How to Get More Clients Faster With Templates

No matter how well you plan, there will be times when you’ll need more clients. During the “famine” periods of your feast and famine cycle, the best thing you can do is cut this time as short as possible.
To do this, you need a system for contacting leads, qualifying them, and converting them into paying clients as fast as possible. Communication templates can help you do this.

These communication templates are email-based, which you can copy, paste, and quickly modify when contacting new prospects. They’re useful for the following reasons:

• Speed: You can research and contact new prospects in batches. This means you can email around 10 potential clients in one sitting, and interview all the qualified ones within the week.
• Eliminating Excuses: I’m going to admit that I dread contacting strangers, even if they might want to pay me for my work. If you experience a similar hesitation, these feelings may prevent you from contacting leads.
  If you research and contact your leads in batches, you’ll only be copying and pasting templates that you’ve customized earlier. The emailing part only takes a few seconds, so you won’t have the chance to hesitate before clicking the “Send” button.
  
• Finding Weaknesses. Templates give you a systemized, repeatable process for contacting potential clients. You can find out how many of your prospects show interest in your services, and how many of those interested convert into long-term paying clients. This can help you find the weak spots in your sales process.

Given these benefits, which templates do you need?

The Cold Email

A “cold email” is when you email a prospect you don’t know to see if they’ll be interested in your services. Unlike referrals where you already know the other party is interested, cold emails are more challenging and intimidating. This is why cold email templates are important – they become less intimidating if they’re easier to do. Here’s how to do them right:

• Don’t Try to Sell: Your first email to a prospect is only a test for interest. It’s too soon for you to start talking about your fees and what services you’ll provide.
  Selling too soon may prevent you from finding out that they can pay more than your asking price or they already have in-house staff working on the things you’re pitching.
  
• Keep it Short: Again, you’re just gauging for interest and not pitching. Keep it as short as possible, and invite them to discuss the details later.
• Make it Unique: Sure, you’re using a template, but each cold email you send out needs specifics tailored to each prospect. Otherwise, you’re spamming. You’re making your process more efficient, not automating it. Also, make sure that the language and style of your templates are suited to the types of clients you’re pitching to.
• Customize Them in Batches: It’s easier to feel intimidated when you write a cold email right before sending. To overcome this, write and proofread these cold emails in batches of 5 or 10.
  This means that when you’re ready, you’ll just paste the finished emails and send them out. You will have less of a personal attachment to each of these emails. Don’t worry – not everyone will reply to you so it’s not like you’ll get ten new clients for every ten emails you send out.
  

Below is an example of a cold email template for a freelance eBook writer. You can use it as inspiration for a template tailored to your field:

Hello [Prospect's Name],
My name is Jane Doe, and [How did you find out about them?]. [Sincere compliment about their current website and content.]
Anyway, [What are their needs and/or how did you spot it?]. If you want, I can [How can you help?].
Would you be interested in this? If so, please reply to this email so we can talk about the details.
Thanks,
Jane Doe

When this template is filled out, it may look like this:

Hello Aaron,
My name is Jane Doe, and I’ve been reading your blog for years. Your series on “Selling Information Products” helped me launch my own ebook – which was successful. Your tips made it possible, so thanks!
Anyway, you recently mentioned in your blog that you want to develop another information product but don’t have the time or energy. If you want, I can help you develop your information product for you.
Would you be interested in this? If so, please reply to this email so we can talk about the details.
Thanks,
Jane Doe

The Needs Analysis Script

Apart from these standard questions, it helps to have a set format when taking notes, so that wrapping up a meeting is easier. For example:

This note-taking template can help you end the meeting with something like “Your business is about [X], and your goal is to [Y]. But, [Z] is preventing you from accomplishing that. Did I get that right?”
It’s a neat way to wrap up your first client meetings, without fidgeting or fumbling through your notes.

The Micro-Project Pitch

Ever spent hours on a proposal for a large project, only to find it rejected? Unless a project proposal is absolutely required, it might be better to start off on a smaller project.
Micro-projects like these help you and your new client assess your compatibility. You can use a ready list of 2 to 5 of these micro-projects within a template. Here’s an example of the micro-project pitch within an email from a web designer to a potential client:

“[...]Before we commit to a large long term project, it might be a better idea to test the waters with a smaller project first – one that would only take a few weeks to complete. This helps lower your risk by giving you time to test whether our workflows are compatible, and whether my design approach is a good fit for your business. Here are some proposed small projects that we can start with:
A) Homepage Redesign
Description: [1 to 2 sentence description of the micro-project]
Duration: [Project Duration here]
Goal: [Address why this is relevant to your client's goals during needs analysis]
B) Product X’s Sales Page Redesign
Description:
Duration:
Goal:
[... and repeat for each micro-project.]
Among these three options, I highly recommend that we start with [pick one of the above options], because [reason relevant to goal or barrier] . Does that work for you? “

With a template like this, you can send something quickly within a day or two after needs analysis. Also, you can easily determine whether the client is really looking to pay for your services, or if they’re trying to get a long, detailed look at your ideas for free.

The Proposal

Now for the big guns. If the micro-project works out, or if a proposal is required, it’s time to create a custom proposal. Seasoned freelancers usually already have proposal templates, which they use for these situations.
A standardized proposal format often makes things easier, especially if you have repetitive tasks across various clients. For each task included in the proposal, add space where you can include the following:

• A short non-jargon explanation of what the task is.
• Why the task is relevant to your client’s goals.
• How the task overcomes or breaks their barriers or obstacles to achieving those goals.
• And a short list of deliverables they can expect for the task.

All you’ll have to do for each proposal is copy and paste the relevant elements, and fill in the blanks depending on each individual client’s needs.

Improving Your Success Rate

As mentioned earlier, one benefit to having templates is finding the weaknesses in your system and fix them. Here are some things you can track:

• Leads: How many people you send cold emails to.
• Qualified Leads: How many of these leads complete a needs analysis.
• Paying Clients: How many of the qualified leads approve your micro-project pitches.
• Long-term Paying Clients: How many of your paying clients commit to more long-term projects (via proposals).

Once you’ve made enough sales, you can find out where the biggest “leak” in your system is. Do you have positive replies for 50% of the cold emails you send out, and yet only 1% of these convert to paying clients?
Do none of your paying clients convert into long-term paying clients? By being more specific about when you lose or drop your prospects, you can find out which part of your sales process needs improvement.
Also, once you’ve crunched some numbers, a system like this can help you find out if it’s worth it to delegate or outsource some parts of your sales process, such as customizing the templates or listing leads.
Making all these templates sounds like hard work at first, but their effect in the long run may prove to be worth it. Systems like these are just another step towards seeing your freelancing practice as a real business, rather than just a one-man show.

Handling the Well-Meaning Helpers - The Freelancers

It’s probably happened to every freelancer. Your friends, relatives, and acquaintances heard about your business – especially your never-ending quest to find and retain good clients – and they try to help.
Sometimes, this help can be just what you need. Let take an example. I finished my first-ever website design back in 1996. The client was my known , who was an engineering consultant. He was so happy with his site that he got on the phone and told all of his colleagues about it. The happy result was a nice influx of business for Yours Truly. Two of those colleagues remain clients to this day.
Then there are those helpers who mean well, but let’s just say that their help isn’t terribly helpful. Take, for example, a retired university professor I recently met.
He’s one of those guys who’s forever encouraging his former colleagues to apply for grants, and guess what. If they haven’t applied for those grants already, they probably aren’t going to do so.
Not that such things stop this guy. He persists. With long, rambling e-mails that border on incoherence. I asked an acquaintance, who’s also on the retired prof’s e-mailing list, what he does with them. His reply sounded like very good advice: “Oh, I just delete ‘em. I don’t have time for that stuff.”

If Only It Was That Easy

After a lovely Sunday bicycle ride around Tucson, I came home to a phone message on my studio line. It was the retired prof. And he was very excited about some national conference that’s coming to Tucson! Why, this could be a big opportunity for me! So big that I should reply to all the other people on the e-mail that he sent!

