15 ms·

Everything I know about freelancing

454 points by andy_adams 8y ago

Cicada2026 8y ago
Thanks for sharing this, I'm thinking of freelancing for a while and there were great tips, especially the part about setting up your rates.
emddudley 8y ago
The author is concise and writes with humility--very nice to read!
mythrwy 8y ago
"If a client previously posted their projects to Fiverr or UpWork, it’s a signal they don’t value expertise." I disagree with this. Some clients just don't have any idea where to get something done other than a "site" they heard about or found on the internet. But these clients usually are fairly technically clueless and require a lot of hand holding and/or have unrealistic expectations. Come to think of it I sort of have to agree with the authors basic point... not a great signal (although for different reasons).
- jvagner 8y ago
  You've gotta know how to filter on Upwork. I hire a lot on Upwork, and have found excellent talent, with extensive experience, for my projects. I've learned how to qualify candidates with a minimal process that has weeded out the "waste of time" people that I sunk a bit of time into when I first went there. So count me as someone who's posting there that counts on expertise, and has been very happy with what I've found. That said, my clients would probably not know how to use Upwork effectively. Hence, me.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
    - thanatropism 8y ago
      Mostly-uninformed opinion in square brackets: [By the point I'm spending five digits figures on Wordpress add-ins, I might as well hire a crew to make me a new product with React or Angular or ClojureDjango# -- whatever is en vogue right now and likely to remain so for a while. Wordpress might have improved a lot since I last looked at it in 2008/9; but I recently made a free wordpress.com blog and it sure feels like a monocycle mounted on an elephant mounted on a Chevy carcass mounted on an electric scooter.] --- Am I wrong? A little wrong or out of whack entirely?
      - fencepost 8y ago
        It depends on what you're doing and how much of the site it is. An add-in might be an almost totally separate product already, just one that's leveraging the existing infrastructure of WP such as logins, permissions, theming, etc. If it's just leveraging those things (and thereby changing appropriately if you change appearances) then how important is it if it's written in PHP? I will say that if you're spending 10k+ on add-ins that you should probably make sure you've looked into what you're doing and how. That sounds like the kind of pricing I'd expect if you're having a custom add-in developed rather than what I'd expect for a commercially available one. Something custom may be appropriate, but unless your needs are unique it may not be the best approach.
  - akor 8y ago
    Would love to hear what strategies you use to qualify candidates.
    - jvagner 8y ago
      Some basics, and it varies a bit depending on whether you're hiring in India versus Europe/Eastern-Europe. I have found that a certain subset of candidates in India will be very aggressive with the frequency and obtuseness of communication. European and east-europeans candidates, in my experience, will often disqualify themselves by being presumptive about requirements or solutions, or dismissive about confounding aspects. I'm not generalizing overall, but in first/second interactions with remote freelancers on Upwork. This has been very consistent. (I'm in North America, but have lived and worked in 3+ Western European countries). Beyond basic technical qualifications, these additional steps have helped me onboard a good sized team of part-time and full-time freelancers around the globe: * Include 1 very broad, and 1 very specific question in the job posting (don't make them required -- see who answers them of their own volition). You'll get a sense of reading comprehension, and the care someone will use in responding. The questions should not require an essay in response, but neither can they be fulfilled by a templated response. * For higher level candidates, offer to get on a 5 minute video call and share a calendly/youcanbookme link. Ask for a problem synopsis and see how complete it is, and check how many unclear potentialities get called out in response. * For lower level candidates, look for 5, hire and onboard 3. In a slack documentation channel, include an on-boarding document with 3-5 steps (update avatar, include available hours in spacetime, post a hello and basic introduction in #general, add themselves to #somechannel, etc). All my keepers very faithfully followed really basic requests. The people who most vociferously wasted my time could've been disqualified at this stage of the game. For this last step, pay for their time and set a 1 or 2 hour max budget at the start. Don't train or lead anyone through this process. That's not a road you want to spend any time on, because it will become an expansive sinkhole. I've found that there are plenty of talented professionals out there, but those who can be useful, engaged, remote resources are a special breed. You want conscientious forthrightness.
      - akor 8y ago
        Thank you that is helpful! A lot of our hires have been short term and I suspect that doesn't help the situation.
- fencepost 8y ago
  If the client is posting there because they're cheap and are going to nickel and dime and second-guess every decision then they may not be worthwhile (possibly unless you factor in billing for your time discussing every. little. thing. with them). If they're posting there because they don't know where to hire someone to do contract work for them then you may well be able to work with them - particularly if you're personable and willing to spend some time handholding and making them comfortable. For that matter, if they've done something on one of those places and been burned by poor quality, poor understanding, language issues, whatever then it may make them more likely to work with you if you don't have the same problems. It's a question of making sure there are realistic expectations on both sides. If a client is going to need concierge service beyond the raw design and coding and you're able to provide (and get paid for) that then you may be in a good position.
pier25 8y ago
> Take your finely-calculated estimate and 3x it, both in time and money. This is so true.
- Felger 8y ago
  In the nuclear power field, the usual multiplicator applied to project cost is Pi.
rubinelli 8y ago
> If a potential client tells you how something should be implemented, they don’t want you to think too much and don’t value your expertise. Not necessarily. My team has recently inherited a system developed by an outside contractor that has absolutely nothing to do with our stack, and taking over its operation ended up taking much more time than if we had developed the functionality from scratch.
