Sabrina Dent: Freelance web designer, developer and internet marketer living in Cork, Ireland with one dog and a husband in no particular order.
One for the Freelancers
Dear Internets:
I am completely willing to admit I do not know everything. I believe in taking advice on the things I am clueless about, usually from you and your pal Doctor Google. Foolhardy, possibly; but it’s always worked for me.
This year marks a transition for me from being part-time employee and part-time freelancer to being full-time self employed. It also marks the year in which we will, at some point, be applying for a mortgage. (Yes, I am 35 years old. No, I don’t own my own house. I’ve also lived in three countries in 10 years and been broke in all of them; give me a break.)
So while getting my financial ducks in a row is a high priority, the broader world of full-time freelance is also a bit of a mystery I hope to unravel with your help.
Things mama never told me about service providers:
- Where can I find an accountant or financial adviser in Cork to do my stuff and give me advice about setting aside enough money for taxes and paying PRSI and all that jazz?
- As my previous employer will no longer be paying my mobile bill, which I’ve never even seen, I need to know which provider and plan to go with. Hint: I like to talk. I do not believe SMS is a medium in which real adults can carry on real conversations. That said I really only use my mobile when traveling in Ireland (about once a month) but can rack up several hours in calls then.
Speaking of money, down to the nitty gritty:
I have no idea what market rates are in Ireland. I design sites, I code sites; I provide consulting and strategy for online marketing and positioning; I package and brand products; I write understandable web copy that reads like it comes from humans; I do site assessments, usability analysis, and user testing.
For all of these things, I have been charging a figure that is less than €50 an hour, except for usability testing – I charge test group costs plus the same hourly for that. The people who are paying me are telling me to charge more, and I know they’re right but I have don’t know what the right numbers are.
- What should I be charging for all of these various things?
- How can I keep costs accessible for people who have fun and interesting projects but low budgets? I often like those projects; they tend to refresh my creativity and I don’t want to price myself out of ever being offered them.
- If you’re booking clients months in advance, do you take a deposit now to block out the time for them at a future date? Usually I do 50% up front and 50% on delivery or go-live, depending, but getting 50% now for something I am not going to get to for three months seems a little dodgy.
- What do you do if you’re killing yourself to stay on top of a series of tight production schedules and a client doesn’t have their bits ready for their project’s agreed upon start date? My contracts state that if they can’t deliver their clearly articulated To Do list, delivery dates will be pushed accordingly, but what if you literally do not have room for slippage?
So, dear Internets, do you have any words of wisdom and experience for me? This is my year of Getting Things Done, and I’d like to do them right.
Yours, always,
Sabrina
11 Mar 2008
| In: Design + Ireland + Marketing |
I got some quotes around 13 months ago for website work and the average price was €650 per day. I did get a few that were €50 per hour, but in the end a €650 quote won.
11.03.2008, 4:15 pmOk, here’s my two cents on the finance side. Being a former accountant, I would be very wary of anyone who charges you money for advice that is already in the public domain. For instance taxes. Although convoluted, the revenue website tells you everything and more than you could possible want to know. If you register with the revenue dept, they will happily send someone out to your home, at your request and go over everything you need to know and show you how to file online. For free. It’s in their interest to do so.
As for pension stuff you would be better off getting advice from your bank on that one. Yes, they will be trying to sell you their version of the product, but they will give you valid free advice you can then apply across the board and use to shop around. I’ve had great success with Permanent TSB, who were wonderful about getting my 401k over here with minimum tax hassle.
I’m all about the free! ;-)
Back to the accountant though. Get a referral and make sure they are certified and registered with either the ACCA or ICA. I would be very wary if you were charged any more than €300 a year for doing your books as a sole-trader.
As for mobile… http://callcosts.ie might be helpful?
Best of luck!!!
11.03.2008, 4:21 pmI usually work for €60 an hour and I’m constantly being told that I should charge more. Again though, for the same reason, I don’t want to price myself out of the market.
Last year I paid €150 to my accountant who sorted my tax return for me, although I had to file it myself, it still only took 20 minutes by the time I actually got down to it.
I always felt guilty by charging in advance. Especially to existing customers. So now I only do it to customers that I haven’t dealt with before and that haven’t been referred to me by another existing customer. It sounds a bit hit and miss but I find it works quite well.
11.03.2008, 6:58 pmHi Sabrina, hope this helps:
- Accountant?
- Not sure. Maybe check local web directory or newspaper.
- What mobile suppier?
