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In my experience, when prospective clients specify technologies, they're coming more from a place of having heard of others using them successfully, rather than of having considered the use case and made an educated and informed decision. I talk to them about why they chose the tools they did. If their reasoning is sound, awesome. If not, I remind them that ...
15
Client wants me to steal secret plans from the CEO of his competing company.
He sent an email today detailing where I can find the plans, how to break into his offices, and a schedule for when the break in would be best.
Do you think you are blameless if you break in and steal the plans?
If the police arrest you for breaking into the office, do you think you'...
9
Since you're looking to provide a paid app, it's certainly hard to compete price-wise with a free app (but oddly enough, not impossible; I'll explain later). In that case, you need to compete in a different arena: quality.
When you're developing your app, take care to make sure that everything looks fantastic. Make sure it works, make sure it's well-...
9
I think you should shoot high. The sky is the limit for you. You already have a lot of skills for your age. I think it is totally possible to make some money with freelance web development to pay for some of your classes, however, I think there are a few things you need to consider when making this decision.
Before choosing a route, I would consider ...
8
Under no circumstances should you allow yourself to have unlimited liability.
The phrase used in contracts to prevent this is usually of the form:
'You shall indemnify and hold the Developer harmless for all losses or damage resulting directly or indirectly from the Software'
However, my contract is just an extended version of Contract Killer 3 (also on ...
7
If YOU own the code, then YOU are the only one who gets to keep the source code. Clients get installation files, compiled or otherwise. And a written licensing agreement that asserts your rights over the product and says what they can and cannot do with those install files. Don't skimp on the licensing part - write it once, write it well, and then you can ...
6
First of all, it depends on the license of software.
A 'Perpetual License for Use' is non-descriptive. You must define 'use' (i.e. use to sell, use to re-distribute, use to modify are all possible interpretations of the word 'use'). It is quite common at law that when there is ambiguous wording of the contract, the courts will deem that to be the fault ...
6
If, after talking with them at length about their requirements and how well their requirements mesh with my capabilities, they still choose a platform that isn't as well suited to their project as others, I make sure to include assumptions in my proposal that cover problems I anticipate I might have. I'll have made sure to tell them that some requirements, ...
6
Pivot.
If you find a competitor that is much bigger than you (Google), or doing what you are doing better or for free (open source)- a very good option is to pivot. Perform a deep analysis of the competitive landscape and understand all the products in your space. Each product will have strengths and weaknesses. You want to find a niche where you can ...
6
Why do you allow being treated like this? "Calling me every 2h and messaging every 15min + threatening" - WFT bro????
I would never, NEVER, N E V E R allow being treated like this.
Now, aside of this, the client obviously wanted a lot of free work and he found fertile ground to impose his requests for free. At this point, you only have 2 options: break ...
6
I couldn't help but had to leave my own insights on this matter as I am seeing two of those previous answers are all implying a client shouldn't be charged for his employee's mistakes.
If this question is about the rights of getting paid when the delays have been made due to freelancer's inexperience, low-level skills, or working practices - as opposed to ...
5
I faced a similar situation. I developed a test data generator while there is a lot of such product out there. Some are free others are paid.
It was 8 years ago and me and my product are still there and most of my competitors as well.
I think that people looking for free stuff will never pay - whatever the reason why they don't want to pay. Let them be ...
5
You'll want a sort of retainer agreement. There are other answers that explain about retainers, and when to use them.
Essentially, they want you available for a long while, which gives you some security (which can be good, it could be bad). Do not fall into the trap of it becoming just a job, with them just paying you as a contractor but expecting you to ...
5
You generate executables. NEVER give up your source code (and likewise, rights to your repository) unless that's what the client is paying for.
5
Here's a question for you - what sort of structure are you providing to encourage your people to perform? Do you have a mutually beneficial and understood verbal or written contract that specifies who is responsible for what, what kind of work each person is responsible to put in to be counted as a full participant, and what kind of rewards they can expect ...
5
This really tells us nothing about what the application will actually do or its complexity. AND we're not here to do that for you anyway.
You can go about this two ways:
1) Pick an hourly rate that you're comfortable with, and charge that. The client has the flexibility to tailor the requirements in whatever fashion, and you don't worry about that piece ...
5
Pricing is notoriously difficult as it depends on several factors:
Your own desired hourly rate
What the client typically pays
The perceived value to the client
Whether the project is similar to anything you have undertaken before
Whether the client has clear requirements or not
Whether giving a discount most probably will lead to more work
While you ...
5
If you really need the job I'd look for comparable software that would be legal to use.
Personally, I'd drop the project like a hot potatoe.
5
Ah, the good old fashioned "stuff works and never breaks" assumption from a non-it manager.
First up, DBA requirements. Advise them that if they do not wish to procure DBA support from you, they will need to provide their own DBA. Ensure that your terms of service/sla/etc do not include DBA support as part of the package.
Next, general support ...
5
Since you are using Upwork I suggest you try to resolve this with the client. This way both will be happy.
You made a big mistake. You continued to work although you knew that something is not possible to implement. You should have stand by your opinion at the beginning telling client that you are the expert in that field, not him. If he insists that ...
4
For remote work, the types of applications I've found most useful are:
Chat, IRC or Skype communication software. These allow real time communication amongst team members, and most can allow you to bring your group together for a virtual "meeting." Screen share is very helpful, so try to pick one that's got that feature. These are almost all free, or have ...
4
A way to do it, is to estimate the value of the CPU processing time against your gross margin on a regular (monthly/yearly) basis, versus a previous period (month/year).
Example:
Last month you've made $10.000.
You have 10 CPUs. 5 of them account for 125 hours of CPU processing time/month.
You've estimated that the CPUs processing time contribute to your ...
4
Yes to the question title, no to the question in the text. Gumroad simply deals with the EU VAT paperwork for you, nothing else. Registering as self-employed, filing taxes with HMRC etc. is all a completely different matter and still needs to be done.
You currently don't need to register to for VAT in the UK unless your VAT taxable turnover is more than £...
4
No. If you're charging less than "market", then clients may get the impression that you're taking on work for cheap because you're not very good at it. The other side of the situation is that your 9-to-5 may not last forever, and if you have an opportunity to transition your side gig into full-time type hours, it's obviously not going to yield as much as ...
4
Delays which are due to your business/working practices are typically not the clients responsibility.
Let's look at the situation with a similar scenario.....
You're working along on a client's project and mistakenly close a file without saving it. Silly error, but I'm sure it's happened to most. This error means you have to redo what you just did for the ...
4
Assuming it's only a small slump, I would look for more clients. You need food on your table, and that's your first priority.
It's good you want to work with your client, as opposed to only for yourself - but part of being a freelancer is that you go where the money is. If money isn't coming in the same, but they get the same amount of work out of you, then ...
4
You perhaps jumped the gun a bit.
The way you describe it, I see no red flags - but a couple of orange ones.
With a non-technical client, the potential for the exact type of disagreement you describe is quite large.
For them, IT might be uncharted or previously badly charted territory - so they now over-compensate by attempting to micro-manage the process.
A ...
3
Well, you're sounding like you want to go down the entrepreneurial path. Good luck with that.
I used to have similar questions when I started out as an internet entrepreneur.
Yes, you can make money while giving away your software for free. Take WordPress for example. Among all the CMS softwares, it has the highest market share. The software is open-source,...
3
Toggl works for me for several years. It is an online service but they have a desktop app (as well as Android/iOS apps); Their desktop app detects the inactivity and asks you to keep or drop this time. The basic functionality is free and I like their online reporting features. They also allow downloading CSVs with your time and tasks; I used to write ...
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