- mtberatwork 8y ago
  Yes, if you are going to work as a contractor and the company is telling you precisely what stack or technologies you need to be working with, that's not a red flag.
MLWithPhil 8y ago
Great content. I've been doing freelance machine learning work for a while, and it's hit or miss. Some clients are great, others are a complete pain. Most recent gig I had, the client cut hours and then rates... all due to the fact that the CEO didn't manage the project properly from the outset, and they were hemorrhaging cash. That fell squarely into the "not my problem" category, so I quit. It's a tough business, and one I've not completely figured out yet.
- misiti3780 8y ago
  I have been a freelancer for 10 years now, and I noticed that machine learning gigs are a bit harder to find because they is usually proprietary info and they want to keep the "models" in house. Has that been your experience ?
  - MLWithPhil 8y ago
    Gigs seem to fall into a couple categories: one group of clients has heard all the buzz and wants to get in on the action, without really knowing much about it. The more serious types are indeed protective of their data, intellectual property, and processes. I have even seen paranoia around leveraging open source frameworks (Tensorflow, Pytorch) out of fear of their sponsor corporations coming for the client... not sure I see the logic on that one, but whatever. Whenever I don't have much success in a venture, I try to look inward to see what I'm doing wrong. I suspect that there is a fair amount I have to learn about getting good gigs and being successful in the freelance game. Unfortunately, it's one of those "have to learn the hard way" type of things.
davidscolgan 8y ago
There is so so much good stuff in this article. A++ content. Incidentally, my hunch is that one way to build trust with clients is to write articles like this. I can tell you know what you are doing if you can write something like this. > I’d estimate over half of freelancers disappear before delivering their projects. Good for you: Finish your projects and you’re already in the 51st percentile of freelancers. This matches my gut as well and I've been somewhat shocked at how many clients compliment me on answering my email in a timely manner! Clients seem to understand almost any mistake you can make if you are upfront about it and work with them to solve the problem and don't disappear. Though, I definitely agree on being very very careful about code that charges money (or sends email for that manner).
RegBarclay 8y ago
Not a freelancer, but I've worked remotely... > It gets pretty dang lonely sometimes, particularly if you’re working remotely. I don’t care if you’re an introvert or extrovert, it’ll affect you either way. I'm an introvert. I was lonely. It does affect you. > But for maximum productivity, your routine should involve getting dressed, brushing your teeth, and treating it like a “real job”. I had to do this. If I wasn't wearing street shoes, I wasn't "at work."
- sz4kerto 8y ago
  One of the best thing in working remotely is that I don't have to wear shoes. I could work very productively without these routines; the problem was that I could not switch off.
- cm2012 8y ago
  I think it helps to be married. I can honestly say I'm never lonely as a freelancer (2 years now, I almost never see clients).
  - loopfor 8y ago
    I second this. I've been freelancing for about 2 years as well and I don't feel lonely because I'm married.
  - andy_adams 8y ago
    FWIW, I've been married the whole time I've been a freelancer, and the loneliness didn't settle in until year 5 or so. Your spouse will probably not want to talk shop all the time, and those types of conversations (tech, business, etc) were what I missed the most. But maybe I'm just excessively sensitive!
    - Cymen 8y ago
      I've found tech meetups scratch that itch a little bit but I'm 2 years into remote (with a wife and 2 kids) so maybe more is coming... Just curious if you tried that and if it worked or not for you?
Felger 8y ago
Been a freelancer since 2003, working from home, introvert living alone, not affected by loneliness. Darn, I must not like people ! Will try the shoes trick.
gotduped 8y ago
As a new freelancer, this is so good! > "If a client gives you a design to implement, make your implementation pixel-perfect. It’s crazy how sloppy some developers are; the client put together that PSD for a reason." Shamefully have to admit this was me when I started -- my mind says "the tool does the thing!" and the client says "it looks nothing like my design". Can't be afraid to charge for CSS.
- GVIrish 8y ago
  I would first evaluate how much work would be involved with making their design pixel perfect. There are some platforms where making certain things pixel perfect is extremely difficult (Sharepoint customization for example). I would also give my customer feedback on whether the UI helps them achieve their goals. Sometimes people zero in on a visual design that has poor usability, and all you're doing is taking them further down a bad road.
  - andy_adams 8y ago
    Yes! If you see a problem with the design, share your expertise (politics carefully navigated). This is how you become even more valuable to your client. But if you've settled on a design and you're the implementer, make it look like the specs you got!
- jacobyoder 8y ago
  "If a client gives you a design to implement, make your implementation pixel-perfect. It’s crazy how sloppy some developers are; the client put together that PSD for a reason" Even when the various mockups are in conflict with each other? Dealing with internally inconsistent state? Building full web applications off of a PSD file is often a bad start. Things like menu/toggle state, hovering, accessibility, etc - these are - in about 95% of my experiences - ignored or broken in "designer-led" design stuff. Yes, they had an idea that was translated to graphic state, but when things don't comport with reality (no, browsers can't actually represent everything you just in your PSD, or no, we can't make 9 point fonts usable in pulldowns with the same font your designer used, and no, we can't use that exact font because it's $1500, etc).... you have to use your judgement - and you can do it collaboratively with the client(s), but do not spend hours/days/weeks trying to chase down pixel-perfection based on PSDs that were likely based off $30 templates themselves. When chrome does an autoupdate and things are 3 pixels off... what do you do then? > It’s crazy how sloppy some developers are It's also crazy how un-aware of what browsers actually are and how they work some designers are.