- I use my mobile a lot. In fact I make all my calls from my mobile. I’m with Vodafone on the 600 minute package, which gives me free Vodafone to Vodafone calls, 600 minutes to other mobiles and landlines, and 600 free texts. I also have a data package for 500MB a month (I think) for mobile browsing and 3G access via laptop. It comes in around €100 – €150 per month inclusive of VAT.
- What to charge?
- I charge €80 an hour or €600 a day but that’s outside project work. I price projects on a per project basis. That’s a whole other story on price. Although I don’t recommend charging based on time. Rather charge based on what the client is willing to pay. I’ve written about it a number of times on boards.ie and other forums about perceived value. For example, a brochure site today can fetch for €1,000 and up to €20,000 depending on what company/freelancer you ask. Your clients usually reflect the price you charge. You charge higher, you get better/bigger clients (but not always the case). Personally, I’d be around the 5k mark for such a job. Here’s some interesting reads:
http://www.irishwebmasterforum.com/the-business-aspects-of-web-work/835-what-price-do-you-charge.html
http://freelanceswitch.com/money/how-much-is-your-time-worth/
http://freelanceswitch.com/rates/
http://www.sitepoint.com/kits/freelance1/
- How not to scare away interesting projects?
- Never give prices on the phone. Most new clients don’t know your rates. Arrange to meet with client to find out more of the project. Once you assess the situation, client, project, potential budget – you can go away and price accordingly. Always remain at your normal rate when quoting. If the potential client doesn’t like the price but you still like the project, you can negotiate at that point and tell them you like the idea and want to help them get up and running. This gives you flexibility to drop your prices considerably if necessary. A good approach if the client seems put off by your price is to ask “does that fit in with your budget?” or “can I ask what budget you had in mind?” – this will give you a clearer idea of what you could charge.
- What to charge for deposits/instalments?
- Personally I don’t book too far in advance. My lead time for starting a project from contract signing is 2-4 weeks but occasionally it might be longer. As a rule I do a 20/20/60 split on the project. I do mainly brochure/cms/property type sites so this works well – 20% for deposit, 20% after design approval, 60% upon launch. My projects usually last 2 months but if they fall into a 3rd month, there is flexibility to charge a progress instalment of 20% before a final 40%.
- How to handle client “slowness”?
- Make the project schedule very clear and when you will be working on their project. If they do not have the required details for you on time, you should explain that they have lost their window and will only fit back in at the next available window. Try to jig the projects around and give them a new deadline and move other projects up the list. Client delays are the main delay for getting projects completed. I’m testing putting their deadlines for content delivery a week or two in advance. Although I haven’t had an opportunity over most of the current projects because I’ve gotten most of it up front, which is great :D
Well, really hope that helps. Sorry it’s so long. Be glad to chat on the phone if you have further questions or want to run any ideas by someone.
Best of luck,
Rgds,
Dave
LOL – in reviewing, I removed all my ! and … (good talk by the way)
12.03.2008, 1:36 amWith your chops, the above should be the absolute minimum. €100+ an hour should be more like it.
I have no corkonian financial connections, sorry. As Debs mentioned, the Revenue are surprisingly awesome – ring them and have a chat.
Re mobiles, chat less? Use jajah.com and similar? Otherwise they will screw you, because the ‘regulator’ is beyond toothless in this country.
Go pre-paid, it’s still more cost-efficient in a lot of scenarios, and talk to 3 and Meteor. Both of them are desperate for customers …
Re billing, 40/40/30 was what I always used – that was for a clearly defined project though. 40% on agreement, 40% on acceptance, 30% on launch
12.03.2008, 2:07 am40/40/30 = 110% Nice! I must try that :D
12.03.2008, 2:41 amre: Accountant
As Deborah says – much of this info is in the Public Domain so take some time to try solve the mystery that is Revenue.ie (oh and if you work it out let me know)
Having said that – does it have to be a cork based accountant? In today’s busy online world does it need to be local? There are some benefits to being able to call in to see your accountant, but given the size of your business it might not strictly be necessary (I’m thinking of accountants having to come to you to do audits, stock checks etc.). Most likely everything you need done can be just sent to them for translating into revenue-speak.
If you are stuck for an accountant and are happy to move beyond Cork, drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch with someone.
As for phones, well in a previous company I worked in we used Skype a lot to cut down on our phone bills. We were doing business all over the world – the US, Australia, Dubai etc. so Skype saved us a huge amount of cash once we got everyone in the company up and running on it.
All the best,
12.03.2008, 5:07 pmChris
one thing you should really sort out before you start is contracts – maybe hire a lawyer to make up a standard contract for you so you don’t end up getting screwed.
And never do spec work.