Uh-oh. “Reply to All.” The fastest way to look like a fool to a lot of other people.

I waited until Monday morning to open that e-mail. The conference is slated, and the prof was urging me to contact the organizers to design its website.
A quick Internet search revealed that the conference already has a site. I know from past experience that organizers of large national conferences start their planning at least 18 months in advance. So, the window of opportunity for the site design job closed six months ago. That’s what I said in my return e-mail to the prof – and no one else. No “Reply to All” for this camper.
His response: “This conference needs a logo – perhaps you could design it!”
My return e-mail noted that the conference website prominently displays the logo. And it’s doubtful that the organization would have it redesigned in the midst of promoting the upcoming conference.

The Situation Persists

This guy doesn’t give up easily. His third e-mail was all about the name of the conference. Wasn’t the right name for branding the event. Perhaps I could help the organizers with that.
“Not my forte,” I replied. Besides, I added, a decision on changing the name would be best handled within the organization.
He responded with a brief “thank you” e-mail, and I haven’t heard from him since.

Be nice, but be careful about getting involved in anything they may be excited about.

A very good friend told me that she used to be on this man’s e-mailing list. How did she get deleted from it? “I stopped responding to him,” was her matter-of-fact reply.
Which leads to my first bit of advice on handling the well-meaning helpers. Be nice, but be careful about getting involved in anything they may be excited about.
In the case of the retired prof, he’s probably a member of the aforementioned organization, but I doubt that he’s on the national conference planning committee. I suspect that he may have some age-related issues with cognition, and that could explain the long, rambling e-mails. So, I’m keeping a polite but respectful distance.
Okay, we’ve dealt with well-meaning people who may have some form of mental impairment. What about those people who are just plain enthusiastic about you and your business?

Getting the Right Referrals

These are the folks who are forever offering referrals. But they’re to the wrong kind of client. Let’s say you’re an architectural photographer specializing in commercial, rather than residential, projects. To some people, “photographer” means “weddings” and nothing else. So, they refer you to couples planning their nuptials.
The solution to this problem? It has two parts:

• Give your enthusiasts the name of a good wedding photographer. Then let that photographer know that a referral is headed her way.
• Next, share your Ideal Client Profile with your enthusiasts. Getting back to the photographer example, your enthusiasts may know an architect or developer who needs the services you’re most qualified to offer. So, get them on your side and be prepared for the referrals you’ve been seeking.

The best ways to bill clients

Every industry veteran has his or her preferred billing method. Some prefer fixed pricing arrangements while others prefer straight hourly billing. Regardless of individual preference, each billing method has its perks, and the decision should be based on which method is in the best interest of your firm, yourself and your client.
The simple fact is, nothing lasts forever: our services, clients, rates and talents are all products of our times. The days of a simple and straight-forward six to eight page informational website are behind us. Simple websites have become more data-driven. Web and mobile applications have become more prevalent. Stability, security and scalability are not only best practice considerations, but also the expectations of clients investing large sums of money in their website build or redesign.
New technologies and more complex solutions lead to higher budgets, greater lead times and increasingly variable scope. Under the circumstances, it is more important now than ever to re-evaluate your billing structure.
Three of the most standard, industry recognised billing methods are:

1 Firm Fixed Price (FFP, often referred to as “Fixed Rate”)

Put simply, you provide work to clients based upon a fixed price and scope. Generally speaking, clients appreciate this method, as they can manage their budget without unexpected surprises. While fine and dandy for the client, the burden falls on the shoulders of the developer to develop a crystal-clear and concrete scope for the contract and to ensure that the project is implemented within scope and under budget. Margins have the potential to be higher with this billing method, but it’s our responsibility as developers to make sure that we profit during these engagements, as we take on the majority of the risk.
The Fixed Rate method can also turn you into the “Scope Police”, because the onus is on you to ensure that any work outside the original agreement is charged for, to make sure that you are compensated for the extra time and expense.
The key to success under the Fixed Price method is managing client expectations along with profitability. To that end, a successful vendor must clearly communicate expectations from the outset and to alert the client whenever a change to the job falls outside of the job’s original scope. Otherwise, you may as well start doing everything pro bono.

2 Time and Materials (T&M, often referred to as “Hourly”)

Like any good ex-con or divorcee can tell you, attorneys love this billing method. Under Time and Materials billing, each hour (or minute) that is spent performing services for the client, from brainstorming solutions to management of the client’s project, is billable. First and foremost in the “benefits” column, this method can be lucrative. Provided that you are a fastidious enough record keeper that you can account for your work in fractions of the hour (attorneys typically charge in tenths of an hour), every minute that you work is a minute that you are getting paid for.
Much to your client’s chagrin, this can get expensive. As a result, depending on the client’s resources and financial abilities, they may or may not like this type of arrangement, as risk of change in scope, hardship or your incompetence falls squarely on their shoulders. Consequently, under this arrangement, it is all the more important that the client is provided with the scope of the work and a realistic (and honest) estimate, based on your understanding of the job, based on your prior industry experience. If a change is required, it’s much easier to continue moving forward without any addendum, provided that overage is documented.
Interestingly, in the interactive industry, we have seen many requests for T&M based contracts, with clients thinking that this would help them secure projects at a lower cost. For smaller development shops with less time or capacity to thoroughly bill for all time spent on projects, this may be in fact be true. However, it is important to also look at the motivators: FFP contracts encourage the vendor to be efficient, whereas T&M contracts encourage the vendor to be as slow as possible.

3 Cost Plus

While smaller shops may be sticking to FFP contracts and the mid-size firms are optimising T&M contracts, the big systems integrators have discovered the best of both worlds. “Cost Plus” contracts offer a baseline contract that only covers costs, with an opportunity to cash in on a bonus (aka the “plus”) by exceeding client expectations at the end of the contract. While a 3% bonus may not sound like a lot for a six-figure contract, firms supporting enterprise projects with large multi-million dollar budgets have found that managing these projects correctly can be very profitable.
With cost plus contracts increasing in popularity at the enterprise level, it is important for firms with big growth aspirations to have the appropriate corporate structure for these types of contracts, as supporting a cost plus engagement requires more infrastructure and governance of the corporation’s time and financial tracking systems to ensure excellent product delivery, support and customer service. Want to be a big time firm for the government or private sector? Get your ducks in a row with regard to the above models and brush up on your understanding of Earned Value Management (EVM). This contract model requires extremely detailed planning, scoping and evaluation setting before contract initiation, a talented project management office (PMO) to lead the implementation, and very advanced financial management and accounting structures to set the company up for success.
In addition to the monetary “plus” bonus at the end of the contract period, firms and clients both benefit from focusing on innovation and excellence rather than cutting corners to up an FFP profit or dragging out a project to increase T&M hours. One point worth noting is that by constantly striving to exceed client expectations often results in repeat business, so you would do well to move away from a “launch and leave” approach to client management.

So which billing method is better? 

Some argue FFP while others argue T&M. Proponents of each have valid points, and ultimately which method is chosen is a matter of personal preference and individual circumstances. That being said, we argue there is no almighty billing arrangement sitting on high. No billing structure works best in every given situation and each have their selling points. But consistency in your contract approach will greatly reduce administrative and management burdens.
As such, the prudent entrepreneur should carefully consider the options and be strategic about their contracting approach. It is important that businesses in our field re-evaluate our billing methods as the industry, as well as individual market players, continues to evolve in terms of their internal culture, types of services and clients. Billing arrangements of the past may not continue to be good fits for modern clients.
Make sure your firm is managing for the present but structuring for the future. In order to make that determination, here are a few considerations to determine which method is right for your next engagement.

