Network with freelance instructional designers in my Slack community: www.devlinpeck.com/slack

What an awesome resource! Thanks for creating and sharing this.

Hey Devlin, thanks again for yet another great video! I think it's also a good idea to set a budget for equipment like a decent camera + lenses + a mic, tripod, and maybe even some lighting equipment. I mean, that would depend on the type of projects one does, but having at least some of these at hand is nice to have.

@DevlinPeckYT

2 жыл бұрын

You're welcome...and great suggestions! Those were definitely a must for me since I do content work, and having the nice presentation of yourself on Zoom can definitely help with client and SME meetings :)

Thank you for this. The initial outlay is really minimal compared to so many other entrepreneurial startups.

Very helpful and timely!

@DevlinPeckYT

2 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear it!

I don't know how this works completely, but I noticed this when I was filing my taxes this year (we sold a house and bought a townhome in 2021 for the first time), they did ask if you had every written off having a home office on your taxes. I think this only comes up when you buy and sell homes to determine whether or not you need to pay taxes on profits. But, along with that, it only really mattered if you were in the 500K plus market for homes which we were not. Good stuff!

@DevlinPeckYT

2 жыл бұрын

Very interesting! I do not know very much about that but you wouldn't believe some of these loopholes haha.

In Ca an LLC cost $800 a year!

Hey Devlin, thanks for your great videos! I love to watch them! I do have a question concerning my costs/being payed as a freelancer: I read your article about hourly pricing and project based pricing. And my problem is: I have a project which is highly complex and hourly-based. I builded it in storyline with tons of functions and restrictions and scenarios. The customer loves it BUT. Yeah.. now it comes: The customer is unhappy that I write down every hour I work on the project. She says, freelancers normaly are not writing down hours for corrections of their own "mistakes". Is that a true statement? They gave me the storyboard but told me to do more fancy stuff. So I added scenarios and other great stuff and they were happy. But of course there are some little mistakes in it, because it`s never perfect the first time you give it to the client and especially when you make totally new stuff. But the client expects that I should correct these mistakes on my own time. I am quite confused now.

@DevlinPeckYT

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Iernstil. I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying the videos...thanks for checking them out 😊. And I’m sorry that you’re in this tough situation with a client. I know how stressful it can be when a client doesn’t want to pay you for the effort that you put in. But yes, when you’re billing hourly, you should get paid for every hour that you work on the project. If you chose not to bill for correcting a mistake that would be one thing, but it sounds like you were trying your best given the changing scope. The only place I could see the client coming from is that when they hire a freelancer, they expect them to already know how to do everything and not learn on their dime. But, again, it sounds like you were able to apply all of their feedback and work everything out successfully. Nothing works perfectly the first time through. So yeah, it definitely sounds like you should get paid for your time. How to approach the conversation is another story. It depends on how the conversation has been going so far, but you may want to ask the client “What can we do to ensure that you are happy with the final product and that I get paid for all of the time I worked on this?” You may also want to check out a book called Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. I read it recently and it has some really good guidance for handling negotiations (which is what it sounds like this has come down to). There are other options (like getting lawyers involved), but hopefully you can resolve this via conversation and take it as a lesson learned. Some clients will try to get every last cent out of you, and part of being a freelancer is recognizing these red flags and avoiding those types of clients in the future. Happy to answer any other questions about this 😊

@lernstil

3 жыл бұрын

@@DevlinPeckYT Thanks for your time and answer, Devlin! I am very happy to hear, that it is not a normal expectation. It really is about small stuff, not functions and it would take more time to devide what`s my mistake - what`s their mistake/changes then to just do it... I had other clients, but they never questioned this point so I never discussed that I bill every hour. Your answer helps me to feel more confident. This particular client compared my work with a "table": If I sell a table, it should be perfect and if it`s not perfect, I should correct it on my own time. I tried to argument, and it is really funny that you recommend this book, because that`s what they want to do now: split the difference ;) But if I do that, I am quite sure, that they will expect their next freelancer to do the same... I bought the ebook, also because negotiation always has been a weakness of mine. These red flags you mentioned: Yes there have been some, but I didn`t take it serious, beacause the project sounded very interesting - very tempting... Well, I will learn from it. I am still trying to figure out, how to manage clients expectations, especially how to manage clients concerning reviews (endless reviews..) and stuff. I often have clients with no experience in the field of developing Storyline-courses and managing e-learning-projects in general. For most of my clients it`s their first project (we are a little late here in Germany... Covid-19 helps companies to switch to online training). I`m sure, everything will be easier in a few years. Thanks again for your fast answer. 😊

@DevlinPeckYT

3 жыл бұрын

@@lernstil You're welcome! It sounds like this client doesn't value your time (and there are many clients like that). All you can do going forward is set those expectations early and step away from the project / client if you see those red flags. A big part of freelancing is communication and setting expectations. Let me know if you have any other questions along your journey :)

Devlin, as long you have a receipt, does it matter how you pay? Do I need a separate credit card for my LLC?

@DevlinPeckYT

2 жыл бұрын

It's a good rule of thumb to keep a separate bank account / credit cards for your business :D. And don't make personal purchases from your biz account or biz purchases from your personal account (as a rule of thumb).

@piricampo4714

2 жыл бұрын

@@DevlinPeckYT sounds like a plan! 👍🏼

An LLC in Texas is $300

Thanks for sharing! 🌟 Can you please make a video on: 👉 How to Pass Storyline Developer Tests, and Win Freelance and Full-Time Jobs.

@DevlinPeckYT

3 жыл бұрын

Hey Daniel! I just responded to this where you asked it on the "Learning Storyline" video :D

I was thinking $10K a year, so I wasn't too far off.

@DevlinPeckYT

Ай бұрын

Great estimate! Thanks for tuning in :)

This was really helpful! Thanks so much for sharing the information and hosting the freelance I.D. community in Slack--a wonderful resource. 😃

@DevlinPeckYT

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Piri! Glad that you enjoyed this one :D

Just dont pay taxes boom easy money