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Freelancing is something that has its own risks. Like any business, you are dealing with all sorts of clients. Those who are new to the game may not have a set policy, but they should.

Whether you are new to freelancing for writing or even web design, here are some ideas to include into your policy.

Have a clear policy written from the beginning before the project begins. Everything that is expected should be included:

1. Define your duties. Go into detail. There are some clients who believe you will do more for free and it ends up being a time consuming job.
2. List an estimated time of completion or a timeline. Your client might be on a deadline, so make sure you agree on one and set it to paper. Even if you might be a little late, you should always give room. Some clients may try to pay less for your services. Make sure to include in the policy a clause that prevents this. If a client brings in another developer to help, make sure you get paid from your time.
3. Define payment method. If you require 50% of payment up front and the rest upon completion, you need to have that in your policy. This goes double for web designers. Just google about it – there are a lot of stories where web designers have been completely stiffed.
4. Make a transfer of project policy upon completion. This is a big one. If you give the final draft or load the live site up before being paid, are you sure the client will pay you? Once the client has approved the project, make sure you get paid. If you have to include a clause in your policy on a third method of payment just for transferring, all the more power to you.
5. Define methods of communication. Some clients require more communication than others- some ridiculously so. Outline your hours and expectations of communication. Some clients feel communication might involve chatting while you are trying to get a project done. This is distracting and could push your time. If the demands can be listed outside of phone or a instant messaging program, insist that they send an email with their list of requests. While you might be happy to give your phone number out, you might have to put a policy on it. Some clients might be obligated to call you whenever they feel like.
6. Define your support policy. If you have finished a project and the client is getting use to it, especially in web design, they might have questions. You need to specify how long you will provide support for a project after the main project has been completed. You will also have to define what is included in the support. There will be times when the client actually wants you to add something. That is not support… that is site maintenance and you should be charging them. That needs to be listed in your policy.
7. Define copyright and disclosure. This is where you define what type of project – whether the client allows you to put a credit line or it is a non-disclosure agreement (NDA.) You also need to include the disclosure for the sources of your images and what the rights are. For web and graphic designers, this is important, especially if you purchased a license to use certain images.

The bottom line is that even if you feel like your policy might be a bit strict, it is there for a good reason: to make sure you get paid. Your rights are protected. If you do not, it is like your car being hit and the culprit is no where to be found. You end up stuck paying the insurance. In the case of freelancing, when this happens, you end up eating your time or sometimes get your work stolen.

If you freelance, what do you include in your policy?

While many of us dream of going straight for a startup, it’s not as easy as it sounds- especially while in school or working on a masters degree. Lots of us end up freelancing and gaining clients over time, in hopes that one day we can start a full fledged business.

With that said, as a college student, it can also be a real challenge to find work that will allow you to pay your expenses without interfering with your busy schedule. This is true whether you’re enrolled in a community college or are pursuing your master’s degree. One option that is increasingly appealing these days is hunting down freelance work. Here are some basic tips for approaching the freelance market in today’s fast moving world.

Why Freelancing is a Student’s Dream Job

As a student, it’s more than likely that you have a long list of classes, a set of clubs to which you belong, social events to attend, and bills and tuition to pay. The flexible schedule provided by freelance work will allow you to keep everything that you would like in your schedule, including whatever class schedule best suits your area of focus. With freelance work, you are also able to select the workload that best meets both your financial needs and available time. You can even adapt your workload to meet your study needs, reducing your freelance work during finals and other heavy study times. You will also be gaining valuable industry experience, learning time management skills that will assist you in future jobs, and developing a top notch resume.

Picking the Freelance Job That’s Right for You

First off, you must make your home or dorm room the ideal place to freelance. You’re going to need certain things in place to even attempt freelancing. Then starts the hunt- there are multiple types of freelance jobs available, ranging from web design to writing jobs to music, art, acting, and more. There are two important factors to consider in selecting freelance work. First, the freelance work must be consistent and pay enough to allow you to pay your bills. Second, you will want to choose work that will build your resume and open up career possibilities in the future.

Making a Masterpiece Portfolio

To ensure that you can keep on acquiring work that meets your financial needs, you will need to create an effective portfolio and have an up to date resume. Considering the main methods used to acquire work, an online portfolio is absolutely essential. It should include examples of your best work, and high quality images of your examples if there is any visual aspect to the work you do. If you would like to have the option of meeting with clients in person, having a physical portfolio is also a good idea.

