Useful business resources for freelance designers and developers

As a freelancer you’ll find yourself devoting a certain amount of time each week to numerous business activities. Not only will you be responsible for the work your client has hired you to do, you will also need to do all the administrative work that’s required, such as writing contracts, billing and dealing with other accounting matters. You’ll also have to do your own sales, marketing and advertising.

To help you with the administrative part of the job, I have compiled a list of useful ressources for freelancers. I will keep this list up to date. If you find other useful resources, please let me know.

Finding clients

Say “NO” to Spec Work - Six reasons why you shouldn't accept spec work.

Client Screener - Are you talking to the right clients or not.

Prequalifying Clients - Onboarding new clients and how to price them appropriately.

Signing a contract

Designing Contracts for the XXI Century - Modernizing your contract will not only make it match your carefully crafted brand, but it can also help you reach an agreement faster, and even strengthen your position when negotiating.

Contract Killer - The popular open-source contract for web designers and developers.

The Collective Legal Guide For Designers - A collection of legal documents curated by the web community.

SuperFriendly Service Agreement - Doing business doesn’t have to be confusing or complicated.

Communicating with the client

How to Present Designs - No matter how utterly innovative, how pristine and beautiful a design idea is, rarely does it speak for itself.

Email Templates For Web Designers And Developers - This article features email templates for communicating with clients, superiors, teammates and the like.

Ten Answers To Common Client Questions - How you answer those questions will decide whether you win the work or not.

Getting paid

Six Steps To Charging What You’re Really Worth - If you’re quoting clients an hourly rate for your services, chances are you’re hurting your business…even if that hourly rate was methodically calculated.

How Much Should You Charge For Design Work? - Some of Jessica Hische's opinions and words of wisdom on how to avoid screwing yourself and the rest of us over by doing too much work for too little pay.

How to Calculate Hourly Freelance Rates for Web Design, Development Work - Figuring your hourly rate isn’t too tough, but it does require tapping into some of that elementary school math you complained you’d never use.

The Best Invoice Terms To Get You Paid Faster - Freshbooks compared different invoice template payment terms to see what impact they had on likelihood and time to get paid.

The most effective debt collecting email I ever wrote - Andy Clarke chose to abandon a stiff business approach and instead write one email, carefully worded to express how I personally felt. After-all, business may be business, but people work with people.

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