Bring the client in to ask them what to do when something unforseen happens in a project.
Even if you know what should be done, having them make the decision with you means they can't come back 6 months down the line and complain about the project not being delivered on time.
Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
141–150 of 276 posts
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#142Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it better to charge per project or per hour?
Per day, week (better), month (even better) - and it should NOT be assumed that you work "full-time" (i.e. 8h per day). With this setup - you untie your work from exact hours spent, and retain the flexibility of adding more days/weeks/months to the bill if there is more work than expected.
How do you prefer the client from thinking your going to work 8 hours a day, 40 a week, etc? Or even worse, expect they get you for more time in the day or week? "I'm paying you x got today, here's 12 hours of work..." Or think they are v trading dollars for your labor and if you finish early on a day, go take out the trash and clean the bathroom. Obviously you define what work will be performed. Just wondering and looking for what language people use to address these issues. Thanks.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#143Underestimate time needed, and I didn't communicate often enough.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#144Longer write-up here: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/how-i-learned-to-get-consulting-l... Some things I learned through mistakes: - Charge more. - Travel like a professional and bill the client. For my first business trip I used airline points, stayed at an Airbnb on my own dime, and even refused the client's offer to reimburse me. Stupid. (Full story here: https://www.gkogan.co/blog/stupid/ ) - If I'm not enjoying the w…
> fire bad accountants What is bad? What is good? I guess I expect my accountant to be a bit of a financial advisor sometimes, which they aren't.
From my experience, an accountant is a financial advisor as far as guiding you through your country regulation goes. Where I come from there are a lot of paths you can follow to become a consultant/freelance, and you want a good accountant to guide you through it because some paths end up being significantly more expensive (especially tax wise) for you.
What makes a good accounts I guess can also depends on your country legislation. From my experience, I'd ask those questions: are they working in my interest? Am I paying any late fees, arrears or interests on top of the taxes I'm supposed to pay? Are they staying on top of changes to the laws/regulations? Do they return my emails timely and with comprehensive answer to my questions?
Those things are off the top of my mind of course, there is more. In my case, although I'm not a very demanding or complicated client, I've been lucky enough to have found an accountant who I completely trust and, after the initial "setup" phase, it has mostly been a set it and forget it kind of situation. I get reminders for when tax payment deadlines are coming up, and neatly filled forms which I just have to pay. They notify me of changes to regulations (which in my country seems to be at least every year) and how that affects me. And whenever I need an estimate of how much in taxes I'm expected to pay in a given year, I send them an email and get an answer within 24 hours.
YMMV, I'm sure the things you need to worry about and ask yourself to asses the situation vary from country to country.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#145Have a rate card that encourages clients to pay on shorter net terms, and to pay on time.
Structure it as a discount instead of a penalty, but have the fully discounted rate be the figure you wanted in the first place.
Helps in initial negotiations if they want long net terms. You can just say, "sure...here's the rate for NET 45".
And, helps with slow payers.
So, in month 2, if they have paid on time for month 1, present an invoice with the discount applied. If they are late, then don't apply it.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
I never had problems finding a job, but I was really bad at finding good clients. I especially hate, when I've been brought in for my expertise and I tell them what they should do with the least risk and best outcome and they refuse, because no. I realize there might be some important technical constraint I might not know about, but most of the time they just want to respect something their boss said once, some const…
This is why you should charge at least 12x more: 10x for the complexity and 2x extra to compensate your ego.
May be true in the US but in Europe you can't just increase your rates. Too many policies are involved with especially larger customers: they have a specific maximum rate they are willing to pay. In addition some agencies usually required to get into larger corps have a limit, too.
Usually contractors are hired to fix rotten stuff that in some way is a commodity. You can find 10 other contractors with the same skillset, maybe cheaper.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
What did your hustling for clients consist of? Like I get the pounding the network pavement, everyone recommends that, but beyond that I never really get what it is that people do. Like do you just cold call people or do you entirely go through your network? What specific situations do you place yourself in where you can hustle up work?
Maybe a couple examples would explain what I think people mean. You're getting dinner with a friend, and they mention their new friend just started a company and is looking for some people who do X. You don't really do X, you do Y, but a lot of people who do X also need Y. On the 0 to 10 scale: 0: "I don't really do X, thanks for thinking of me." 3: "Hey, I don't really do X, but he may need Y. Let him/her know if th…
Important to note that implicit in this example is that you're meeting with friends/acquaintances who are in positions to refer you to this kind of work on a regular basis. That's the other side of networking - if you're not a naturally outgoing person it means putting in the effort to socialize with the right kind of people regularly and make sure they know what kind of work you do / skills you have.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly this. Either bill them in advance or have them purchase your ticket in advance . Any major travel expense shouldn't be on your dime unless you're very acquainted with the customer.
Do you actually forward receipts to the client and have them pay to the cent? I always find it easier to just have a fixed line item for "travel to client events", and usually I end up coming out ahead by a substantial margin by not booking fancy hotels.
Isn't that fraud? You are supposed to charge exactly how much the travel expenses did cost. If you think you should charge for the travel time proportionally to your work rate, then you should do that but have these separate.
It's possible a client will ask you for the travel expenses receipts and it would not be nice to show him that there is difference between what you charged and what it did actually cost.
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
Per project is dangerous. Consulting clients will change their minds frequently and you'll want to give them the latitude to do so, which means you simply can't estimate the time needed to complete a project without adding X00% on top to compensate. No one wants to have the "this is out of scope, I'm happy to do it but we need to talk about an amendment..." conversation. Per hour is not adequate for this type of work…
Strongly agree with this, over hourly or project-based. I do monthly instead of weekly, but idea is the same. One thing I disagree with is the automatic-discount thing. Firstly, I think it's cheesy. Makes me think of street vendors saying "...But just for YOU, I have a SPECIAL price!" Secondly, I think it cheapens the perceived value. As in, "Why is Joe throwing around 20% discounts? Is he desperate? Is he not confid…
“My ordinary rate is X000 per week, HOWEVER I’d love to work with you/this project/this stack/this industry so how does a 20% discount sound?”
Re: Ask HN: What mistakes did you make when starting as a consultant/freelancer?
#150I tried freelance and realized I hate it more than any other type of programming work. I can tolerate being an employee where I do what I'm told. After a month I get a feel for the environment so it becomes low stress and then I can keep my head down programming. Or I can tolerate selling software or having a SaaS. If I'm CEO I decide the direction of the product and then just have to handle customer support. But the…
For me the nice part of freelancing was the end date. I knew I would be gone in a month or two so could detach myself from the politics and bullshit and just observe. I used to try and think of it in terms of a trip to the zoo.
I hate watching dying orgs or poor performing teams/management. I can't mentally disconnect. It often feels like visiting a poor 3rd world country with an ongoing civil war. You know that you can and will save some souls but also that it won't change/stop the dying.