BS: Telecommuting - fees & tracking hours

Subject: BS: Telecommuting - fees & tracking hours
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Jan 07 - 05:57 PM

Do any of you telecommute, freelance or otherwise? How do you decide how much to charge and if it should be by the hour or by the task, and how do you prove your hours? What has worked for you?

Subject: RE: BS: Telecommuting - fees & tracking hours
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 10:00 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: BS: Telecommuting - fees & tracking hours
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 11:30 AM

kat-
One thing I learned about working, which is even more important with telecommuting, is to avoid thinking about actual hours and price yourself on the basis of work accomplished. If your employer demands a reckoning in hours, estimate how many hours a not-too-good employee would take to do the job. Otherwise you're penalizing yourself by being competent.

Subject: RE: BS: Telecommuting - fees & tracking hours
From: Greg B
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 11:42 AM

Check out www.getmytime.com Pretty nice tool/service for time
tracking via the web, and it exports into QuickBooks, which is
just the ticket for invoicing and accounting in general.

There is a tool that comes (or came) with QuickBooks called
'quick books timer' which runs on your desk-top. It's a piece
of junk, crashes the computer and itself from time to time and
is generally a pain in the butt.

Subject: RE: BS: Telecommuting - fees & tracking hours
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Jan 07 - 09:22 PM

Thank you, Dick. Wise words, I know, esp. as they come from experience.

Thanks, Greg. Looks like a reasonably priced and nifty program!

One thing I am amazed at, as I haven't really been a part of any workforce for so many years, except as freelance jewellry designer/maker and writer, the way wages have really not kept up. I KNOW it's not new and I have known this from my family members,etc. but it really struck me when I rememebered I thought nothing of charging $20 per hour for freelance writing in 1985-93 when we lived back East. Now, it seems I may scare them off if I propose that much for the job I am looking at. I think you are right, Dick, I will have to charge them per project, otherwise it won't work for either of us.

Thanks, again, both o'youse,

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Telecommuting - fees & tracking hours
From: sian, west wales
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 04:38 AM

kat, strangely enough, I used to be a telework advisor for the Welsh gov't in the very early days of online work. In the UK we ahve the Telework Association and you may find some useful links on their website

sian

Subject: RE: BS: Telecommuting - fees & tracking hours
From: Mrrzy
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 01:00 PM

I send emails at the beginning and end of my home sessions... it wouldn't pass a legal test but I feel my hours are documented.

Subject: RE: BS: Telecommuting - fees & tracking hours
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 31 Jan 07 - 03:47 PM

If you're negotiating a price for a work that's to be "written under contract" the buyer should be willing to give you at least a rough indication of what the preferred method of estimation is, including a range of hourly rates or word count rates, if either is how they're willing to pay.

Since only an idiot would offer to pay by the hour without specifying a total NTE (not to exceed) amount they're willing to pay and defining a "scope of work" for a tentative/potential product, it's usually fairly easy to adjust actual hours worked against the amount available to come up with what the buyer will accept in terms of hours billed, if you're forced to guess a bit during the course of the work. If you're dealing with someone who has any reasonable amount of experience with using OP people, they'll know, and should tell you, what their common rates are.

Note that it's important to understand things like: if manuscripts will need to be exchanged, shipping a draft proof paper copy of a small book to meet a deadline can be $100 within the US, so knowing who's paying can be of interest.

Among contract workers (job shoppers) the only real way to know if you're doing as well as others is called "NETWORKING," and it's essential that you make friends and share, with others doing similar kinds of work, information on managing, marketing, and getting paid for your work. That can be incredibly difficult to do when first getting started - or restarted; but it's really part of the job.

Most job shop and/or freelance work is not a situation where you can demand a particular hourly rate - or depend on averaging a particular amount, although you need a "target" to work to. It's often a matter of you telling them what rate you usually charge, with them ignoring it and telling you what they'll pay.

("On my last job I received $xxx per Yyy, and that rate would be acceptable to me for this one" might be one way of soliciting a counter-offer, from which there may or may not be room to negotiate.)

(("Oh, I didn't understand that you were looking for a half-assed job. I can do that too." is probably not a good response, if you receive a lower offer than expected, even if it's true.))

John

Subject: RE: BS: Telecommuting - fees & tracking hours
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Feb 07 - 10:19 AM

LOL, thanks John. I like your suggestions and will use them when the time is right. I am dealing with someone who has never used freelance telecommuters. They don't really have any idea of what they are doing and need help. It's all very preliminary at the moment, but it is something I can easily do and wouldn't take very much time.

Thanks, folks!