In January this year, I had been given an opportunity to design and implement a static website for a local healthcare firm here in Melaka while my sister is still having her internship there. That day, she recounted that there is a client from the UK who visited them and complained that their website was crummy and conveyed little info about their business. After that incident, the boss needed an immediate revamp to their website and my sister endorsed me to take on the job to overhaul their website. However, I cordially turned down the offer at that time as I thought I am too inexperienced to take on the job.

Not until this April, when I visit the healthcare firm for the first time with my mom for blood donation, I bumped into the boss, Mr Nick and he asked me if I am still on for the job. I was befuddled as this is my first encounter with Mr Nick and have absolutely no clue who is talking to me. Soon I found out that he is the boss and it happened that he recognizes me as I was with my mom together whom he know as she used to come over to fetch my sister home regularly while she was working there.

Mr Nick reached his hand into his pocket, rummaging for his smartphone and showed me a screenshot of the job scope that he quoted from a software firm with his phone while giving me a briefing. Surprisingly, the job scope he presented seemed well within my level of apprehension and so I gladly took on the offer this time. I certainly did not expect a casual excursion like this to secure the first-ever freelance deal of my life.

It was my first time freelancing, so I am worried that I might not deliver. Thankfully, all the worries were brushed away as soon as I started getting my hands dirty on the project. I initiated the project in late April this year by designing the mockups in Figma and subsequently took me around two and a half months to complete the concrete implementation for the multi-paged website. Asides, I had intermittent Saturday meetings with the boss and the clinic personnel to sync up the progress.

Last Saturday, I had yet another meeting with the boss that aims to iron out the details and ask for opinions on the overall presentation of the site. There are some layout shifts primarily pertaining to the footer and some copywriting and images update identified as the action item from the 45-minute session.

Just as we are about to call it a day for the discussion, I bashfully asked if I could get double the amount that I originally asked for for the work as it is still extremely cheap compared to the market and I wasn't prepared for the numbers when I was initially asked by the boss on one of the Saturday meetings. I just blurted out a random, outlandishly low number that came across my mind, which he accepted delightfully. I thought he is a cool guy and should have no problem with my "reasonable" request, right?

Wrong. He was perplexed, unable to comprehend what he was being asked for, and then he continues, expressing his disapproval that I shouldn't be raising the price like this. I was equally stunned by his response and cringed at my own request. It didn't go well. He said that he is very sensitive to this as a businessman and I shouldn't be quoting any price that I am not ready yet in the first place. I told him I am inexperienced with these kinds of things as this is my first freelance experience and I had put a lot more effort into the job than I originally envisaged.

Mr Nick told me that in this case, I should take this as a lesson instead and reflect the price, on my next freelance instead. He pointed out this is how I can grow my business and reputation moving forward. He also said that I should plan out the maintenance model as well, which I failed miserably too as I never gave any thought to it. He goes on that I should have a clear separation between development and maintenance such that once I pushed the finalized code to production, I should let my clients know that maintenance will start thereof.

He was right. In hindsight, I should have the plans and prices all sorted out and I shouldn't have quoted anything at all before I had the exact price figured out. The good thing is, Mr Nick is kind enough to twofold the maintenance fees that I had asked for (which is also kind of random but quite reasonable for me) every month as compensation. Not too bad after all. I am immensely thankful for the lecture that Mr Nick gave me as a response to my blunt request and his understanding of my inexperience. It really opened my eyes to the realm of business and freelancing that could pave the way for my success in the future.

Key takeaways from this lesson include devising a plan for development and maintenance before engaging in a job, quoting the right price in the first place and never ever altering the price at whim after being quoted unless the job scope has changed.