Freelancing Stack Exchange
Freelancing Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
162
votes
10 answers

How do I get my first job at a freelancing site?

I am in the software development industry and I'm an experienced software engineer. I am new to freelancing websites. The problem is I have zero rating and I can't get any projects even if I bid the lowest amount. This in turn prevents me from…
zzzzz
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67
votes
15 answers

Tracking hours you are working for clients

When working through the day, I may work on many different projects. Web development is one of the freelancing jobs that I'm sure many people bounce around project to project, or maybe that is just me. I charge many of my clients per hour, in…
bretterer
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59
votes
10 answers

How do you make family understand that you need to stick to a schedule?

I'm having trouble balancing freelancing work with family. My wife thinks that just because I work at home that this means I'm available for home stuff at any hour, which creates problems in my relationship. How can I make her understand (perhaps…
drake035
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55
votes
8 answers

Hourly billing, is it appropriate to include time to research if you don't know how to do something?

The title is a bit confusing, but here is an issue I face occasionally, but don't know how to bill. Here is an example, and I hope you can get the general idea and apply it to a broader concept of how to bill for time to research solutions: I am an…
Brian Tucker
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46
votes
7 answers

Where can I find good contract templates?

When a new freelancer works with a small client, neither party may have experience with contracts. This community wiki provides starting points they can use to think through the issues that should be covered in a good contract and begin with much of…
Edward Brey
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46
votes
7 answers

How can we prepare for "getting hit by a bus"?

As a self-employed person working for a client (e.g. creating a website), you have a bus factor of 1: The bus factor is the total number of key developers who would need to be incapacitated (as by getting hit by a bus/truck) to send the project…
unor
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40
votes
7 answers

When is it ok to ask a client for more money?

I am pretty good at estimating my time on a project. For this question, let's say it is for a simple WordPress website with a custom theme development. I have quoted and set my contract with my client to be $2500 for the project, as it will take a…
bretterer
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40
votes
7 answers

At what point is it no longer a "Free Change"

I am a freelance web developer. I have built many different websites for all sorts of people. Once my client signs off on a project as complete I am still willing to offer little updates and things. I always have that one client though who abuses…
bretterer
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39
votes
6 answers

How do I calculate pay rate if I've never freelanced before?

I've been working full time in the field (software) for about 5-6 years. However, I've never done any freelancing work before and am new to this entire process. At my job, pay is easy, since it's usually hourly or salaried, but freelancing is…
almostflan
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38
votes
8 answers

How much payment should be required up front?

When accepting a job and negotiating a price, how much of this should be required up front before starting the work, especially when you haven't dealt with the client before? Should it be a flat retainer or a certain percentage of the work? Would…
Lars Kotthoff
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36
votes
3 answers

How can I start freelancing and get online projects to work on?

I have good experience in PHP and I want to start freelancing. I have opened accounts on Elance, freelancer, oDesk and have been trying to bid on projects for the last 2 months, but I still didn't get a reply from any projects. Where have I gone…
Pravin Gadekar
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35
votes
8 answers

Dealing with "friend" who won't pay after delivery despite signed contracts

I need help dealing with this situation. I have a (person who claims to be my) "friend" who did not pay upon completion and delivery of project, despite a signed contract last May. The project was delivered in completion to spec, above and beyond.…
ina
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35
votes
4 answers

Fixed price or per hour for a web developer?

I am a starting freelancer in the webdevelopment sector. I focus on both personal or one-man business full websites and websites for advanced users for which I write plugins or add features (but don't build the whole site). I would like to know if…
user19
34
votes
5 answers

How to get over the discomfort of asking for money?

I've just started freelancing full-time. I've done bits here and there before. I've mostly been drawn to freelancing because of the higher rates I can bill and the ability to be master of my own destiny. I've found though that I get this sort of…
Matt Harrison
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34
votes
8 answers

Best approach to finding clients in your own city?

I am working as a Software Engineer, but I want to add to my pay by freelancing. What is the best way to find clients in my own city? I am open to doing small projects (like for schools or small businesses), but how do I ask them if they want any…
zzzzz
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