threelancer, post: 23898, member: 3804 a écrit : Anyone watching? I am on episode 4 or 5 on season 4 and abit disturbed about whats happening with Carrie and her recruitment techniques!

lon124, post: 25217, member: 29711 a écrit : Hi Jess3D, you asked this question back in March, did you get any extra money in the end? It's great that they are asking for more work, it means that they value (and need) your service. The rest is just sales strategy :)

I would do some small changes for free, part of good customer service. If they've made a spelling mistake or realised they'd sent the wrong picture, that sort of thing. You don't want them to be left in the lurch.

For anything else, I start charging straight away. I used to be worried about this too but it changed when I started to assume that they expect to be charged extra. It's a small psychological trick that you can play on yourself. Here's a standard email that I send out:

"Dear ..., thank you for your email. Yes, of course, I'd be happy to carry out the extra changes. I estimate it would take 2 days. Under our agreed rate that comes to £x. Please confirm that you would like to go ahead and I can get started straight away. Best regards,..."

This is a really positive approach, there are no obstacles in the way. It doesn't open up any questions about whether you're 'allowed' to charge. Quite often they ask for an estimate straight away the next time they ask for changes 🙂 Hope that helps!

FrenchPress, post: 25331, member: 29729 a écrit : I would say you need to sit down and generate a 5 year plan. Working while starting up your business is a great idea, and as your business begins to pick up, then you can drop to part time at work, and then fully drop it all together. Just make sure you don't get into any trouble with your company. Keep your clients and their clients separate.

As for where you start, the first thing to do is to educate yourself. Take some online tutorials on business management so that you can cover all of your bases. Then I would say you need to start building your brand image and marketing your services. This means starting a website and beginning to connect with industry professionals to establish your company. And it means landing your first few customers and generating a good word of mouth.

Again, you may want to consider taking some tutorials on brand development and marketing as well.

It's a long road, but worth it. And I think when you break it down into something like a 5 year plan it is more manageable and less overwhelming. Plus you have your end goal in site that you will be completely self-sufficient by this date. Of course this can also be a 3 year plan or so. Depends on what you feel comfortable with and how long it takes to get your business off the ground.