Questions tagged [time-management]
Questions about managing schedules, timeframes and project deadlines in freelance work.
5
votes
2answers
207 views
Is it rude to be unavailable to clients when you are very busy?
excuse me for my not good English
I work as a freelance web developer for small to medium local companies and I work alone.
Sometimes it happens that I have too much works and projects going on at ...
1
vote
0answers
70 views
Develop for self or Freelance? [closed]
I am developer myself, intro aside I want to know people who have tried freelancing or uploaded own apps on stores. Which side is more favoring and rewarding (worth spending time), Thanks in advance ...
2
votes
1answer
72 views
Is it unacceptable or not wise to email clients during the weekend?
This Exchange question here: Staying in contact with clients when I have a different sleep-wake rhythm (being a night owl or living in a different time zone) deals with the subject quite well, but it ...
3
votes
1answer
90 views
How to answer to new client's requests while having no time to work for them?
As you may have already read I had health problems, I was K.O. for 3 weeks and it was a big problem for my job for many reasons... I am still having right now hard times to keep up with previous ...
2
votes
2answers
133 views
Best Management tool for self-employed: Tasks, Calendar, Multiple Customers, Multiple Project, Invoice, Time-Track
I need to organize my working hours for many projects and customers due to huge work load.
I would like a web app with the following features:
Tasks
List item
Calendar
Multiple Customers
Multiple ...
1
vote
2answers
65 views
How does one ask a client if he is ready to finance research time?
While I was looking for answers to a question that has already been asked here, I stumbled upon this answer. The second "golden rule" suggests:
If it's something that will take more than 1 hour or ...
2
votes
1answer
123 views
How many hours can one freelance in programming part-time and still provide a good product?
I'd like to do freelancing, but I am really bothered because I do not want to get into a mess, biting off more than I can chew. The way I see it one has about 10-20 hours a week, more like 10 if they ...
6
votes
4answers
144 views
Decision and negotiation of long term time-consuming job
About 6 years ago I worked as a freelance web designer, developer and products photographer for a local company (15 minutes of car distance from my office) that works in the fashion industry.
At some ...
7
votes
2answers
158 views
How to handle interpersonal relationships and expectations from client's marketing department
As external freelance I manage/update a web site for a client, they have a small internal department who follows the marketing part and social networks.
They often send me emails (often in lunch time ...
5
votes
3answers
151 views
How should I deal with the inconsistency of incoming work?
I am a freelance graphic designer (web/print/anything else you can think of). As with a lot of freelancers, I have busy periods and I have quiet periods when the incoming work slows down. Some of this ...
5
votes
3answers
358 views
Should I charge my client for mistakes I make?
I'm starting out as a freelance designer (not long left university), thus I'm continuously learning new techniques and general business etiquette.
I've had a couple projects for clients but I've ...
2
votes
3answers
105 views
Writer/editor: Building presence and social media sites
For at least a couple of years I have been trying to build awareness of my writing/copyediting communications business. I have even tried offering my services in exchange for referrals, but without ...
1
vote
1answer
141 views
Advice writing my first SLA
I have been a web developer for quite a few years now, all my clients being acquaintances or similar. I now have a more formal client that I have recently created a website for. They are interested in ...
11
votes
1answer
448 views
Working simultaneously for multiple clients
I am currently working for a client i like and i would like to maintain, but at the same time, being a freelancer, i would like to work for other clients in order to have a more diverse professional ...
4
votes
1answer
91 views
How to factor in freelancing alongside full-time work
I'm fairly new to freelancing but want more experience doing different projects and more money.
I am very well prepared to put in the hours and have asked my current employer who even wants to know ...
2
votes
3answers
72 views
Searching document shared by clients
One of the people who works with me has complained that a lot of clients are sharing documents with her in different "cloud" storage systems (e.g. OneDrive, DropBox, Google Docs).
Because there are ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
How to back out of a freelance project that has gotten too big?
Last August I took on re-doing an e-commerce website. At first she only wanted a re-design, but it ended up being completely redone. Since I'm a student, I didn't charge her a whole lot for it, but we'...
1
vote
4answers
100 views
Quality online tool to visualize my availbility in the simplest manner?
OK, I may have overly complicated the title. But here is my issue.
I sometimes work alone, sometimes as a team of 3. Either way, I have to keep track of all time that has already been booked and time ...
4
votes
2answers
141 views
Web Design Content Issue
I am currently working on two websites for separate clients and both projects ended up at the same point, a road block being some client input/information is needed regarding content, and I am ...
4
votes
4answers
231 views
Clients ask quick jobs, how to bill
So I have been doing websites as freelancer now for some time. Couple clients likes to do small scale development now and then to their site, which is great but the problem is that they have always ...
11
votes
2answers
887 views
What are proper manners when delivering project after agreed date?
Is there some general rule to follow when delivering a project after the date that was agreed upon?
Let's say you have one month to prepare the project but you deliver it in six weeks. At what point ...
