I worked on my first freelance project this past weekend that I could actually live off if I repeated it over and over. $280 to edit some university students’ business project.
I figured I could blaze through it in 8 hours. $280 / 8hrs = $35/hr.
Not bad considering my current job pays me closer to $22/hr. Plus, I could do this project at any time of the day and from any location. It seemed pretty damn ideal.
Unfortunately, it took me a lot more time than I thought. 5 hours on the first day. 12 hours on the second day. $280 / 17hrs = $16.47/hr. Not nearly as good as the original calculation.
When I accepted this project I had no idea what I was getting into. I didn’t have an accurate estimate of what it would entail. All I knew was that $280 sounded like a lot of money.
The group was paying me under the condition that the report will get at least 80%. But I was only supposed to do editing of the words. An 80% also requires that the content and the ideas behind the report are good to. This means the objective I need to achieve is somewhat out of my control unless I do way more work than I was supposed to; and I did.
As of now, the group does not have its mark back.
What I learned:
1. Set realizable objectives before beginning
2. Know exactly what the project entails
I guess the second one can be difficult if you don’t have much experience doing similar jobs. I didn’t have enough experience to make an accurate estimate.
Would I take it back? Nope.
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