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why do I hate freelance? 2525 Responses
Last post: 5 years, 2 months ago | Thread started: Aug 11, 03, 3:08 p.m.
- TResudek
Let me count the ways... I worked freelance for a year and it was a nightmare. So many worthless clients that were never satisfied, wanted to pay me peanuts or just threw away my invoices and told me to fuck off.
I took on a freelance gig for a friend of a friend and was reminded of how much I appreciate a 9-5 job. After 2 weeks of comps that got narrowed down and refined and narrowed and refined... I was told today that she doesn't like any of this stuff (even though she has liked it all the way through the process) and that she is no going to pay.
So, there goes 20 hours of my time for nothing... FUCK THAT!
- Aug 11, 03, 3:08 p.m. – Permalink
- mrdobolina
I dont do comps unless I have signed contracts. No exceptions./
- Dog-earAug 11, 03, 3:10 p.m. – Permalink
- pr2
Yeah a client of mine told me (after 2 weeks) that he doesn't like anything that i've done for him... Thankfuly he told me to send in invoice so he can pay me for the time.
I got my check a few days ago. It's nice to think that there are still people with class.
- Dog-earAug 11, 03, 3:13 p.m. – Permalink
- mrdobolina
contracts with client non-performance clauses save the day every time. If they balk on the contract, they werent planning to pay anyway. I dont mean to add insult to injury though, man.
- Dog-earAug 11, 03, 3:15 p.m. – Permalink
- jox
yeah TResudek, that really sounds like a nightmare, you should be more strict with the papers. I know it's hard with friends and even friends of friends but they have to understand it's your job, it's what you do.
you could get burned out easily if you don't sign the papers!
- Dog-earAug 11, 03, 3:15 p.m. – Permalink
- mrdobolina
that really sucks. well, live and learn. or just blow their office up.
- Dog-earAug 11, 03, 3:16 p.m. – Permalink
- mrdobolina
patryck, I love those motion pieces on your site man.
- Dog-earAug 11, 03, 3:20 p.m. – Permalink
- mbr
Same thing happened to me last year. The first site for a client, nice and cheap.
We chose colors, I gave them about 6 comps, they liked one, and I kept updating and meeting with them.
Then WHAMOO! they want black! After much effort trying to change their minds, I redesign it all, another 6-8 comps in black.
Ok, finally we are going ahead. I design the menu, the transitions, resize the thousand jpegs (it was for a very successful photographer in LA), etc., etc.I show them how things are, and the guy (who was a nice guy) just simply said 'it's not what we were expecting'. FUCK!
They sent me $200.
Now their site that sucks ass, has the same layout as mine and a similar menu (although it doesn't actually 'move').
That sucked. Now I have a multi page contract that I get larger sums as we go.
But it's never easy satisfying clients.- Dog-earAug 11, 03, 3:22 p.m. – Permalink
- muidlatif
Gosh.. I do sometimes face that kinda problem. But here the market in Malaysia really suck, even worst, they want great quality in design but pay as cheap as they can get. I work 9-5 job, but I also work freelance at night and weekend. No vacation for me. However, my freelance work really help my life better. Some of my friends who are really a hardcore freelancer cannot apply for credit cards cause they don't have 'official' pay slip to get approve from the bank. Yikes!
- Dog-earAug 11, 03, 8:04 p.m. – Permalink
- nuggler
The people I know here in SF use "freelance" as a euphemism for "unemployed". The reason I'm a freelancer is that for 2 years, the only work I can find has been freelance.
What I hate about it is that I don't get much of a break. If I had a lousy 9-5 job, at least when the day was over, I would know that I had $5 for beer and could go complain about my boss and have a laugh. Now my day isn't over until my work is done... and it's never done.
- Dog-earAug 11, 03, 8:32 p.m. – Permalink
- enobrev
i've found over time that the better one's business strategy gets, the better freelance is.
i'm still shaking off a couple gnats, but for the most part I've found that once I started getting 40 - 50% up front with signatures all around while wasting NO time with freebies (besides my own) that i could never go back, or never seriously anyways.
As mentioned above, get signatures and do NOTHING without them. If they're too scared to sign you'll find them 20 times more troublesome when it comes to signing checks.
- Dog-earAug 12, 03, 12:13 a.m. – Permalink
- plamenski
Repeat after me:
"I must always ask for 50% deposit paid upfront."
"I must always ask for 50% deposit paid upfront."
"I must always ask for 50% deposit paid upfront."Unless we all stick to same strategy, the current buyer's market will turn us all into slaves and whores.
- Dog-earAug 12, 03, 3:42 a.m. – Permalink
