💬 What I wish I knew before my first freelance project

A few months ago I took my first paid website project, a small site for a local shop. Everything went wrong in small ways, and I'm writing this for anyone about to start their first one. First, get everything in writing. I started from a WhatsApp chat and a rough idea of what the owner wanted. Halfway through he asked for a gallery page, then mobile support, then a contact form that emails him. Each request was fair by itself. Together it was far more work than the price we'd agreed. Because nothing was written, asking for more money felt rude, so I just did the work and stayed quiet. Second, ask for some money upfront. I was too shy to ask, and he did pay in full at the end. Other freelancers told me stories about clients who vanish after delivery. Now I ask for 25 to 30 percent first. Third, revisions. I priced for 1 or 2 rounds of feedback, but he only knew what he wanted after seeing it. Button colour, wording, which photo to use. Each change took 2 minutes but together they ate whole evenings. Now I put 3 or 4 small revision rounds in the quote and say extra rounds cost extra. Fourth, let the client edit the basic text and pictures himself, with a simple admin page. I didn't do that, so weeks after finishing I was still getting messages to change one sentence. None of it was a disaster, but the project took nearly twice as long as it should have. Next time I'll write a one page note before starting, with what's included, what's not, revision rounds and payment. It takes 20 minutes. I wish someone had told me before I opened my editor.

I'd disagree a little on the admin page for tiny shops. Some owners never log in to edit anything. My client wanted to just send me a message and have me change the text, and paid me for it. So I offered a small monthly fee for changes instead. Now those messages are paid work. Ask the client which one they'd prefer before you build anything.

The upfront payment bit is right. I took 30 percent on my second project and the client took it seriously. He replied to my messages faster, and he stopped asking for extra pages at the last minute. The scope note I made was just a WhatsApp message listing the pages, and he replied okay. It's not fancy but it worked when he tried to change things later.

Same mistake with my first client, no scope note and revisions that never ended. He kept sending small changes for almost a month, and I felt too awkward to say stop. Now I get a short written agreement signed by both sides before I open anything. The upfront payment point is the one I'd tell every beginner first. It changes how clients treat you.