How to choose freelancer orders
Hi, Habr!
My short narrative could be perfect for the “I resent” hub, but, however, I will try to collect in this post some rules on how to choose and execute freelance orders (and any other orders not covered by the official contract), derived from based on their smallexperience of failure in this area.
Anyone who cares how to protect yourself in freelance a little bit, please under the cat.
')
It will seem to many that I am writing here almost truisms and in general everyone knows this, but I sincerely hope that at least someone my flight of thoughts on this topic will help and come in handy.
The set in this title is used from a purely mathematical point of view. Alas, it is better to look for less adequate and good clients among your acquaintances, acquaintances of your acquaintances, and so on. If you choose even with some fairly well-known resources, you can easily run into a noble scam.
Therefore, if your ability to find customers among friends is limited, then, before taking on a project from any resources, you should not only see customer feedback on this site, but also google the data associated with it (they usually leave a minimum ICQ numbers, and in larger orders, for example, websites that want to domore better). A simple googling for an hour will give you at least some idea about this person, but, unfortunately, only if he is not the first person in principle or not the first to refer to this data.
In fact, for example, the WM certificate can be considered the best and most informative data: most likely, if you have already been divorced from it, it will just google, and of course , it will be possible to find some negative reviews about it.
If our good client has already completed the first drop out level, it is worthwhile to look closely at the conditions for doing the work. Although it often happens that the conditions are so terrible that it does not even make sense to check it, but nevertheless, I will place this item second.
So, unfortunately, the Internet is a rather dangerous place, therefore both the employer and the performer are trying to protect themselves from the possibility of being overthrown.
However, some conditions in 80% of the cases issue a layout, for example, we make a website.
It means, of course, before payment. If the customer immediately assumes that all his development will go on his own hosting, and does not agree to any of your conditions - he almost certainly tries to dissolve you.
Well, or he is a very fearful person, but it happens very rarely. It is better not to take such orders,even more so if they are extremely interesting and expensive.
For example, if you make a major service, and first hand over the design, then the expanded pages, and only then the site itself. In this case, they may hijack a part of your work, which in principle is not as critical as if the whole was taken, but also offensive.
The best solution is partial payment (you can call it in advance), along with this partial delivery. If you fairly get 1/3 of the payment first for the design, then 1/3 of the order for the layout, and then 1/3 for the entire site, then you will be in a fairly advantageous position, especially receiving parts of the payment will motivate you to work further. Naturally, other options will be adequate, but it is important to consider those that would be most convenient for you and do not scare the customer.
It is extremely suspicious if, after 50% of the work you have done, the customer does not want to pay at least 30% of the amount. In general, when looking for an artist, less real customers should clearly have 50 percent of the future payment amount, so if he does not want to pay after that, it is worth stopping in development and waiting for a favorable answer, otherwise it is better to say goodbye to him. For even in the most critical case (for example, if he has a very difficult position and doesn’t have money), for some limited period, in principle, you can find money somewhere, well, or if everything is really bad, give at least some profitable you warranty.
Sometimes it is good, of course, that the technical project is in general, but nevertheless, if it is built in such a way that each item can be divided into ten (yes or even a hundred) others - this is bad. Even if the customer does not turn out to be a bad guy who does not pay, this project can turn into a terrible unfinished project that exhausts you completely, and will not bring any joy from the money received. And if under this protracted will hide and even diluted - it really will be quite sad.
By the way, on Habré there are many articles on the rules of technical specifications, beneficial to both parties, for example, here , here and here .
In fact, all the points intersect with each other, so there will be a few repetitions from the previous points.
You should not do something that goes beyond the technical specifications just like that, even once. Most likely, the customer will eventually hang on you, and will continue to create new subtasks. If he is willing to pay extra for additional requirements, naturally, it is worth discussing with him before embarking on them, otherwise, even if the customer is a good and decent person, he will be a little saddened by a sudden price increase. Well, of course, if you yourself do additional work, and then ask for an extra charge for it, this is not at all beautiful, and even a kind customer may suddenly refuse for lack of, for example, funds.
