Getting Paid for Your Time, Part 1:Eating the Hours Away

I ran across a "Freelance Programmer's Manifesto" on the blog of Warren Seen. The post was quite worth a read, as it was addressed directly to potential clients, quite bluntly yet professionally outlining his policy in dealing with some of the main issues that typically haunt the designer-client relationship. (Here, read the post.) Most freelancers would likely not be as blunt with our clients, in general; although, there are occasions when we probably should. At any rate, I felt compelled to leave a comment, relating an experience I once had on a project where 'extensive revisions' became an issue:

...A couple years back, I simply got tired of ‘eating my hours.’ And so for the first time as a freelancer, I finally became bold enough to enforce the clause in my terms that says “excessive revisions will be billed additionally at $XX/hour.” The client did balk about it, and we renegotiated a new fee instead, to cover some of the extra work. Hey, compromise was better than not getting paid at all for those extra hours…so I felt good.

But in my profession–graphic design–attempting to charge hourly doesn’t go over too well with clients. Depending on your market, you’re pretty much expected to be able to quote a flat fee for the job. For a newbie, this makes for a lot of trial-and-error and eaten hours—at least for your first few jobs, until you get a real sense of how fast you can produce. (Design in the real world, after all, is a commodity.)

Clients may want to trust freelance designers, but may times they don't–they’re always looking to get stiffed, overcharged, etc. Likewise, designers can have the same animosity and distrust of clients. This all just makes for bad working relationships; when what’s really needed is honest, open, straightforward communication at the start. And I will say this about your "manifesto"–it certainly opens up that door…

Yes, it's taken me awhile to finally grow tired of 'eating my own hours' as a freelancer. But that phenomenon happens for various reasons; and I would like to address that whole dynamic in this series of posts. Part 2 coming soon!

Terry