pythonbase 8y ago
Great write-up and a lot of practical advice. I am freelancing for some time now and the hardest part is to score and retain clients.
iovrthoughtthis 8y ago
Reminded me that it’s ok that clients say no to working with me because cost.
thisisdallas 8y ago
Really good post. The main thing that sticks out is that the author mentions how referrals are the number one source of leads for basically every freelancer. The problem is that he only mentions it. Ok, that's great. How do I get referrals? The issue is that none of the other stuff matters if you don't know how to get referrals. The author did a good job with the post, but I can't express how important it is to be a people person when freelancing. In order to get referrals you have to get projects. In order to get projects, you have to leave your house and meet other local business owners. That's very hard for freelancers to do and I think the post would be 100 times better if the author spent a little more time on that aspect of freelancing.
- wolco 8y ago
  Leave your house, why?
- balfirevic 8y ago
  > In order to get projects, you have to leave your house and meet other local business owners. And so we come to one thing that rarely gets explicitly discussed in articles like this - the location. I don't blame authors for that, your environment is usually something you take for granted. But if I were to go and talk to local business owners where I live (eastern Europe) they would invariably fall in the category of extremely-and-then-some-price-sensitive. So most of the contracting around these parts is done under the umbrella of various agencies or Toptal. These have ongoing relationships with foreign clients and take advantage of the fact that local market prices for IT folk are nothing compared to western Europe and (especially) US. Not a bad deal, but not as good as fostering relationships with the clients yourself (and these clients are usually at least moderately price sensitive, as otherwise they would probably hire contractors at their location). I'm sure there are plenty of people that freelance without middlemen where I live, it just seems a lot less prominent than in better developed economies. I know maybe one or two.
  - andy_adams 8y ago
    Sure, the article is applicable primarily to US-based freelancers. YMMV in other places. If it's any consolation, I live in a tiny town in the US and have rarely met my clients in person. Many of them have no idea where I work from or that I occasionally wear pajama pants on video calls, because my webcam is from the waist up.
csomar 8y ago
> Your first interactions with anyone will set the tone for the rest of the relationship. If you crush the first emails, phone calls, or meetings, your reputation will be solidified for the long-term. It is a weird world. The above has been consistent in the following: 1- In high school. If you just meet some new kids for a first time and mumbble stupidly, they'll think you are retarded and it'll be hard to change that view. 2- If you fail to impress your potential date in the first date, you are pretty much over. I think as a guy I'm more tolerable with girls but I might not be accurate or maybe an exception. 3- It still applies in adulthood. I think that's why doctors care a lot about their medical offices. I mean if you check a doctor with a messy office, no secretary and not so expensive equipment. It sucks: The first impression matters a lot. You are allowed to suck (within limits) afterward but the first impression is a must. > Until you’re sure of your effective tax rate, set aside a minimum of 25% of every dollar you earn for the tax man. Put it away, don’t touch it. Try to maximize your business expenses. Can you make your gym as a business expense? Your "personal" car? Your mobile phone bill? There are lots of things you can expense. Check with your accountant. Have a list and let him check what can be checked to the business account. My advice will be: Don't touch the business money until next fiscal year. That might be hard if you don't have a full year reserve but you can do the math and "borrow" from your company.
- mattferderer 8y ago
  I would be interested in hearing more from freelancers about tax tips they've found useful. One interesting thing I learned this year is it's common to setup a S-Corp LLC & then pay yourself a fair & reasonable wage. Anything over that you can pay yourself as dividends every quarter. Besides dividends being a huge tax savings (in the US) they also act as a sort of bonus. This also seems to help a bit with budgeting.
  - misiti3780 8y ago
    bonuses are still taxed at ~50%. depending on how much you make, you might qualify for trump's passthrough
  - akcreek 8y ago
rsweeney21 8y ago
Really good article filled with excellent advice! I actually started out down a similar path after leaving Netflix. For me, the biggest challenge for software engineers that want to go freelance will always be finding work (aka sales). It's just really scary to know that if you don't find another gig, you don't get paid. Shameless plug: I ended up starting a company[0] to help freelancers/contractors with this. We are the sales and collections team for you. We focus on high-quality clients that can afford to pay for senior engineers. You pick jobs that appeal to you. We currently have way more openings for contract + remote jobs than we can fill and the clients are good (Vizio, Disney, Colliers). It's a great way to transition from full-time to consulting. [0] https://www.facetdev.com https://www.facetdev.com
- tempaccount8512 8y ago
  Thanks for facet, it looks promising. Although it's limited to US candidates only?
  - rsweeney21 8y ago
    US and Canada only right now - gotta start somewhere. But we plan to expand outside as soon as we are ready. If you are interested, but outside US and Canada, you can sign up and we'll put you on a waitlist.
    - mikenguyen101 8y ago
      I'm looking forward to supporting other countries.
    - benkaiser 8y ago
      This would be great. Highly considering a move back to Australia from the US and would be great if I could use my Microsoft experience to help fetch freelance work.
nickjj 8y ago
I've been remote freelancing for ~20 years. Some good advice in that post but I would add in: 1. You definitely don't need to form an LLC. I'm still a sole proprietor all this time and it's working out fine. 2. Personally, I'd hold back 35%+ of your income for taxes and expect to pay taxes every quarter. 3. 2 months of savings seems really low. People are wired different but I know a lot of people (myself included) who can't function with less than 6 months of runway when being self employed. It's not fun being in a position to take on low quality work because you absolutely need it. 4. Billing style really depends on the job you're doing. A lot of my work is billed hourly due to the nature of what I'm asked to do.
