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My first month freelancing

alanhollis.com

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Re: My first month freelancing

#41

Post by sant0sk1 »

tptacek wrote: post #28
sant0sk1 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've brought up daily billing to a few potential clients and am always met with resistance to the idea. I've instead tried structuring my fees to promote long-term engagements. So I have an hourly rate (highest), day rate (little lower), week rate (little lower), and month rate (lowest). This is working out okay so far, but it sure requires a lot of explaining up front and I'm probably losing out on potential income…

There are two common consulting arrangements in which a customer gets a discount for a commitment. The first is a retainer. Retainer hours come at a significant discount because they might not get used, but are billed regardless. The second is long-term forward-looking commitment. A monthly rate is at the short side of long-term commitment; a multi-month project feels like a more typical discounted commitment. You sh…

Well said. Thanks for the advice, Thomas. I probably just need to be more assertive, which I'm slowly getting better at.

With regard to retainers, what is a typical retainer discount (percent is fine) for (mostly web) software development consulting?

Re: My first month freelancing

#42

Post by marcamillion »

alinajaf wrote: post #35
marcamillion wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Admittedly - I am working on increasing the signal to noise ratio - but I never realized how valuable it was to have a constant stream of leads coming to me daily was, until I stopped doing it. I am also thinking of finding a way to make the entire process more efficient - but all it takes is a handful of leads a year and it has more than paid for itself. Does jobpile email you links - or is it just a search…

Just a search engine you go to. I was already paying a VA to trawl through most of the sites that it scrapes so using it saved me a few dollars a month. I'm quite sure there's a paid service at a similar sort of price range to what you're describing that does email you. Don't remember the name atm.

I see...ok, well keep your eyes peeled - if you are interested :)

Re: My first month freelancing

#43

Post by stevejalim »

Shameless, shameless plug alert: if you found Alan's post interesting, you may also like the book I've almost finished writing. Check out http://freelancedeveloperbook.com

The plan is to ship it before the end of June - am publishing via leanpub.com (great experience so far) and it'll be a paid-for book to cover the (many, many, _many_) hours I've put into it.

When it's ready, I'll make a sample available so you can try before you buy, and will be pulling out a dozen names from the early-sign-up hat for a free copy.

So, if you're interested, please do sign up.

Re: My first month freelancing

#44

Post by Alan01252 »

alinajaf wrote: post #11

Great post. I'm in London and started freelancing a few months ago and I'd agree with everything you've said. Only things I would suggest: * Contracts. Watch this talk by Obie Fernandez[1] and take a look at his Master Services Agreement + Statement of Work bundle (paid for, but totally worth it). Not only does it protect you to some extent legally but you come across as a lot more professional to clients. * Charge m…

Thanks for this alinajaf.

Pricing is tricky. I've already been turned down by a few companies at my current rate because I was too expensive. This put me off raising it higher. I'm still unsure as to whether having pricing on the website is a good thing or not, it's always tricky to know what to sell yourself for.

Re: My first month freelancing

#46

Post by ams6110 »

patio11 wrote: post #31
marcamillion wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean 'quoting' daily, or 'billing' daily? There is a major difference. The main one being that if 'bill daily' you are putting a burden on your client to have to think about paying you every single day. At some point, it becomes annoying. Thoughts?

Quoted daily ("Work is on a time and materials basis. Rate: $2,000 per day."). Invoices will typically cover a few weeks of work, depending on the tempo of your engagements, your relationship with a customer, etc.

This has to be regionally dependent. Around here there is no way you would get $2,000 day for web development. Best I have ever gotten is half that, for a one-day "emergency" engagement (i.e. drop everything and help me).

Re: My first month freelancing

#47

Post by marcamillion »

vitomd wrote: post #45
marcamillion wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for this! I guess this is just validation that the idea makes sense.

great, I am interested in your project too.

Great! Will keep HN posted. Will reply to this thread once I have something up.

Re: My first month freelancing

#48

Post by dylanhassinger »

tptacek wrote: post #28
sant0sk1 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've brought up daily billing to a few potential clients and am always met with resistance to the idea. I've instead tried structuring my fees to promote long-term engagements. So I have an hourly rate (highest), day rate (little lower), week rate (little lower), and month rate (lowest). This is working out okay so far, but it sure requires a lot of explaining up front and I'm probably losing out on potential income…

There are two common consulting arrangements in which a customer gets a discount for a commitment. The first is a retainer. Retainer hours come at a significant discount because they might not get used, but are billed regardless. The second is long-term forward-looking commitment. A monthly rate is at the short side of long-term commitment; a multi-month project feels like a more typical discounted commitment. You sh…

great stuff, thank you

Re: My first month freelancing

#49

Post by Alan01252 »

stevejalim wrote: post #43

Shameless, shameless plug alert: if you found Alan's post interesting, you may also like the book I've almost finished writing. Check out http://freelancedeveloperbook.com The plan is to ship it before the end of June - am publishing via leanpub.com (great experience so far) and it'll be a paid-for book to cover the (many, many, _many_) hours I've put into it. When it's ready, I'll make a sample available so you can…

I have signed up ;)

Re: My first month freelancing

#50

Post by notJim »

tptacek wrote: post #39
marcamillion wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see. How does this compare to just doing flat-rate quotes? I guess my aversion to even quoting daily, is the notion that you can be brought up to speed quickly enough to effect any good change (and add value) in just 1 day. For instance, if you are supposed to be optimizing code in a legacy web app - do you set a minimum number of days that they have to commit to, for something like this? Or do you just stick to da…

I have no problem with flat rate quotes. I only have a problem with quotes broken into abillable hours. My general M.O. with project quotes, which someone on HN once called "the first truly new, clever billing technique that I've seen" but I just call "the way Dave and Jeremy were writing proposals and statements of work when we started Matasano", is simple: * Make a conservative, honest estimate of the total number…

> * Clearly state in the SOW that if additional time is required beyond the quoted amount, additional person/days can be staffed at a pro-rata daily rate.

I (and I imagine a bunch of other people) am curious about this point. I worked at a previous company that ostensibly had terms like this, but it never worked out, because in practice the clients almost always bullied my bosses into giving them the extra work for free, because people don't like cost overruns. Did you guys find that you had a lot of resistance when it came to overrages?

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