The Freelancers' Show

Panel

Ashe Dryden (twitter github blog) Eric Davis (twitter github blog) Evan Light (twitter github blog) Jeff Schoolcraft (twitter github blog) Charles Max Wood (twitter github Teach Me To Code Rails Ramp Up)

Discussion
00:48 - Ashe Dryden Introduction

Indie Developer and Conference Organizer from Madison, Wisconsin

02:39 - Contracts

Signing yours vs theirs Having a contract The Ruby Freelancers Show 049 - Contracts with Attorney Jared Richards

09:08 - Working with Down Payments and Deposits
10:35 - Clients asking you to reduce your hourly rate or paying you in something other than money
13:26 - Discovery (DaaS - Discovery as a Service)
19:35 - Referral-based Work
20:58 - Business Hours & Availability

Poor Project Management Needy Clients Setting clients up to work in a way that works well for you

26:28 - Clients treating consultants and contractors as employees

Points of contact

31:49 - Clients not knowing what they want
33:58 - Signing unreasonable non-compete agreements
37:57 - Timelines and Deliverables

Asking clients for what you need to do your work/keep deadlines Setting expectations before work begins

45:05 - Communication

Meeting in the middle Has the client worked with a freelancer before?

48:02 - Deal Breakers

Expertise Conflicts Emergency Deadlines

55:20 - Managing Non-Payment

Non-refundable Deposits One strike, two strike approach Mike Monteiro | F*ck You. Pay Me.  (Video, NSFW/language) Freelance Contracts That Anyone Can Understand: Ashe Dryden ashedryden / freelance-contract

58:53 - Client Respect

Disappearing Clients Punctuality Meeting Agendas Meetings

Picks

Arduino (Eric) amperka / ino (Eric) Block Fortress (Evan) Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra Star Trek TNG Shirt | eBay (Evan) Sevabot (Jeff) Google Calendar (Chuck) Amazon S3 (Chuck) graze (Ashe) Gittip (Ashe) DAYTUM (Ashe)

Next Week
Better Communications with Clients, Prospects, and other Contractors with Jenn Swanson (Communication Diva)
Transcript

CHUCK: That's true. I have pretty high tolerance for a lot of things.

EVAN: Well, you work with Dave Brady, right?

[Hosting and bandwidth provided by the Blue Box Group. Check them out at bluebox.net]

CHUCK: Hey everybody and welcome to Episode 54 of The Ruby Freelancers Show. This week on our panel, we have Eric Davis.

ERIC: Hello!

CHUCK: Evan Light.

EVAN: It's really episode 42..

CHUCK: Jeff Schoolcraft.

JEFF: What's up!

CHUCK: I'm Charles Max Wood from devchat.tv. We have a special guest this week, Ashe Dryden.

ASHE: Hi there!

CHUCK: Do you want to introduce yourself really quickly since you haven't been on the show?

ASHE: Yeah, that's fine. My name is Ashe Dryden, obviously. I live in Madison, Wisconsin; I'm an indie developer and conference organizer, and generally, community harasser.

CHUCK: [laughs] Yes.

EVAN: It fits in the one who are troublemaker.

[laughter]

CHUCK: Yup. We're learning from the best.

[Evan laughs]

CHUCK: Anyway, this week we're going to be talking about "Red Flags" with potential and current clients. It was interesting the way it came about. I had been fighting with -- I don't want to use the word 'fighting' -- but I had been emailing former client who hadn't paid me for probably like 7 or 8 months. And so there was this whole discussion that we had on Twitter about deposits and things like that, and Ashe mentioned that she has this list -- I don't know if it's a formal list or kind of a mental list -- of red flags that she watches for. So we thought we'd get her on the show to see what red flags she has for current client, some potential clients. I'm sure we all have things to add and experience that we've had with clients that can tell you that some --

EVAN: Oh, no! All my clients have been saints, so I don't know what you're talking about.

[silence]