14.03.2008, 2:38 pmFixed Price -v- Time?
Go for Fixed Price when you and the client can absolutely define what it is they’re getting – 100% clearly defined (in writing, cos if it’s not in writing, it’s a rumour) deliverables, each linked to the payment schedule (ie deliverables A, B and C triggers an invoice of €X; deliverables D and E an invoice of €Y etc). And only do it linked to a rigid, no-excuses, change control process. Finally, on an FP basis, you’re taking all the risk, so you need to price accordingly, leaving contingency in the budget (and timescale) against all the inevitable problems.
If it’s an analytical, exploratory kind of project, where defining the needs is part of the work, then you want a T+M pricing model, with an estimated resource model (ie 5 days of analysis, 2 days of HTML, 3 days of usability, each with its own rate). Note that defining requirements that might lead into a Fixed Price bit of work should be chargeable work!
Also go with T+M if you’re not actually hard-responsible for delivering anything – you’re providing services to assist the client’s delivery, and all you’re promising to supply is a warm body to do that (and an invoice!). Invoice on a time-basis (weekly/monthly) for these.
On rates: I’m not going to be helpful with specific numbers, except of course to note that long gigs should be at lower rates than short ones, to reflect that you won’t have to proportionally spend as much non-billable time doing things like chasing the next three projects.
Now, re booking in advance: if you’re that much in demand, you really do need to put your rates up :-)
Seriously though, it sounds like if someone pulls out, you’re not going to find it too hard to replace them. So charge a reservation fee (discounted against the final invoice), pitched at a level that’s going to be bloody annoying for them to go elsewhere, and will cover your time in running around getting the replacement lined up, as opposed to a level that’s punitive and giving you a fair chunk of what you would have had anyway. It’s good for your cashflow anyway :-)
Re interesting projects – if the intent really is to be good for you in non-financial ways (learning, creativity, contributing to society, whatever), then up your normal rate to allow you to take X% of your year on these projects at rates they can afford – pro bono if they’re that worthwhile – without impacting your total annual revenue.
Finally, with tight production deadlines: the only way to stop clients from doing this is to have them share the pain. If you’re sitting on your bum waiting for them, and can’t progress, charge ‘em for the time! If there’s really no room for slippage, surely it’s the client’s problem..?
Unless of course you’re scheduling your clients right up against each other – in which case, build in contingency to your pricing and timescales to allow you time between projects if everything goes swimmingly. Hell, you need a break to come see your godson ;-)
17.03.2008, 12:15 amJust seen something like this in a Schedule which might be useful wording re Fixed Price pricing (adapted to fit you better and protect client confidentiality)
In other words: if we take the risk of a fixed price deal, you’ll be paying extra for the privilege of being confident of the final bill total. And the riskier it looks, the more we’ll charge you. This nicely covers where clients are repeatedly late in their deliverables but you don’t have a TandM deal to protect you while you’re sitting around waiting.
17.03.2008, 4:26 pmWow, you guys are AMAZING. That is a ton of very useful information. Also interesting is the number of people who emailed me rather than comment in public, which I completely understand and was still very helpful.
I’ve adjusted my rates slightly, got on board with an accountant who makes me happy, and am sorting out a phone plan :)
hi Sabrina,
It feels like you’re underpricing yourself. If you’re good, I think you should price yourself accordingly. Harder to do than say I’m sure. Do you go through other agencies or always direct to clients? If you are open to working freelance through ad + marketing agencies, I’d be happy to refer you to a few people that know more about this than I do.
23.03.2008, 1:29 pmHi Sabrina
Just found your site and blog, and wanted to say thank you to you and everyone who has posted on this topic – I’m a translator, but found the information amazingly valuable! Thank you for such an open, informative exchange. -sarah
16.04.2008, 4:19 amHi Sabrina.The best approach is to meet as many freelancers as you can, buy them a few coffees (or pints if you really want them to loosen up!) and ask them any and everything that you can about the business.
18.07.2008, 10:17 amHi Sabrina. I lean towards fixed price project pricing as opposed to per hour rates. I find it tends to stop quibbles over cost further down the line and we seemed to close more business when we switched from quoting by the hour.
Having said that I still have a per hour figure in my head when working out proposals. We price copywriting and content creation jobs at about £45 an hour in N. Ireland – which would work out about €55 / $85 these days. I would expect a good designer to be above that figure and would likely attach a euro premium as well.
A figure of €65-75 would be reasonable – with a non-refundable holding fee / deposit for jobs commencing further down the line.
BTW, looking forward to hearing you at PodCamp Ireland on Saturday.
22.09.2008, 8:45 pm