In this Hasty Treat (Short episode) we answer your questions about Freelancing - how to charge more, building a portfolio, finding clients and our thoughts on using pre-made WordPress themes. Sign up for the Value Pricing Bootcamp - Sponsor Get Jonathan Stark's free 6 day email course on value based pricing for freelancers over at valuepricingbootcamp.com. Jonathan Stark is the author of Hourly Billing is Nuts and has worked with companies such as Staples, Time and T-Mobile. These days he routinely commands an effective hourly rate of $2000+ per hour, so I'd say you should check his course out. Show Notes 1:00 Our first episode on Freelancing - how to slam dunk freelancing 4:00 Q: Ideas on building a portfolio and landing those first customers Your portfolio doesn't really matter as a web developer Your reputation and referrals is key Reputation in the community is important Put yourself out there! You have to tell people what you do You have to ask people if they need work Good communication is key 8:00 Q: What are some strategies for budging and quoting? Understanding what a website is worth to a client Talking to your client ablut pricing Asking how much they have available to spend Chunking the project into multiple bits so they can build on it 14:00 Q: How do you tell your existing clients that you need to charge more? Clean Scope / Scope Creep Quote in Features and pieces, not entire projects Fixed Pricing Becoming a better/faster developer Getting more expensive as you move Don't charge hourly Taking big Ls 18:30 Q: What is your opinion on value based pricing? We're huge proponents Clients don't like hourly billing The client should know what you are paying and what you are getting 22:00 Q: When is it okay to use WordPress and pre-made themes? Is that cheating? The beauty of open source The business Wes answer The developer Wes answer Building your own starter files Undoing other developer's work Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott's Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes' Instagram Wes' Twitter Wes' Facebook Scott's Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets