Administrative Details

[Pasan Premaratne] We're almost done with asking questions. 0:00 We just have one area left to cover, and that's the administrative stuff. 0:02 Let's take a look at some sample questions. 0:06 What is your budget for this project? First and foremost, you want to know if the project is worth doing. 0:08 Are you compensated enough for the effort you're going to put in? 0:15 Now the budget doesn't always mean that's the maximum you can charge. 0:19 You can always convince the client that the features they want cost more. 0:22 But knowing the budget gives you an estimate to start off with. 0:26 For the first project you undertake, you can't be as flexible as you'd like to be with pricing. 0:30 But as you grow as a freelancer and get better, you can always charge what you think you deserve. 0:34 Next ask the client who the decision makers are on this project and what the turnaround time is. 0:40 It's always important to know who the decision makers are and to work with them directly. 0:45 If you have to go through a few layers to arrive at a decision, then there will be significant delays when getting feedback. 0:50 This applies to your turnaround time as well. 0:56 If you know there's going to be a day or 2 when hearing back, you need to build that into your timeline. 0:58 The worst thing is to deliver the project late because you were waiting on assets or approval. 1:04 Ask the client for all the people involved in the project and what they will be contributing to the project. 1:10 But make sure that there's 1 point person for the project— 1:15 1 stake holder who has a decision-making ability that you can coordinate the project with. 1:18 And ask them what their timelines are like. Of course you want to ask them if they have any specific deadlines. 1:24 Certain websites could be for specific marketing events that need to be launched by a certain date. 1:30 You always want to make sure you deliver a project before a client's deadline date. 1:35 But equally as important, you don't want to accept a project with an insanely tight deadline. 1:39 Now these questions are just the tip of the iceberg. 1:44 They might seem like a lot, but they serve a very useful purpose. So try and the get the client to answer as many as possible. 1:47 Depending on the project you could ask different questions in addition to the set we've already covered. 1:54 E-commerce sites have their own special set of functionality and goals, for example. 1:59 In any case the purpose of this questionnaire is to get as much information as possible on the potential project 2:04 to understand what you will be working on and to avoid conflict down the road. 2:09 At minimum you should be able to walk away knowing at least the following bits of information. 2:14 First, what are you doing? What is the project about? And what features has the client requested? 2:20 Second, who are you doing it for? Who is the target audience? How do they feel when they use a client's product? 2:26 And what do you want them to do when they end up on the website? 2:32 Next, who are you working with? Are there any decision makers or other people involved in the project? 2:36 And do you have the means to get in touch with them? 2:41 Finally, when do you need to do it by? Do you have a deadline that you are working with or a rough time estimate? 2:44 And have you taken into account turnaround times into this deadline? 2:50 Once you have your questionnaire filled out, you have sufficient information to make all the relevant decisions for this project. 2:54 That is, you can decide if you want to do it, how complex it is, how long it's going to take, and how much you're going to charge. 3:01