- andy_adams 8y ago
  Thanks for sharing. 1. I'd be terrified to run as a sole proprietor for anything more than getting started. I work on medical software, and if someone dies during a procedure - even if it's not my software's fault - I don't want my personal assets to be liable. 2. I started at 35%, and moved back once I saw what I was actually paying. Depends on your state in life, state within the US, and charitable giving state-ments. 3. Yep, 2 months is low. Just enough to weather a storm, but more = better. 4. Funnily enough, I'm switching to hourly billing for much of my work. But I think many freelancers (particularly US-based) don't even realize "day rates" are a thing - we're fixed on hourly pay, for some reason.
  - balfirevic 8y ago
    What does "day rate" usually imply in US, 8 hours?
    - andy_adams 8y ago
      You get my productive output for normal working hours, typically an 8-9 hour range, but I'm not tracking time spent on potty breaks, eating lunch, or taking a walk outside.
    - SimonPStevens 8y ago
      I think this shows the fixation on hourly rates. Why does there need to be a translation to hours. A day is a day. When I was freelance I just billed a day rate. The point for me is that I simply don't count the hours. It just meant I would spend the day working on that clients project only. Typically I'd do something like around 9-17:30, with around an hour for lunch. So that works at 7h30. But sometimes I stopped earlier. Sometimes I worked later. I still billed the same. I never pro-rated the invoices for partial days. My minimum billing increment was half a day on the odd occasion I needed to run an errand that was going to require less than a full day off.
miguelmota 8y ago
Good list. I recently started being an independent contractor and a lot of the material resonated and there were some good tips in there.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
alex_suzuki 8y ago
Great article, Andy! I really enjoyed reading it. I wrote a similar piece about going freelance as a software engineer a while ago, perhaps you’ll like it: https://blog.classycode.com/going-freelance-as-a-software-engineer-some-advice-13c4064c72ce https://blog.classycode.com/going-freelance-as-a-software-en...
chiefalchemist 8y ago
> "Take your finely-calculated estimate and 3x it, both in time and money. You should get really comfortable with “no”; Both saying “no” to bad fits, and hearing “no” from clients who can’t afford you." Two quick thoughts: 1) "It always costs twice as much and takes twice as long" is a benchmark that has never failed me. 3x? Probably could have helped 25% of the time. 2) The key to freelancing or even being an agency is...avoid the time sucks, the bad clients. It's not finding grand slams or hat tricks. Sure those are good to have. But the killer is the bad ones, the really bad ones.
mikenguyen101 8y ago
Well, it's definitely helpful. Let me tell my story, I had been working as a freelancer for 2 years. I mainly worked on Upwork. Most of the clients are cheap and micromanagement. And most of the jobs are short term. I think the big problem is how to find a good client? If you are an American, you may have networking. Your friends can refer you a good job. Or you can go to the events, and try to sell your business. But if you are not an American, you may struggle to find a good client. So I think this post is for those who are living in developed countries, not developing countries ( third world )
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motsmanish 8y ago
I have experienced almost each and every point listed on your blog in my 9 years of freelancing. Learned a few today. :-) Thank you for keeping track of all those points/experiences and summarising for all the freelancer buddies out there.
jscholes 8y ago
To me this was a well written, no bullshit, super helpful piece. My thanks to the author, from someone relatively new to freelancing. I feel extremely lucky to have landed an 80-hour monthly retainer as one of my first gigs, but this article gives me plenty of ideas on how (and how not) to make sure things are going in the right direction over the next few years.
jolmg 8y ago
> Don’t work on promises. Get projects down on paper with clear terms, and have your clients sign. Until you do so, all the talk in the world is worthless. I wish it expanded more on this. Some questions: - when you're remote, do you print the contract, sign it, scan it, send it, and have the client do the same? or do you send 2 physical copies via DHL or something? or do you just rely on a "looks good!" reply to an email detailing the terms? - what's the typical practice in the freelance market on using contracts? I mean, when you're working remote from a country different from your client's, I imagine it's pretty difficult to write good enforceable contracts since they involve 2 very different jurisdictions. Do people typically bother trying to make good quality contracts, or are they used on the assumption that both parties will act in good-faith? - when you're just starting out and can't really afford the services of a lawyer that can write international contracts, how do write such things on your own? some tips? - are there standard clauses in these contracts that people expect or are they really diverse? It would have also been cool if this talked a bit about how the interactions typically are between a freelancer and a client. I mean, I imagine there's a general protocol, right? I imagine the freelancer should guide the interactions, but what are clients' expectations? For example, what's typically used for communication? skype? plain email? Are there some etiquette rules specific to freelancing?
- andy_adams 8y ago
  In the US, email agreements can be enforceable contracts, but I always take the step of getting an eSignature. My take on international contracts: Working internationally, it's pretty much all based on trust. Once you get to the point where you have a large enough contract, sure, hire lawyers then. But how is someone going to pursue, for example, a Romanian developer for $10,000? It's just not worth it. So, if you're unsure of the client and you have no way of enforcing a contract, you could "ramp up" your agreement: Get 50% up front, do a small project or 2, break larger projects into smaller chunks paid incrementally, etc. I've never dealt with a large client flaking, so this is all speculation from me. I hope it helps.
  - jolmg 8y ago
    Wow. Thanks for the prompt reply. Since it's been a day, I didn't have much hope of this getting one. Thanks for the blog post, too!

