A peek inside the Kamikaze Creative Freelance Manifesto: Doreen gets a question. Let’s talk business.

Got an email from a former student.  Graduated, got a good job with a great Mentor/CD. Have an opportunity to freelance.  I don’t know how.

Here then a few gems from Doreen’s Kamikaze Freelance Manifesto.  These have to do with the business of freelancing, money, billing.  It’s often a difficult thing for beginning freelancers to be firm and upfront with rates and terms.  Hopefully, what I’ve learned will help.

1.  If you freelance while working full time, do not do it at work, discuss it with coworkers or use your employer’s equipment.  Many employers’ frown on employees freelancing.  Others don’t care.  Still not good to have it show up in any form at work.  Especially if it’s for another agency.
2. Never, ever, freelance for one of your agency’s clients.  Seems obvious, but you’d be surprised.
3. Talk money before you accept an assignment.  Tell them your hourly rate, how you bill, when you bill.  Ask what their budget is.  What the job is (get a detailed description). What role do they want you to take?  Concept, Design, Production?  Editing corporate speak or copy/language of concept?  Content?  Content Design/Strategy?  Ongoing blogging or single contribution?  Work from self-research or client input?  
4.  Depending upon the job it’s either one or more parts, or the whole.  How fast do you need it?  Do you need an AD/Designer/CW/backend/production person, too?
5. Each impacts the amount of time you’ll need to do the job.  Can get in/out quickly or will it carry for weeks months years?

4. Work from a signed Estimate.  Outline what your responsibilities are, what you will do, what the estimate includes, doesn’t. 

Give your time estimate, your hourly rate, any fees or materials included.  Have the client sign, keep that copy.  Ask for a Purchase Order.  Some jobs don’t require one, if it does include the PO# in Estimate if possible, always  in Retainer,  all other billing (Progressive/Final/You name it)

