- - - Talk given at IT-Days March 2013 at www.baaa.dk - - -
How do you handle life as a freelancer? How do you deal with clients? How much should you charge?
Are you thinking about becoming a freelancer? Or are you already one? This session will offer you some hard-learned advice, some tips and tricks from the trenches and some insights into the life of a freelancer.
16. Work for friends or family
Find a small project
Non-profit projects always look good and
you feel less bad about not getting paid
much
17. Finish one of the prototypes you build for
a client here at school
Arrange a small fee for finalizing a school
project so that the client can use it
18. Make use of referrals
Ask people to refer you to their network
Focus on problem solving, not on tools or
techniques. Say “I make small web sites that
are simple to use”, instead of “I do HTML5,
CSS3 and awesome jQuery effects”
19. Go out there and make friends
Go to conferences, talks, events
E.g. Startup Weekend, Creative Mornings, Goto
Have quality business cards
20. Write about stuff
Get a voice and start participating in
discussions
Have a blog
Use social media
39. THE 4 PHASES
1 2 3 4
Initiation Plan Production Completion
40. OVERVIEW
• Divided into 4 phases
1) Initiation (project setup)
2) Plan (research, ideas & concept)
3) Production (design & development)
4) Completion (hand-in & delivery)
41. 1 INITIATION
1 2 3 4
Initiation Plan Production Completion
42. • Communicate terms and conditions
• Know what the client wants, not what
they say they want
• What are the client’s expectations?
• No contract, no project
• Use a standard contract
• Set up payment terms
43. • Have a separate project description
• Define success criteria
• Identify project stakeholders
• Determine number of revisions
• Set up online project management
services (not per email)
44. 2 PLAN
1 2 3 4
Initiation Plan Production Completion
45. • Ensure you know what to build and
the client agrees
• Lets the client see what goes into a
project
• Control the amount of client feedback
involved
• Get sign off before production
46. 3 PRODUCTION
1 2 3 4
Initiation Plan Production Completion
47. • Separate overall plan from detail
focus
• Ensure early planning and assignment
of resources
• Put focus on the confirmation of each
task
49. 2) SPRINTS
THINK SPRINT Finish
Prepare Make Confirm
50. 4 COMPLETION
1 2 3 4
Initiation Plan Production Completion
51. • Prepare a high quality delivery
• Get the final approval from the client
• Give the client a chance to see it
through, find mistakes and for you to
correct them
• Ensure that success criteria achieved
53. Use time tracking software. Always
Lets you communicate with the client
On the invoice so the client can see what
you did and what he is paying for
You will know how effective you are
Improves your future estimates
55. Group projects together, so that you get a
better overview
Find common attributes
Length
Complexity
Type
56. Which ones do you value the most?
How much of your time would you like to
spend on this?
How profitable are these types of
projects?
Map them out
58. Group them together to identify
Profitability
Need for support
Amount of “friction”
Level of quality expectations
Size
Portfolio fitness
60. Put all this info together in a visual
representation
See which type of projects you currently
have
See what is coming down the line
Plan accordingly
Tip: Use some services for this (e.g.
salesforce.com)
61. Use this to identify dependencies upon
companies
E.g. if 40% of all your income is from one
client, you are too dependent on this
client
70. Hi there,
This is what I want for the website. It should be
simple to use and very light in color, no heavy.
There are going to be many subpages which also
need to have the same look. I would like our
logo to be in the upper left corner in all pages
(except on firstpage). Don’t use moody colors
and don’t clutter the pages. Visual look is
important. Also, if I go to the page I want to
know where I am.
72. What you write:
Hi Mr Client,
Thank you for your email, it was very informative. From this I suggest
to include the following in the project:
• Implementation in a CMS system that is easy to use when updating
the site
• Consistent look between all of the pages
• A design that is light in look, not too heavy and with a minimal of
elements
However I do have a few questions:
• What do you mean by “I want to know where I am”? I was thinking
about implementing a breadcrumb style navigation. Would that be
sufficient?
• Do you have any existing design guides (such as colors, fonts, etc.)
that you use for your current visual look?
77. “It’s just a small thing, won’t take long at
all”
“We will give a reference and more jobs
down the line. Think of this as an
investment.”
“Normally my [random family member]
does this, but he is busy right now.”
Meaning: Do it cheap
78. “I’m not sure what exactly we are looking
for, so could you come with a few
suggestions?”
“Submit a design and we will choose the
best one.”
“We would like to test it for a few weeks
before we make a final decision.”
Meaning: We don’t want to commit and
we see your product as a commodity
84. Direct costs are the amount of hours that
go into a project
This is typically what the client is
expecting to pay for
These could include project handling &
support
85. Indirect cost are all the work you do for a
project, which is not included in the actual
bill for the project
These costs can be a substantial part of your
costs
Indirect costs could be:
Negotiating with the client
Support
Shopping for new projects
Learning new things
Finding solutions
86. Overhead costs are all the bill you have to
pay, regardless if you work or not
These include
Rent
Utilities & bills
Food & Beers
94. For a particular project, look into
How much income do you have scheduled
the coming period?
How many hours are left?
Which benefit will a discount give you?
95. Are you cheap or expensive
Compare your rates to
other freelancers
96. Find their rates online
Maybe write them and ask?
Be a mystery shopper
97. Compare your rates
If you are cheaper, is that a benefit for you
or can you raise your rate?
If you are more expensive, is there a good
reason for this?
Else try to decrease your costs or increase
the perceived value
98. What you are worth depends on your
Perceived Value
99. How are you creating value for your
clients?
What do they value in doing business with
you?
101. Divide the payment into sub-payments
Get a sub-payment at mile stones in the
project
Could be a 25%|25%|50% split
Or 50%|50%
Find natural payment point in the project
(e.g. design approval)
102. NEVER hand over the project
before the last payment has
received
104. How to balance out payments to reduce
reliance upon clients paying in due time
They often do not pay on time
Trick: Offer a discount (e.g. 5%) if they pay
within 3 days