Thinking of starting freelancing. Any advice / suggestions?

First off, which site would you recommend to start on? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

^^

@carlosjpc ??

Just want to be notified when other ppl comment

@joshbent Maybe you'll be able to offer some advice?

@carlosjpc @digitaldina Good shit: https://devrant.com/rants/1435207/... I answer tons of questions there, including what website to use, some good resources on what's important when you start etc.

@Stuxnet thanks for tagging! :)

@JoshBent Thanks so much! Really appreciated.

@digitaldina you're welcome!

Rule #1: work should not start until a contract is signed.

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@JoshBent great response, thanks for sharing. I also use upwork, and I'm a full time freelancer. But I totally hate fixed prices jobs. I always ended up working more than agreed because of scope creepers, and also dealing with angry clients who refuse to pay after the job is completed. How long have you been freelancing? Are you able to balance your work and life these days? (I've been struggling with that).

@digitaldina In addition to upwork, I had good experience with getting new clients by marketing my services through social media and small ads. Remember to work on your portfolio, since this helps to show off your skills and adds credibility.

@nanl ah a fellow upwork freelancer :) interesting, because I have exactly the opposite feeling with hour contracts (as I always make clear), especially if you're a developer, having that RAT/Spyware on your computer tracking what you do (+ screenshotting every X amount of time) is a big negative for me, I have e.g. my own server IPs flashing on my screen and more, I just don't want to deal with all that crap

>>more than agreed because of scope creepers<<

that's why you setup milestones and talk through what's included and anything else is up to you to decide - you can add more milestones or quickly add it just in the process of another milestone.

@nanl

>>and also dealing with angry clients who refuse to pay after the job is completed<<

Sounds just like the issue I described with per hour paid contracts, much easier to handle with milestone/per project contracts, got an asshole not paying? well in 5 days (iirc) it'll get automatically released after you requested payment or if he's a dick about it, contact live support and they'll blast his account and pay you from escrow.

>>How long have you been freelancing?<<

Long, wouldn't want to comment on that, since somebody might filter me out based on that and I am very cautious about those things.

@nanl >>Are you able to balance your work and life these days? (I've been struggling with that).<<

I only take jobs I love doing and that allow me to have my own turnaround time, I rarely do fixed turnaround time contracts, since sometimes you just absolutely not feel like doing anything, but on another day you rush through 5 milestones.

Note also that I am both top rated with 100% and therefore part of their exclusive program for live support and other small things, so handling poor clients wouldn't be a problem for me at all.

@nanl sorry that it took so long, had to set a reminder, since you caught me just when I was calming down for sleep and I wasn't ready to comment in enough detail as I wanted to :)