So you agreed to work on this project for a client, and it seems like every time you go back to that client, they just keep adding more and more things to the original design and concept. How do you politely tell them that it is creeping out of scope for what the project was originally bid for? Has this happened to anyone? What did you do?

I’ve been working in IT for around 10 years, mostly doing freelance development and remote projects. A couple of friends of mine immigrated to the US about two years ago. At the beginning it was really difficult for them to find stable work. They didn’t have much experience in IT freelancing and didn’t really know how platforms like Upwork or Fiverr worked. Since I had been working in freelancing for a long time, I helped them learn how things work — from technical skills to understanding how freelance platforms operate. At first they just worked on small projects, but slowly they gained confidence and experience. Eventually they were able to find stable remote jobs. Seeing that progress was honestly really rewarding. It made me think about how many people might be in a similar situation — wanting to succeed but feeling stuck or not knowing where to start. Has anyone here gone through something similar when starting their career or moving to a new country? I’d be interested to hear other people’s experiences.

Have you had a client who wanted to pay you hourly, even though you prefer a flat rate? And what do you say? Do you go with it and bill them at an hourly rate? Or do you provide a quality statement explaining why you prefer the flat rate over hourly? Is this a deal breaker? Put your thoughts down below...

Hi everyone, my name is Kumail, and I’m a MERN stack developer. I’ve been building full-stack applications using React, Node.js, Express, and MongoDB. I’ve also worked on AI integrations, including chatbots and other AI tools, and I’ve developed mobile apps using React Native. I’m excited to be here, connect with you all, and keep growing my skills alongside this community.

1. Find a problem to solve 2. Find a niche to solve it for. 3. Make some samples of your work (Portfolio) 4. Go where that niche is online and make yourself useful. For example: if you want to be an ice cream man you might be tempted to say “I’m selling ice cream to kids and their parents” but that would be wrong. You’re selling the time it would take the kids and parents to go get their own ice cream at the store. You’re selling convenience. To expand on number 4... this week, I noticed someone on my Facebook feed consistently posting about their own business. They are starting to get pretty busy with giving quotes. I looked and found out they did not have a website. I had some templates I had made before in my portfolio, and I just did a quick customization to show him what was possible using their logo, etc. Basically, I had to make a few changes to the HTML code to match their business. I said, "Hey, this is what I created. Would you be interested in something like this for your business? That way, you would have an online presence as well." And now they are moving forward with finalizing it. And when it comes to freelancing, hopefully you're thinking MORE than just building out the website, because there are other things you can do to make it a more recurring revenue stream. - Hosting - SEO - Monthly maintenance if they need to have updates on a regular schedule. - Domain Purchase - Domain email with their own dot com...etc What are some other things besides website development that you might put in your contract to make it more of a recurring revenue stream?