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Freelance Tips: 10 Questions to Ask Your Clients

You're tying the bow around your finally finished piece of art and you pass everything over to your client. You're excited that you've finished the project when...

cue Law and Order:SVU sound effect

...you receive an email with the fateful words of "You forgot to add [insert feature here]".

This isn't the fault of the developer's code. It's not the fault of the client's request. It's a communication mishap that we all need to understand. We need to gather all the expectations from both the developer and the client to build successful software.

I want to outline a list of 10 questions that all freelancers should ask their clients to help provide a better sense of the project and the client.

  1. What is your budget?

This one will probably come up without needing to be asked. A budget is the amount of money a client has allotted for your or your team's work. A client who has done their homework has some idea, no matter how vague it is, of how the project will layout into the future. They "should" have a budget, and I say this with quotes around "should" because it's not a necessity. There are many reasons a client might not have a budget. To name a couple examples, they might have ample amounts of cash sitting in their bank account from a recent investment loan, which means the company might have a large runway. Or, the project you're hired for is needed so incredibly much that they are willing to throw a blank check at you.

A budget can tell you so much about the client.

  • What is their knowledge of the space?
  • Have they reached at other freelancers?
  • Do they have enough (or more than enough) to support the project?
  1. Do you have any limitations or requests? (e.g., software to use, infrastructure, browser support )

Knowing limitations of what platforms or technologies to use will prevent some headache if you're required to redo all that work with appropriate tech. For example, building a site in Gatsby or Svelt might be quicker, cheaper, and a better solution for a modern day tech stack, but when the client has no knowledge of frontend frameworks, it would prove extremely difficult for them to maintain the site. That could work in your favor, because you now have locked yourself into some longterm work, but that might not match your client's wants or needs. Listen closely to what they say.

  1. Whom will be the audience for?

Knowing who this project will be used by gives key insite into it's rigidity.

  1. What is your time-line?

Hey , we have a project for you and it needs to be done yesterday!

This question will usually be answered in the first two sentences of a first correspondence.

Parkinson's Law is the old adage that work expands to fill the time allotted.

  1. Is this a Minimal Viable Product (MVP)?

A minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by early customers who can then provide feedback for future product development (Wikipedia)

Modern practice of development uses MVPs to roll out

  1. Are you competing with anyone in the space?

  2. What exactly are you wanting me to do for you?

  3. How much freedom do I have with the project?

Freelancers are freelancers because they like the freedom. We aren't ones to be micromanaged. It's it probably goes without saying that we don't want our clients breathing down our necks nor watching and approving our every move. Be aware of the type of client you're committing to

  1. What is your motive for completing the project?
  2. Are you (client) also willing to commit to doing the project?

Too many times I've seen clients super energized about the project, that ghost their freelancer.

Bonus) What else have you tried?

Have they tried other solutions, and why did they fail?