Short answer: the Salesforce work is the easy part. Freelancing fails on the three things that have nothing to do with the platform: finding the next client before the current one ends, writing down what you agreed before you start, and getting paid on time. Expect your first year to be mostly referrals from people who already know you, expect to spend a quarter of your working time not billing, and do not take on a fixed-price project in an org you have not seen.
Where work actually comes from
People who have worked with you. Former colleagues, former clients, the manager who left for another company. This is the source of most independent work in the first two years and the reason leaving a job badly is expensive.
Partners who need overflow capacity. Consultancies subcontract constantly. Lower rate than direct, no sales effort, and reasonably steady. A good way to fill gaps and a poor way to fill a whole calendar, because you have no relationship with the end client.
Visible expertise. Writing, answering questions, speaking at a community group. Slow to start, and the enquiries that come from it are better qualified than anything else, because the person already believes you can do it.
Scoping, which is where the money is won or lost
Never quote from a written requirement alone. Get into the org first, even for an hour, on a read-only login. Most of the risk in Salesforce work is in what is already there: the trigger nobody documented, the managed package that owns the object, the 40 validation rules, the profile sprawl.
Charge for that assessment. A short paid discovery, a few days at most, ending in a document that says what you found and what the work would involve. It protects you from quoting blind, it is useful to the client even if they hire someone else, and a client unwilling to pay for it is telling you something about how the rest will go.
Contracts, briefly and seriously
- Get one, always. Even with a friend. Especially with a friend.
- Define what done means in terms of behaviour someone can check, not in terms of components delivered.
- Put change control in writing. Not to be difficult, but so that the third “quick extra thing” has somewhere to go other than your evenings.
- Payment terms of 14 or 30 days, with interest on late payment. Invoice on a fixed date each month, not when you get round to it.
- Deposit on fixed-price work. A third up front is normal and filters out clients who were never going to pay.
- Cap your liability at the contract value. Take professional indemnity insurance if you are working with anyone large.
Day rate versus fixed price
Day rate transfers risk to the client and is the right default for anything involving an existing org. Fixed price transfers risk to you, which is acceptable only when you have seen the org, the scope is genuinely closed, and you have padded it. A fixed price on an unseen org is a bet you will lose.
Set the rate by working backwards. Decide the annual figure you need, divide by the number of days you will realistically bill, which is not 220 and is closer to 140 to 160 after holidays, admin, sales and the gaps. The number that comes out is usually higher than people expect and it is the correct one.
What goes wrong
Feast and famine. Caused by stopping sales work while delivering. The fix is dull: a fixed half-day every week on the pipeline regardless of how busy you are.
The client who will not decide. Your project stalls, your calendar is blocked, you cannot bill. Write decision deadlines into the plan with a stated consequence.
Support creep. Six months after go-live you are still answering questions for free. Either offer a paid support retainer or hand over properly with documentation and a named owner.
Frequently asked
Do I need to be a Salesforce partner? Not for consulting work. Partnership matters for building products and for AppExchange listings, and it carries requirements that do not suit one person.
How much experience before going independent? Five years is a reasonable floor. You need to be able to walk into a strange org and form a view quickly, and that only comes from having seen several.
Should I specialise? Yes, once you can afford to. A specialist in one industry or one product charges more and spends less time explaining what they do.
