Little introduction to a long post... The first paragraph is an overview of my own freelancing adventure from beginning to end and how I progressed with my experience, and the last paragraph has golden tips for budding freelancers.
My first ever paid gig was for $20/week "work when you want". It was a terrible offer, but wow! Someone offered to pay me for what I loved doing - it was a big deal! I am very glad I took that offer, because it started a friendship that was very influential for me for a few years following that. That was the first time I realised I could make money with GameMaker. Mind you, this was before GameMaker: Studio was released - GameMaker wasn't the heavy hitter it is now in the commercial indie scene. Next job I took was a $100 gig to develop a simple A.I. for someone's project that took roughly three days. Then I was hired for a full project, a virtual board game, in 2012 that was supposed to target iOS, Android and PC. Development started for PC, because GameMaker: Studio was still not out - we only had rumors. Lo and behold, in the first few weeks of that project GameMaker: Studio was released so we upgraded and kicked iOS development into gear. This was my first "real" freelance job, and I wasn't charging an hourly rate for it. We discussed a feature and agreed on a price based on how long I estimated it would take. With the earnings from this project, I purchased a big workstation desktop I still have today - an investment in my work, you might say. A few months later I scored my first big job - a project I came in late for and had to fix the previous developer's problems (who had abandoned it 2 weeks before a hard deadline). I started from scratch and had to work night and day for two weeks to complete it, and I charged just about $4000 for it - so no hourly rate here either, we agreed on a price before I started working based on the work conditions. At the end of the job, they suggested we kept working together for future projects they would get (they were a large app development company). I think this story also teaches a strong lesson for aspiring freelancers in how to work with individuals and how to work with companies; you should not handle them the same way. After this project I started charging by the hour, and while this project was big it wasn't the biggest I worked on. I would also often have more than 1 project at a time, if the schedule allowed it. I started out demanding $25/hour, and later on I was hired for my biggest project yet; a mobile card-based MMO (myself as lead programmer, a server engineer and a group of artists) that I worked on for 9 months weekends included and charged $35/hour. As I'd had only a few weekends to myself in that period I eventually burned out and called stop. This was my last larger freelance gig, as I never really recovered from the burnout before I got picked up by the YoYo family (and I was in no short supply of money after a lucrative "freelancing season"). Very rarely I will still take offers from old clients to fix a few bugs or optimization issues, implement the odd feature (e.g. HTML5 advertisement) or work as a consultant. Nowadays I charge $35-45/hour for individuals, and I no longer work with companies or take up larger projects.
To any new or existing freelancer; charge an amount you're comfortable with and grow with your experience. It is okay to charge more as you improve; but you have to know that you're worth what you're charging. You are putting a price tag on your qualities as a scripter, an artist, a sound engineer, or whatever you do - but remember that the more you charge, the more your client expects from you. Charging a higher price means there are a lot of clients who can't afford to hire you, but this is part of my "vetting process". Clients will find the best candidate out of a list of freelancers, and in the same way freelancers must find the best candidate out of a list of clients - it goes both ways. I am very strict with this, and that's why I have never had a bad client or a job gone wrong - and the jobs I got were lucrative enough to outweigh the downsides of passing up most potential clients. One of the most important things in freelancing is to always satisfy your clients and keep in touch with them - if they enjoyed working with you, they will come back to you when they need more work. Go into a project with the mentality that you are not working for the client, you are working with the client. Introduce your own protocols in the workflow, so you always work in an environment you are comfortable with and can hit the ground running.
Some Do's and Dont's of remote freelancing...
- Don't: demand upfront payment - it's unprofessional.
Do: inspire trust in your work relationship.
- Don't: sell yourself short.
Do: settle for a lower price if you're in need of work, but set a minimum acceptable fee.
- Don't: forget to communicate with your client.
Do: provide daily updates on the work you've done and don't be afraid to ask for clarification.
- Don't: receive money 'under the table'.
Do: provide detailed invoices. This is necessary to work with professional clients.