(Original post from July 2009)
Why, yes, @erinichristine, I believe that you are!
A lot of people I know do, in fact, have the hustle to figure out this kind of lifestyle. But at the same time, a lot of us sometimes get so caught up in doing the actual work that we forget some of the main tenets to make sure the process moves smoothly. Yes, even those of us who have been doing this for years. But when you explain the “formal” steps to the uninitiated, you remember, “Oh, yeah! That’s how it goes.” And it’s always good to get a reminder.
Step 1: Biz Dev
The initial task is a simple one: network, network, network. Don’t delete ANY numbers you might save on your phone. Be socially extroverted. Respond to emails. Your portfolio doesn’t have to be done (though it does help), you just have to know what you can do.
That leads to the next sub-step: Capabilities. Once you have someone interested in what you can do, be sure to explain to them what is possible from your end of things. You don’t want a client requesting something way outlandish from the get-go, even though that’s what you’re going to shoot for (you overachiever, you). If they really need something you can’t do like Flash, consider cutting one of your buddies in on the deal. Don’t say “that’s not in my skillset”, just say “yes, I know someone that can do that.” Because chances are, you do.
Once you and your respective clients know what are your services to be rendered, you need to send everyone something that is called an SOW. A Statement of Work contains the timelines, milestones, services, overhead, and bottom-line costs to hire you for the job. These sometimes go through a number of drafts before everyone settles on an agreement, but it’s important to be meticulous about this because this is essentially your contract, and yes, that includes signatures.
As a useful note, an SOW guarantees that you don’t have to do anymore than you are asked to do. Being asked to do something outside of the scope of work warrants an additional fee. I know from experience that sometimes I take this for granted and have been ROYALLY SCREWED for not calculating for additional work in the first place. So, please, do this before setting to any kind of work.
And now… to work!
Step 2: Execution
Do what you promised to do, but when you report in, try to translate what you’re doing into plain English for your client. Use metaphors and analogies to explain technical processes, use figures and graphs where applicable. They don’t need to know the step-by-step process, they just need to know what they’re spending their money on.
Step 3: Invoicing
Ok! All done? All the revisions are cleared the approval process?
Ok. It’s time to get paid.
I hope you logged your hours because now is the time you tabulate them. If you negotiated a flat fee per service (which is my style, personally) then you need to match those services against timelines. If you agreed on an hourly / daily rate, you’ll need to tabulate all of this.
It’s also polite to include a postmortem report for everything that happened during the execution period, and the results that ensued.
Incessantly Frequently Asked Questions
“But what does invoicing look like?” Well, I’m not going to send you one of my own invoices, but you might want to consider using a free invoicing service like Curdbee or Billing Boss if you’re unsure about how to invoice properly. Ah, to live in the future.
“How much should I charge?” It’s different for everyone, really. Chat up your fellow freelancers and see what they charge for their services. Don’t undercut them too harshly because you don’t want to be working for peanuts. Unless you’ve found some sort of peanut-barter-black-market. (Heh. “Peanut barter”…)
“How do I find new business contacts?” …Oh, I dunno, the internet is a good place to start. But also, and not surprisingly, going out for drinks for various reasons. You don’t even need to drink, you just have to be social. You’d be surprised how many people have pet projects swimming around in their heads. These ideas gain buoyancy from alcohol, for some reason. It’s either that, or my industry is saturated with very industrious drunks.