Usually, when executing such orders, there are at least some verbal agreements about when and how payment will occur. In the normal case, everyone is trying to go to each other for a meeting, and, in theory, the customer should understand that the contractor still works for money, and not just like that.
Therefore, if you already have a contract that suits you more or less, and, suddenly, the customer begins to declare that, say, your work is not done as required (although, according to the terms of reference, everything is fine and you yourself see this), or that he does not have money, or is looking for any other reason, you should not immediately rush and do all that he demands. Well, if you really are wrong, but if you still see clearly that you are right, you just have to wait and see what happens.
Excellent scheme, when you seem to communicate with a normal person, and now they have completed everything (and he is so great that you didn’t even take money from him until the end of the work, but agreed that he would pay during the installation of the site) and so happy, and then, suddenly, it turns out that he needs another week to test what is not working, and so on. In the case of such statements, it is very good, if they do arrive at least 10 minutes before installation, then immediately it is worth saying something like: “Please test with me, it’s excellent here.”, Or at least require half payment before installation.
Another thing, if this statement comes after installation. Most likely you have already fallen into a bad situation, and your website (or something else) already has the customer on the computer (or somewhere else), and even your removal will not help. It seems that the only solution to this problem is to create a couple of such moments in your development for retreat. At least a little it will spoil the joy of the attacker, but sooner or later, most likely, your moments will disappear from there (although if there are too many of them and very well hidden, it can last for a long time).
And if you are still thrown, and you are despondent and sad, it is better to gather and post on related resources with reviews, to the resource where you found the customer, your feedback and comments, and your short story. Let at least someone after you will not fall for this divorce, and it will be eliminated on my first point.
On this, I think, I will complete my article, and sincerely hope that it will come in handy to someone and, possibly, protect them from such situations. In the comments it would be nice to see the rules that I missed.
My short narrative could be perfect for the “I resent” hub, but, however, I will try to collect in this post some rules on how to choose and execute freelance orders (and any other orders not covered by the official contract), derived from based on their small
Anyone who cares how to protect yourself in freelance a little bit, please under the cat.
')
It will seem to many that I am writing here almost truisms and in general everyone knows this, but I sincerely hope that at least someone my flight of thoughts on this topic will help and come in handy.
Many clients
The set in this title is used from a purely mathematical point of view. Alas, it is better to look for less adequate and good clients among your acquaintances, acquaintances of your acquaintances, and so on. If you choose even with some fairly well-known resources, you can easily run into a noble scam.
Therefore, if your ability to find customers among friends is limited, then, before taking on a project from any resources, you should not only see customer feedback on this site, but also google the data associated with it (they usually leave a minimum ICQ numbers, and in larger orders, for example, websites that want to do
In fact, for example, the WM certificate can be considered the best and most informative data: most likely, if you have already been divorced from it, it will just google, and of course , it will be possible to find some negative reviews about it.
Conditions
If our good client has already completed the first drop out level, it is worthwhile to look closely at the conditions for doing the work. Although it often happens that the conditions are so terrible that it does not even make sense to check it, but nevertheless, I will place this item second.
So, unfortunately, the Internet is a rather dangerous place, therefore both the employer and the performer are trying to protect themselves from the possibility of being overthrown.
However, some conditions in 80% of the cases issue a layout, for example, we make a website.
Work on customer hosting
It means, of course, before payment. If the customer immediately assumes that all his development will go on his own hosting, and does not agree to any of your conditions - he almost certainly tries to dissolve you.
Well, or he is a very fearful person, but it happens very rarely. It is better not to take such orders,
Delivery of a large order in parts
For example, if you make a major service, and first hand over the design, then the expanded pages, and only then the site itself. In this case, they may hijack a part of your work, which in principle is not as critical as if the whole was taken, but also offensive.
