I'm thinking of starting freelance, please give me tips. :)

Ye' old general discussion board. Basically, for everything that isn't covered elsewhere. Come here to shoot the breeze, shoot your mouth off, or whatever suits your fancy.
This forum is not for asking programming related questions.

Moderator: General Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
JellyFish
DevNet Resident
Posts: 1361
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 7:18 pm
Location: San Diego, CA

I'm thinking of starting freelance, please give me tips. :)

Post by JellyFish »

Hi, I've been doing web development for over 5 years, but mainly with my brother and family. My brother is very entrepreneurial, so he got me started with this stuff (that is, web stuff/development). I'd say I'm fairly experienced, though I've never worked on projects other than my own. So what I'd like to know is some tips on what I need to know about freelancing. I'm 18 and never had an "official job" so any tips on the right way to contract or financial things would be appreciated as well. What are some of the business terminology I should know about when working freelanced? What is a good rate for me to charge my employee? Are they called employees if it's freelance/contracted?

Anything to get me prepared to contract with someone would be so very much appreciated. I have just met someone today that is looking to do, from what it sounds like, a very simple website, mainly static HTML/CSS; I could possibly throw in a simple CMS for him. Here are some of the questions I have when thinking about taking up this offer:
  1. What is a good hosting service for me to use? If I'm developing the site does that mean I choose the hosting provider?
  2. What should I do if the site crashes or has problems sometime after I've finished the work? Will I always be the go-to guy for all the people I contracted with? (This question is high priority)
  3. He needs to pay the for hosting and domains right?
  4. Is it better too charge hourly or commission only?
manojsemwal1
Forum Contributor
Posts: 217
Joined: Mon Jun 29, 2009 4:13 am
Location: India

Re: I'm thinking of starting freelance, please give me tips. :)

Post by manojsemwal1 »

1-WebHosting service provider has many teriff plan just go through that .Yo can choose the Web hosting provider as per your requirment and well service provider.
2-Frist you tried localy server and after complete the job u can purchase domain name the site and webspace from the webhosting service provider. he will registered the domain name and give u a Cpanel Uid and pwd for u just upload the site in their server through FTP.
Just remember that always keep backup of every job or project.

3-while creating any project u can make a site package included with webspace and domain registeration charges.
4-its up to u. u can sell a site package for new project and old package u can charge as per page design or u can give AMC for Users or client.
User avatar
John Cartwright
Site Admin
Posts: 11470
Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2003 2:10 am
Location: Toronto
Contact:

Re: I'm thinking of starting freelance, please give me tips. :)

Post by John Cartwright »

What is a good hosting service for me to use? If I'm developing the site does that mean I choose the hosting provider?

We use http://rackspace.com (top notch) in the US and http://webhosting.uk.com for the UK (although we recently found out they are a reseller of a reseller :banghead:). However, to answer your question.. ask your client what they want. It's their buck, so they should decide whether to trust your decisions or if they want to go with their own hosting.

What should I do if the site crashes or has problems sometime after I've finished the work? Will I always be the go-to guy for all the people I contracted with? (This question is high priority)

Can't speak from personal experience, but I think the industry standard is to provide ~1 year free support and updates (which can be optionally extended or service upgradable) through phone and/or email and/or messengers. What kind of support the customer can expect can affect their decision significantly, so you want to make the customer feel like they won't be alone when something goes wrong. Using Swift Mailer as an example of supporting an application: Chris was able to service a large proportion of the users through basic (free) responses through devnet forum and their own mailing list (although free means at the developers own dicretion when/how to reply). However, I believe he also offered an enterprise support for his paying customers. So again, it really depends on the context and whether there is more benefit servicing your users in a large scape, or a private/focused scale.

He needs to pay the for hosting and domains right?

It's a pain registering someone elses info for them. It takes 5 minutes to register a domain, and if they do it themselves you do not need to collect their personal/financial details in the process. Because after all, they probably want everything in their name, not yours.

Is it better too charge hourly or commission only?

This is a very vague question and is difficult to answer without context. Generally speaking, if your hours per week are limited then you would likely be paid by the hour. However, if your project is on-going or involves some personal stake, then you're probably better off being on commission/salary.
User avatar
Eran
DevNet Master
Posts: 3549
Joined: Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:36 am
Location: Israel, ME

Re: I'm thinking of starting freelance, please give me tips. :)

Post by Eran »

2. Clients will expect you to be their go-to guy. You need to make sure both of you are aligned on what exactly is the term of your warranty. We usually provide 3 months bug-fixes and minor changes. After that, it's charged case-by-case. We might fix critical bugs free of charge if those are discovered, but unlikely after the site has been running for 3 months.
4. It will almost always be better to charge by the hour (depending on the rate of course), but most clients would not agree to it, especially as the scope gets larger. Paying by the hour would mean they would be paying for your miscalculations, lack of experience with specific problems, debugging difficulties and other unforeseen issues, and they would also would like to know the cost beforehand.
User avatar
JellyFish
DevNet Resident
Posts: 1361
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 7:18 pm
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: I'm thinking of starting freelance, please give me tips. :)

Post by JellyFish »

What are the names of the different kinds of sites? I see the word enterprise a lot, so I'm wondering what an enterprise site is as well the terminology for other kinds of sites.

Also, what do you call your "employer"? You can't really call them your employer, 'cause you're not being employed really. Rather you're just contracting with them? Do you call them clients?
User avatar
volomike
Forum Regular
Posts: 633
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2008 9:04 am
Location: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

Re: I'm thinking of starting freelance, please give me tips. :)

Post by volomike »

Check your PMs, JellyFish. In the header you'll see something that reads, "2 new messages" or something like that. Thanks.
User avatar
JellyFish
DevNet Resident
Posts: 1361
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2006 7:18 pm
Location: San Diego, CA

Re: I'm thinking of starting freelance, please give me tips. :)

Post by JellyFish »

Thanks for the PMs volomike. I really appreciate it. :)
Post Reply