454 points by andy_adams 8y ago

Cicada2026 8y ago

Thanks for sharing this, I'm thinking of freelancing for a while and there were great tips, especially the part about setting up your rates.

emddudley 8y ago

The author is concise and writes with humility--very nice to read!

mythrwy 8y ago

"If a client previously posted their projects to Fiverr or UpWork, it’s a signal they don’t value expertise." I disagree with this. Some clients just don't have any idea where to get something done other than a "site" they heard about or found on the internet. But these clients usually are fairly technically clueless and require a lot of hand holding and/or have unrealistic expectations. Come to think of it I sort of have to agree with the authors basic point... not a great signal (although for different reasons).

jvagner 8y ago
You've gotta know how to filter on Upwork. I hire a lot on Upwork, and have found excellent talent, with extensive experience, for my projects. I've learned how to qualify candidates with a minimal process that has weeded out the "waste of time" people that I sunk a bit of time into when I first went there. So count me as someone who's posting there that counts on expertise, and has been very happy with what I've found. That said, my clients would probably not know how to use Upwork effectively. Hence, me.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
  - thanatropism 8y ago
    Mostly-uninformed opinion in square brackets: [By the point I'm spending five digits figures on Wordpress add-ins, I might as well hire a crew to make me a new product with React or Angular or ClojureDjango# -- whatever is en vogue right now and likely to remain so for a while. Wordpress might have improved a lot since I last looked at it in 2008/9; but I recently made a free wordpress.com blog and it sure feels like a monocycle mounted on an elephant mounted on a Chevy carcass mounted on an electric scooter.] --- Am I wrong? A little wrong or out of whack entirely?
    - fencepost 8y ago
      It depends on what you're doing and how much of the site it is. An add-in might be an almost totally separate product already, just one that's leveraging the existing infrastructure of WP such as logins, permissions, theming, etc. If it's just leveraging those things (and thereby changing appropriately if you change appearances) then how important is it if it's written in PHP? I will say that if you're spending 10k+ on add-ins that you should probably make sure you've looked into what you're doing and how. That sounds like the kind of pricing I'd expect if you're having a custom add-in developed rather than what I'd expect for a commercially available one. Something custom may be appropriate, but unless your needs are unique it may not be the best approach.
- akor 8y ago
  Would love to hear what strategies you use to qualify candidates.
  - jvagner 8y ago
    Some basics, and it varies a bit depending on whether you're hiring in India versus Europe/Eastern-Europe. I have found that a certain subset of candidates in India will be very aggressive with the frequency and obtuseness of communication. European and east-europeans candidates, in my experience, will often disqualify themselves by being presumptive about requirements or solutions, or dismissive about confounding aspects. I'm not generalizing overall, but in first/second interactions with remote freelancers on Upwork. This has been very consistent. (I'm in North America, but have lived and worked in 3+ Western European countries). Beyond basic technical qualifications, these additional steps have helped me onboard a good sized team of part-time and full-time freelancers around the globe: * Include 1 very broad, and 1 very specific question in the job posting (don't make them required -- see who answers them of their own volition). You'll get a sense of reading comprehension, and the care someone will use in responding. The questions should not require an essay in response, but neither can they be fulfilled by a templated response. * For higher level candidates, offer to get on a 5 minute video call and share a calendly/youcanbookme link. Ask for a problem synopsis and see how complete it is, and check how many unclear potentialities get called out in response. * For lower level candidates, look for 5, hire and onboard 3. In a slack documentation channel, include an on-boarding document with 3-5 steps (update avatar, include available hours in spacetime, post a hello and basic introduction in #general, add themselves to #somechannel, etc). All my keepers very faithfully followed really basic requests. The people who most vociferously wasted my time could've been disqualified at this stage of the game. For this last step, pay for their time and set a 1 or 2 hour max budget at the start. Don't train or lead anyone through this process. That's not a road you want to spend any time on, because it will become an expansive sinkhole. I've found that there are plenty of talented professionals out there, but those who can be useful, engaged, remote resources are a special breed. You want conscientious forthrightness.
    - akor 8y ago
      Thank you that is helpful! A lot of our hires have been short term and I suspect that doesn't help the situation.
fencepost 8y ago
If the client is posting there because they're cheap and are going to nickel and dime and second-guess every decision then they may not be worthwhile (possibly unless you factor in billing for your time discussing every. little. thing. with them). If they're posting there because they don't know where to hire someone to do contract work for them then you may well be able to work with them - particularly if you're personable and willing to spend some time handholding and making them comfortable. For that matter, if they've done something on one of those places and been burned by poor quality, poor understanding, language issues, whatever then it may make them more likely to work with you if you don't have the same problems. It's a question of making sure there are realistic expectations on both sides. If a client is going to need concierge service beyond the raw design and coding and you're able to provide (and get paid for) that then you may be in a good position.

pier25 8y ago

> Take your finely-calculated estimate and 3x it, both in time and money. This is so true.

Felger 8y ago
In the nuclear power field, the usual multiplicator applied to project cost is Pi.

rubinelli 8y ago

> If a potential client tells you how something should be implemented, they don’t want you to think too much and don’t value your expertise. Not necessarily. My team has recently inherited a system developed by an outside contractor that has absolutely nothing to do with our stack, and taking over its operation ended up taking much more time than if we had developed the functionality from scratch.

mtberatwork 8y ago
Yes, if you are going to work as a contractor and the company is telling you precisely what stack or technologies you need to be working with, that's not a red flag.

