5 Mistakes I Made as a Freelancer (So You Don't Have To)

1. No Contract, No Work

Verbal agreements are worth nothing when things go sideways. Even for small projects, send a simple one-page contract covering scope, timeline, payment terms, and IP ownership.

2. Treating Scope Creep as Free Work

"Can you just add one more thing?" — yes, but at a cost. Bill for out-of-scope work. Use a shared document to track change requests so everyone stays aligned.

3. Skipping the Deposit

Always collect 30–50% upfront. It's not about distrust — it's about alignment. Clients who won't pay a deposit are rarely good clients.

4. Coding Without Version Control

Even solo projects deserve Git. When you accidentally break something at 2 AM, you'll thank past-you for those commits.

5. No Acceptance Checklist

Before calling a project done, walk through a checklist with the client. Feature by feature. "I thought it was done" is a conversation you don't want to have twice.