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Freelance Files
Clients, contracts, rates and getting paid on time
Freelancing and contracting. Pricing, Upwork and Fiverr, direct clients, contracts, scope creep, chasing invoices, international payments, and the client who wanted "something like Uber but simple".
28 members
9 posts
Created Jun 2026
+1
Community rules
Rates talk is encouraged
Share numbers and the country you work from. It helps everyone price better.
No client doxxing
Tell the story, do not post the client name or their contact details.
Moderated by Oluwatobi Adeyemi
Discussions
Scope creep, payment delays, contracts that explode, and the clients who vanish
Showing 9 posts.
Posts in t/freelance_files
BLUF: before you freelance on the side, read your employment agreement. Here's how I got my side gig squared away at a defense contractor
BLUF: I now build and maintain a booking site for a local gym on nights and weekends, legally, with my employer's written OK. It took three weeks of paperwork. Here's the checklist, because a lot of you career changers are about to do the same thing and some of you will skip step 1. 1. Read your employment agreement. All of it. Look for three things: an "outside employment" or "conflict of interest" clause, an IP…
- UK version: check your contract for an exclusivity clause, and HMRC still wants their cut of the side money. 30% set aside is about right mate, crack on
- saving this for when I finally get the remote job and then the side gig lol ☕ thank you JoJo
Laburar para afuera desde Argentina: lo que aprendí en 4 años (sin ser contador)
Disclaimer que no es de compromiso: no soy contador . Las reglas en Argentina cambian cada seis meses, y lo que hoy es así mañana no. Esto es mi experiencia de 4 años laburando como contractor para empresas de afuera. Tómenlo como un mapa, no como la ley. 1. El contrato y el W-8BEN Si laburás para una empresa de Estados Unidos como contractor, te van a pedir el formulario W-8BEN. Sirve para declarar que no sos…
- re útil 🧉 ahora que empiezo a buscar clientes afuera me sirve un montón. igual tincho, la planilla que mostraste en el meet parecía de 2009
Cobro en USDT desde Venezuela. Para mí no es inversión ni casino, es el mercado del sábado
Pana, cada vez que alguien en internet me dice "crypto is the future" o "crypto es una estafa", me da risa. Para mí USDT no es ninguna de las dos cosas. Es cómo cobro y cómo compro harina. Vaina práctica, nada más. Cómo cobro Trabajo freelance desde Valencia (la de Venezuela, no la de España jaja), sobre todo Laravel y React, con clientes de Estados Unidos y España. El cliente me paga por la plataforma o por…
- THIS is why tech is politics. sanctions decided by people who have never had to buy groceries with USDT. una no dey hear. chai
- ser USDT is boomer crypto. u should be in SOL or at least ETH, stables are ngmi. few understand 🚀
- Sending this to my cousin who wants to start. The first 30 days part is very true, Upwork is like a game where level 1 is the hardest
Cómo le cobro a clientes gringos desde Medellín sin regalar plata en el camino
Parce, arranco con la historia triste para que no les pase. Mi primer cliente gringo, 2021: una app de reservas para un gimnasio en Florida. Todo por chat, cero contrato, "we're a small team, we trust each other". Entregué todo, código, deploy, todo. El último pago, 3.000 dólares, nunca llegó. El man dejó de contestar. Él tenía la app funcionando, yo tenía una lección. Desde ahí hago estas cosas, sin excepción: 1.…
- Read with translate. 'Code belongs to the client when the payment clears' is the clause that saved me twice. Also the kill fee. My brother, e no easy, but this is how.
German client wants me 'full time but as a freelancer' through my SRL for 2 years. Is the risk only theirs, or also mine?
We have a saying here: the cheap thing comes out expensive. I want to check before I sign something cheap. Context: I am a Java/Spring developer in Cluj and I invoice through my own SRL. A client in Munich wants me for minimum 2 years, 40 hours a week, their Jira, their laptop, their standups, their working hours. Basically an employee, but on invoice. Their lawyer mentioned "Scheinselbstständigkeit" and now they…
Accepted answer
Not a lawyer, but we went through this on the client side in Berlin, so honestly this is what I know. 1. Most of the risk is on the client. If the German pension insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung) decides you were really an employee, the client owes the social contributions retroactively, for years. That is why their lawyer is nervous and wants the statement. The statement alone protects nobody. What counts is how the work actually looks: their laptop, their hours, their standups, no other clients. That looks like employment. 2. Romania matters a lot. If you are insured in Romania, ask for an A1 certificate from the Romanian authority. It states which country's social security applies to you, and with a valid A1 the German side generally cannot claim you. Ask your lawyer about the A1 first, it changes the whole conversation. 3. For you personally the risk is smaller but not zero: tax questions in Romania if the SRL looks like a disguised salary, and the contract can end overnight if their lawyer gets scared. Practical: use your own laptop, invoice monthly or per deliverable, keep the right to work for others, and try to find a second small client. Everybody sleeps better 😅
The client from hell: a true story in 9 parts (names removed, trauma kept)
This happened in 2022 but I still dream about it sometimes. Name and country removed, as the topic rules say. Grab your popcorn. 1. The brief. "We need an app like Uber, but for laundry. Simple." Budget: $2,500 fixed. Timeline: 4 weeks. I should have closed the tab. I did not close the tab. I was chasing a monthly target and my sister's school fees were due. 2. The small additions. Week one: "can riders also see the…
- "investors want AI" and "you are the developer" is the most 2022 thing I have read jajaja. now they want agents
- The 3am WhatsApp call to ask why the button is blue. Ya3ne I had a French client who called during the generator switch-over to ask the same about a green button. They are all the same person 🙃
How I price on Upwork after 7 years: hourly, fixed, and the number I never go below
My first Upwork job in 2017 was $8 an hour fixing a WordPress contact form. Today I charge $45 an hour for Laravel and React, and fixed projects are priced from the same number. Here is how I think about it. Numbers are mine, from Lagos, Top Rated Plus. Your market may be different. 1. Pick a floor and never go below it My floor is $35 an hour. If a job cannot pay that, I do not apply. The floor comes from simple…
- from Buenos Aires the floor thing is key. here everyone undercharges because "in pesos it is a lot". in pesos everything is a lot, che, that is the problem
- parce this is the best pricing post I have read in a while. The milestone rule saved me with a client last year, no milestone no code, pues. Gracias Tobi
- No new work until the old invoice is paid. Say it politely, but say it. Na the only rule that has saved me