[thelist] Price help!

[Oliver Lineham]

At 21:27 29/08/00 +0100, you wrote:

>Does the fact that I'm 16 make a difference? I must also mention that I live
>in the UK.

Go for the job!  Do you have a good relationship with the owner of the 
company? If so, this sounds like an excellent opportunity to get started in 
this industry.

If you're friendly with the manager, and the whole project turns to 
custard, you'll probably be able to call the whole thing off without any 
fireworks. No stress, and all that.

The project sounds small - a static site that is perfect for you to (a) 
test your skills, and (b) see if this job is for you.

The only thing to watch for is that this customer is a good apple, and 
aren't trying to exploit you because you're young and inexperienced. I 
never had any trouble, but I've seen messages on lists like this where the 
customer didn't pay up, or started getting really picky about details and 
asked for too much.

I was 16 or 17 when I started doing paid jobs. The job went well, they 
recommended me to people, and now I've got more customers than I can handle 
and am looking for people to share the load.  (Shhh! Don't tell, but I'm 
only 19 still. ;)


IANAL, so don't take this as gospel but:  Being 16 you are (I think?) still 
legally a minor.  That means contracts you sign aren't legally 
enforeable.  It also means if you owe someone money, it can sorta be 
extracted from your parents. You might want to talk to them first.

That said, I never started with contracts.  I still don't have explicit 
contracts as such (I just get them to sign the "Proposal accepted" box on 
the front of the project specification)

I'm not sure about British law but I'm in NZ so it shouldn't be too dissimilar.

Price - charge whatever you are comfortable with. I started cheap because I 
was slow and inexperienced (note: age in itself is NOT a valid reason to 
have low charges!).  Don't sell yourself short though - you are better off 
giving a high quote, and if they turn you down offer to lower the price.


Good luck,

</ol>

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