't taxed like payroll. It's almost like a year-end bonus.

So, for instance, up here, if you're making a good income without the benefit of funneling the money through a corporation, you'd pay probably 40 percent tax.

Corporate income, however, is taxed at just 18 percent. And when you take a dividend, you pay just a drop of tax on top -- about $400 on $25,000 say.

You're cutting your taxes in half, more or less.

You can't do it with all your income -- unless you're willing to pay yourself just once a year -- but it is a way to save some tax.

I'm ashuming the rules are similar down there, if not the percentages.

It's sick, really -- rich get richer and all that.

 

[wickedwritah]

I considered incorporating when I freelanced a lot more, but it seemed like more of a hashle than it was worth.

 

[JLawson]

My mom works for a company that handles all the paperwork and whatever else you need to do to get incorporated. She told me that if I was making more than $500 a year on freelance it would be worth it to incorporate. The great part is that you could make the rules and write more off on your taxes, such as, you can say all your employees get benefits= write off, you want to offer your employees day care= write off. And the best part is if all your employees equals one person it still works. Not trying to advertise for her company or anything but the website for her company is http://www.sageintl.com/. They can incorporate people anywhere, but I'm sure that if you want someone local you can find someone in your town too. This job sounds like incorporating would make it more worth it.

 

[RyanLA]

The position is now filled. Thanks to everyone that responded.