Freelancers: Negotiate the following

I've talked a lot about marketing and advertising, but pretty much haven't said a darn thing about design, despite being a key part of the title of the bog.  Weird huh?
Well step back because it's time for things to change.  Today not only are we going to talk design a little, but we're switching gears too.  Check it out:

I met up with Florida local Nathan Rafter, a prominent web developer currently employed full time at FullSail University as a Lab Specialist for the schools Web Development courses final project month.  What's so special about him though?  Well not only is he a critically acclaimed web developer with more awards under his belt than he can list on his own website, but he has a lot of experience negotiating freelance deals and shared some great tips for any freelance designer who's in the process of considering clients.

After exchanging pleasantries, we sat down and got quickly got to business.  I asked him what he usually considers when interviewing for a freelance gig and he replied "My main concern is obviously if I'm going to get paid for this.  You may laugh, but it's a sad fact a lot of freelancers often get the short end of the stick here."
Freelancers only getting half of a pay check or not paid at all due to contract loopholes, murky agreements, or having the client run out of money is not uncommon. This said, it's good to make sure you have a very specific contract in place and agree to payment terms before agreeing to do business.

"The next most important thing I would say is "how will this project benefit me? How can my skillset compliment yours and am I a good fit for this?" This is a pretty big part, as it makes me happy and can make the client happy too. An unhappy client is bad in a lot of ways, so make sure you're a good fit."
Picking clients you get along with easily is ideal as it smooths the working process quite a lot and they tend to be more open to to ideas and concepts, however it can be a bit detrimental as they may come to you with 'favors' expecting you to do free work.  Monetary quarrels can obviously arise if you get too chummy with your client.

image from bizceos.com

He also stated the obvious in that doing a little bit of pre-meeting research goes a long way.  Obviously you're going to want to check a potential clients social networking profiles or their website if they have one.  This scouting gives you a much better idea of what to expect from a person and can result in smoother talks when your discussing fees and contracts.

He also added onto that statement claiming "When you actually start talking about money, always have the client or whoever bring up the amount first, otherwise you might sell yourself short or overshoot their budget.  Money's always the bottom line for anything and you don't want to scare them off.  If the amount they offer meets or exceeds your desired amount, then you're fine, but if it's not, argue for a higher price and be sure to back it up with 'facts' such as what services and skills you can offer then that other designers can't.  Also be aware of industry trends when it comes to pricing so you can use statistics if you need to."

Things got a bit off track from there, but he closed the topic of discussion up on a very critical point that I would like to share with you all: "Only work for businesses that have money now and prospects that look good to you.  Ask them where they see the company or project in 6 months.  This is crucial as most projects in my experience take around 6 months to finish and you don't want to get stuck with half a check when you finished all the work."

Wise words, especially considering these tough economic times when project funding seems to be pulled much more frequently.  I would say that concludes our interview, but it pretty much just spiraled into general chit-chat from there on out.