A guide to
freelancing
Chapter 04 – Get paid
Once you have found some
clients or agencies willing to
engage your services, you need
to manage the relationship
smoothly so that you deliver
excellent value and the client is
happy to pay you for it. Ideally
they will be so happy that they
award you another contract/
project, or recommend you
to a colleague.
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Guide to Winning Work
Here are some steps to take from starting to nishing the project and
getting paid for the value you provide:
SEAL THE DEAL WITH A CONTRACT
Before you start work on a project make sure you seal the deal in
writing.
For short one-off projects you could ask the client to send you a
purchase order, but for any substantial piece of work you should use
a contract for services.
This is important.
A contract helps you keep track of the initial agreement as the
project evolves and provides a legal framework in case anything
goes wrong. It also denes your employment status, in other words
that you are your own boss and not an employee. For this to be
valid, make sure the way you carry out the project is consistent with
what it says in the contract.
DEFINE CLEAR PROJECT GOALS
Now you’re ready to deliver the project. It’s a good idea to start with
a written brief to dene what it is you’re delivering. It is likely that
your contract already denes this to a certain degree, but if there are
any points that haven’t been covered, now is the time to esh out the
details. The client might not have all the answers, but if you start by
writing down what is known, then at least you know where the gaps
are. The rest can be added later as you learn more about the project.
ESTABLISH REGULAR REVIEW POINTS
As an independent professional you need to earn the client’s trust.
Ultimately you want to build a collaborative working relationship
based on mutual respect. This requires good communication. You
may or may not be based on-site, but either way you should agree
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Freelance Corner
some project milestones and regular
review points to discuss progress.
Regular communication allows for more
exible handling of projects in which you
can make any necessary adjustments
to the original plan. It helps you tackle
unforeseen obstacles and also to
introduce innovations that may come to
light along the way.
Some people like to use the ‘Agile’
project management technique, in which
team members come together in regular
‘scrums’, where they look at what has
been done and re-agree what should be
done next.
How you do it, whether face to face or
via phone/Skype, is down to personal
preference and what works best for all
parties. When communicating with your
client, remember you don’t have to agree
with everything they say.
Yes, you should focus on their issues
– after all you’re there to solve their
problems, not yours. However, don’t
be afraid to challenge something (in a
constructive way) if you feel strongly
about it – clients will often respect you
more for it.
If the client or agency hasn’t already
sent you a brief, you could take the
initiative by sending them a list of
questions, such as:
• What do they ultimately want to
achieve?
• What is the problem they need
solving?
• Why is this important?
• What does success look like for them?
• Who will be your main contact/s?
• When and how can you contact them?
• Are there any other people whose
views need to be taken into account?
• What are the key parameters such as
timescales and budget?
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Guide to Winning Work
KEEP AN EYE ON ‘SCOPE-CREEP’
‘Scope-creep’ is when the original scope
of the project starts to drift and the client
starts asking for things that weren’t in the
original brief.
It’s normal for people to change their
minds about what they want in light of
evolving circumstances, particularly
during longer and more complex projects.
That’s ok, as long as everyone
understands the impact in terms of time,
money and quality.
Make sure you’re aware of any
substantial changes to the brief you
originally agreed. Raise it early on and
offer the client a series of choices.
For example, you could say: “To deliver
this change we can either add another
month to the schedule or else increase
the budget by £2000, which would allow
me to hire an assistant and deliver it
within the original timeframe. Which do
you prefer?”
Don’t back the client into a corner – the
key to providing a good service is to
design a win-win situation, where you
help the client solve his/her problem
without destroying your own livelihood.
Remember to record the new project
agreement in writing and update your
contract or purchase order where
necessary.
“Project changes often mean a relaunch.
Spending a modest time relaunching
the project on the basis of a new project
agreement is better than creating a
nal deliverable that no one wants or
attempting to complete a project with
inadequate resources and lack of
support from the project sponsor.”