Corporate culture

What works for the firm’s management styles and approaches? Is this a firm that operates on a project/account basis? Or does it instead function as a matrix organisation, supporting clients in a more agency-style environment? Does your firm have a management approach that is part of your core competency and offering, such as an Agile shop? Or does your firm pride itself on having the flexibility to uniquely support a variety of client needs and management approaches?
In selecting a billing method, or combination of methods, to pursue, you will need to think hard about the impact on your corporate culture. If you are an Agile shop running in sprints, the FFP model is very risky. Are your employees and managers going to be empowered and encouraged to recommend an alternate course when additions to scope run the project from black to red? Furthermore, can you afford to stay in business under that model? Running flexible projects with inflexible budgets is a tricky proposition.
On the flip side, if you are a focused firm with renowned experts in XYZ technologies, you will find your firm quickly unable to meet market demands and raising hourly rates can stave off opportunities unnecessarily. Choosing FFP in that situation can deliver a benefit to both the client and the firm, allowing the team to focus on efficiency and excellence in products as opposed to finding cash-rich clients and spending half of your time itemising and legitimising your bills.

Risk adversity/openness

FFP puts the risk on the firm, while T&M puts the risk on the client. Before determining where the risk should lie, you need to balance the needs and risks of a particular project to your firm and determine whether this falls within acceptable parameters of risk to both your firm and your client. As a project becomes more novel, falls outside of previously cultivated competencies of your firm or if your firm would have to work with business partners it has never worked with before, uncertainty increases. Likewise, when dealing with more risk adverse clients, uncertainty and their willingness to agree to hourly billing are inversely related. This situation incentivises flat fee arrangements, when possible.  At a minimum, it makes it all the more important for you and your client to have an unreproachable meeting of the minds as to scope and estimated cost.

Market and client demands

Many clients prefer FFP because it allows them to confidently budget what they will have to spend for an online presence. However, an experienced T&M shop should be able to provide a reasonable range for the project and install reporting mechanisms that ensure transparency in billing. Industries may differ in their approaches to contract models, with clients like the government often requiring FFP for lower level (under six figures) while still requesting hours (and ensuring that our taxpayers get the best of both models), while many private firms prefer T&M as a way to manage their vendors and control the risk.

Nature of the work

Some projects do not fit the FFP method right away. For example, software development projects (ie custom modules, R&D work or extremely custom integration efforts). This is also the case with projects that require a truly Agile environment. Agile approaches require Agile budgets and by nature cannot be firm or fixed.

Client relationship

If the client accuses you of “nickel and diming” them with every billing cycle, you will waste a ton of time dealing with them and be unlikely to receive future work. Under a T&M arrangement, this leads to more time on the project and even higher bills for the client. This can lead nowhere but to a bad relationship. Not good for your brand, not good for your reputation and not good for follow-on work. Just plain not good. Clear communication and understanding, along with timely and regular billing, are key in keeping good client relationships during a T&M contract.

Project management

Diligent watching of scope is critical for any contract model, but you may need more reporting with T&M, as the client is responsible for the risk. Transparency and project management must be balanced, as the client pays for your time as a project manager as well as your time as a designer.
Try creating basic burn rate trackers, and for larger projects report on EVM. We have found it very effective to work with our clients collaboratively to determine their pain points, areas of interest, and what questions their higher-ups want answered. Make sure your client’s project manager is fully equipped with this information in advance and you can avoid those difficult and disappointing invoice discussions down the road.

Future growth

Where you are now may not be where you want to be in five years. Think about your firm’s strategic plan and monitor the procurement trends of the industry. If your firm is becoming a larger enterprise player, start planning the infrastructure for Cost Plus contracts now. If you are determined to remain a small, boutique firm, you will retain your flexibility and can utilise process and structure to reduce reporting and management burdens regardless of the contract type.
Whether you (or your client) are big, small, old, new, rich or poor, proper scoping and complete transparency from initial negotiation onward is key. In web development (as in life), if you do not understand the needs, risks, hopes and fears of all parties concerned, your contract will be a roadmap to disaster.  Considering these seven factors, and thinking and acting strategically when it comes to contracting models, will reduce headaches and increase profitability, giving your team time to focus less on billing and more on innovating.

Why Wait For The Opportunity? Create Your Own!

As many people who work in a creative field like design and development may already know, sometimes our clients just do not understand what it is that we are trying to achieve. The boundaries that we are seeking to push are not ones they approve of for their project, so our creative ideas get backburnered until we can find an appropriate project as well as an agreeable client where you can flex these creative muscles freely. In fact, the standard business processes, especially the ones we allow ourselves to be strapped into, tend to work against us in this aspect.
Allow me to elaborate. For most creatives, the most genuine and innovative ideas can often come without provocation. Which is unfortunate, because that tends to relegate these ideas to one of two categories. The personal project category that we get to whenever we find the time to break away from our work plates to snack on something different. Or to the professional project pool where we wait on that client who will allow us the freedom to incorporate this idea into their project. At other times, the ideas we have tend to be in response to the client, their business or something they have laid down — some sort of foundation — for us to build upon. These ideas are somewhat prompted.

Don’t just wait for the aces! Image by fitzsean
Now this is not to say that the prompted ideas are any less potent or powerful than the ones that we arrived at alone, only that the ones we get to by ourselves tend to be more imaginative and exciting in our eyes as those are the ones we feel unencumbered by the clients rules or specs. Which also means that they are the ones that we get to work less on due to the fact that we have to pay the bills, and in most cases, that means some kind of compromise on the part of the creative mind. We can say that we think outside the box on every project, but we have to admit that when a client comes to us, they have one or two ideas in the bucket ready and those specs can be considered somewhat of a box that we must work in.

That Is Just How Business Works

Now I know that there are some who are scratching their heads, knowing that this is just the way how business works, and they are confused at to what exactly we are asking them to consider. And yes, we understand that this is the standard way by which this game is played. Businesses have needs — they turn to other experts or specialists to have these needs met. They explain exactly what it is they are looking for, and the experts comply, delivering the experience that hopefully surpasses the client’s expectations. But what if we could change the standard rules of gameplay here on a much wider scale, affording this much freer approach to any designer or developer who wished to truly work unhindered.

Think outside the box! Image by west.m
Just a quick note: this article is not trying to say that working with all clients is a dull, innovation adjacent venture, or even trying to say that you will never have to work under these more standard rules of gameplay. But we usually have ideas of our own — ideas that we would love to see through without having to compromise or consult with a client or anyone else for that matter to approve what we are doing.
Think of it like the difference in a movie director working independently on a film rather than working for a major studio. They have much more freedom to make the film as they see fit, without any interference from above. For a while this was an approach that not many designers or developers have thought to not be feasible, but that is all changing.
Thanks, by and large, to the avenues being created by and granted access to by the Web.

The Game Changer

Before now, and in some ways still, we have always had to take our ideas to someone else in order to help us make them happen. We had to reach beyond ourselves to find those with the means and know-hows to reach further than we had access in order to get our idea out to the masses and have it connect with the audience. Essentially, we had to sell our idea to someone else in order to get distribution and manufacturing. However, the Web is granting creatives the chances to write their own opportunities, and make things happen for themselves, without having to depend on someone else.
Understanding that the term “sellout” tends to carry negative connotations, but what I mean is that we have to pitch the idea and someone has to buy in order for it to happen. When they buy, that tends to put them in the controlling seat. They hold the final say over the outcome of the project, or even where the project ends up. For some creatives, that compromise alone can take a lot of the fun and excitement out of the equation. But without those buyers, the project would tend to remain an unrealized effort. So there has been an underlying coercion for creatives to play the game and compromise their ideas when necessary in order to connect with the masses.

Plan your game – several moves ahead. Image by DoubleM2
Enter the Web, and services like Kickstarter, communities like YouTube and Vimeo, and suddenly the middle men that we needed to make our innovative ideas a reality, are not as much of a necessity as they once were. There is a great article by Ryan Carson that highlighted two examples of just how those in creative fields who are no longer waiting for opportunity to knock, instead create those opportunities for themselves. And in these cases, what remains important is that they remain the ones calling the shots.
Now I know there are those who think that this is approach is a complete waste of time. However, already today there are creatives who are just as equally excited about this evolved approach which allows them to completely take the reigns of their creative projects. So below we have taken a look at both the benefits offered and challenges posed by this new gameplay structure to help better see what exactly this approach means and entails.

The Benefits

First, we are going to look at the pros to taking charge of our creations and marching forward with them on our own as the masters of our own destiny. If you are one of those who is on the fence about this whole issue, or even if you are standing firmly against it, perhaps this section will have you rethinking things and getting you to come down on the side for it.

