7 | Freelancing (Part 2) :: Journey Maps, Accounting, Contracts, LLCs, and Insurance

Amy and James finish their discussion on freelancing in part 2. This episode covers journey maps, project discovery, vetting clients, submitting estimates and contracts, project management, finances, and business insurance.

SPONSORS

Pathwire / Mailgun / Mailjet

Pathwire is a powerful email API and intuitive email marketing solution that delivers over 250 billion emails a year for 400,000 companies around the world.

You can sign up now and try Mailgun or Mailjet for free today. Mailjet offers a trial that allows you to send 6,000 emails per month for free, forever. Mailgun offers a 3 month trial for 5,000 emails per month after which you only pay for what you send.

For more information, simply visit Pathwire.com

Vercel

Vercel combines the best developer experience with an obsessive focus on end-user performance. Their platform enables frontend teams to do their best work. It is the best place to deploy any frontend app. Start by deploying with zero configuration to their global edge network. Scale dynamically to millions of pages without breaking a sweat.

For more information, visit Vercel.com

ZEAL is hiring!

Zeal is a computer software agency that delivers “the world’s most zealous” and custom solutions. The company plans and develops web and mobile applications that consistently help clients draw in customers, foster engagement, scale technologies, and ensure delivery.

Zeal believes that a business is “only as strong as” its team and cares about culture, values, a transparent process, leveling up, giving back, and providing excellent equipment. The company has staffers distributed throughout the United States, and as it continues to grow, Coding Zeal looks for collaborative, object-oriented, and organized individuals to apply for open roles.

For more information visit their site.

Show Notes

0:00 Intro

0:50 Sponsor: ZEAL

1:40 What we've been up to this past week

4:15 Creating a Customer Journey Map

• Design the process so that you're truly leading a client
• Outline touchpoints

6:09 Sponsor: Pathwire

7:14 Discovery Process

• Determining the work that needs to be done.

7:46 Scheduling initial phone call with Calendly

8:42 Vetting the client

• Want to make sure that the client will be good for you, too.
• Template Questionnaire

12:20 Creating Estimates and Contracts

• Estimate through Harvest - https://www.getharvest.com
• Contracts through HelloSign - https://www.hellosign.com/
• Accepting online payments and paying Stripe fees is part of the cost of doing business

13:25 Project Management System

• Basecamp
• Asana
• Teamwork
• Notion

13:52 Sending out a welcome document

• Include a handwritten note and a bag of [Ugly Mug coffee](http://uglymug.com

15:29 Managing your Finances
* Separate bank account
* [QuickBooks}(https://quickbooks.intuit.com/)
* Freshbooks

18:39 Sponsor: Vercel

19:32 Two types of expenses (1) stuff for everyday business and (2) items purchased specifically for a client

21:54 Legal Side

• LLC and why
• Other options: C Corp and S Corp

25:06 Creating Contracts

• Dan Mall's Contract from Superfriend.ly - http://agreement.superfriend.ly/

28:19 Business Insurance

29:46 Grab Bag Question #1 - How do you make yourself job-ready? When you're constantly preoccupied with an existing work schedule? @theBlackkSky

• Learn on the job
• Take advantage of free content online
• Learn in public, Twitter Hashtag #100DaysOfCode
• Learn Build Teach Discord Community

33:02 Grab Bag Question #2 - For maintenance, do you hand it off to someone else? have a grace period where you maintain it as part of your project or contract? Or offer a support plan with a retainer fee? Zach from LaunchCode

34:45 Grab Bag Question #3 - Why do coding interviews suck? - @misterhtmlcss on Discord

37:46 Amy's Pick: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

38:15 Amy's Plug: SelfTeach.me on YouTube

38:48 James's Pick: SanDisk Portable SSD

40:01 James's Plug: James Q Quick on YouTube and Learn Build Teach Discord Community