- You apply for a job.
- You read the job description carefully.
- You check the client's profile and past feedback.
- You ask questions and details about the tasks.
- You ask if your client will need any additional tasks.
- You ask for the deadline and exactly what is expected.
- If something is not clear to you, you make more questions until you have all the information that you need to make the project work for both sides.
- You analyze the project manager and his behaviour/attitude during the negotiation process.
You you do all that before accepting a fixed price contract congratulations, because you are doing your best to prevent any situation of exploitation.
However, sometimes you do all this, your client answer properly and then you realise that your client had bad faith because they hided relevant informations from you to make you accept a contract or they asked additional tasks that were not in the scope of their first request or they simply asked you a completely different thing right after the contract started.
It's my understanding that Upwork need to develop new tools to help freelancers regarding this. How many times did you feel that you were trapped in a situation like that without being able to simply end the contract because you were afraid to hurt your score at the platform? I'm an experienced freelance and recently I faced a situation like that, even after I do all the homework during the project negotiation.
However, it's not only Upwork responsibility to prevent this to happen. Freelancers are also responsible to try to improve their communication and find answers to their questions and solutions for their concerns.
So, I'm calling YOU experienced freelancer to help me to improve this guide and tell me what is your best advice to prevent exploitation on fixed price contracts so we can share this information at the community.
Note: Forgive me by any typos as English is not my native language.