Shot-Caller

This has already been mentioned in the article; however, given its weight, it deserves a deeper examination of just what makes it so important. For most of us in the design and development fields, we have had to work with a client whose lack of understanding of the field can negatively impact the resulting project once their uncompromising input has been implemented. This can hugely effect our resulting takeaway and perspective with which we begin to view our chosen fields. Especially, if we find project after project that comes with compromise after compromise. This can effectively end up sapping our excitement and stifling our creative energy.

You’re your own boss and choose your own target. Image by HikingArtist.com
Another side effect these compromises can have is that we end up having to lose some truly innovative element of the project because of the client’s wishes, and our work can somewhat reflect a staleness on our parts as a result. When users see the final design and interact with it, they only see the compromised end result. They do not see the processes or the decisions and conditions that ultimately led to a creation that could essentially be much less than its potential. And it is this end result that is looked upon as the limits of our abilities. Client’s input is useful and necessary, but sometimes it’s not exactly what is best for our users. And yes, design is not art, but a medium for delivering messages across, but as designers we are often quite restricted by the decisions made for us, not with us.
But when we are the one who is calling all of the shots, our creative energy can flow freely, and our imaginations are subject to no one’s approval or standards. And there are those who would say that using a service like Kickstarter, where you outline a project and potential investors commit to contributions to fund your creative venture, does not put you in the driver’s seat per se, as you are still having to “sell” your idea. However, the big difference is that the sponsors and investors you get via Kickstarter do not expect to be able to provide some kind of creative input. You are the one in control.
This also means that you are the one in control of the timeline for when and if the project sees the light of day. This can be key, as there are times in the design and development fields when those elements are out of our hands and they end up derailing the project far from its potential or intended destinations. There are times when we work so hard on a project and have put so much into it until we have molded it to what we feel is perfection, only to turn it over and have it altered or never see the light of day. Consequently, there are times when we feel (for whatever reason) that a project just will not come together and should be abandoned, but we can’t drop it, so the end result is a sub-par product that nobody is actually happy with. In this field of play, those calls are all ours.
In Short:

• You have to deal with less compromises that sap your enthusiasm and excitement for both the project and your field.
• Your reputation does not suffer from compromises the client forced us to make.
• You do not have to worry about outside interference, our imagination is not subject to approval.
• Your project outcome is completely in your hands, and your hands alone.

Time and Money Saver

It may seem like somewhat of a contradiction that this approach could actually save time and money, but when you look at the first example of designer Frank Chimero and his design book that he now can completely finance via Kickstarter, you can see how this approach can do just that. More often than not, in order to get a book published and distributed within what is commonly seen as the mainstream, you would first have to spend weeks, possibly months, writing and rewriting both the outline for the book and the book proposal (not to mention the numerous e-mails, phone calls and meetings with possible publishers). All of which is done without any guarantee of being published and distributed.

Frank Chimero’s project “The Shape of Design” on Kickstarter.
In the end, all of the time that is taken to write up these proposals and outlines for the books take away from the time we spend on billable work. And in some cases, the entire book or some parts of it must first be written before we are able to get any interest from publishers or distributors. So that time has to be accounted for as well. But by harnessing the Web and social media, we can now find the means to publish and distribute the book on our own — without consuming much time and often the costly process of seeking out and involving the proverbial middle men in the project.
This is a big step forward, and helps to connect the potential investors directly to the creative individuals, without the compromised hands of the mainstream middle men getting into the project, which simply feels more conducive to innovation. Compromised decisions can end up hurting the project’s potential. This can also mean that we will end up with less forced input which can lead to time consuming revision after time consuming revision which could end up compromising the overall impact of the message. Which might further translate into lost sales. Therefore, we can see huge savings in both time and costs by opting for this new paradigm.
In Short:

• We can save a lot of time, which tends to equal money, in both the initial and final project stages via this route.
• Taps potential investors directly into the source of ideas, without any agendas or middle men getting in the way.

Smoother Sailing in the Client Pool

Now, one possible benefit that we could see spring forth from this approach is the higher chances of landing dream clients. This may seem a bit far fetched, but if there were more designers and developers writing their own opportunities and launching their own projects then that is going to create interest in the client pool, right? Essentially, going the route, you can effectively choose between working on a client’s project or creating your own which you could put in your portfolio or even gain some exposure with and consequently connect with some potential clients.
Besides, since you are engaging your heart and soul into your project, you are more likely to produce a remarkable product — a product that will help you gain new insights, learn new creative fields and leave a mark in the design community. You can also create a well-respected name for yourself. And it’s certainly worth trying.

Profit-Sharing

One of the biggest problems that anyone working in any creative field faces, is the undervaluing of their time and talents. This can come either in the guise of those who simply do not see the value of what we do, or in the form of those who capitalize on our creativity without having contributed to the creative process in any way. Whatever form it may take, it means that someone is profiting off of your creativity.
Now, there are cases when there is a service attached to it that we could not handle ourselves. Back in the day, distribution was one of the main incentives that creative persons had to aligning themselves with this model in which they create the product, and do not get to see the majority of the profits from the project. Designers and developers have been signing on with company that provided them with the space and tools they need to do the work for years because of the sheer cost it saves them. Only to sacrifice shares of the profits from their work, not to mention the ability to do the work that they necessarily want the way they want it. But again, this is not the only paradigm on the market anymore.
You want to organize a design conference and sell tickets for it? There are services for you. You’d like to build up a shop from ground up? Again, there are tools for you. You don’t have to rely on anybody, but instead you can just put together everything you need and leverage the potential of social media to back up your projects.

Natasha Westcoat creates live online paintings. She saves herself the percentages that galleries, art dealers and online intermediaries, might charge if she sold the work through them.
With no middle men to have to share the profits with, this new approach can also allow us to get the bulk of the revenues generated from the projects that we have created. In the example provided in Ryan’s article, Natasha Westcoat’s live online paintings, not only does she save herself the time and effort of seeking a gallery show to find buyers, she saves herself the percentages that galleries, art dealers and online intermediaries, might charge if she sold the work through them. Here, she controls the profits. So it is exciting to see that the old profit share piggyback model is not the only path in which designers and developers find themselves in these days given the reach and access afforded to them by the Web.
In Short:

• With this new model, the person who is generating and creating the idea is the one who will reap the majority of the rewards from their work, as it should be.
• No longer do we have to share the majority of our profits with those who offer us services that help spread the word — not create it.
• With the middle men gone, the revenues can be more evenly and fairly distributed.

The Challenges

Anyone who is seriously considering taking on the “independent” route, needs to understand that there might be some challenges in the road ahead. These are serious considerations that should be made before moving forward.

Weight of the World

Most of the time that we take on a project, there are going to be some elements of that cause us some bit of stress. Be it the timeline, those we are working with or compromises made. But we tend to be somewhat compartmentalized in the project and therefore our stress levels tend to be as well. If there is stress involved in the project, we can bet that we are only experiencing a fraction of that stress through the buffers provided by the numerous rungs in the ladder above us. Also, because we are usually stacked somewhere in a hierarchy, the instigators of the stress are somewhat abstracts to us. For example, if we are working with a big company, we tend to not have to interact with the client or public directly, it is done through a series of intermediaries. So when they are upset, we get hints of that, but not necessarily the brunt of it.

No matter where, the burden is the same. Image by Kristian Bjornard
This is not the case when we are stepping up as the masters of our projects. We have no buffers or barriers which allow us to compartmentalize any of it. We are baring the full weight of this world on our shoulders, and are not shielded from the reactions of the public. It all rests on us. Every cog in the process, from creation to marketing, from production to distribution is our responsibility. Either we have to handle it ourselves, or we have to find the right people to put into those roles to ensure that it all goes smoothly and according to plan. If it doesn’t, the blame will fall on you and your reputation — no one else’s. Also, we need to makke certain decisions that we don’t necessarily know much about: e.g. if you decide to print a book, what about fulfillment and support?
This can admittedly be a terrifying step to take, especially when you have never worked through all aspects of the project process before. If you are not strong in marketing, or have never actually overseen the production step by step, doing these tasks for the first time can seem overwhelming. And it is easy to see why many would rather play it safer instead of working on a more demanding and involved approach. For many of us, no benefit is enough to willingly accept the entire weight of the project on our shoulders.
In Short:

• If you pick the “independent” route, you are responsible for everything, and you alone will own each of the project’s successes and failures.
• No matter where your strengths are lacking, you have to find ways to fill those gaps and pick up that slack to ensure the project succeeds.
• You have no buffers to the reactions and fallouts from the project — you have to deal with it all directly.

