Appendix
Templates and tools.
Copy-ready starting points for defining the work, calculating your price, invoicing the client, finding buyers and avoiding the wrong projects.
In this toolkit
Jump directly to what you need.
A1 · Scope document template
Define the work before you price it.
Keep the scope to one page whenever possible. Make every deliverable specific and countable.
PROJECT: [PROJECT NAME]
Prepared for: [CLIENT NAME]
Prepared on: [DATE]
WHAT YOU WILL GET
- [Specific, countable deliverable]
- [Specific, countable deliverable]
- [Specific, countable deliverable]
WHAT IS NOT INCLUDED
- [Content writing, photography or logo design]
- [Ongoing changes after launch]
- [Anything discussed as a possible future addition]
WHAT I NEED FROM YOU
- [Text for each page], by [DATE]
- [Images and logo files], by [DATE]
- [Hosting and domain login details], by [DATE]
TIMELINE
[X] working days from receipt of all the materials
and access listed above.
PRICE AND PAYMENT TERMS
£[TOTAL PRICE]
[50]% deposit to begin.
Remaining balance due on completion.
Payment due within [NUMBER] days of invoice.
CHANGES
Anything outside the deliverables listed above
will be quoted separately.
AGREEMENT
Reply to confirm that this scope is correct,
and I will get started.A2 · Pricing sheet
Calculate the floor before choosing the quote.
Complete this privately before quoting anything. The client needs the final price, not the arithmetic behind your minimum.
Private pricing calculation
Price I am quoting
£[quoted price]
Deposit
[deposit percentage]% · £[deposit amount]
If the quote falls below the floor, cut the scope. Do not cut the rate.
A3 · Invoice template
Make the amount, date and payment method unmistakable.
INVOICE
FROM
[YOUR NAME OR TRADING NAME]
[YOUR ADDRESS]
[EMAIL] · [PHONE]
TO
[CLIENT BUSINESS NAME]
[CLIENT ADDRESS]
INVOICE DETAILS
Invoice number: 001
Date issued: [DATE]
Payment due: [ACTUAL DATE — NOT “14 DAYS”]
DESCRIPTION AMOUNT
[Work completed, using the
wording from the agreed scope] £[TOTAL]
Deposit received [DATE] −£[DEPOSIT]
BALANCE DUE £[BALANCE]
PAYMENT BY BANK TRANSFER
Account name: [NAME]
Account number: [NUMBER]
Sort code: [SORT CODE]
Payment reference: INV001Keep a copy of every invoice. Check the current requirements for record-keeping, tax and operating as a sole trader rather than relying indefinitely on a static template.
A4 · Outreach scripts
Adapt the bracketed details before sending.
Each message should contain something specific enough to prove that it was written for the recipient. Do not send the placeholders or use the scripts as mass outreach.
To a freelancer or small agency
Hi [name], I saw your work on [specific project]. I’m a developer taking on overflow: front-end builds, WordPress fixes and implementation work. If you ever have a job you’d rather not squeeze in, I can take it at short notice. No worries if not.
To a local business
Hi [name], I was looking at [business] and noticed [specific, verifiable fault]. I do this kind of work for [trade] locally. Happy to send you a short list of what’s wrong with the site, free and no obligation. Want me to?
To your warm list
Hi [name], I’m building websites and web tools for small businesses now. If you hear of anyone whose site is annoying them, I’d be grateful if you pointed them my way. I’m happy to take a free look at anything.
Following up one week later
Hi [name], just floating this back up in case it got buried. Happy to leave it if the timing’s wrong.
Asking for a testimonial
Really glad that’s working for you. Would you mind sending me two or three lines about what it was like to work with me? It makes a big difference when I’m talking to new clients. Anything honest is fine.
A5 · Client red flags
Walk away—or protect yourself more carefully.
Slow down if you encounter several of these before the work begins.
- A refusal to pay any deposit
- “This is a small job. It shouldn’t take you long.”
- No clear answer about who makes the final decision
- An offer to pay in exposure, equity or possible future work
- Two previous developers, both of whom were apparently terrible
- An urgent deadline the client cannot explain
- A reluctance to put anything in writing
- Haggling that begins before you have finished describing the work
A6 · Where the work actually is
Look in different places for each pathway.
01
Paid work that isn’t a job
Local freelance web designers and one-person branding studios. Small marketing agencies without an in-house developer. Independent WordPress and Shopify consultants. Design communities and professional groups.
Ask other freelancers who handles their overflow work. They usually know somebody.
02
The local small-business market
Trade associations and member directories. Local business networking groups. Google Maps searches for one trade in one town.
Look for businesses with obvious, specific problems—including websites whose footer still says 2019.
03
Productised services
This route grows out of repeated local-business work. Do not search for it separately.
Look for the same fault, buyer and delivery process appearing across several projects.
04
Your own assets
Communities you already belong to. Forums where people repeatedly complain about administration. Search and keyword tools showing what people are trying—and failing—to find.
05
The job, entered sideways
Search job boards by technology rather than title. Check council, NHS, university and charity careers pages. Look at recruitment agencies specialising in contract work.
Investigate employers in your town with more than fifty staff and no technology in their name.
Keep these tools nearby
Now use them on something real.
The templates become useful when they help you start a conversation, define a real piece of work or send an invoice—not when they remain perfectly organised in a folder.