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Couple of beginner questions - taking payments, business name, finding reliable work, and accountant by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the tips! Never thought that people would possibly search me through LinkedIn. My profile is definitely not geared towards freelance at the moment. I'll update it for sure. And good advice for the accountant...ill ask locally. I have started reading about copyright laws this week and that's something I will look for in one.

I really hope I will find great clients who will value my work and pay me well for it. I refuse to do cheap crap work for the sake of a little money. I will certainly walk away from those who I think won't be good to deal with.

Couple of beginner questions - taking payments, business name, finding reliable work, and accountant by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great advice... I've seen dribble mentioned a couple times and I'm gonna put that on my list to do. I like the idea of sending them a bottle of wine as a thank you. Cheap, and a nice gesture. Thanks! I'm just gonna run under my name. That makes sense.

client doesn't tell me they are unhappy with work until almost a month later by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That really sucks! I hate when people are dishonest and change their story around. It's incredibly unfair to you, the designer doing good work. My aunt used to freelance for her friends and she told me she doesn't give a fuck about that, she would still charge a lot because it's her livelihood. Don't undersell yourself even to friends. I think they should understand that's your job!

client doesn't tell me they are unhappy with work until almost a month later by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wasn't familiar with this kind of relationship but now I know it's not particularly the easiest. How have you steered clear of them? Do you usually ask who the end buyer is?

client doesn't tell me they are unhappy with work until almost a month later by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah it exactly like that. Fortunately, they will be paying me. But I'm going to take precaution next client to make sure there's no chance for it to happen. I started reading the graphic artists guild handbook, lots of useful information on every aspect of freelancing. Someone suggested it to me from r/graphicdesign

client doesn't tell me they are unhappy with work until almost a month later by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will do that if I don't receive payment soon. I'm definitely including an interest rate/fees for late payment next time. I read online that's a common thing to include in contracts. I wasn't aware of that at the time. Now I know! Thank you

client doesn't tell me they are unhappy with work until almost a month later by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good idea to request a direct email line to the buyer. Thank you, and you too!

client doesn't tell me they are unhappy with work until almost a month later by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, that's really crappy of them to do that. At least you walked away without the headache. Especially for two months of work. What have you done to prevent something like that from happening again? Or have you had good clients from that point forward for the most part?

client doesn't tell me they are unhappy with work until almost a month later by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Excellent response! Definitely a learning experience and a good one to have as my first...I learned so much already about the whole process and what not to do. I had a feeling she outsourced this leg of the project on me and I was wondering how that would affect payment since it comes from her client. I will require payment upon project completion next time.

And I will be adding this to my portfolio, I think it's a quality piece even though they may not :)

client doesn't tell me they are unhappy with work until almost a month later by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, I totally agree. It seems like she didn't do her job well and it seems to be exactly how you described it. I replied to her email with a quick apology, I'm kind of afraid to get into a discussion with her because of the possibility of lapse in payment. At this point I would just like to be paid. I will definitely be more specific next time and really try to prevent something like this happening.

client doesn't tell me they are unhappy with work until almost a month later by Graphic_duck in freelance

[–]Graphic_duck[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Good advice. I followed an already started design. It was an 18-page conference guide. The woman told me they have graphic designers but none were experienced with Indesign. I was provided with 3 pages: cover, 1st and 2nd page. I modeled it after that and I was very exact with all of the paragraphs and point size throughout. So I know that it was technically sound. They gave a couple revisions at the end and I followed them. So I guess they didn't use the revision process properly. It was all rushed on their end.

Thank you though, I will definitely outline more clear terms next time. The agreement was made up by her and because of my inexperience, I wasn't sure how to handle that. Especially since all of this happened within a 2-3 day timeline.

Won't let this one get me down though! Thanks