lon124

Personally I use Xero - it handles accounting as well. FreeAgent is also really popular. Best of luck!

Hi bituneasy0, welcome to London! I reckon it's hard to get established in any new location - but at least London has tons of opportunities. I second the suggestion to go to MeetUps, there are tons of them available. Eg: https://www.meetup.com/London-WordPress/. These are your peers so probably don't have work for you but you can ask them where they find work. There is also a lot of startup activity in London. Start at Google Campus (Old Street) and start talking to people. Chances are there are startups looking for a marketing site. They also have a noticeboard where you can advertise your services. Finally, there are TONS of design agencies in London, many of which rely almost exclusively on tech freelancers. I don't know what your level is - but grab yourself a list of agencies (http://www.design-intellect.co.uk/top_50_design_agencies_list.html) and start talking to studio managers. [this is where I spent most of my freelance career before moving on to startups] Finally, give the recruitment companies a try. They have a bad rep but could lead to a few early pieces of work. Best of luck, happy to help if you have more questions.

Hi OldGuy, I don't disagree with you - the customer is clearly making unreasonable requests. I'd like to invite you though to look at your own role in the process as well, so that you can improve your business skills in the process. There is a saying 'You can't change people, you can only change the way you behave towards them'. When you first said yes to the image gallery, without additional cost or a clear understanding of what the requirements were, you opened the door to the client's unreasonable requests and unreasonable expectations. Nobody can tell for sure but there is a fair chance that much of this could have been avoided if you'd said "Sure, I'll do a gallery for you, it will cost $$". He would either have walked away or established a healthier relationship. I'm not berating you - I've done the same thing in the past (and not just once). All part of the learning process. Best of luck getting paid!

Hi Yuriko_v2b, I downloaded my first contract from a paid-for legal library. It was years ago and I can't find it now but this one looks like a good solution: https://www.lawdepot.co.uk/contracts/computer-services-agreement/ (I'm not connected with them and there are tons of similar sites available. I'd go for one from your country + one that is written in fairly plain English. If you can't understand it, chances are your clients can't either). You will still need to add another document, often called a 'schedule', that lists the exact work that will be carried out during the particular period of work. Personally I took the off-the-shelf document and refined it over the years into a nice, plain English version. That takes time and experience but the above should give a good starting point. Best of luck!

Hi Jacek, my view is that 100% utilisation is an impossible goal. Since you've been operating for 7 years and seem to be very pro-active in finding new work, I'd say it's likely you've hit the 'normal' utilisation rate for your business. My recommendation: Calculate your annual utilisation rate (say it's 80%) and then re-work your business model so that your business makes sense financially running at that 80% utilisation. Use the 'free' time to pay back your developers - switch to a 4-day week, allow them to work on their own projects on Fridays, arrange away days or educational sessions, etc. You will build an amazing work environment, attract great staff and your business will benefit as a result. HTH!

Hi Charly, as others have said, it's going to get really difficult to work with this client if you can't get a proper contract and a deposit paid. I've had similar experiences even with really large agencies. What's worked for me: Educate your client as much as possible and get yourself involved right from the beginning of the project, including client-facing planning meetings. Charge your client a few days of your time for this phase, depending on size of project. It's not free work - you're essentially protecting your client's interest by providing them with missing know-how. Finally, work with your client to come up with a feasible feature set within the budget. At this point you are ready to put together a contract stating deliverables and overall budget for the development work. Apart from making the project much less risky for you, it puts you in the role of trusted advisor and not 'just' a developer. HTH & good luck!