Confidence Factor

Another consideration that must be understood is that you are not selling the idea alone, you are also promoting yourself. Which is where confidence comes into play pretty heavily. It is easy to have faith in an idea and be able to get others to sign on and ascribe to that idea through the confidence that you are reflecting in it. However, when you are the head of the pyramid, it is not just faith in the idea that all parties involved need, everybody needs to have faith in the main person behind it.
That faith in oneself is harder to project with enough confidence to necessarily have others clamoring at your heels wanting to throw in on the proverbial backing bandwagon. And given that many of us might not be used to having to promote ourselves and effectively market ourselves in order to make a project happen, this could be a necessary adjustment. It is one thing to effectively market ourselves into a job, where we are pitted against other individuals, but in this case, we are marketing ourselves against an entire, well, market. It is not just about the idea, but about our ability to make it real. Whereas now we are competing with what can be seen as more financially stable companies, not just the ideas they are pitching.
As part of a company, when we go forth with an idea, there is a reputation behind us, more than just our own. When we do it alone — not so much. So once again it is easy to understand how this could act as a deterrent. On the other side, it might as well be an area that not deters you, but vividly alerts you to something that you are going to need to work on before you move ahead.
In Short:

• It is not just the idea under scrutiny, but your ability to make it happen as well.
• You must be able to effectively position and market yourself and your project against the rest of the market.
• You do not have any other reputation backing the project other than your own.

No End in Sight

Finally, you must consider that if you are going to try and create your own opportunities and run with them, you will be running for a long, long time. When you are the one spearheading the entire project, and overseeing all facets of the process, there is no end of the line where you just get to hand it over and then move on to the next project. You have to stick with this project and ride it out for the entire reach and life of the project. No matter where it leads, you have signed on to following, and that could prove to be a very long haul indeed. Somewhere, that road could potentially keep going, always requiring some level of dedication, if not participation, on your part.

Can you picture the end? Image by N3T1O
This could effectively undo any of the time saved benefit that got you looking favorably at this idea in the first place. So you have to look reasonably at the long term time investments and consider how much time the project could require to completely determine if the project will be worthwhile to pursue. Keep in mind that the project will eventually endure beyond their initial projected commitments, althought the exact details depend on the project itself. And it would be better to realize this before beginning and getting others to commit, so that the project does not fall short of its potential because you actually underestimated your own project.
In Short:

• You may have to be willing to commit to it for however long the project survives to maintain its integrity.
• There is no point at which you should be expecting to be able to just cut and run from the project without seeing it through to the absolute end.

In the End

Doing things on your own is risky but worthwhile. There is certainly some merit to creating your own opportunities. The tools are available; the medium for connecting with friends, colleagues and like-minded people is available; and you can freely explore your creativity and skills using both of them. I honestly believe that this new culture we observe today might change the rules of the game and I anxiously wait to see what interesting new developments spring up as a result. Please share your opinion in the comments section below.

Successful Freelancing With Ruby On Rails: Workflow, Techniques And Tools

Warning: Freelancing Is Not for Everyone

A freelancer is a self-employed person who pursues a profession without a long-term commitment to any particular employer. Your curiosity in this opportunity was probably sparked by posts marked “Freelance” or “Work from anywhere” on the myriad of job boards around the Web. Freelancing is equal parts freedom and responsibility. While you have the freedom to choose when you work, where you work and what you work on, you are also responsible for everything: deadlines, finding work, the quality of your work, communication and so much more.

Photo by Dmitry Belitsky
Ruby, with all of its frameworks and libraries (such as Rails, Merb and Sinatra), is a practical tool to use in your freelance Web development career because of its focus on clean code, object-oriented syntax, efficient development practices and strong community (whether a simple IRC chat room or large conference). For all of these reasons, I find that it is also quite fun to use and exciting to be a part of.
So, your skill may be in Ruby and your approach is to freelance, but it’s not that easy: freelancing is no walk in the park. It could become a living nightmare if you’re not able to use your time efficiently and remain focused and motivated until a project comes to a close. It could also become a nightmare if you market yourself poorly, are constantly desperate for work or surrender too much power to a client, putting you in the position of a monkey-worker responding to petty demands.
Over the four years that I’ve been freelancing, I have figured out the intricacies of it and grown to completely love it. I cannot envision myself working any other way.

[Editor's note: Have you already got your copy of the Smashing Book #2? The book shares valuable practical insight into design, usability and coding. Have a look at the contents.]

Pros

Photo by Giorgio Montersino.
Be your own boss.
Report to no one but yourself. You are at once king, countryman, peasant, squire, blacksmith and merchant. You will work on excruciatingly boring tasks, grand and exciting ventures and everything in between. You will have very tough times and very beautiful times.
Enjoy your freedom.
You have the freedom to work when and where you please, the freedom to structure your day as you please and the freedom to fail. Structure and discipline can be daunting and intimidating but also rewarding and empowering.
Choose what to work on.
Want to spend 50% of your time on open-source projects? Interested in building your own Web app? You have the power to make that a reality. Want to work exclusively on projects in social media? Make it happen.
Set your rates.
Value is both a reflection of how you perceive yourself and how others perceive you. Are you capable of meeting deadlines, communicating well and delivering quality code? Charge what you think that is worth. Often the market will decide. If you are just starting out, charging $80 per hour will be hard; you have to earn that rate over time and with experience.
But what’s to stop you from charging $80 per hour after just a year of full-time freelance work as a Ruby developer? Only yourself. You will have to be confident, and I suspect that most people reading this article do not charge that rate. But if you truly feel capable, then by all means.
In sum, you will experience highs and lows, but with the right attitude, the lows will always pay off.

Cons

Selling yourself
Many dislike the notion of having to sell themselves. That’s understandable: the task is certainly not without its unpleasantness. If coding is an art, then like any good artist you’ll be critical of your own work. But maintain perspective. Recognize that you have to take responsibility for the quality of your code, but also understand that your clients probably won’t be programmers themselves. Hacking together something that works will be okay in many cases; and if it breaks because it was poorly written, offer to fix it for free.
When you write code that is efficient and powerful, explain as much to the client in vocabulary that they will understand; something like, “I changed the application so that it can perform × task at twice the speed.” Remember that your clients will likely not be developers and that in the freelancing game communication skills are often more important than programming skills. Be aware of yourself, be realistic in your expectations of yourself, be humble yet straightforward, and understand that if you truly believe in yourself, selling becomes easy. You are just being honest when you say to someone, “I’m good at what I do.”
Responsibility and discipline
No one will prevent you from procrastinating. No one will stop you from meeting with a friend in the middle of the day for lunch or a walk. No one will tell you what to do or when to do it. This may sound amazing—and it is if you’re disciplined—but discipline becomes rarer as we get increasingly overloaded with details that demand our attention. (In my opinion, discipline is one of the most important traits any freelancer can have.)
Time management
Manage your time as if each hour were a brick of gold. Time is more precious than any other resource. Tools are out there to help you become aware of how you spend it and that help you figure out where you are going wrong and right. Harvest, Trails, Tick and a slew of other applications are all designed to help you understand how you spend your time.
Emotions
The freelancing life is often isolating and can get lonely. It has often been said that running a small business is an emotional roller coaster: well, it is. Fight the inclination to stay cooped up and out of touch with the world. Get out and meet people; it could save you from serious bouts of depression.
Ultimately, freelancing is not for the faint of heart, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth your best shot!

