Freelance Heroes

Anylearning, development or OD role (designing or delivering, elearning or classroom, etc) will frequently run into situations where what the client think is the problem or subsequent solution maybe far from the actual root cause or solution. Like you Ican struggle to pick my battles,even more so with my internal customers.By understanding the client's expectation of my role (i.e.strategic or tactical, orone of the 3Block outlines), helps me better understand what tactics I need to use to help theclient find the best solution.Becausefor some people, you just need them to think it was their idea

Just as an addendum....

I have worked in a contract, working for a US agency that has sold my services to a company for a number of years.

Apart from that, I've never had one.

Bruce

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Thanks for resurrecting this thread, Daniel!  It made me happy to see it in my emailbox.  =)

I think the “nugget” you shared is right on the mark – and Ithink you can do this both through conversations and your contract/SOW.  I almost always include an assumptionssection in mine, but that section shouldn’t be a surprise to the client, as allthat has usually already come out in discussions.  I just like to have it in writing in case oneof us misunderstood or remembers differently later.

And I strongly agree with Bruce about proactively addressingpotential issues.  One thing I alwaystell new client (in a conversation, not in writing) is something like “In myexperience, the timeline is most likely to run into delays in the review cycles,because of course all the reviewers are so busy.  You can let me know what turn time is reasonablein your environment, and then of course if we need to adjust the completiondate because people need more time to review, we can do that.”  Bruce, I’d love to hear some examples ofother types of problems that you try to address up front…

Hi Sheila,

Tend all to be around the main project resources - time, people, payment, acceptance etc.

As for specifics, I just tend to try and pick these up in discussions:

• "OK - could you tell me more about that review team of 43 that you mentioned? Which one person from that group will be communicating with me, because it's much more effective that way?" (Sounds like you are familiar with that one!)
• "You mentioned you have a 3-week vacation planned. That is around the time when we are planning completion, so who will be able to sign off on, and approve my invoice when you are away?"

Since last year I have had some circumstances that have caused me to miss deadlines. I have never missed deadlines in my career before - ever. I have learned that actually, it happens   What I now do is explain the circumstance to clients, up front, and explain how I will deal with any misses. Surprisingly, (to me anyway...), everyone is totally fine with it, and it actually helps cement the relationship.

Hope that help explain a little.

Bruce

LOL - yes, that sounds VERY familiar!! 

Seems to me that a major part of an freelancer's success lies in managing a client's expectations. (And then reminding them of the expectations we set.)

One way I do it is to find an existing e-learning course that's sort of close to what the client wants regarding animations, style, etc. and then basically say to them, "OK, we are going to build something similar to that course, but a bit better in this or that category." The nice thing about an existing, sample course is that it's a concrete thing that doesn't change. As the project moves forward and scope creep and rising expectations rear their heads, I can always gently refer clients to that sample course and the expectations we agreed upon.

So in what ways do you manage your client's expectations?

Well, Daniel, this is a very interesting question. I also find interesting -and it's the way I've worked these years- to show an example of what can be done.

The problem I'm facing lately is different, as it's my expectations what I have to manage. As I know more and more and can deliver better projects, I always tend to deliver the best possible solution, which makes me spend more time than budgeted. 

I'm considering this time as "learning time", but I'm afraid that I raise the client's expectations too much and then I can only deliver these more difficult to build projects.

Once the expectations have been set we as freelancers need to be careful not to raise them by talking about all the wonderful possibilities.

Thanks Daniel, though my problem is not talking, but doing... :-(. I can't help of adding animations and syncying voices, or adding interactivity where it wasn't asked -and won't be paid.

Is this a question of years of experience? I mean, will I be able to avoid doing more than budgeted in the future?

Belen Casado

I know what you mean--we always want to give more than they expect. And we should, to a certain degree.

But we also have to remember that that time we are giving away means less time for other aspects of our business: marketing, networking, blogging, creating assets for the community. Not to mention less time with our family.

Of course, at the beginning you are giving tons of time away, but it's not sustainable and it's generally not why we go into business for ourselves.

Sooner or later, every new Freelancer has to decide whether they have set up a charity, or a profitable, sustainable business.

When they make this mindset change, the correct checks and balances then usually get put into place. Normally, this occurs after the first "lean" month - which puts the lost cash opportunity of the "freebies" into perspective  

Bruce

Quite late to this forum but I've read just about every page to get caught up. Without rehashing, I'll just jump in on Belen's last concern.

I call that the "Creative Curse." When is enough enough and when do I gauge the time spent to be 'over delivered and under promised' but not too much.

I've learned that's it comes down to two things:

1. Your ability to bid a project on how much "time" you consider it to take to complete.
2. In that estimate, how much are you willing to invest trial and error creative development to make it look/feel better than you estimated without feeling like you've backed yourself into a corner.

Honestly, that takes time to learn about yourself and your abilities. If you have an idea to build an interaction that takes say, 2 hours, but you end up spending 5 hours then you have to learn how to track that time. On the next project when you have a similar idea for an interaction your estimate will take into account 5 hours this time rather than 2. Each subsequent project you learn more about how you manage your own time.

Yes, you're all right! I have this "Creative Curse"!

I'm feeling that I've stablished a charity business -as @Bruce says- when I adjust the budget to the lowest and at the same time I start making modifications to improve and improve and improve... The client won't even notice those improvements as I do them without showing the previous result. I think this time is not about the client's expectations... but mine.

And it's important what @Daniel mentions: doing more of this is keeping us from doing other things that are important too. 

I think that the reason why I do this after 4 months being a freelance is that I test myself, I check if this time, this project, I can do a different thing, more complex, etc. I'm using these projects to practise.

I'm sure that sooner or later I'll have all that practise done, and then I'll start adding complexitiy only when it's paid.

