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Remote Freelance Guide

The step-by-step guide I wish I had when I started working as a remote freelancer. From the first call to the final invoice and beyond ~

Yes!! We have a lead. Since creating said leads is worthy of another blog post, we’ll skip right to the first meeting.

My goals for this meeting are to (1) make sure both parties want to work together and (2) get the info I need to create a proposal (features, budget, timeline).

Most of my initial calls go like this:

Introductions (10 mins)

In the first ten minutes of the conversation I want to find out: where are they from? what do they do? how do they know the person that intro’d us? what do they do in their free time? do they like dogs?

I also use this time to establish my credibility. Something like:

“I launched an app that operates in 23 cities and reached top 100 in the Social Networking category. Now I work with other startups to help them build successful products too 😃”

Set Meeting Goals (~:30 seconds)

After getting to know each other, I say what I hope to accomplish by the end of the meeting. Literally:

“By the end of this meeting I‘d like to have a solid understanding of what you’re building, as well as your budget and timeline. Sound good? Great.”

Project Details (30–40 minutes)

This is when we dive into the details of what’s being done. I ask questions on features and take notes. If something isn’t crystal-clear, I ask again. (Skip to the Proposal section to see what these notes will end up looking like).

If you’re non-technical, it’s wise to have someone on your engineering team on the call to clarify technical details.

Depending on the complexity of the project, figuring out the features may take a few hours. If this is the case, I schedule a 2-hour meeting or follow up to schedule another.

After figuring out features, I ask what their budget for the project is and when they need it done.

Wrap Up (5 minutes)

I ask “do you have any questions for me?” Answer those.

Then I let them know “next steps is I’ll send you a proposal by end of week. If you need anything in the meantime, feel free to reach out.”

By the time I end this initial meeting, I should know (1) is this a person I want to work with? And (2) what’s their product features, budget and timeline?

If yes to both, I move onto drafting the proposal. If (1) is no, I tell them we can’t do it (ASAP!) so they can find someone else. If (2) is no, I email or find another time to meet and clarify.

(I’m not a lawyer so none of this should be considered legal counsel).

After deciding that (1) I want to work with this client and (2) it makes financial and logistical sense for my team to take on the project, I draft a proposal.

In the interest of time, I create one document that includes both the proposal AND the legal contract. This cuts out an additional step of sending docs back and forth.

My proposal will look something like this:

To break this up, the Proposal section will include:

Once this document is completed, I email it in PDF form to the client. If they like it, they’ll sign and we can get to work.

A note on getting paid: if you’re doing the half-up-front payment plan, you’ll want to send an invoice and payment instructions after the contract is signed. We accept payment via Paypal and our invoices are simply this:

The kick off is generally 2 or 3 hours depending on the project complexity. The goal of this meeting is to decide how we’re going to weave together the features list into a cohesive product. By the end of meeting I should have enough information to create a wireframe of the app.

I find it best to break up the product into the main user actions. For example, a user of a Starbucks app will need to complete the following actions:

With clear actions identified, I can create stories and work with the client on the user’s experience of completing these actions. I can ask specific questions like:

I take notes, ask a ton of questions, and focus on one feature set at a time. If I think the client is wrong, I tell him/her — that’s what they’re paying me to do.

Once I’m confident about how someone is going to use this product, I wrap up the meeting by letting my client know that I’ll create a wireframe and send it over for approval.

Lo-Fi Wireframe

You can either collaboratively create wireframes with the client or you can create them on your own and send them over for final approval. I work better when I have space to create on my own, so long as I have a clear understanding of the client’s needs from our kickoff meeting.

The beauty of a wireframe is that it’s fast to make and creates a framework for the rest of the project. I explain it to my client as “creating the architect’s blueprints before we start building a house.”

I’ll send over something like this and schedule a call to talk them through it:

Hi-Fi Mockup

Once I’ve gotten approval on the wireframe, I can make it look nice. Client-facing steps at this point include:

With wireframe, color palette and font decided, I can create a mockup of the finished product. I send it for final approval.

If all goes well, they’ll approve the mockup and development can begin. I reiterate at this point that all changes need to be final — once we start writing code it’s much harder to alter the design.

Normally, development is the least client-facing activity. However, it’s important to keep them in the loop on progress. Things like sending screenshots of working parts of their app can be nice touch points. One of my favorite things to do once we have the app running on a device is to send them a photo of how it looks on the home screen:

The sales tactic of “underpromise and overdeliver” also applies to development time estimates. If my team thinks it will take two weeks to implement a feature, I’ll tell the client it will take three. Best case scenario, they’re happy when we deliver early — otherwise, we get ourselves an extra week in case something goes wrong.

Once we’ve completed development, we need to test the product to make sure it matches the design and is bug-free.

The first round of testing is generally rough. I recommend doing it yourself/with your internal team. Only when I think the app is 95% stable do I send it to the client to test.

Testing is complete…we’re ready to launch. This is an exciting moment for my client, especially if it’s their first time. I’ll keep them involved by sending screenshots of progress and email updates from Apple/Google (if we’re building a mobile app).

Following a successful launch, I’ll meet with my client to have closure on the project. In this meeting, there are a few things I want to cover:

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