March 21, 2012 at 01:21How to choose freelance orders
Hello, Habr!
My short story might be ideal for the hub "I am indignant", but, however, I will try to collect some rules in this post on how to choose and execute freelance orders (and any other orders that do not pass under an official contract) displayed on based on his littleexperience of failure in this area.
Everyone who is interested in how to protect themselves in freelance at least a little, please, under cat.
It will seem to many that I am writing here almost commonplace truths and in general everyone knows this, but I sincerely hope that at least someone my flight of thoughts on this topic will help and come in handy.
Many in this title are used from a purely mathematical point of view. Alas, it is better to look for more or less adequate and good customers among your friends, acquaintances of your friends, and so on. If you choose, even with some well-known resources, you can easily run into a noble scam.
Therefore, if your ability to search for clients among friends is limited, then before you start a project from any resources, you should not only look at the customer reviews on this site, but also normally google the data associated with it (usually they leave a minimum ICQ numbers, and in larger orders, for example, websites that want to makemoreit's better). A simple googling for an hour will give you at least some idea of this person, but, unfortunately, only if you are not the first one in principle or the first to relate to these data.
In fact, the best and most information-giving data can be considered, for example, a WM certificate: most likely, if at least someone (at least somehow) has been bred from it, then it will just be google, well, of course , you can find some negative reviews about him.
If our nevertheless good client has passed the first dropout level, it is worthwhile to carefully look at the conditions for performing the work. Although it often happens that the conditions are so terrible that even checking it no longer makes sense, but nevertheless, I will place this item here second.
So, unfortunately, the Internet is a rather dangerous place, so both the employer and the performer are trying to fence themselves off the possibility of being overturned.
However, some conditions in 80% of cases give out wiring, for example we make a website.
This means, of course, before payment. If the customer immediately assumes that all of his development will go on his own hosting, and does not agree to any of your conditions, he will almost certainly try to separate you.
Well, or he is a very fearful person, but this is extremely rare. It is better not to take such orders,even more so if they are extremely interesting and expensive.
For example, if you make a large service, and first hand over the design, then the spread out pages, and only then the site itself. In this case, they can hijack part of your work, which in principle is not as critical as if all had been taken, but it’s also insulting.
The best solution is a partial payment (you can call it an advance), along with this partial change. If you fairly receive 1/3 of the payment, first for the design, then 1/3 of the order for layout, and then 1/3 for the entire site, then you will be in a fairly favorable position, especially if receiving parts of the payment will motivate you to continue working. Naturally, other options will be adequate, but it is important to consider those that would be most convenient for you, and would not scare away the customer.
It is extremely suspicious if, after 50% of the work you have done, the customer does not want to pay at least 30% of the amount. In general, when looking for an artist, more or less real customers should clearly have 50 percent of the future payment amount, so if he does not want to pay after that, he should stop in the development and wait for a favorable answer to you, otherwise, it’s better to say goodbye to him. For even in the most critical case (for example, if he has a very difficult situation and has no money), for some limited period, in principle, you can find money somewhere, well, or if everything is completely bad, give at least some profitable you guarantee.
Sometimes it’s good, of course, that the terms of reference exist in general, but nevertheless, if it is structured in such a way that each of its points can be divided into ten (or even hundreds) of others, this is bad. Even if the customer does not turn out to be a bad guy who does not pay, this project can turn into a terrible long-term construction, which exhausts you completely, and in the end does not bring any joy from the money received. And if under this long-term construction it will also be hiding, it will be completely sad.
By the way, on the Habré there are many articles on the rules of drafting terms of reference, beneficial for both parties, for example, here , here and here .
In fact, all points intersect each other, so there will be a few repetitions from the previous points.
You should not do something that goes beyond the scope of the terms of reference just like that, even once. Most likely, the customer will eventually hang on you, and will continue to create new tasks. If he is willing to pay extra for additional requirements, of course, it is worth discussing this with him before starting to implement them, otherwise, even if the customer is a good and decent person, he will be a little saddened by the price that has suddenly risen. Well, of course, if you do additional work yourself, and then ask for an additional payment for it, this is not at all beautiful, and even a kind customer can suddenly refuse for lack of, for example, funds.
