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Discussion on: Freelance advice for past me

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rhymes profile image
rhymes

Thanks for the article! I'm a freelance too and it's cool to exchange opinions

Just a few thoughts/questions:

  1. good idea on the standardised process, unfortunately most of the time it's me adapting to whatever tools the client uses. If they don't have tools then I can suggest some I prefer. The only tool I end up using always is Toggl for time tracking

  2. Value pricing. It's one of those things I've always wanted to do but never managed to. One of the first things I've read when I started freelancing was the Harvest Field Guide to Pricing and in there they talk about "Fixed pricing" (which is probably the closest to "value pricing"?). The issue I have found time and time again is that clients, at least here in Italy, rarely want to put money upfront or set specific boundaries for a project. Most of the time is them throwing additional work my way and me billing them for the time spent. This I feel is the thing to try to change.

  3. on the communication part. I feel you, it's hard to establish boundaries and keep them there. I try to remember that, at least for me, I'm not literally saving lives.

  4. I do have a couple of questions: do you work freelance and remotely most of the time or do you work at the client business? Do you have any suggestions about good websites for freelancers? Most of the "remote work" sites I found are looking for full time people working remotely.

rhymes

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jonoyeong profile image
Jonathan Yeong

Thanks for the comment! Exchanging opinions is how we get better. I'm grateful that you took the time to write down your thoughts.

  1. You're right about having to use what the client uses.There's always something you can streamline from an operation point of view. For example, I recently set up automatic reminder emails for overdue invoices. It's a small thing, but now I don't need to worry about manually sending and tracking the reminders.

  2. I completely agree with you. Like I said, I don't have any experience with value pricing. The closest I've gotten to it was fixed bids. And that's essentially an hourly cost multiplied by the number of hours in a project. Maybe you need to find clients with bigger budgets and larger projects to successfully value price?

I'll skip to your questions!

I work freelance and remotely most of the time. However, I'm thinking of moving back into full time work. I've had moderate success with Upwork: upwork.com/. It can be hard to find good paying work with sites such as Upwork. I know someone who's made their entire career through the site. I generally rely on my network.

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rhymes profile image
rhymes

You're definitely right when you say that probably bigger clients with bigger budgets would entertain a negotiation on value pricing.

Thinking of moving back to full time is perfectly fine, good luck and take your time to find the perfect company fit!

Thanks for the pointer to Upwork, I'll definitely check it out.