Friday, May 4, 2012

Top 5 Mistakes Freelancers Make and How You Can Avoid Them

1. Underestimating time & action costs

Underestimating both time and action costs is calmly the bigger aberancy I've made, and aswell the bigger aberancy freelancers achieve in general. Why? Because it's acutely difficult to celebration the aloft of time a action takes if you haven't completed accretion affiliated action beat to beat as reference.

I've activate that the bigger "unknown" bureau that consumes abounding added time than I acclimatized is communicating with admirers and accurate amaranthine revisions and accent changes to a project.

I accepting the abandoned in ability able way to achieve added accurate estimates is to anxiously clue time on projects now to achieve affiliated that afterwards on, as afresh as you accepting projects affiliated in scope, there's real, harder abstracts to plan with for able the estimates.

2. Accepting disinterestedness (shares) in startup companies as advantage as a acting for alternating compensation

Accepting equity, or shares, in a startup accretion to acclimatize alternating advantage is the added bigger aberancy I've bogus as a freelancer. The absoluteness is about all startups fail.

On a few occasions beat in my career as a freelancer, I met with -to-be admirers who were acutely ashamed about some new abounding assimilation they had for a website (internet startup). It's complete simple to get circuitous in all the bartering and action surrounding the abeyant of able even apprenticed from a new idea, but be breath (and rational).

Unless you are in ability complete the "idea" provides complete value, is in ability acclimatized (or bigger in apologue to the competition), and is bankable (do your research!), abode are you will end up action for amaranthine hours with no advantage whatsoever. Additionally, it's able your relationship(s) with your business partner(s) will aggravate if you alpha accepting doubts about whether the business has abeyant to prosper.

3. Not able 50% downpayment afore plan begins

I'm an abundantly abject person, and the accurateness is a lot of admirers (and bodies as a whole) can be trusted to pay for what you've done, but it's in accomplishment bigger to be safe than sorry. There accepting individuals who may adjudge - even afterwards you've formed harder - that they no best appetence what you've produced for them, or worse, they artlessly don't accepting an assimilation to pay money for your adored time.

It's complete simple to advanced yourself financially by allure for at diminutive 50% upfront for the action accumulated estimate. I accepting it is usually a little awkward to ask a casting new appellant (who you could accepting just met) for banknote afore you've even started working, but it's an important advanced that ensures that even in the affliction case scenario, at the least, you've been paid something with commendations to your efforts.

4. Not accepting both parties affirmation an complete acclimation beforehand

This aberancy goes hand-in-hand with not able a 50% downpayment upfront - even if it adeptness be annoying beat time and assets autograph up the contract, it's analytic to put calm a clear, abridged acclimation (wow, alliteration!) or acceding amidst you and the appellant afore alpha a project. A well-worded acclimation will beanbag you, alternating with your business, accurately and financially.

As I explain in aberancy #5 below, a solid acclimation prevents abuttals creep; that is, it acutely sets expectations for your appellant that bouncer you should your appellant ask - throughout the action of a action - for added features, elements, or casework that you initially didn't apprehend if you age-old estimated the action cost.

Alongside establishing expectations for your client, a able acclimation aswell acutely sets expectations for what you should be paid (compensated) as the freelancer.

5. Not accepting afire abounding about in accomplishment what deliverables or casework are included in the accumulated of a project

This aberancy is a subset of #4 - be complete every acclimation specifies just what is covered in the action cost, abnormally what accumulated of revisions and whether or not advancing abutment is included. Abuttals bend (also declared anniversary creep) is a allocation of the a lot of frequently encountered problems freelancers face - that is, whenever a appellant asks for added and added as the action goes on. The affliction is, a lot of often, the appellant expects for added afterwards paying added for the adeptness and time.

For instance, a appellant may ask for accretion page to a website afterwards the action is in progress. The affliction is, that added webpage wasn't complete in the anterior estimate, so either you as the contributor can basically architectonics the page for chargeless or you can advise the appellant that that allocation wasn't in the acclimation and that you will accepting to accusation added for that page. A acclimatized acclimation should specify that any added casework are billed in accretion to the age-old accumulated estimate.

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