MLWithPhil 8y ago

Great content. I've been doing freelance machine learning work for a while, and it's hit or miss. Some clients are great, others are a complete pain. Most recent gig I had, the client cut hours and then rates... all due to the fact that the CEO didn't manage the project properly from the outset, and they were hemorrhaging cash. That fell squarely into the "not my problem" category, so I quit. It's a tough business, and one I've not completely figured out yet.

misiti3780 8y ago
I have been a freelancer for 10 years now, and I noticed that machine learning gigs are a bit harder to find because they is usually proprietary info and they want to keep the "models" in house. Has that been your experience ?
- MLWithPhil 8y ago
  Gigs seem to fall into a couple categories: one group of clients has heard all the buzz and wants to get in on the action, without really knowing much about it. The more serious types are indeed protective of their data, intellectual property, and processes. I have even seen paranoia around leveraging open source frameworks (Tensorflow, Pytorch) out of fear of their sponsor corporations coming for the client... not sure I see the logic on that one, but whatever. Whenever I don't have much success in a venture, I try to look inward to see what I'm doing wrong. I suspect that there is a fair amount I have to learn about getting good gigs and being successful in the freelance game. Unfortunately, it's one of those "have to learn the hard way" type of things.

davidscolgan 8y ago

There is so so much good stuff in this article. A++ content. Incidentally, my hunch is that one way to build trust with clients is to write articles like this. I can tell you know what you are doing if you can write something like this. > I’d estimate over half of freelancers disappear before delivering their projects. Good for you: Finish your projects and you’re already in the 51st percentile of freelancers. This matches my gut as well and I've been somewhat shocked at how many clients compliment me on answering my email in a timely manner! Clients seem to understand almost any mistake you can make if you are upfront about it and work with them to solve the problem and don't disappear. Though, I definitely agree on being very very careful about code that charges money (or sends email for that manner).

RegBarclay 8y ago

Not a freelancer, but I've worked remotely... > It gets pretty dang lonely sometimes, particularly if you’re working remotely. I don’t care if you’re an introvert or extrovert, it’ll affect you either way. I'm an introvert. I was lonely. It does affect you. > But for maximum productivity, your routine should involve getting dressed, brushing your teeth, and treating it like a “real job”. I had to do this. If I wasn't wearing street shoes, I wasn't "at work."

sz4kerto 8y ago
One of the best thing in working remotely is that I don't have to wear shoes. I could work very productively without these routines; the problem was that I could not switch off.
cm2012 8y ago
I think it helps to be married. I can honestly say I'm never lonely as a freelancer (2 years now, I almost never see clients).
- loopfor 8y ago
  I second this. I've been freelancing for about 2 years as well and I don't feel lonely because I'm married.
- andy_adams 8y ago
  FWIW, I've been married the whole time I've been a freelancer, and the loneliness didn't settle in until year 5 or so. Your spouse will probably not want to talk shop all the time, and those types of conversations (tech, business, etc) were what I missed the most. But maybe I'm just excessively sensitive!
  - Cymen 8y ago
    I've found tech meetups scratch that itch a little bit but I'm 2 years into remote (with a wife and 2 kids) so maybe more is coming... Just curious if you tried that and if it worked or not for you?

Felger 8y ago

Been a freelancer since 2003, working from home, introvert living alone, not affected by loneliness. Darn, I must not like people ! Will try the shoes trick.

gotduped 8y ago

As a new freelancer, this is so good! > "If a client gives you a design to implement, make your implementation pixel-perfect. It’s crazy how sloppy some developers are; the client put together that PSD for a reason." Shamefully have to admit this was me when I started -- my mind says "the tool does the thing!" and the client says "it looks nothing like my design". Can't be afraid to charge for CSS.

GVIrish 8y ago
I would first evaluate how much work would be involved with making their design pixel perfect. There are some platforms where making certain things pixel perfect is extremely difficult (Sharepoint customization for example). I would also give my customer feedback on whether the UI helps them achieve their goals. Sometimes people zero in on a visual design that has poor usability, and all you're doing is taking them further down a bad road.
- andy_adams 8y ago
  Yes! If you see a problem with the design, share your expertise (politics carefully navigated). This is how you become even more valuable to your client. But if you've settled on a design and you're the implementer, make it look like the specs you got!
jacobyoder 8y ago
"If a client gives you a design to implement, make your implementation pixel-perfect. It’s crazy how sloppy some developers are; the client put together that PSD for a reason" Even when the various mockups are in conflict with each other? Dealing with internally inconsistent state? Building full web applications off of a PSD file is often a bad start. Things like menu/toggle state, hovering, accessibility, etc - these are - in about 95% of my experiences - ignored or broken in "designer-led" design stuff. Yes, they had an idea that was translated to graphic state, but when things don't comport with reality (no, browsers can't actually represent everything you just in your PSD, or no, we can't make 9 point fonts usable in pulldowns with the same font your designer used, and no, we can't use that exact font because it's $1500, etc).... you have to use your judgement - and you can do it collaboratively with the client(s), but do not spend hours/days/weeks trying to chase down pixel-perfection based on PSDs that were likely based off $30 templates themselves. When chrome does an autoupdate and things are 3 pixels off... what do you do then? > It’s crazy how sloppy some developers are It's also crazy how un-aware of what browsers actually are and how they work some designers are.