Another key element of this is social media- when you’re in college, you are in the perfect position to utilize social media to get your portfolio and resume out there. Want someone to see your stuff? Throw it out in the network.
Finding Freelance Work

Once your portfolio is set up, you will need to determine the details of what you’re willing to do. What sort of work are you willing to accept? What pay rates do you prefer? Once you hammer out these important details, you will want to start developing a client base. You can use online classifieds, as well as sites like elance, to locate people who are actively looking for freelancers in your field. It’s also a wise idea to publicize yourself in these locations and through word of mouth to maximize the amount of work that you receive.

Follow all these tips and hopefully you can freelance- and eventually turn your fun part time, into your own business.

There are a lot of freelancers available online or in your local community. However, no matter how many there are, it can be difficult to choose the right one. The problem I see a lot in freelance project bidding sites are people unwilling to properly invest in their projects. They have ridiculous expectations. Here are a few innappropriate expectations:

1. Expecting a web designer to take time to do a website or a theme for their website for $30.
2. Expecting 50 comments a day for 30 days (1500 comments) for less than $250.
3. Expecting 1000s of followers in a month for merely pennies per hour

…and much more.

Sometimes it is enough to make freelancers sick. Money pays the bills, and I know even in other countries, accepting such a rate is just as degrading. The problem is – it shows when someone hires a bad freelancer. One who is willing to do any of the above and put countless hours in, is not only insane, but obviously doing shortcuts. This is why we also have comment spam too. People are just copying and pasting, rather than honestly commenting on the person’s blog. Often they have nothing to do with the site.

So, if you want to hire a freelancer the right way, you need to take in account several things:

- It WILL take time
- Do not assume online services also mean minimum wage. (Think: “if it were me, how much would I honestly charge?”)
- Like a tattoo, if you choose the cheap dirty place, you might walk away with either an ugly tattoo or a tattoo and a nasty infection. In this case, you might walk away with sub par work.

There are freelancers out there that charge a lot of money. However, there are many that are willing to work with a client’s budget as long as it is within reasonable standards. It is best to be realistic and if you are going to invest in your website whether for personal reason or if it is for your business, then you need to save until you have a decent amount.

Have you ever considered hiring a freelancer? What are your own expectations?

Working on your own, you may or may not have come to know the word ‘procrastination.’ It could be from social networking, games, phone calls, family, or any other activities. Of course, you should never sacrifice any of those completely, but you should try to be more focused. Here are some ways you can manage your time better.

Make a General Schedule. While you might be one to like a little disorganization and possibly “go with the flow”, it is not ideal to your work cause. Making a scheduling will allow you to set the time aside for your work and for you to have your normal life. It is like studying and having a family. It is hard to do both, but you have to find the time to study for school if you want to succeed. In freelancing, you have to find the time or you lose money. When making a schedule aim to make your hours those that you are most creative. Whether creative in the early morning, midday, evening or late night, these are the hours you need because your are the most motivated then.

Make Daily To-Do Lists. While you do have a general schedule outlined, it does not cover the small things within each project you have to complete. A To-Do list or even a checklist will help guide you to completing your workload on time.

Prioritize Your Projects. You might prioritize your projects based on when you got the go ahead from the client to start. (For some this might mean 50% of the fee was paid.) You might depending on how big the project is. You really should try to space your projects evenly. While you might be on one project, you might get ideas going on another. It might be good to designate so much time towards one project, take a small break, and then go to the next. You can go back to the other anytime. This will make your workload less monotonous. However, never think one project is less than another. You are being paid, so always put your best foot forward.

These are merely a few ways to manage your time as a freelancer. Life becomes busy, but with a bit of time managment, you will succeed.

What other suggestions do you have for freelancers who are needing to manage their time better?

When first contacting a client to start a new project, it is essential to have a few questions in mind in order to get things rolling smoothly. A breakdown in communication is a sure way to lose a client and possible chance of being referred to others – in other words, for a web designer, you lose some trust. Asking questions will allow your client to feel more involved with their website, and allow you to try to make their vision happen. It is also a way you can accurately put together an estimate and for some larger projects, a contract.

Here are some questions that you should ask. Of course, some of them you may want to make sure to add your own questions depending on how the client responds.

What is the focus of your website?
Whether a business or personal site, the client will need to decide who is their target audience. The client will also want to be able to show how people should chose their product/ site over another, so they must be aware of competition in their niche.

As the designer, you also must do some research to be familiar with the terms of the client’s niche.

How would you like your site to look?
Are there any features on other sites the client has seen that they really want for their own website Are there already some logos or graphics the client may need you to design around? Their website is a virtual calling card. They do not want it to flop, and that includes design.

What are all the services you need?
Does the client expect you to put their content up for them or install certain scripts? Sometimes the client likes to have a hand in their project. While they may hire you for design, they may want to insert their own content – or they might not. Sometimes that is due to time.

