|
Freelancers and Payments
by Donald Hammond
How much should you ask for upfront and should there be a breakdown of payments
ie payments at different mileposts? How about hourly versus per project? From my
own personal experience with many clients, I can say that working per project is
by far the best, at least to start out, along with 50 percent upfront.
As I said in a previous entry, you need money upfront so you are not taking all
the risk. If you do the work first and then ask for payment and they stiff you,
they are out nothing. You are out your time and effort. And if you were really
foolish and gave them the finished product before receiving any payment, you are
out the product itself. You may as well just advertise for free products.
If you look for freelance work at the freelance websites, you should avoid the
people who advertise for a big job but payment is upon completion. They may have
been burned in the past but that doesn't mean you are going to assume the full
risk involved in this type of deal.
I saw one that said FIRST you make a working mockup of the site. Then IF you are
selected, you will integrate your creation into their website. THEN they will
test it. THEN if they like it, you will be paid. WARNING WARNING! Do not take
such a deal. Do not make that mockup even. Let those offshore people take this risk.
Think of yourself as constructing a building for them. Would you even order the
first load of lumber without some upfront payment? No. And they should not
expect you to either. As I said, they may have been burned in the past, but that
is because they did not take the proper steps to protect themself.
If they are really worried about the risk, then have them go through someplace
like GetAFreelancer.com where
there is a method of holding the funds until work is approved. BUT make sure the
funds are put into the escrow account BEFORE you begin work. Then if there is a
dispute, it can be resolved and they can't walk off with the product and the
money and you can't walk off with their money without any product to show for it.
Long term? Short term? A lot of potential clients will advertise that they want
a long term relationship with the right person. This supposedly means the price
for the current project should be lower in hopes of further business from them.
That is what the client thinks and that is what a lot of freelancers believe
too. They are looking at that hourly rate for monthly work and not thinking
about the current project.
Or the other scam is to say that they want a long term relationship and will pay
monthly AFTER the month is over. So you work on their assignments for say 80
hours in a month. You invoice them. Then you wait. You keep on working on their
assignments and keep waiting for that first payment. Nothing. You are giving
away your services again. So what do you do? Back to upfront money. A retainer
so to speak.
| 
Free Downloads
RSS Feed