Tools Of The Trade

Plenty of tools will help you get your projects done, but the best ones help you complete your projects effectively. We all work differently, and numerous tools are at our disposal that will help us accomplish the same task in different ways.
You’ll find a lot of discussion on the Web (some of it bordering on holy wars) about the relative merit of Vim vs. Emacs, Prototype vs. jQuery, Haml vs. ERB. But it doesn’t matter what you use: results matter. Properly caring for your code will help you grow, so use tools that allow you to craft the best possible code. Tools are always relative.

Text Editor (Vim, Emacs, TextMate, IDE)

As with most other tools, choose a text editor by trying it out. I used TextMate in the past and now work in Vim most of the time. Some folks prefer Emacs or big IDEs such as RubyMine. You can try all of these just by downloading a trial version. You’ll know when you’ve found your favorite.

*Nix Server Management and Working in the Unix Shell

Many useful resources on Linux server management are available in various Slicehost articles. You’ll also find a lot of info about working in the command line at commandlinefu.com. Beyond that, let Google guide you.

Ruby Will Become Your Best Friend

Yukihiro Matsumoto (a.k.a. Matz), creator of Ruby, said that he wanted to minimize his frustration with programming, minimize his effort in programming and have fun with software development. In fact, Ruby was designed to make programmers happy. But while Ruby is simple in appearance, it is complex inside, like the human body.
As hard as it is to believe, Ruby has been around for 15 years. As the years go by, more and more people see the beauty in this language and become passionate users. Today, Ruby is the language of choice for hundreds of thousands of developers worldwide. Several lively Ruby conferences take place each year around the world. And big corporations use Ruby: Microsoft and Sun have created their own Ruby interpreters (IronRuby, jRuby), and Apple now includes Ruby with OS X 10.6. Countless Ruby developers are hired every day on every continent.
The community around a language is one of my primary considerations in deciding whether to learn that language. Ruby’s community is vibrant and growing; it is friendly to people of all skill levels and comprises both online communication such as chatting and mailing lists and in-the-flesh interaction at meet-up groups and conferences. Ruby and its frameworks—especially Rails—have become their own sub-culture; full of life and passion and changing every day.
A very useful resource is confreaks.com, where you can watch videos from great Ruby-related events such as Rubyconf, acts_as_conference and more. Highly recommended.
Popular Ruby-related resources:

• The official Ruby website
• Ruby mailing list
  A useful place to get help or advice from those active in the Ruby community.
• Ruby Inside
  A Ruby blog with daily news, links, code and tips. Claims to be “the #1 Ruby programming blog.”
• RubyFlow
  A community-driven Ruby links website, with more than 1000 members. Posts are made by members of the community. Enjoy the links and leave comments.
• RubyForum
  Helpful forum for Ruby and Rails.
• Ruby Learning
  “A thorough collection of Ruby study notes for those who are new to the Ruby programming language and in search of a solid introduction to Ruby’s concepts and constructs.”
• Planet Ruby
  RSS aggregator of top Ruby-related blogs.

The Ruby on Rails Framework (and Alternatives: Merb, Sinatra, Ramaze, Rango)

Rails is my MVC framework of choice because of its ease of use as well as the vast community of passionate users who stand behind it. If you’d like to learn it, a great starting point is Agile Web Development With Rails. UC Berkeley has a series of intensive Ruby on Rails classes on YouTube, which are rather useful. And a lot of screencasts are on the Web. I also like confreaks (already mentioned but worth a second push); it delivers videos from large Ruby conferences, and I’ve learned a lot from the talks.

Some general Rails-related resources:

• RailsGuides
  A great Rails documentation project.
• RailsBridge
  A friendly Rails community.
• Ruby on Rails 3.0 Release Notes
  A new Rails 3 guide, with details on the new Rails release.
• The New Ruby Ecosystem
  An interesting post from Paolo “Nusco” Perrotta about the most used development tools in the Ruby community.
• Rails Tutorial
  An extensive series of tutorials (one of the most comprehensive resources for beginners I’ve found).
• RubyonRailsTutorials.com
  A great catalog of links, to further satiate your appetite for Rails knowledge.

Some more specific tools for Ruby to check out:

• The Ruby Development Tool
  An IDE consisting of Ruby-aware features and plug-ins for the Eclipse platform.
• Watir
  An open-source (BSD) library for automating Web browsers. It allows you to write tests that are easy to read and maintain. It is at once flexible and simple.
• Radrails
  A Ruby on Rails IDE, either standalone or as an Eclipse plug-in. Free, open source and cross-platform, Radrails includes an integrated shell console, rich code completion for Ruby and Rails, an integrated debugger and cloud deployment options.
  
• Heroku
  An online Ruby on Rails cloud platform-as-a-service. A “fast, frictionless and maintenance-free Rails hosting platform” with a free plan. The platform is effective, though not invincible.
• Capistrano
  An open-source tool for running scripts on multiple servers, most commonly used to deploy Web applications. It automates the process of making a new version of an application available on one or more Web servers, including support for tasks such as changing databases.
• The Ruby Toolbox
  Provides an overview of tools available to Ruby developers. Tools are sorted by category and rated according to the number of watchers and forks in the corresponding source code repository on GitHub, so you can easily figure out your options and which are the most common ones in the Ruby community.
  
• RailRoad
  “A class diagrams generator for Ruby on Rails applications. It’s a Ruby script that loads the application classes and analyzes its properties (attributes, methods) and relationships (inheritance, model associations like has_many, etc.).”
• Instant Rails
  “A one-stop Rails runtime solution containing Ruby, Rails, Apache and MySQL, all preconfigured and ready to run (on Windows, OS X, Linux and BSD). No installer—you simply drop it into the directory of your choice and run it. It does not modify your system environment.”
• Ruby on Rails Toolbox
  A list of 20+ tools to help you with your Ruby on Rails coding.

TDD and BDD

Test-driven development (TDD) is a software development technique that involves repeating a very short development cycle: the developer writes a failing automated test case that defines a desired improvement or new function; then they produce code to pass that test; and finally they refactor the new code to meet recognized standards.
Behaviour-driven development (BDD) is an evolution of the thinking behind TDD and acceptance test-driven planning. It brings together strands of TDD and domain-driven design in an integrated whole, making the relationship between these two powerful approaches to software development more evident.

BDD helps focus development on the delivery of prioritized, verifiable business value by providing a common vocabulary (also referred to as an “ubiquitous language”) that spans the divide between business and technology.

• Behavior-driven development website
• Cucumber: Making BDD fun.

HTML, CSS, HAML, SASS, LESS

Nothing can be done on the Web without hypertext mark-up. Every page has its own mark-up and style, and you have to know the basics in order to work with mark-up. Learning HTML basics should take about an hour, and becoming a CSS expert a lot more time, but everything starts with your first step. Once you know how each works, diving into tools that simplify them, such as HAML, SASS and LESS, will be enjoyable and rewarding.

VCS (Version Control Systems)

• Git
• Subversion
• Mercurial

Version control is essential whether you work alone or on a team, because it tracks all significant changes you have made to a project (called “commits”), and you can easily save the project’s growth history, make new branches to test new functionality, jump back and forth through changes and distribute those changes to others involved in writing the code. I prefer Git and use it most often. It’s fast and reliable, but other systems offer their own functions and strengths. “7 Version Control Systems Reviewed” covers the spectrum of options.

“Git is a free distributed revision control, or software source-code management, project, with an emphasis on being fast. It was initially designed and developed by Linus Torvalds for Linux kernel development.”
— Wikipedia

Here is a list of helpful resources to help you jump into working with Git:

• The Git community book
• Google Tech Talk: Linus Torvalds on Git

Finding Clients

You’ve weighed the pros and cons, and the pros won. You’ve learned enough Ruby and Rails to start looking for work. Now, where do you find clients?
Finding clients is a big topic, so I’ll stick to the basics for now and leave out details on marketing strategies and brand development.
Communicate with potential clients first through simple emails. Write your thoughts in short and effective paragraphs; be selective with your words, and get to the point quickly, mindful of the time people are spending reading your message. You will not only deliver your message effectively but show that you are focused on important matters and that you avoid wasting people’s time.
If you have no portfolio, you may have to do work for very little pay—or even for free—to entice prospects. As you develop your portfolio, describe each project very briefly (one to two sentences), and then start adding these summaries to your emails. The inclusion of references to real work greatly increases your chances of securing more work.
In your search, follow up on every interesting job posting that you’ve found, mentioning your professional experience, technologies you know and your professional qualities, such as being responsible and being able to deliver projects on time and on budget. Ideally, you would show testimonials from previous clients.