The best solution is partial payment (you can call it in advance), along with this partial delivery. If you fairly get 1/3 of the payment first for the design, then 1/3 of the order for the layout, and then 1/3 for the entire site, then you will be in a fairly advantageous position, especially receiving parts of the payment will motivate you to work further. Naturally, other options will be adequate, but it is important to consider those that would be most convenient for you and do not scare the customer.
It is extremely suspicious if, after 50% of the work you have done, the customer does not want to pay at least 30% of the amount. In general, when looking for an artist, less real customers should clearly have 50 percent of the future payment amount, so if he does not want to pay after that, it is worth stopping in development and waiting for a favorable answer, otherwise it is better to say goodbye to him. For even in the most critical case (for example, if he has a very difficult position and doesn’t have money), for some limited period, in principle, you can find money somewhere, well, or if everything is really bad, give at least some profitable you warranty.
Very blurry technical specification
Sometimes it is good, of course, that the technical project is in general, but nevertheless, if it is built in such a way that each item can be divided into ten (yes or even a hundred) others - this is bad. Even if the customer does not turn out to be a bad guy who does not pay, this project can turn into a terrible unfinished project that exhausts you completely, and will not bring any joy from the money received. And if under this protracted will hide and even diluted - it really will be quite sad.
By the way, on Habré there are many articles on the rules of technical specifications, beneficial to both parties, for example, here , here and here .
Customer behavior
In fact, all the points intersect with each other, so there will be a few repetitions from the previous points.
Adding items to the terms of reference
You should not do something that goes beyond the technical specifications just like that, even once. Most likely, the customer will eventually hang on you, and will continue to create new subtasks. If he is willing to pay extra for additional requirements, naturally, it is worth discussing with him before embarking on them, otherwise, even if the customer is a good and decent person, he will be a little saddened by a sudden price increase. Well, of course, if you yourself do additional work, and then ask for an extra charge for it, this is not at all beautiful, and even a kind customer may suddenly refuse for lack of, for example, funds.
Postpone payment or withdraw from the contract
Usually, when executing such orders, there are at least some verbal agreements about when and how payment will occur. In the normal case, everyone is trying to go to each other for a meeting, and, in theory, the customer should understand that the contractor still works for money, and not just like that.
Therefore, if you already have a contract that suits you more or less, and, suddenly, the customer begins to declare that, say, your work is not done as required (although, according to the terms of reference, everything is fine and you yourself see this), or that he does not have money, or is looking for any other reason, you should not immediately rush and do all that he demands. Well, if you really are wrong, but if you still see clearly that you are right, you just have to wait and see what happens.
Excellent scheme, when you seem to communicate with a normal person, and now they have completed everything (and he is so great that you didn’t even take money from him until the end of the work, but agreed that he would pay during the installation of the site) and so happy, and then, suddenly, it turns out that he needs another week to test what is not working, and so on. In the case of such statements, it is very good, if they do arrive at least 10 minutes before installation, then immediately it is worth saying something like: “Please test with me, it’s excellent here.”, Or at least require half payment before installation.
Another thing, if this statement comes after installation. Most likely you have already fallen into a bad situation, and your website (or something else) already has the customer on the computer (or somewhere else), and even your removal will not help. It seems that the only solution to this problem is to create a couple of such moments in your development for retreat. At least a little it will spoil the joy of the attacker, but sooner or later, most likely, your moments will disappear from there (although if there are too many of them and very well hidden, it can last for a long time).
But if you still threw
And if you are still thrown, and you are despondent and sad, it is better to gather and post on related resources with reviews, to the resource where you found the customer, your feedback and comments, and your short story. Let at least someone after you will not fall for this divorce, and it will be eliminated on my first point.
On this, I think, I will complete my article, and sincerely hope that it will come in handy to someone and, possibly, protect them from such situations. In the comments it would be nice to see the rules that I missed.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/140096/
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