Usually, when executing such orders, there are at least some verbal agreements about when and how the payment will be made. In the normal case, everyone is trying to meet each other, and, in theory, the customer should understand that the contractor still works for money, and not just like that.
Therefore, if you already have a more or less (or better, more) contract that suits you, and, suddenly, the customer begins to declare that they say that your work was not done as required (although everything is fine on the terms of reference, and you yourself you see it), or that he has no money, or is looking for any other reason, you should not rush right away and do whatever he requires. Well, if you really are wrong, but if you still clearly see that you are right, you just have to wait and see what happens.
A great scheme when you seem to communicate with a normal person, and you've already completed everything (and he’s so direct that you didn’t even take money from him until the end of the work, but agreed that he would pay during the installation of the site) and so happy, and then, suddenly, it turns out that he needs another week to test that it doesn’t work that way and so on. In the case of such statements, it’s very good if they do arrive at least 10 minutes before the installation, you should immediately say something like: “Please test with me, it's great here.”, Or, at least, demand half payment before installation.
Another thing is if this statement comes after installation. Most likely you have already found yourself in a bad situation, and your customer (or somewhere else) already has your site (or somewhere else), and even your removal will not help. It seems that the only solution to such a problem is to create in your development a couple of such moments for retreat. Although this will spoil the joy of the attacker a little, sooner or later, most likely, your moments will disappear from there (although if there are so many of them and they are very perfectly hidden, this can go on for a long time).
And if you were thrown all the same, and you are discouraged and sad, then better get together and post on the related resources with reviews, on the resource where you found the customer, your reviews and comments and your short history. Let at least someone after you not fall for this scam, and weed out it already on my first point.
On this, I think, I will complete my article, and I sincerely hope that it will be useful to someone and, possibly, protect from such situations. In the comments, it would be nice to see the rules that I missed.
My short story might be ideal for the hub "I am indignant", but, however, I will try to collect some rules in this post on how to choose and execute freelance orders (and any other orders that do not pass under an official contract) displayed on based on his little
Everyone who is interested in how to protect themselves in freelance at least a little, please, under cat.
It will seem to many that I am writing here almost commonplace truths and in general everyone knows this, but I sincerely hope that at least someone my flight of thoughts on this topic will help and come in handy.
Many customers
Many in this title are used from a purely mathematical point of view. Alas, it is better to look for more or less adequate and good customers among your friends, acquaintances of your friends, and so on. If you choose, even with some well-known resources, you can easily run into a noble scam.
Therefore, if your ability to search for clients among friends is limited, then before you start a project from any resources, you should not only look at the customer reviews on this site, but also normally google the data associated with it (usually they leave a minimum ICQ numbers, and in larger orders, for example, websites that want to make
In fact, the best and most information-giving data can be considered, for example, a WM certificate: most likely, if at least someone (at least somehow) has been bred from it, then it will just be google, well, of course , you can find some negative reviews about him.
Conditions
If our nevertheless good client has passed the first dropout level, it is worthwhile to carefully look at the conditions for performing the work. Although it often happens that the conditions are so terrible that even checking it no longer makes sense, but nevertheless, I will place this item here second.
So, unfortunately, the Internet is a rather dangerous place, so both the employer and the performer are trying to fence themselves off the possibility of being overturned.
However, some conditions in 80% of cases give out wiring, for example we make a website.
Work on customer hosting
This means, of course, before payment. If the customer immediately assumes that all of his development will go on his own hosting, and does not agree to any of your conditions, he will almost certainly try to separate you.
Well, or he is a very fearful person, but this is extremely rare. It is better not to take such orders,
Delivery of a large order in parts
For example, if you make a large service, and first hand over the design, then the spread out pages, and only then the site itself. In this case, they can hijack part of your work, which in principle is not as critical as if all had been taken, but it’s also insulting.
