Need Advice From Freelancers and Pros Please!!

bluekangaroo

EDITed for confidentiality purposes...

Hello Polycounters! I have some good news and a little bit of a pickle....

I recently did a little test for this company called 'clickBOOM'

link: http://www.clickboom.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi

never heard of them before myself but I came across an ad. for them thru craigslist. EDIT.

So anywho, did the test for them and just got a confirmation email from them saying I passed and that they'd like to offer me a contract position.

2 things they want to know before anything else is pricing and availability.

Availability is not an issue since I am currently unemployed and have nothing but free time on my hands.
Edit: Lets just say they need a some work to be done!:poly124:

Now pricing is where I am unsure. I dont want to underestimate my value but then again I dont want to go too high. They pay per model, so what is reasonable to ask for??

The email ended with them saying to let them know about pricing and availability and so forth!

SO, Freelancers out there? How does this stuff work? How exactly do you get paid when you work off site and protect yourself?

salman_fas

not a pro here but wouldn't that depend on the model as some models would take long/short time?

bluekangaroo

yeah you're right. Complexity of the model is definitely a factor. I am just unsure on how to judge these things right now...

SHEPEIRO

do some reseasrch into them and run a mile if nothing turns up, and pricing is all about what you want to charge them and what they are wiling to pay, go high haha

Gav

It sounds like an interesting proposition...You could always base your rate on a per day basis, getting that from the salary that you would like, taking taxes and most likely needing to pay for your own benefits into account. There are a lot of things a company needs to pay for to take you on as an employee, if they are side stepping that. you'll need to care of yourself..thus demanding a higher than usual income. Obviously, take all of your expenses and figure out what you would need to make in order to take care of these. Then take into consideration what you would like to save, then add taxes...it should give you a good idea on what to demand regarding price.

Per asset could really get you into a bad position, or at least I found it did when I was freelancing fulltime. Basically, if these guys are an outsourcing company and you do work for them...for their client...and something gets lost in communication, you could find yourself redoing assets for free.

EDIT> Yeah, high ball it

Joshua Stubbles

usually I'll take an industry average salary and tack on like 20% after getting the hourly rate. Afterall, you don't get benefits or pension. So lets say you're a 5yr industry vet, which would average like $60,000 ballpark. That comes out to around $28/hr. To balance not having benefits, tack on an additional $5.60, for a total of $33.60/hr. If they say it's too much, you can always barter from there. But I've found it to be a good starting point.

Microneezia

I see your in canada as well as me. I highly suggest you look into an incorporated company if you are going to be doing any longish term contracting. I have done contracting work as a sole proprietor and as an INC company (computer technician). My numbered company lets me write off all kinds of things, including some square footage of my apartment mortgauge, my phone, my internet, gas, I sold my computer to my company one year, large screen "monitor" for my computer, those were write offs.

There are 2 types of accountants though, those that for example used to work for the government and those that want to save you money. Ironically the ones that save you money cost more per hour.. :poly127: I can take this to PM's if you want to know more about what I know about it, im not an expert but I can give you some questions to take to the accountant at least.

Trust me though whatever you do, make sure to meet with an accountant before you work for a year for example. :poly127:


The sticker price is about 230 bucks one time cost, then 43 annually, which if you ask me is worth it to stand in the business line up at the bank alone, not behind a billion people on friday afternoon.