Even though I didn’t have relevant experience, I got hired for my first freelance coding project. Big deadline I had to hit for them, and this is what happened:

Let’s cut the bullshit here and get straight to the point: I failed. I messed it up.

Took me 2 full days of hard work to just set up my coding environment and get everything to work.

And then I still had to start coding.

Got some stuff done, but not nearly enough. I had to tell them that I couldn’t make Tuesday’s deadline, and that the senior developer had to pick it up.

Felt horrible. I wanted to perform, and I wanted to impress.

Because well, they’re paying me $65/hour for this.

That’s €2000 they owe me for the past 3 days of work.

And I was excited about this, the project is truly exciting, I am spending money fast here in Japan, and I could use a big income boost like this one.

Plus I had never made even close to €2000 in such a short time before.

But.

I told him to not pay me 75% of it.

Threw away €1500 whilst I need money.

And above that, told him I’ll put hours in this weekend to learn the coding language he needs (Vue), without him needing to pay me.

I am choosing the long term. Valuable relationships where each one of us benefits.

Him getting quality work for the right price, and me delivering on that.

As I severely underperformed now, I am willing to take my losses and lose the €1500.

The result?

He sees me as a long term partnership now, and trust is incredibly high.

He knows I will give him fair rates and he knows his investment in me will be worth it, and I have even more incentive to do so.

Not the start I wanted to freelance developing, but very happy with this decision and this partnership. It feels great.

Oh and: coding is fucking awesome.

Kees Closed