8
votes
4answers
467 views
How do you divide your time between planned and unplanned/new work?
So I know the minimum amount of money I have to earn in a week (weekly salary), I know the minimum hourly rate and I know how much hours I have to work in a week.
But every now and then I am asked ...
5
votes
1answer
55 views
Scheduling calls with clients in different timezones
I live in Europe, while my clients are mostly from US. Thus, the smallest timezone difference between me and my clients is -4hours, the biggest being -9hours. Yet, I also have a customer in Asia, ...
4
votes
2answers
220 views
How do I know my freelance team working at home?
I am a Freelance web designer and developer with a small team of freelancer. I had an office for last three years. But I felt that as a Freelancer I can do better work. So I hired various team members ...
9
votes
5answers
821 views
As a new freelancer, how can I improve my communication with the clients?
Recently I've become really frustrated after moving from a regular office job to freelancing.
Since I am new to freelancing, I decided to do some low-quality, cheap jobs to get some stars in my ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
How do you motivate yourself when you're your own boss?
I've been working as a freelance developer for almost two years now, and I've managed to find myself in a pretty good situation. I'm working part time for a great client who loves me and has enough ...
6
votes
4answers
682 views
Desktop software for time tracking
Unfortunately I often have situation that I often need to go to another task or stop working for a while. That's why I need time tracking software. I prefer desktop software for Windows with one-time ...
6
votes
4answers
2k views
By how much can you increase your rate if the work is urgent?
I have a small task that needs to be done and I projected to let the client pay 400 €. However, he now asked that the deadline should be set to next Saturday (in three days), and proposed to give 300 €...
5
votes
3answers
424 views
Client requests for extensive task information when invoicing
I've got a long term client that I'm currently on a 15hr a week arrangement with for a flat monthly rate with the general understanding of about 3hrs a day, with flexibility on managing that. Since ...
2
votes
3answers
87 views
How to handle multiple outstanding sales / proposals?
I am currently talking to a few potential clients about taking on near work in the near future, once I finish I current project, which has roughly four weeks of work left. The issue is that I only ...
10
votes
2answers
258 views
How to manage a client's expectations
So I am running in to a bit of an issue, and although there are similar questions on FL nothing this specific:
How do I manage a client's expectations for a new website?
The issue arises when they ...
4
votes
2answers
120 views
How to properly set tasks for a freelancer who will talk to clients only?
Based on my previous post, we decided to hire part-time freelancer who will reply to all emails and do all non-technical correspondence with the client.
Now, I am not sure how to train this person, ...
4
votes
2answers
512 views
How can I improve my Research & Analysis process for my future projects as a Web Developer?
Briefing:
I'm a freelance web developer and I charge by the hour. I realized that my previous Research & Analysis process was very inefficient and I'm looking to improve that to save more time ...
51
votes
10answers
2k views
How do you make family understand that you need to stick to a schedule?
I'm having trouble balancing freelancing work with family. My wife thinks that just because I work at home that this means I'm available for home stuff at any hour, which creates problems in my ...
10
votes
4answers
425 views
Sorting out the time wasters from serious clients
I have only happy clients so far, and of course I'd like to increase this number, but I feel I'm losing a bit too much time in finding serious clients.
I have a lot of requests; asking about what's ...
4
votes
2answers
4k views
Billing on 25, 30-minute increments?
I'm new to freelancing, and I have doubts on how to correctly bill in time increments.
While researching about how to measure the time spent on each client, I read that some people do time-dependent ...
8
votes
2answers
436 views
Agile methodologies when developing software as a freelance?
I'd like to define the following case as the Loner Freelance Case:
The freelancer is a full-stack web designer and developer.
The client is a small company who wants a web page.
Many software ...
18
votes
2answers
2k views
Freelancing while being employed
Relying purely on freelancing to earn your bread can be somewhat risky and daunting. Say I want to do freelancing while also being employed (full or part time). What are the specific issues I need to ...
10
votes
1answer
276 views
Working per hour, where do you draw the line?
Take for example a (software development) project that has been estimated by the freelancer as N hours on a pay-per-hour contract.
From the perspective of the commissioner, how much buffer should be ...
17
votes
8answers
542 views
Staying in contact with clients when I have a different sleep-wake rhythm (being a night owl or living in a different time zone)
I’m a night owl. I’m most productive/creative at night. I go to bed in the morning and sleep until late afternoon.
Being self-employed, this gives only a small timeframe for contact with clients, as ...
12
votes
3answers
521 views
I failed to reach the deadline
I started a project given by client and it went fine for couple of days. Middle of the way, I got stucked with a technical limitation. I'm unable to proceed and it'll take more time and R&D to ...
59
votes
15answers
4k views
Tracking hours you are working for clients
When working through the day, I may work on many different projects. Web development is one of the freelancing jobs that I'm sure many people bounce around project to project, or maybe that is just ...