pythonbase 8y ago

Great write-up and a lot of practical advice. I am freelancing for some time now and the hardest part is to score and retain clients.

iovrthoughtthis 8y ago

Reminded me that it’s ok that clients say no to working with me because cost.

thisisdallas 8y ago

Really good post. The main thing that sticks out is that the author mentions how referrals are the number one source of leads for basically every freelancer. The problem is that he only mentions it. Ok, that's great. How do I get referrals? The issue is that none of the other stuff matters if you don't know how to get referrals. The author did a good job with the post, but I can't express how important it is to be a people person when freelancing. In order to get referrals you have to get projects. In order to get projects, you have to leave your house and meet other local business owners. That's very hard for freelancers to do and I think the post would be 100 times better if the author spent a little more time on that aspect of freelancing.

wolco 8y ago
Leave your house, why?
balfirevic 8y ago
> In order to get projects, you have to leave your house and meet other local business owners. And so we come to one thing that rarely gets explicitly discussed in articles like this - the location. I don't blame authors for that, your environment is usually something you take for granted. But if I were to go and talk to local business owners where I live (eastern Europe) they would invariably fall in the category of extremely-and-then-some-price-sensitive. So most of the contracting around these parts is done under the umbrella of various agencies or Toptal. These have ongoing relationships with foreign clients and take advantage of the fact that local market prices for IT folk are nothing compared to western Europe and (especially) US. Not a bad deal, but not as good as fostering relationships with the clients yourself (and these clients are usually at least moderately price sensitive, as otherwise they would probably hire contractors at their location). I'm sure there are plenty of people that freelance without middlemen where I live, it just seems a lot less prominent than in better developed economies. I know maybe one or two.
- andy_adams 8y ago
  Sure, the article is applicable primarily to US-based freelancers. YMMV in other places. If it's any consolation, I live in a tiny town in the US and have rarely met my clients in person. Many of them have no idea where I work from or that I occasionally wear pajama pants on video calls, because my webcam is from the waist up.

csomar 8y ago

> Your first interactions with anyone will set the tone for the rest of the relationship. If you crush the first emails, phone calls, or meetings, your reputation will be solidified for the long-term. It is a weird world. The above has been consistent in the following: 1- In high school. If you just meet some new kids for a first time and mumbble stupidly, they'll think you are retarded and it'll be hard to change that view. 2- If you fail to impress your potential date in the first date, you are pretty much over. I think as a guy I'm more tolerable with girls but I might not be accurate or maybe an exception. 3- It still applies in adulthood. I think that's why doctors care a lot about their medical offices. I mean if you check a doctor with a messy office, no secretary and not so expensive equipment. It sucks: The first impression matters a lot. You are allowed to suck (within limits) afterward but the first impression is a must. > Until you’re sure of your effective tax rate, set aside a minimum of 25% of every dollar you earn for the tax man. Put it away, don’t touch it. Try to maximize your business expenses. Can you make your gym as a business expense? Your "personal" car? Your mobile phone bill? There are lots of things you can expense. Check with your accountant. Have a list and let him check what can be checked to the business account. My advice will be: Don't touch the business money until next fiscal year. That might be hard if you don't have a full year reserve but you can do the math and "borrow" from your company.

mattferderer 8y ago
I would be interested in hearing more from freelancers about tax tips they've found useful. One interesting thing I learned this year is it's common to setup a S-Corp LLC & then pay yourself a fair & reasonable wage. Anything over that you can pay yourself as dividends every quarter. Besides dividends being a huge tax savings (in the US) they also act as a sort of bonus. This also seems to help a bit with budgeting.
- misiti3780 8y ago
  bonuses are still taxed at ~50%. depending on how much you make, you might qualify for trump's passthrough
- akcreek 8y ago

rsweeney21 8y ago

Really good article filled with excellent advice! I actually started out down a similar path after leaving Netflix. For me, the biggest challenge for software engineers that want to go freelance will always be finding work (aka sales). It's just really scary to know that if you don't find another gig, you don't get paid. Shameless plug: I ended up starting a company[0] to help freelancers/contractors with this. We are the sales and collections team for you. We focus on high-quality clients that can afford to pay for senior engineers. You pick jobs that appeal to you. We currently have way more openings for contract + remote jobs than we can fill and the clients are good (Vizio, Disney, Colliers). It's a great way to transition from full-time to consulting. [0] https://www.facetdev.com https://www.facetdev.com

tempaccount8512 8y ago
Thanks for facet, it looks promising. Although it's limited to US candidates only?
- rsweeney21 8y ago
  US and Canada only right now - gotta start somewhere. But we plan to expand outside as soon as we are ready. If you are interested, but outside US and Canada, you can sign up and we'll put you on a waitlist.
  - mikenguyen101 8y ago
    I'm looking forward to supporting other countries.
  - benkaiser 8y ago
    This would be great. Highly considering a move back to Australia from the US and would be great if I could use my Microsoft experience to help fetch freelance work.

nickjj 8y ago

I've been remote freelancing for ~20 years. Some good advice in that post but I would add in: 1. You definitely don't need to form an LLC. I'm still a sole proprietor all this time and it's working out fine. 2. Personally, I'd hold back 35%+ of your income for taxes and expect to pay taxes every quarter. 3. 2 months of savings seems really low. People are wired different but I know a lot of people (myself included) who can't function with less than 6 months of runway when being self employed. It's not fun being in a position to take on low quality work because you absolutely need it. 4. Billing style really depends on the job you're doing. A lot of my work is billed hourly due to the nature of what I'm asked to do.