Michelle LaBrosse
One of the 25 most inuential women
in project management
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Freelance Corner
BOOST PRODUCTIVITY BY ELIMINATING CLUTTER
Michelle LaBrosse also recommends the ‘5 S’ technique to elim-
inate hindrances to project completion. Adopted from the Japa-
nese quality movement, it involves:
1. Sorting the items you use every day so you can access them
quickly – le away anything else you don’t need right now (but
le it where you can nd it in future!)
2. Straightening out the workow between project team mem-
bers by designating places for shared and movable items, for
example by setting up a shared Dropbox or Google Drive
3. Shining up your equipment, software and work areas so that
everything is in like-new condition and working perfectly, eg:
empty your recycle bins regularly (both virtual and real) and
make sure you don’t have an ancient laptop that is painfully slow
4. Standardising your processes and sticking to regular ways
of doing things, for example having one calendar synced to all
your devices, rather than lots of different methods of recording
appointments
5. Sustaining your productivity by establishing daily and weekly
habits to create improvements.
ISSUE YOUR INVOICE
Think about your invoicing schedule. Don’t assume you have to
invoice only at the end of the project. Some clients are happy to
accept 50% up front and 50% on completion.
Otherwise, you might be able to negotiate a weekly or monthly
billing schedule. If you work via an agency, many agencies will
ask you to sign a “self-billing” agreement.
This means that they will prepare a combined invoice and pay-
ment conrmation for you, based on your timesheet. This saves
you the bother of having to bill them.
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Guide to Winning Work
WHAT TO PUT ON THE INVOICE
1. A clear header saying ‘invoice’.
2. A unique identication number – if your
business is VAT registered, this needs
to be a sequential number, in other
words, part of a series, so that the next
invoice follows on from the last.
3. The name that you regularly use for
the business. If it’s a limited company
you also need to include the full name
of the company as it appears in the
certicate of incorporation (you can
put the main brand name at the top
and the ofcially registered name
as small print in the footer). Limited
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companies can, if they want to, include the names of the
company directors on their invoices, as long as all the directors’
names are included.
4. Your business address. This must be an address where any
legal documents can be delivered to you. If your business is a
limited company and the business address is different to the
registered address, then the registered address should also be
included in the small print.
5. Your company registration number if your business is a limited
company.
6. Your VAT registration number if your business is VAT registered.
7. The company name and address of the customer you are
invoicing.
8. The date that the invoice is being issued (the tax date).
9. A clear description of what goods and/or services were
delivered.
10. The date the goods or services were provided (supply date).
11. A column showing the number of units of the goods or
services supplied (for example 3 hours), a column showing
the price/rate per unit and a column showing the total for
each item without VAT.
12. If your business is VAT registered, then add three more
columns: the percentage of VAT that applies to each item, the
total amount of VAT payable per item and then the total amount
of each item including VAT. At the bottom show a grand total of
all items without VAT, the total amount of VAT owed and nally,
a grand total of everything including VAT. To see the latest VAT
rates go to: www.gov.uk/vat-rates.
Many electronic bookkeeping systems include an invoicing function
that lets you customise a template, generate invoice numbers, issue
invoices and track payments.
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Guide to Winning Work
INVOICING CLIENTS OUTSIDE THE UK
If you’re supplying services to a client outside the UK it will be out-
side the scope of UK VAT.
Here´s what to if your business is based in the UK and you´re
invoicing a client outside the UK:
1. Don’t include any VAT on the invoice, irrespective of the fact
that you are VAT registered in the UK
2. Put the letters ‘GB’ either before your invoice number or in front
of your VAT Registration Number
3. If the client is based in the EU, include the recipient’s EU VAT
registration number on the invoice.
THESE ARE SOME ADDITIONAL THINGS TO BE AWARE OF:
• How the rules might be affected after Brexit
• What to do if you´re invoicing an EU client who doesn’t have an
EU VAT number
• What to do if you´re supplying goods rather than services
• Rules for specic countries outside the EU
If any of these apply you should seek additional advice.
If you’re an IPSE member the tax helpline is a good port of call.
Also try the IPSE forums as members work all over the world and
there is usually someone who can point you in the right direction.
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Freelance Corner
