Freelance Heroes

@Holly said

Absolutely.

Our (initial) job is about selling prospects and leads a "vision", a vision of how we can make them look good. When you have a referral, a lot of that has been done by the referee (?). They are knocking at the door because they have seen the business benefits I/you have created for someone else, and they "...want a piece of it..."

This should be easier business to close, and so long as they have not discussed price with the original referrer, you may even be able to close higher.

Spot on - sell VALUE, never PRICE.

Bruce

Holly: thank you for your two clarifying questions: Might this be a long-term relationship? How did they find me? Excellent.

Thinking through it, I'm really asking how quickly you bring up fees in that first conversation with a client who has not be referred to you by someone else. Currently, I ask for a gist of the project (15 mins. or so) and then it's on to "Do you have a budget for this project"? My goal is to keep that first conversation to 30-45 minutes, unless it really seems to be going somewhere.  

Daniel, I'll give you the classic consultant's answer: "It depends".

But. usually I'll say to them: "What sort of ballpark budget do you have?". I say, "are we talking $5,000 or $50,000"? And, I would say that within the first 30 - 60 minutes. It's a bit of an art, as you don't want to waste anyone's time, but you also don't want to jump to talking price too soon. Those first few minutes are a prime opportunity to develop rapport and understand their challenge and how you'd position your value. I'd say ask "why this project" and listen for things like: "reduce cost" or "reduce risk" or "increase engagement" or whatever the reason is for the call. Then, link the value I bring to the end goal. 

If they are looking for something really cheap, and you aren't interested in pursuing it, you can say "In my experience, the minimum budget for a project like yours is $$, and I couldn't take on your project for anything less than "x". 

Hope that helps.

Holly

It does help, Holly. Thank you very much for the thoughtful reply.

INVOICING HELP PLEASE !

As in, HOW DO I?

As in, I have very suddenly found myself in a freelance opportunity, in which I THINK I will need to INVOICE the company in order to get paid. And surprisingly, I just realized that I've never had to DO such a thing on a weekly basis. (does one typically even DO weekly? Is that something that will need to be negotiated?).

Even if y'all could point me to some resources, that'd be great. The opportunity has turned over SO FAST that I have a lot ducks to get in a row (ie, starting TOMORROW). Phew!

Much thanks,

   Alison

[EDIT].. in case this makes a difference, I am NOT an LLC or my own company or anything like that. So i guess that makes me simply an "independent contractor" ?

Alison,

I charge per hour (usually), to the nearest quarter hour, and invoice at the end of each month for hours used that month. But I also send a list of hours every week and tell the client what each of those hours were for in a spreadsheet (such as 1.25 hours for online meeting with SME 1, 3.50 hours for content development for the widget module, and so forth) so they have an idea what they are paying for as it happens so the client can control costs and ask questions about what I am doing (they should have every right to do that). We often talk each week about the project and what I worked on last week.

I use a timer on my phone to track time and Quickbooks to send out invoices but my friend Judy Unrein told me about this tool http://www.getharvest.com/features/time-tracking that she uses which tracks time and sends invoices. It looks terrific to me but I haven't used it.

Glad to provide more help so ask away.

Patti

hi Alison

& congrats on your new opportunity!

There are lots of solutions out there depending on what extent you're looking for -- some to simply, invoice, some with time-tracking, some with added project management etc, (also both online or downloaded software)

Most of them offer a 30 day trial and then have plans based on your usage... I found this one when I started & am still happy with it (somewhere in midgrounds) http://www.paymo.biz/  although it looks like the free plan only has one free invoice a month now (was 3 when I started hmmm)

Another I use sometimes is Freshbooks http://www.freshbooks.com/ which has now included accounting in it as well. 30 day free trial. 

Lots more out there - heres a small sampling http://freelanceswitch.com/resources-directory/financial/invoicing/

As for frequency - I've found that usually is worked out in your contract with them, depending on their accounting process, most longer term projects have gone with bi-weekly or 15th/30th or monthly. You'll also specify how long they have to pay it.