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5. A word about Estimates.  If you’ve never worked with a client before, pad the hours you think it will take.  Not too much – allow for a few more meetings, revisions, phone calls.  Unless they’re a professional client (ask around, make sure they haven’t been burning every writer in town) who’s done similar projects with other freelancers, getting information, approvals, existing photos/illustrations, meetings, etc., may take longer than you think.  If they don’t, you can always even things up on the final bill.
6. Unless it’s a straight fee, I personally bill to hours spent.  No matter how much more I could charge by estimate.  If I go over an hour or two on a small job, several hours on a big one, I usually eat the time, but make sure the client knows I don’t have to.  If I can keep the relationship upfront and honest, there’ll be no problems when time-sucker jobs really go over.
7. If a job goes over because of my error – I didn’t follow directions, am off the approved strategy, had problems of my own making, I eat the time.  As long as the client isn’t asking for changes due to pure subjectivity, I own the problem.  Make this clear on all estimates/invoices.
8. If a job goes over estimate due to client error, incorrect/incomplete input, changes in previously approved strategy, bringing me in for meetings that don’t happen, blind subjectivity, avoidable corrections and rewrites, the client pays.  Make this clear on all estimates/invoices.
9. When you start talking money, but before you write the Estimate, let the client know you get a 50% of Estimate Retainer before you start work on a project.  You may decide to eliminate it later for a steady, well-paying client, but the Retainer is one of the best indications of a client’s respect for your time and Invoice.  If they pay the Retainer, they pay the Final Bill.
10. The Retainer will also pay the rent until you finish – and then typically wait another 30 days+ - to be paid for it.  If you’re a very busy fulltime freelancer, your cash flow may not make living off your Retainer necessary.  But it’s still good business (lawyers do it), helps qualify clients.
11. Decide what other terms you want.  Will you get the Retainer and wait until the end of the job – no matter how long it takes – to bill them the balance?  Or will you Progressive Bill long lasting jobs?  How many days will you give them to pay?  Ten?  Thirty?
12. I offer tiered discounts for those who pay any bill (but the Estimate) early.  The Estimate is due on receipt, although I usually allow a few days to turn the check around.  I also charge escalating interest for those who pay late.
13. Spell out all terms on your invoice.  I also put in a clause using the Retainer as a Kill Fee if the job is killed after I start, but before I’ve used all the Retainer time.  I am my only inventory.  If I set time aside for a certain job, it may mean turning down something else.  It may also mean I can’t get that job back or start another job right away.
14. If it’s not in writing, you cannot trust things to go according to agreement.  You have no recourse (short of harassment) if someone doesn’t pay your bill.  If the job’s killed, you want to get paid for reasonable time, effort, lost opportunity. 
15. Talking about freelance terms is different from salary negotiations.  You may want to give someone a deal because you want to build a relationship.  If so, be sure they know it’s this once.  Subsequent work will be negotiated at your normal rate.
16. Often we’re asked to do a job for a flat fee.  This can be a bonus or a time sucker.  If I think I can do a low fee job and not feel like I gave it away, I might take it to build a relationship, because I’m otherwise unoccupied, because it’s a job I really want to do (fun, new category, new medium, great art director/designer, whatever).
17.  If the fee’s high, karma is paying you back for the last one that ate your lunch.  I always try to find out if they have a budget before I start taking hourly rates.  If it’s something I don’t want to do, if the fee is too low, I explain what it would cost to have me do it and offer to ask around for a less expensive writer to refer.  I give them a little free advice on what to look for, what things could cost at meatiest – and barest –bone.  Entrepreneurs, single proprietorships, friends of relatives have no idea what we do and how much things cost.  A frank discussion + a little (free) good advice often mean a real client when they have budget to spend.
18.  If you’re freelancing for a living (no job), never let one client become more than 40% of your total time available to work.  If a client wants you on long term Retainer/Contract, that’s something else.  But a real freelancer will work for many different clients.  Individuals, entrepreneurs, start-ups, small businesses, the Forbes 100, ad agencies, digital shops, non-profits.  B2B, B2C, Social Media.  Stuff and people you never dreamed existed.    Let one client take all (or even most of) your time, where will you be left when they go in-house?  Hire an agency that doesn’t want project work going anywhere else?
19. This also means you should always be working new business in some way, no matter how busy you are.  If we learned anything from the last recession, it has to be diversity is safer ground.  New business efforts get you remembered later, hired sooner, with less dependence upon a single client/industry.
20. One more point about freelancing with a fulltime job.  Your job must be priority one, no matter how much fun, much money, much future the freelance may represent.  Your agency – no matter how you feel about it – is paying your taxes, health insurance and other benefits.  Unless you’re ready to take all that on yourself – and freelancers do pay higher taxes than corporate employees – your first loyalty is to the steady job.  Let your freelance client know that.  If he’s a good client, he’ll respect you for it.

ONE TO GROW ON

21. What happens when someone doesn’t pay?  It’s up to you.  Here are some of the techniques I’ve used to collect from deadbeats:
1. Sicced a lawyer on an out of state client.  High fee but the b**@ards paid the bill.
2. Harassment.  Sometimes feels good for your soul, but the truth is the person who’s telling you she can’t issue your check probably can’t.  I’m sure she’d rather pay on time, but clients – especially agencies – hold up payment for many reasons.  They want to get paid before they pay you.  Cash flow problems.  Corporate process.  The only person who can sign the check is in Argentina.
3. Creativity.  After several months of lies (check in mail/on Friday/yaddayaddayadda), one very hot, very humid August day I dressed in my dirtiest barn clothes, neglected to put on deodorant and mucked 24 horse stalls.  I then positioned myself in front of the agency receptionist and politely waited for my check.  To go in or out of the main door you had to pass within nose range.  Amazing how little time it took.  I ran to their bank, cashed it immediately.  Never worked for them again.  Warned everyone I knew to keep away

LAST ONE, I PROMISE

22.  Build your network.  Swap books with other freelancers, no matter what they do.  Keep in touch w/friends and classmates working at agencies fulltime.  Use your college/university alumnae list, instructors.  Follow up with favored AEs, Clients, Project Managers, Production people.  Be respectful of all – you never know where your next freelance job is coming from.

Once again, Blogger is messing w/my word outline.  Hope it's not to difficult to follow without the proper spacing, etc.  If any of you have a fix for this, please let me know.

As all posts in this blog ©2013, Doreen Dvorin/Kamikaze Creative ©