Freelance stuff
Out of context: Reply #4
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- jamble0
In general terms:
1. ALWAYS get your client to sign a contract before you do any work. You'll regret it if you don't make this a religious habit. If you want a template, I have a generic contract I use here: http://www.welcomebrand.co.uk/do…
2. Billing - I usually ask for a 50% up front payment on smaller jobs or with smaller companies. When I work with agencies, I usually bill them on completion of the contract and I always expect payment within 30 days of invoicing. For invoicing, I use blinksale.com which is really good for keeping track.
3. Tax stuff, if you're self employed (I know you said you weren't but it might be worth investigating becoming a registered sole trader - call the inland revenue if you're unsure) then you only have to charge VAT on invoices if you earn over £60k per annum. I believe you can charge VAT below this if you want but you don't need to.
4. Your rates - As you mentioned, a good ballpark is look at working backwards from an annual salary figure you want to make then divide that into weeks of the year, then days then hours to work out your hourly rate.
I usually charge and quote by day not hours and don't really take on a few hours work as it never works out at being a few hours. Freelance switch has a detailled rates calculator you can use.
5. Always make your clients sign a contract and be sure the contract or a seperate project scope document is clear on exactly what is being done.
6. Make sure the client signs a contract.
Hope that helps ... good luck.