Best of luck ! 
Hopefully someone else will have more information for you too. 

Alison,  Congrats!  If you are looking for something quick, easy and cheap- I can recommend Office Time.  I use it for time tracking and invoice generation.  I like it because it was a one time fee (about $50) rather than a monthly subscription.  As an independent contractor myself, it does everything I need and syncs with the OfficeTime app on my iPhone too.  I invoice monthly and also charge by the quarter hour.  Good luck!  

I'm a little late to the party but agree with what others have said about invoicing.  You can invoice on whatever frequency you and the client agree on - usually at least monthly (but if you want to start getting paid faster, you can try to negotiate for more frequent invoicing).  I especially agree with Patti's recommendation about providing weekly updates on billable time - I think this is especially important when you don't have a "do not exceed" or when there are a lot of hours up front on the project - the last thing you want is a client who is surprised by their invoice!

For what it's worth, I use Harvest and love it - but it is a bit of an investment and may be more than you need if you're just working on one gig at a time or freelancing "on the side."  If that's the case, you may want to track your time manually on a spreadsheet or using the Journal in Outlook, and then manually create your invoices.  (A little more work, but might make sense if you're not doing a lot of invoicing.)   Word has lots of invoice templates, just go to File>New and look for Invoices on the left under Microsoft Office Online.

Good luck, Alison!

Hi Alison I use Freeagent for tracking time, invoices, quotes in fact all my accounting needs.  I did initially use Harvest (not much difference between the two) I can easily track how projects are doing also I automatically chases up invoices for me and I very rarely need to intervene to ensure I get paid.

I would set yourself up as a Limited company, this way the risks are reduced if anything goes wrong.

I started with one job, and through word of mouth (and plenty of help from Bruce) I ended up working completely freelance 

 - For confidentiality reasons this post was removed Thanks for your answers! -

@Mandy.

One of my clients works like this - fine by me.

I still get work, I still get paid, the client keeps giving me work.

Bruce

Hi, Mandy -

I've run into this a couple of times, and heard about it from others.  It sounds like you've been working for and billing the client directly and now they want to transition to having you go through a payrolling company/agency...  ? I think whether there's a problem depends on what "contractual issues" means.  If it means you can't discuss with the client the rate the payrolling company is paying you, ok.  If it means you can't discuss with the client how long the project may last, what's expected of you, etc., that sounds like a problem to me. 

Also, it sounds like you'd be employed by the payrolling company...  I see you're in Switzerland, so not sure how things work  over there, but that distinction between being employed vs. doing work as your own company may be something to consider as well...

Hi Mandy, I've seen this before (not the penalty clause part) but the rest. A lot of big companies use third-party agents because they want to keep an arms length between themselves and their contractors. It keeps their administration costs down by only dealing with a single agency and protects them from contractors making claims that they are actually employees of the company and are entitled to company benefits. I assume that your client has a contract with the payroll agency that outlines the terms of their agreement. 

Your contract is actually with the payroll agency not the people you will be doing the work for. If you are comfortable with the rate and the basic terms then I would not worry too much about the fact you are not allowed to discuss these terms with your client.

- For confidentiality reasons this post was removed Thanks for your advice! -

Thought of one more thing:  Some of the agency/staffing company contracts I've seen require you to keep the end client confidential - that is, you can't tell people "I did work for This Really Impressive Company."  Not a deal breaker, of course, but something to be aware of.  Of course, some clients have that same requirement themselves!

Just saw your last post Mandy - in my mind, the fact that the payrolling copmany is saying negative things about you to the company is a big red flag...  The problem is, if this is a good client and a good project, and the client wants to go through the payrolling company, you're kind of stuck.  :(

Thanks Nancy, I guess I never feel very comfortable around contracts but this one really gives me the creeps :-/  Nevertheless it is a nice project, I like the people on it and it pays well.