Belen

Belen,

Believe me - you will never get to the point where you stop experimenting! 

Typically, I have found that my original thoughts on quoting were about 50% too low when I compare them to what I am quoting now.

Yes, you will get better, but you will also realise and get a better understanding of all the costs that go into your business.

It is also quite hard to raise prices with a repeat customer if you realise you have got it wrong, but it can be eased if you have a great relationship with them.

Just be honest and explain to them that you budgetted incorrectly, and why, and they are usually OK in my experience.

Bruce

Bruce, this what you say about budgeting is very important.

I have an Excel spreadsheet to calculate costs and profitability and it's always very adjusted, so if they ask for "anything else", whatever it is, the calculation loses balance.

So I can take into account that 50% you mention, cause I think it's the same quantity for me. 

And also, I want to raise prices with my current clients so I'll have to be very diplomatic, explaining why I budgetted incorrectly the first(s) time(s).

I always learn from you guys!

Some really good tips in this: http://www.brasstackthinking.com/2012/11/how-to-build-a-strong-consulting-practice/ that might help you. 

Another book I've read years ago, but still applies is the E-Myth Revisited. Talks about the difference between working IN the business (your creative pursuits) and working ON the business (the marketing, operational systems, etc). There's a distinction. Maybe I shared it in this forum before (apologies if I did)...

Hope 2013 has started well for everyone.

Spot on Holly!

The problem with 'creative' types is we want to CREATE. We don't have time to run no stinkin' business! Building a business and running one are two entirely different hats. 

@Belen: Check out Harvest.com. It's a great cloud-based tool for managing your project's times and for invoicing. It's not a PM tool though. I like it because I can create a project and tasks associated with various aspects like development, client calls, design, image searching, etc. You simply select the task you're working on at the time and start the timer. When you're done, stop the timer. Next task. It will keep track of the time you spend on various aspects of projects and it was a WIDE eye opener for me to see exactly how much time I was putting into a project that had nothing to do with development. It's really helped me hone my bidding process.

If you're the creative type you'll never escape the curse. Be one with the force! BUT...learn to manage it. Learn when to turn down the flame and when to crank it up. My challenge is I get distracted easy. I may be working along just fine and then a new idea pops in my head and I have to go attend to it before lose it. This may be drawing, a code snippet that I think I solved, an animation I want to try, etc. It's painful sometimes.  

Another tool I *just* got this week is an iPad app called 30/30. It's a task timer in 30 minute chunks of time. You set the timers based on colors and go. If the work is more than an hour I just stack two 30 minute tasks back-to-back. Then a 10 min break. Then 20 min email task. So on and so on. I've only been using it a couple days but I'm liking it because it breaks my day up into bite-size manageable chunks.

Bottom line everything comes back to time. We all have the same 24 hours. It's what you do with them and how you manage them depends on how productive you'll be.

Thanks, @Holly, very interesting links!

Yes, I think there's a difference between working in the business and working on the business, and we wear different hats when doing each.

With the "creative curse", I tend to spend time and mental resources in creative aspects, and I tend to budget only those -and not all. I leave out the marketing, operational, bureaucratic tasks as if they didn't take time.

So I think that new entrepreneurs we should learn this first lesson: learn to give value to what we're only giving a price -that doesn't cover that value.

@Kevin, thank you for the harvest.com reference. I usually record my hours in a spreadsheet, but it's true that it doesn't show the different aspects of the same project -and it should.

When I was a PM, I used to know exactly the costs and timing of any project -the price was set by the consulting department, I just needed to work with that budget. Now I think that I should see myself as the "consultant" and add my "value" as an e-learning expert, besides an ID.

Belen,

Just remember that the "ID" part is only a very small % of what you now do - and either you, or clients have to pay for every minute of it.

As a reminder, (and it does not really mention any of the "administration" parts that may, or may not be directly attributable to/billable to a client.

Bruce

A good reminder, in fact!

Thanks, you're all making me think about the way I budget my projects.

I shouldn't forget all the hats we can wear to make a project come true.

Hi All,

I've been following this discussion and appreciating all aspects - especially the part about not running a charity - which my husband would accuse me of . Thanks for all input.

And, just an FYI that the website Kevin recommended is actually www.getharvest.com

I was a little perplexed when I went to Harvest.com and under the photo at the top saw this text:"Weather stations with frost alarms and Industrial Grade Weather Stations"

Thanks for the recommendation, Kevin. I also tend to use a spreadsheet and should probably take a look at this.

Thanks Rebecca! The same happened to me, and I was thinking that my brain wasn't going at enough speed to understand... :-(

On the basis of some comments on this thread, I just wanted to say something that I think needs to be said, which may (to some...) be somewhat unpalatable; I do not think I have said it on this thread yet, at least, not this way.

If you classify yourself as a "creative type" over anything else, then the role of freelance Instructional Designer is probably the wrong one for you.

We must be realistic about what we do, and if we do not want to concentrate on the "business" side of things then we either need to get others to help us, or get out of this business, because we need to run it like a business.

I would like to hazard a guess that the "creative" part of being a freelance ID is probably no more than 30% of the whole. Being a freelancer is VERY different from being an ID in a corporate or other cocooned environment.

You need to do all the other parts well - the "creative ID" part is only the "product" at the end. All the other bits of the business - research, sales, marketing, "HR", promotions, business strategy, payroll, finance, project management, evangelist - they are all just as important, and more important when added together.

We can all be "creatives", but without all the other parts being played strongly and professionally, we do not have a business to be creative in.

Bruce

I have used Harvest and found it very good, I am using freeagent at the moment and apart from some invoicing quirks find it meets all my needs. It tracks time, tacks invoices and my accountant can access it.