The best solution is a partial payment (you can call it an advance), along with this partial change. If you fairly receive 1/3 of the payment, first for the design, then 1/3 of the order for layout, and then 1/3 for the entire site, then you will be in a fairly favorable position, especially if receiving parts of the payment will motivate you to continue working. Naturally, other options will be adequate, but it is important to consider those that would be most convenient for you, and would not scare away the customer.
It is extremely suspicious if, after 50% of the work you have done, the customer does not want to pay at least 30% of the amount. In general, when looking for an artist, more or less real customers should clearly have 50 percent of the future payment amount, so if he does not want to pay after that, he should stop in the development and wait for a favorable answer to you, otherwise, it’s better to say goodbye to him. For even in the most critical case (for example, if he has a very difficult situation and has no money), for some limited period, in principle, you can find money somewhere, well, or if everything is completely bad, give at least some profitable you guarantee.
Very blurred technical requirements
Sometimes it’s good, of course, that the terms of reference exist in general, but nevertheless, if it is structured in such a way that each of its points can be divided into ten (or even hundreds) of others, this is bad. Even if the customer does not turn out to be a bad guy who does not pay, this project can turn into a terrible long-term construction, which exhausts you completely, and in the end does not bring any joy from the money received. And if under this long-term construction it will also be hiding, it will be completely sad.
By the way, on the Habré there are many articles on the rules of drafting terms of reference, beneficial for both parties, for example, here , here and here .
Customer behavior
In fact, all points intersect each other, so there will be a few repetitions from the previous points.
Adding items to the statement of work
You should not do something that goes beyond the scope of the terms of reference just like that, even once. Most likely, the customer will eventually hang on you, and will continue to create new tasks. If he is willing to pay extra for additional requirements, of course, it is worth discussing this with him before starting to implement them, otherwise, even if the customer is a good and decent person, he will be a little saddened by the price that has suddenly risen. Well, of course, if you do additional work yourself, and then ask for an additional payment for it, this is not at all beautiful, and even a kind customer can suddenly refuse for lack of, for example, funds.
Postpone payment or withdraw from the contract
Usually, when executing such orders, there are at least some verbal agreements about when and how the payment will be made. In the normal case, everyone is trying to meet each other, and, in theory, the customer should understand that the contractor still works for money, and not just like that.
Therefore, if you already have a more or less (or better, more) contract that suits you, and, suddenly, the customer begins to declare that they say that your work was not done as required (although everything is fine on the terms of reference, and you yourself you see it), or that he has no money, or is looking for any other reason, you should not rush right away and do whatever he requires. Well, if you really are wrong, but if you still clearly see that you are right, you just have to wait and see what happens.
A great scheme when you seem to communicate with a normal person, and you've already completed everything (and he’s so direct that you didn’t even take money from him until the end of the work, but agreed that he would pay during the installation of the site) and so happy, and then, suddenly, it turns out that he needs another week to test that it doesn’t work that way and so on. In the case of such statements, it’s very good if they do arrive at least 10 minutes before the installation, you should immediately say something like: “Please test with me, it's great here.”, Or, at least, demand half payment before installation.
Another thing is if this statement comes after installation. Most likely you have already found yourself in a bad situation, and your customer (or somewhere else) already has your site (or somewhere else), and even your removal will not help. It seems that the only solution to such a problem is to create in your development a couple of such moments for retreat. Although this will spoil the joy of the attacker a little, sooner or later, most likely, your moments will disappear from there (although if there are so many of them and they are very perfectly hidden, this can go on for a long time).
But if you still threw
And if you were thrown all the same, and you are discouraged and sad, then better get together and post on the related resources with reviews, on the resource where you found the customer, your reviews and comments and your short history. Let at least someone after you not fall for this scam, and weed out it already on my first point.
On this, I think, I will complete my article, and I sincerely hope that it will be useful to someone and, possibly, protect from such situations. In the comments, it would be nice to see the rules that I missed.