Hey! this is Overpass insights my name is Eric and
I make apps now today I want to talk about under charging your clients
okay hey everybody so today I'm coming to you from well do I really need to tell you where I am today
so today I want to talk a little bit about under charging for projects which is something i've
had a problem with my entire history of Overpass it's just under charging right it's something that
I was reading a book last week it was a Jensen Gerald book one of the badass books and
he said when you under charge someone by the time you get paid it's like when they actually
pay you it's like handing you a soggy napkin like you're like yeah thanks right which is
yeah which is true like and if she also said if you if you overcharge and you feel
the guilt so you want to charge the right amount the problem with software development
and app development everything like that is that we never know how much something is going to cost
exactly when we're quoting for it so a lot of times we'll give something where we think
there's been times where I think I'm overcharging I have the guilt of overcharging, to begin with
like the initial quote I get that first payment up front and in the end it's like that second payment
with all the scope creep and the uh everything that keeps flooding in it's like my god you
hardly make anything the amount of projects I made losses on because of you know undercharging
is crazy I mean it just really is so one of the things I've learned over the years like the
hard-learned lesson is to stop quoting for large projects right you know I would do projects that
were like you know 10-20,000 pounds right and it would be like 50% of front 50% at the end and
there was times when those projects go on you know like you know six months longer than they should
or a year longer than they should everything you know scope creep starts coming in it becomes a
a bit where you just want to get it done you just want to get it done so you can get that
that soggy napkin payment in the end like at least let me recoup some of my losses and
there are times when you're just like the power in that relationship is with the with the client so
you have to one you have to work with clients that you actually you know trust and respect and second
you've got to start quoting for smaller things right you know there's a big difference with
well you know a big difference between an estimate and a quote a quote is what you're going to charge
them right so I always did quotes right where I should be doing estimates an estimate is like
this is how much it should cost now a lot of times they won't agree to a project on just based on an
estimate you know I know plumbers do it plumbers will say it's probably going to cost this amount
and you take it because they don't know what they're going to find when they start ripping up
the floors or the pipes or anything like that but as developers a lot of times when you start
getting in there into the requirements and they're like oh yeah we've got to add this thing we've got
this other thing we forgot to do this but a lot of times it just really really takes you by surprise
so a lot of you guys were starting off your first project I mean you are gonna under charge like
you're gonna think that you're charging up the right amount and you're gonna undercharge like
one question I get a lot on this channel is I got this software project how much should
I charge them I'm like dude man that's up to you how long do you think it's gonna take you know and
conservative well not liberally how long you think it's going to take and then add some time
on to that because there's going to be scope creeps there's going to be stuff that comes in
uh and the ideal situation though is to break that project up into multiple quotes or one quote
and multiple estimates so you say that deliverable is going to have this in it and don't get carried
away with a scope creep and everything going into that first version so anyway yeah the
soggy napkin quote really got with me because dude sometimes just feels like that's my life
anyway I hope you guys having a great day hope you have a great week that is it for me today
I'll talk to you next time stay healthy stay safe and um see you next time