Job Boards

A lot of freelance job boards are around. Here are the ones I know of and have used successfully:

• Working With Rails
• 37signals Job Board
• Authentic Jobs
• Ruby Now Jobs
• RubyInside

Contributing to Open Source

If you want clients, you need to prove yourself. Nothing speaks better of developers than their code (although technical skill is only part of the puzzle).
Choose projects that interest you; you’ll get better results. Choose projects that give you a chance to learn and grow. But be careful: your learning should not prolong project deadlines. I find that the best projects are those in which I can work with a passionate team and learn new things along the way.

Learn How People Hire

Read articles that explain how to hire developers for insights into the hiring and hunting process. Articles such as these:

• 11 Tips on Hiring a Rails Developer
• How I Hire Programmers by Aaron Swartz (and comments on Hacker News)
• How to Hire Hackers
• How to Get Hired at a Startup

Get Your First Project

If you have no previous development experience, create some first. Write tests for open-source apps, fix bugs, put together a simple Web app: over time you will have developed a portfolio and eventually become confident enough to take on client work.
One way to start: choose a project on GitHub and learn its internals; offer help by writing tests and fixing bugs. Over time you will learn how to work as a team player and how to read code written by others. This knowledge will help you tremendously.

Focus on Building Your Profile

This could be the first thing people read about you, and first impressions count. Make this impression as good as possible, and use all of the best-known networks: LinkedIn, Working With Rails and GitHub.

Create a Website or Blog

You should have your own website or blog because that’s expected in the Web development field. On it, you can describe your professional experience, new technologies that you have been working with, book reviews (this might also bring in new readers from search engines) and interviews with people you find interesting. Include productivity tips and personal thoughts on things you’re interested in. Remember, describe your own experiences and show your face. Be authentic. Read about writing for the Web on useit.com and A List Apart (the writing section).

Get Involved in the Community

Make something useful for yourself and people like you. This could be a library or plug-in, an article or a tutorial—anything usable. Writing documentation for RailsBridge will surely increase your understanding of Rails, too.

Write a Lot of Emails to Employers

If all goes well you might have a pool of a few jobs to chose from. Choose wisely, and then work vigorously to deliver something great—on time! When you reach out at first, don’t expect many responses. If you get only a few clients from 50 emails that you send, you’re doing good. Now you need to get things done, and that takes time and a good process.

Working Process

There are many well-known methods of working, and each offers a different approach to solving the same problem: how the heck do I get things done effectively?
Here are the two techniques I follow:
Getting Things Done (GTD) is a method created by David Allen and described in his book of the same name. GTD relies on the principle that a person needs to move tasks out of their brain by recording them externally. That way, the mind is freed from having to remember everything that has to get done and can concentrate on actually performing those tasks. Check out the interesting introductory video by David Allen on YouTube.
GTD is an easy step-by-step and highly efficient method of achieving this relaxed, productive state. It includes:

1. Capturing anything and everything that has your attention;
2. Categorizing actionable tasks discretely as outcomes and concrete next steps;
3. Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on how and when you need to access them;
4. Staying current and “on your game” with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your commitments (purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects and actions).

The Pomodoro Technique is a way to get the most out of your time. Turn time into a valuable ally to accomplish what you want to do, and chart continual improvement in the way you do it. Francesco Cirillo created the Pomodoro Technique in 1992. It is now practiced by professional teams and individuals around the world. A great way to learn it is through this cheat sheet.
It can be described simply in five steps:

1. Choose a task to be accomplished;
2. Set the Pomodoro (i.e. the timer) to 25 minutes;
3. Work on the task until the Pomodoro rings, and then put a check on your sheet of paper;
4. Take a short break (about five minutes);
5. After every four Pomodoros, take a longer break.

My own productivity method mixes these two techniques. I break big tasks into smaller chunks, and then I write them down in a Pomodoro-like table and work on them for 25 to 30 minutes, with 5 to 10 minutes breaks.

Getting Perspective

Get Some Rest

Photo by Dmitry Belitsky
Rest is just as important as work. They are a yin and yang, work and rest. Rest both your body and mind. No one can work much more than 40 hours per week and still be productive.
Here are a few tips to rest the right way:
Take a break.
If you have worked on the computer for more than an hour, switch your focus. Go exercise, wash the dishes or take a walk. Attend to something that doesn’t involve staring incessantly at a screen. When you get back to work, you will find your mind relaxed and rested.
Meditate.
Meditation comes down to us from the ancient sages as a method of training the mind to be at peace. It helps you to relax your mind and body and become at once joyful and calm. There are a lot of different techniques of meditating; try the simplest one, making it a part of your daily routine. This is a great
article on meditation because it relates to creative fields, but the principles apply to any profession (and who says good code isn’t art, anyway?).
Go for a walk.
Walking is a great way to calm your mind, exercise your body and take in fresh air. Integrate walking into your daily or weekly routine, too.
Don’t overeat.
Overeating takes blood away from your brain and moves it to your hard-working stomach to help it digest all that food. This makes you tired and less focused. Food is great, but don’t overdo it.
Take up a non-computer-related hobby.
We should all find something that keeps us away from our computers for a while. If you live alone and work as a freelancer, you can lose yourself for weeks, working too hard and forgetting everything else. Jamis Buck has some great advice on the subject:

“You should be well balanced. Computers are great and everything, but you should definitely have hobbies that are completely unrelated to computers. In the last two years I’ve taken up both wood carving and string figuring, and they have helped me immensely in recovering from burn-out.”

Success

• “Everything you write is crap, so always try to improve yourself.”
  – Dirkjan Bussink.
• Hard work is the secret to success.
• Passion is critical; it makes or breaks any endeavor.
• Love what you do.
• “Never let anyone (yourself included) convince you not to do something that will make you happy or fulfilled.”
  – Yehuda Katz

Video Resources

• The Merb team on becoming a hacker;
• Mastering the Art of Application Development, by Obie Fernandez;
• Passionate Programmer, by Chad Fowler;
• How to Become a Successful Rubyist (series of interviews).

Parting Thought

Decide how good you want to be. Do you want to master the craft or just fulfill the basic needs of employment? As a freelance developer, you might find yourself in a constant struggle. You could be forced to produce code that you are dissatisfied with because of a tight deadline or unforeseen problems with other parts of the project. Be patient and relentless. Know that you will become more skilled over time, and trust that you will eventually—even if it takes years—be proud of your abilities.

8 Tips for Freelance Designers to Get Paid Faster

Cash flow is crucial for any business, but especially important for small businesses and freelancers.
When you think back to when you first started your freelance design career, you probably didn’t expect to spend so much time chasing down clients to pay their invoices. You started it to do what you love and get paid for it.
To help you do just that, here are 8 tips that you can implement into your business immediately to help you get paid faster.
If you have any other tips from your own experience, please share them with us in the comments.

1. Manage expectations from day one

Sometimes freelance designers are so excited to win new business that they rush through a new deal without a contract.
Don’t be afraid to give your client a contract, they expect it and you’ll avoid many future misunderstandings, headaches and unpaid invoices. It’s also best to take the time to walk your new client through all the key deliverables and payment dates at the start of a new project.
Also, it’s not a bad time to remind them about your late payment polices, which should be included in your contract if you have them.

2. Build a strong client relationship

The best way to build a strong client relationship is to be in almost constant communication with them.
Update them on what you’re doing and how things are going. Get them to feel part of the project. This also ensures that you both have a thorough understanding of the work being done.
And, that way when it comes time to invoicing them, there won’t be any surprises.