If you offer more than just web design, then this would be the time to discuss what other things you can do for your client.

It is important to make sure that both you and the client are on the same page or it could involve a lot of wasted time going through unnecessary proofs until you get it right.

What questions do you typically ask your clients in the beginning?

Some of this is slight a tongue-in-cheek type post. It comes after having dealt with clients who have expected more than what was agreed upon a project.

So, here is my Freelancers Creed:

1. A freelancer can accept or refuse business, or recommend projects to a colleague.
2. A freelancer is not free.
3. A freelancer is not to be associated with the word “cheap”. (Well, unless the work was bad.)
4. A freelancer is to make deadlines unless project is changed for necessary reasons.
5. A freelancer can design sites in their home and in their pajamas, or less. (I do not care what anyone wears, nor want to know about that. However, I hope cam chats with clients will at least have a decent shirt on. )
6. A freelancer should be honest about their services and be up front if a project has become more than they can handle or outside their knowledge to complete.
7. A freelancer should always put their best foot forward.
8. A freelancer is not to be confused a marketer or social media consultant (unless the freelancer offers those services and charges.)
8. A freelancer does not have to have a sense of humor, unless it is a joke site.
9. A freelancer has the right to ask pay for work as half up front and half at the finish.
10. A freelancer must make sure all project details are discussed, agreed, and somewhere whether in an actual contract or in some type of format to prevent any misunderstandings.
11. A freelancer should be friendly enough to work with people, even if their work space looks like a dark dungeon. (If it takes coffee to make things pleasant – drink it!)

Ah, I thought I would cut it off there. Anyone have any other’s to add?

Here are some things I have found to work the past few years to become better as a freelance web designer.

1. Connect with others in your niche. You can learn and teach. Also, you never know when a colleague might think of you for a client they might not be able to complete a project. In return, you can do the same. This way you become someone well-respected and people will want to work with you.

2. Make sure to make you are charging fair rates and make sure your client knows what duties will be performed for that price. Charge what you are worth. Any less and you might not be taken seriously. A regular job pays hourly. Obviously you can charge clients hourly or based on project. Time and effort are very important. If you are not charging what you should, then your project could end up several ways:
- your client expects more services than originally agreed and will not pay for them because they assumed you would do it.
- you may start feeling like you got the worse end of the business

You should never feel that way and your client might feel the effects. Have it down in writing somewhere, a contract of some sort whether paper, online document, or even via email.

3. Always be open and looking for opportunities. There are hundreds of sites opening each day and someone designed them. It could have been you. However, due to lack of knowledge on where to go, you might know. Well, it is not just online you can find opportunities, but in your own communities. If your local area has a newspaper, consider taking out an ad. The classifieds might be a nice place to start and then you can progress to ads on other parts of the paper.

Also, if you run across a site with a good idea, but could use a revamp, approach the site owner and ask them if they would be interested. Mention what you can do, and please be polite. Some site owners actually have designed their first websites with limited knowledge, so do not knock them down with your web design savviness. It might scare or insult them.

4. Keep up in the knowledge of your field. The Internet has changed many times. What code use to be valid is no longer valid. What designs that were popular 10 years ago, might not be sought after today. Whether by taking actual classes or seeking out tutorials online, you would be helping yourself get ahead in your field. And, falling back to #1, with those people you met in the web design community, if you do not know something, ask. There are people out there that are well-connected and generous enough to share their knowledge with you.

5. Turning away clients is not an option. Yes, you have become busy, but instead of turning them away, refer them to someone you trust that can do just as great, if not better job than you can. The person might be able to return the favor, especially if you might become light on projects in the future. Also, that client you referred – if they are pleased with who you referred, they might do more business in the future with you or be nice to toss your name as a referral.

What other suggestions might you have for freelance web designers looking to become more advanced in their career?

I have been a writing fool lately. I really need to get cracking on finishing my novel, but the prospect of blogging has been much more enticing lately. I should be happy that I am at least writing. So far I have been blogging here at Blondish, at Host Solutions (there is a blog about webhosting and HS there), and now at Rouged (which is another personal site of mine with a different focus toward fashion, health, mommy and a deeper side of myself. Excuse the plain area. I am creating a tutorial on making a vector for skins and so the process for the layout there is delayed.) In fact, I have even been delving into my old coding tutorials that I have saved and will be bringing them out so look for them soon.

However, I thought since I have been eager to show these three articles, I would share.

• Design? Do Not Work For Less Money
• Creating a Portfolio
• Why You Should Use a Custom 404 Page

These can also be found in the articles section of this website.