FIRST, a quick MUCH THANKS!!! ... to Pattie and KarynL and  HeatherE and SheilaC-B, and PhilM for INVOICING advise. I will be into each of y'all's recommendations for help.

NOW... a new... er, Contracty... THING... (not bad, just need Next Step(s) Help)...

So like i said, I get the phone call from HR Lady #2 yesterday afternoon, and am told, that to be included in my sudden/surprise/first on-site at 10AM today, will be a meeting with the "VP of Content", getting set-up (meaning outside access to the network to get at/put needed files), and signing the necessary paperwork to get started. And like, I SWEAR she said something about entering hours at a website, and a vague SOMETHING involving the ability to Start/Stop a timer for recording hours (But VAGUE because I'm still supposed to be INVOICING them in order to get paid.  So WHY would I need to submit hours via a website?).

CONTEXT:

So I have just gotten home from the on-site visit. I met with VP-Content Guy, I got set up on the VPN for remote access, BUT... the HR Lady #2 & HR LADY #1/Head Honcho were BOTH tied up in a biggish HR meeting. Ultimately, HR LADY #1 (who I did NOT talk to on the phone yesterday).. just popped out of her meeting to print out those necessary forms for me to sign, dropped them off while I as at I.T. and then took off again (i was to leave them with IT Guy when we were finished).

So here's the (CONFUSING) part: I was given to sign (ONLY) the following:

1. A non-disclosure agreement (sure, of course)
2. A "This is a non-smoking campus" Form (uhhh.. I will work OFF site most of the time AND don't actually smoke, but.. hey, NO problem-o)
   
3. A 5-page "Thou Shall Use your Company Laptop in THIS way, and NOT that, and the Internet in THIS way and NOT that...." (except, the ONLY thing that wound up on *MY* personal laptop was the VPN software.. and there's whole I'm working OFFsite tho).

BUT, erm.. THAT'S IT.

 So besides a quick verbal-only agreement with me and VP-Content Guy about my hourly rate (that is ONLY meant for this initial phase of work), there is NO Official Contract. In fact, like I said above, those three forms, were the ONLY things I actually signed.

NO...

• official start date (though i THINK that's pretty much whenever I feel like starting)
• The work week starts on THIS DAY, and thus, ends on THIS DAY
• how/who to submit an invoice (to)
• how many hours IS an official work week, nor what happens if/when i go over those set hours

That being said, and so far, everything LOOKS (and sounds) great! However, being faced with this totally new situation (i mean, the last Work at Home With No Contract (although there were emails back and forth) went perfectly fine. We did one invoice at the completion of the project. THIS situation tho, is a bit more fluid (ie. the whole .. "this my rate, for now" part).

Thanks for any thoughts!!

Alison

Alison,

If you have ANY doubts about ANYTHING at all, I would get back as soon as you can to either HR. Have a list of questions, emailed (with date), and answered in a F2F or phone conversation.

You need to be sure everything works for you as soon as you can.

Bruce

Alison - welcome to the wacky world of freelancing - contract wrangling is just one of the many perks!

You could write a "statement of work" outlining the things that you've listed and then discuss with HR as Bruce suggests. 

Every situation will be different, I've been at it for nearly 6 years and every client has their own unique twist on the contracting side. It's part of the "fun" of freelancing!

Best of luck,

Holly

It sounds like a great project. My husband is a consultant who does a lot of work for the banks in Canada. He always has to sign contracts like this and has never had a problem - although he does badger the agency into taking out clauses in the contract that he does not like.

Hi, Alison: Sounds like there's confusion/lack of experience on their side. In tricky wickets like this, I'll ask myself, "Do I trust these people"? True, you may not know them well, but you've got a vibe on their trustworthiness.

More often than not the answer is "yes," and the problems work themselves out. Please let us know how the project goes.

I am looking for resources that can do Articulate Storyline.  I have more products that I need support for as well.  ISD's, course dev, graphics people that are freelancers...

John T. Collins