3. Find the person that pays you

The person to discuss your payment with will differ between clients.
For example, if your client is a small business, chances are the business owner is the person that processes payments. If your client is a mid or large sized company then it might be their accounting department or financial controller.
At the start of a new project, make sure you have the name, phone number, and email of the person who will be processing your invoices. In fact, ask for an email introduction if necessary.
Chances are they will reply back to the note with an email that will have all their contact info in the signature. This will come in handy and save you a lot of time when you need to find the appropriate contact to address any outstanding invoice.

4. Don’t underestimate your invoice terms

All invoices have payment terms listed on the invoice (or at least they should).
Have you ever given any thought to your terms? You might be surprised just how much they can determine how fast you get paid. In fact, the Market Intelligence team at FreshBooks studied its users’ payment terms in order to find the best invoice terms to get you paid faster. Here are the findings from the study. (For the full report click here)

• Be polite
  A simple “please pay your invoice within” or “thank you for your business” can increase the percentage of invoices that are paid by more than 5 per cent!
• Don’t use jargon
  The word “days” as opposed to “net” will get you paid more often and faster.
• Late payments fees
  Threatening your clients with interest on late payments does two things. It gets you paid slower, but also ensures a higher percentage of invoices will get paid.

Here is an example of properly worded invoice terms according to the study:
“Thank you, we really appreciate your business. Please send payment within 21 days of receiving this invoice.”

5. Invoice faster

This is fairly simple, but often overlooked. The sooner you invoice your clients the sooner they pay you.
This simply means that each time you are due a payment (usually on a deliverable) bring a paper invoice with you or email them one.
In almost all companies, they cannot pay you until they have a copy of your invoice for their own records.  So if they have your invoice, they can start the process to pay you, or maybe even pay you right away (especially when they’re really happy with your work).
It’s important to note here, that being able to create invoices quickly will really help you implement this tip – it’s best to use one of the many invoicing services available online.

6. Be crystal clear with your description of work

Be as clear and specific as possible on your invoice. Do not use any industry jargon in your product or service description on your invoice.
If your client does not fully understand what they are being billed for, then they are less likely to sign-off on the invoice.
For example, Instead of writing “website” in the description, use something more specific such as “12 pages of HTML design and development including a contact form and a site map.”

7. Follow-up

In a perfect world, all invoices would be paid within minutes. Unfortunately, it’s not a perfect world. The truth of the matter is that invoices can typically take anywhere from three to twelve weeks to get paid, and that can be a very long wait for a small business – remember, it’s all about cash flow. This is why every freelancer needs to have a follow-up strategy for invoices.
Consider using an invoicing solution that allows you to quickly identify outstanding invoices through an easy to access dashboard or report.
This saves you a lot of time, and helps identify clients that you need to follow-up with immediately. It’s best to set aside a block of time each week for you to contact clients that have outstanding invoices.
Sometimes a quick email reminder can do the trick, but don’t be afraid to give them a call if your emails go unanswered. When it comes to calling, you’ll want to know your client’s schedule. This will make it much easier to reach them instead of playing phone tag.

8. Letters and legal

Going to small claims court is always an option when things are going really bad, but it’s likely not worth your time and expense to collect on small amounts. It’s best to try as hard as you can with formal letters. If this fails, consult a lawyer to first get advice, and then have them send out a letter on your behalf.
The letter should state that you have exhausted all other avenues and that if you do not receive payment within a set amount of time, you will have no other recourse but to take the matter to court. This is often enough to secure your payment, and is a much more cost effective method than taking the client to court.
But let’s hope you’ve developed a strong client relationship through constant communication and by offering a great service, so that you never get to this point.
These strategies will help you get paid faster, spend less time chasing customers and give you more resources to continually grow your freelance design business.

Do you have tips or best practices of your own? Please share them in the comments section below. 

5 Rotten Things No One Else Has Told You About the Clients You’ll Work For

In over 5 years of freelancing I’ve had the fortune, and sometimes misfortune, of working with some unusual clients.
While each client is a unique individual, I’ve found that many characteristics and behaviors are similar from client to client.
Most of my clients are typically small business owners in the US.
If you are working with a different type of clientele, your experience may differ, but probably not by too much.
It’s my hope that in learning this information you’ll be able to make better preparations and decisions for yourself and your business.


In my experience I’ve found that most clients:

1. Don’t have much money; will tell you they don’t have any money or both

I’ve been a freelance designer for over 10 years and I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a client that said, “Do whatever you have to do and charge me whatever for the project”.
95% of time I’ve found that the only reason why the client didn’t work with me is that they didn’t have enough money to make the project happen, or they figured they could get it cheaper.
As a designer it’ll be your job to figure out which situation your client is really in: either they actually don’t have any money or they’re just telling you they don’t.
You do this buy qualifying them and their budget on the phone BEFORE you agree to meet with them.

2. Don’t care if they waste your time; they figure it’s just a cost of doing business

If you’re thinking that potential clients will come right out and tell you that they’re not going to hire you the moment the thought pops into their head, think again.
This of course might be the moral and ethical thing to do, but most clients just figure, “Hey, designers are paid to provide free information and advice. Sometimes they get paid and sometimes they don’t. It’s just the cost of doing business.”
Some potential clients do this intentionally to get free ideas or information (blood-suckers), others may not even be aware that they’re doing it.
In either case, you have to learn to qualify your clients BEFORE you invest a lot of time in them. And no, clients telling you, “I am almost sure we’re going to hire you” is rubbish. Until you have a check in your hand, don’t believe the hype.

3. Aren’t as smart as you

When it comes to marketing and graphic/web design, I found that most clients were completely clueless – whether they knew it or not.
Some clients were honest about this and simply told me they didn’t know (smart move); others tried to pretend they knew – which made them look all the more foolish.
What you have to realize as the designer is that you’re the expert. You need your clients to believe it…even more, YOU have to believe it.
As far as clients go: being an expert in accounting, manufacturing, or health care doesn’t mean you’re an expert in design – so let us be the designers here – we’re the experts.

4. Think the role of the designer is to read their mind

When it comes to the actual design, most clients don’t have a clue as to what they really want. At best I’ve found that clients may have a rough idea as to what they’re looking for.

Most assume that the role of the designer is to read their mind and somehow guess what they’ve been hoping and dreaming about. This is called “concept design” and should be handled and billed very differently than typical design.
You’ll often hear clients say, “I don’t know what I want, but if you design something I like, I’ll know it”. Oh that’s brilliant, so on the off chance that I can read your mind, you’ll at least be able to recognize that I’ve done so – what a talent.
As a designer you’ll need to impress upon the client that they play an active role in the success of the project as well, specifically they need to provide you with examples and ideas of the creative direction that they want you to go in.

5. Feel that once they’ve paid you (even if it was years ago), you owe them free support

Whether you’ve just finished a project up for a client, or you worked with someone several years in the past, clients often will turn to you for free ongoing advice – and expect that you’ll provide it.

If you did a web site for a client 4 years ago (and they haven’t hired you since), when they have problems with an email account, etc. they’re going to call you.
Clients don’t care (or even consider) that they haven’t hired you for a project in years – it doesn’t matter, they feel that since they hired you in the past you are their “go to” person and you should feel obligated to help them.
To make this even more ridiculous, clients will often assume that you will not only help them for free but that you remember everything about their project and that you’ll be willing and able to help them immediately.
To curb this type of behavior you’ll need to be upfront with clients, tell them that you’ll be happy to help them; you’ll provide a quote for the project and get them into your design schedule as soon as you have an opening.

To sum up, keep in mind that like in any other profession, you’re going to work with some great people and not -so-great people – being a freelance designer is no different. Most clients aren’t intentionally greedy or nasty, but I have found that they all try to get as much out of their designers for as little as possible.
Your goal as a designer should be to provide good service to your clients and get paid a fair rate in return. Since those goals don’t match up, it’s important to learn how to protect yourself and your rights as a designer, because your clients won’t do it for you.
“People will treat you the way you let them treat you.”

 How do you deal with problems like these? How do you deal with difficult clients? We’d love to hear from you…