Do you charge your clients by the hour or another way?
I feel like I could be just as productive with fewer hours but there is somewhat of a financial conflict when being paid by the hour.
I feel like I could be just as productive with fewer hours but there is somewhat of a financial conflict when being paid by the hour.
This way, I don't feel like I'm ripping my clients off if I'm working only 2 hours today, or diluting my rate too much if I manage to work 12 hours tomorrow. I really enjoy this freedom.
Which doesn't feel like ripping off by either side even if you take a whole day off if you keep the deadline accordingly.
I think the right way is to write the specs down clearly in the initial contract, but since most projects seem to go way past their expiration date, it would entail spending a non-trivial amount of time of continuously updating and agreeing on the new contracts.
Anyway, I often have a couple active project at a time, but no more than that because it would make scheduling my time a nightmare. And context switching halfway through the day takes a considerable amount of mental energy.
Initially, both sides agree in what to deliver (no concrete spec but we talk until we know what needs built) at what price and that is usually enough to ask for more if other side tells me something new or if I'm getting a decent deal for monthly charges after going production, then I tend not to bother much about little extra additions.
I always ask questions as I encounter them to be sure that I'm not developing against their intention and let them see the progress continously too.
I even question whether what they want is valid or not and provide the reasoning in plain language without much technical terms why I'm complaining about it.
The only problem would be I can be slightly behind schedule often on everyone by managing 4+ clients in parallel.
Task switching seems crazy but I guess I'm trying to free up brain memory as much as I can to speed it up by not caring anything unnecessary in life (Have no TV, don't care about personally uninteresting stuff even if popular around, work from home where it's quiet etc)