My freelance lessons series looks at the lessons, best practises, and rules that I have learnt during my first four months as a freelancer. Part 1 of the series deals with the transition from employee to freelancer.
Clients and money
- Start with a few months worth of burn money in the bank. I started with just one months pay and it made things very stressful.
- Get in touch with people you have worked with before and let them know you are now available as a freelancer. It is amazing how effective this is at producing work. I instantly got a handful of projects.
- Never poach clients from your previous employer’s company.
- Only take on jobs when you know you can produce a great result. Starting with money in the bank saves you from taking on unsuitable projects.
- Don’t be afraid to turn down work. Early on I turned down a large job with a great day rate. I was in desperate need of the money but the work was very specialised and involved technologies I hadn’t used before. After much thought I told client I wasn’t the right person for the work. They appreciated my honesty and I have since worked on numerous other projects with them.
- Don’t under price yourself. You never bill 5 days a week, you have costs which you don’t pay as an employee, and you have to do a lot of extra unpaid work such as accounts and quoting. It is very tough to increase your rates with an existing client, so get them right at the start.
Quoting and scheduling
- As few as 1 in 4 quotes comes in. Learn to quote quickly and accurately.
- Details quotes are not required for small jobs.
- Plan ahead. The average project seems to take 2 weeks to 1 month to get going. This includes initial quotes, emails, approval and asset transfer. As a result it is important to be looking for new projects all the time, even when your’re busy.
Projects
- Be realistic. Can you really support an e-commerce store 24/7 as a one man freelancer? Get to know companies in your field, and setup a referral schema so you can make money on work you don’t have the resources to take on.
- Aim for jobs which take 5-15 days. Small jobs come with many of the same overheads (quotes, emails, support) as big jobs. This makes a 1 or 2 day job not particularly profitable.
- Don’t take on projects with a legacy code-base. Clients tends to want small features added but it always seems to turn into a lot of painful work. Quote accordingly, ideally on a hourly rate.