andy_adams 8y ago
Thanks for sharing. 1. I'd be terrified to run as a sole proprietor for anything more than getting started. I work on medical software, and if someone dies during a procedure - even if it's not my software's fault - I don't want my personal assets to be liable. 2. I started at 35%, and moved back once I saw what I was actually paying. Depends on your state in life, state within the US, and charitable giving state-ments. 3. Yep, 2 months is low. Just enough to weather a storm, but more = better. 4. Funnily enough, I'm switching to hourly billing for much of my work. But I think many freelancers (particularly US-based) don't even realize "day rates" are a thing - we're fixed on hourly pay, for some reason.
- balfirevic 8y ago
  What does "day rate" usually imply in US, 8 hours?
  - andy_adams 8y ago
    You get my productive output for normal working hours, typically an 8-9 hour range, but I'm not tracking time spent on potty breaks, eating lunch, or taking a walk outside.
  - SimonPStevens 8y ago
    I think this shows the fixation on hourly rates. Why does there need to be a translation to hours. A day is a day. When I was freelance I just billed a day rate. The point for me is that I simply don't count the hours. It just meant I would spend the day working on that clients project only. Typically I'd do something like around 9-17:30, with around an hour for lunch. So that works at 7h30. But sometimes I stopped earlier. Sometimes I worked later. I still billed the same. I never pro-rated the invoices for partial days. My minimum billing increment was half a day on the odd occasion I needed to run an errand that was going to require less than a full day off.

miguelmota 8y ago

Good list. I recently started being an independent contractor and a lot of the material resonated and there were some good tips in there.

deleted 8y ago

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alex_suzuki 8y ago

Great article, Andy! I really enjoyed reading it. I wrote a similar piece about going freelance as a software engineer a while ago, perhaps you’ll like it: https://blog.classycode.com/going-freelance-as-a-software-engineer-some-advice-13c4064c72ce https://blog.classycode.com/going-freelance-as-a-software-en...

chiefalchemist 8y ago

> "Take your finely-calculated estimate and 3x it, both in time and money. You should get really comfortable with “no”; Both saying “no” to bad fits, and hearing “no” from clients who can’t afford you." Two quick thoughts: 1) "It always costs twice as much and takes twice as long" is a benchmark that has never failed me. 3x? Probably could have helped 25% of the time. 2) The key to freelancing or even being an agency is...avoid the time sucks, the bad clients. It's not finding grand slams or hat tricks. Sure those are good to have. But the killer is the bad ones, the really bad ones.

mikenguyen101 8y ago

Well, it's definitely helpful. Let me tell my story, I had been working as a freelancer for 2 years. I mainly worked on Upwork. Most of the clients are cheap and micromanagement. And most of the jobs are short term. I think the big problem is how to find a good client? If you are an American, you may have networking. Your friends can refer you a good job. Or you can go to the events, and try to sell your business. But if you are not an American, you may struggle to find a good client. So I think this post is for those who are living in developed countries, not developing countries ( third world )

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motsmanish 8y ago

I have experienced almost each and every point listed on your blog in my 9 years of freelancing. Learned a few today. :-) Thank you for keeping track of all those points/experiences and summarising for all the freelancer buddies out there.

jscholes 8y ago

To me this was a well written, no bullshit, super helpful piece. My thanks to the author, from someone relatively new to freelancing. I feel extremely lucky to have landed an 80-hour monthly retainer as one of my first gigs, but this article gives me plenty of ideas on how (and how not) to make sure things are going in the right direction over the next few years.

jolmg 8y ago

> Don’t work on promises. Get projects down on paper with clear terms, and have your clients sign. Until you do so, all the talk in the world is worthless. I wish it expanded more on this. Some questions: - when you're remote, do you print the contract, sign it, scan it, send it, and have the client do the same? or do you send 2 physical copies via DHL or something? or do you just rely on a "looks good!" reply to an email detailing the terms? - what's the typical practice in the freelance market on using contracts? I mean, when you're working remote from a country different from your client's, I imagine it's pretty difficult to write good enforceable contracts since they involve 2 very different jurisdictions. Do people typically bother trying to make good quality contracts, or are they used on the assumption that both parties will act in good-faith? - when you're just starting out and can't really afford the services of a lawyer that can write international contracts, how do write such things on your own? some tips? - are there standard clauses in these contracts that people expect or are they really diverse? It would have also been cool if this talked a bit about how the interactions typically are between a freelancer and a client. I mean, I imagine there's a general protocol, right? I imagine the freelancer should guide the interactions, but what are clients' expectations? For example, what's typically used for communication? skype? plain email? Are there some etiquette rules specific to freelancing?

andy_adams 8y ago
In the US, email agreements can be enforceable contracts, but I always take the step of getting an eSignature. My take on international contracts: Working internationally, it's pretty much all based on trust. Once you get to the point where you have a large enough contract, sure, hire lawyers then. But how is someone going to pursue, for example, a Romanian developer for $10,000? It's just not worth it. So, if you're unsure of the client and you have no way of enforcing a contract, you could "ramp up" your agreement: Get 50% up front, do a small project or 2, break larger projects into smaller chunks paid incrementally, etc. I've never dealt with a large client flaking, so this is all speculation from me. I hope it helps.
- jolmg 8y ago
  Wow. Thanks for the prompt reply. Since it's been a day, I didn't have much hope of this getting one. Thanks for the blog post, too!