1. What are the etiquettes that I should know when dealing with clients?

2. Is there like ways to protect myself and the client, so that things will happen as it is agreed upon mutually?

3. see, the thing is, i found a client but who wishes for me to travel all the way 30 - 40 kms up to his office but not willing to give and take, for I've suggested for us to meet halfway through, i.e. in KL, which is the midpoint for both of us.
How would you have tackle this situation if you were in my shoes?

Help much appreciated. Thanks!

This post has been edited by ninelives1980: May 26 2006, 10:05 AM

if he from shah alam, then u should ask him to meet at sunway/subang/mid valley

btw, it's very hard to be a freelancer...sometimes wat u earn from cod may not really consistent with the money u will earn by pos laju..

i'm sorry? you're sayin'...dealing with clients via pos laju?
how does the work processes work smoothly then? As in client send his docs to you, and you submit your finished work to client again...all these via pos laju?

correct me if i'm wrong.

p.s. yea, like I mentioned, the client is so strong headed, don't want to give and take citing that he's too busy, can't go out of the office; he's up there further beyond Kepong, and I'm so far down south. To propose for us to meet at KL wouldn't be too much to ask right? - Fair I reckon, as each of us travel midway nevertheless.

Since he/she is your client, you may suggest to meet somewhere convenient to both of you if possible. But if the client is unable to make it, then you might need to travel lor..no choice

erm..never know tat u mean for doc..and doc processing..tot u selling stuff..lolz...

I don't know the client's payment rate yet, we're supposed to discuss it in his office. I had this freaky thought....for all I know, I travel all the way there, waste my RM 20 - 25 at least for journey to and fro, and upon reaching his place, he's offering ridicolous rates which isn't worth anything at all.

Worst scenario would be, the client would not want to proceed doing this biz with me after much discussion at his office.

My concerns are these, and I might give up on this troublesome client after all, though it wouldn't be wise since it's income generating.

what I meant was - client passing the works assigned to me via pos laju, and me passing the completed works to him via pos laju again.

is that what you were trying to say?

bah...easy wat...jus put extra charges in yr quotation to cover yr travel expenses lor...

You can put charges as per visit, see he still want to meet you or not. But you might lose your client if hes unhappy.

normally wht is the price for s/w freelance?
eg: building a SIMPLE POS for a regular shop, how much can we charge?

go back to basic... what's your return on investment? does what you make from the whole deal worth all the trouble that you have to go into?

or the easiest way, calculate the travelling, marketing, toll, teh tarik, subsistence cost and expenses before hand and bill them up into the final price/charges.... so if need more travel/servicing, you're already covered.... if doesnt require servicing, more profit for you!

as for guidelines in dealing with the client, spell it out form the beginning, what's your offering, what the limits are, what's the deliverables and how many times to meet, ie: first meeting: biz requirement study, second meeting: first draft review, third meeting: amendment and/or second draft, last meeting: delivery and payment. be clear on the timeline, milestone and meeting place. subject to change with adequate notice of course...

freelancing is supposed to make things easy for the talent to meet the money, if so complicated just go makan gaji lor!

This post has been edited by alqa: May 26 2006, 01:09 PM

don't so kiasu, u need to spend some money to go there to look for a opportunity future income. if you keep calculating the tiny cost of travelling around for business you are not going to be successful.

as a freelancer u need to travel a lot to meet client and get jobs, unless u land with a big company that give lots of projects for years

not everything will goes smooth... juz hope you give a good impressing to the guy paying you for the job. if it's a office worker ajak him/her out and belanja lunch or something, do some casual chatting and flattering most of the time they will have a good impression of u either approve you or give the boss good opinion about u to hired u for the job.

i used few hundreds RM to travels and belanja but i gain few thousands RM back