[kellros]

Some words of advice:

- Watch this video: http://creativemornings.com/talks/mike-monteiro--2/1

- Have a contract that stipulates what will be delivered and when, when payment is due etc. See this: http://www.docracy.com/topic/1e6bi5l90z/open-source-legal-do...

- Ask a hefty penalty amount for signing non-disclosure agreements (NDA's) - this is crucial for short term contract work

- Charge more. Figure out your hourly rate and average hours per day and extrapolate that out to a weekly rate. I reckon a fair amount is $50 an hour, while still staying very competitive with other software shops. See: http://internationalfreelancersacademy.com/why-you-should-ch...

- Be honest in what you can and can't do. Advise your client to contract out such work, whether it's designing the look and feel, designing logos or write content. Figure out or develop an advantage over other service offerings. Specialization is of key importance in consulting/freelancing work.

- Beware of overly stingy or difficult clients - it's sometimes necessary to fire them!

[cgabios]

Working with clients that are savvy enough to do milestone based-work rather than hourly work is another filter that hasn't failed me yet.

[kellros]

I guess it depends on how averse you are to risk and how long you can go without getting paid.

Never forget that a contract is meant to be negotiated - a contract's first draft typically contains a bunch of unreasonable or vague requests and wishes from the party that created the contract. Don't sign a contract until the vagueness has been clarified or defined.

It's up to you to negotiate the contract in your favor. To put it plain and simple; unless you negotiate a contract in your favor, you're going to have a bad time. Like the video said; if you have no contract, you're left with the sympathy card and that rarely works.

Another bit of advice: Keep track of all communications and have all word-of-mouth agreements put on paper (before you commit to anything, like signing the contract). I keep a projects folder per client containing communications, documents received etc.

Hourly billing only works when you keep a detailed log of what was done. It's definitely a lot easier to get paid for work if you provide a breakdown on what was decided and done. The descriptions should prove as motivations of why the work was necessary.

[rankam]

Awesome advice - thanks for all of the information! It's really helpful!