6 | Freelancing (Part 1) :: Finding Clients, Planning Projects, and Charging

In this episode, Amy and James talk about freelancing -- finding the right clients, thoughts on Fivrr and Upwork, planning projects, scope creep, road mapping, time tracking, talking about budgets, charging, and late changes to a project.

SPONSORS

Pathwire / Mailgun / Mailjet

Pathwire is a powerful email API and intuitive email marketing solution that delivers over 250 billion emails a year for 400,000 companies around the world.

You can sign up now and try Mailgun or Mailjet for free today. Mailjet offers a trial that allows you to send 6,000 emails per month for free, forever. Mailgun offers a 3 month trial for 5,000 emails per month after which you only pay for what you send.

For more information, simply visit Pathwire.com

Vercel

Vercel combines the best developer experience with an obsessive focus on end-user performance. Their platform enables frontend teams to do their best work. It is the best place to deploy any frontend app. Start by deploying with zero configuration to their global edge network. Scale dynamically to millions of pages without breaking a sweat.

For more information, visit Vercel.com

ZEAL is hiring!

Zeal is a computer software agency that delivers “the world’s most zealous” and custom solutions. The company plans and develops web and mobile applications that consistently help clients draw in customers, foster engagement, scale technologies, and ensure delivery.

Zeal believes that a business is “only as strong as” its team and cares about culture, values, a transparent process, leveling up, giving back, and providing excellent equipment. The company has staffers distributed throughout the United States, and as it continues to grow, Coding Zeal looks for collaborative, object-oriented, and organized individuals to apply for open roles.

For more information visit their site.

Show Notes

0:00 Introduction

0:40 Sponsor: ZEAL

3:06 Finding Clients

3:24 What are some things you do to try and find opportunities?

• Talk about what you do
• Work in Public
• Facebook Groups
• Discord Servers
• Marketing on the front end, building up to word of mouth.

6:00 Thoughts on Fivrr and Upwork

7:30 Bryan Harris "Pitching and Closing"

7:49 Planning out a Project

• Ask lots of questions
• Episode 4 - Talked about asking lots of questions

8:05 Asking what their budget is

• Benefit both sides by not wasting time

10:04 Willing to price out in phases

11:04 Ways that you can adjust the budget? What are wiggle room areas?

• Automations
• Unique Marketing Page Templates
• Memberships

12:14 Sponsor: Vercel

12:54 Creating Estimates

• Harvest for time tracking - https://www.getharvest.com/
• Toggle - https://toggl.com/
• Magic Number

15:53 Google Spreadsheet for Generating Estimates

• Join the Newsletter to receive this Sheet for Free

17:27 How do you avoid scope creep when freelancing?

• Roadmapping
• Quick Start Road Mapping: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started

18:50 Sponsor: Pathwire

19:41 The importance of communication

• Sending out weekly project updates: what happened this past week, what I intend to accomplish the following week, any blockers or questions

21:11 Including a section in the contract of things NOT included

22:07 Understanding the ramifications of a change in the project

• Changing the scope of the project, typically requires more time and money
• Prioritizing one section, de-prioritizes another

22:51 Ways you can Charge a Client

23:46 Charging by the Hour

26:07 Other costs you have to take into consideration: health care, business expenses, utilities

28:54 Value-Based Pricing

• Difficulty in trying to quantify value

31:26 Charging a Project-Based Rate

33:46 Grab Bag Question #1: When do you set up your business?

35:03 Grab Bag Question #2: Project Maintenance

35:27 Picks and Plugs

35:54 James's Pick: The book, Throne of Glass

36:20 James's Plug: eBook, YouTube for Developers

36:45 Amy's Pick: Contrast App

37:15 Amy's Plug: SelfTeach.me on YouTube