Glossary

Every concept in this sheet, plus the smaller terms it uses. Select a concept to open its card.

Account health: Staying within platform rules: one account per person, no shared or rented accounts, no bought reviews, accurate identity and location, and no off-platform payments.
Asking for a review: After a good delivery, asking the client to leave feedback, and on direct work asking whether you can quote them as a testimonial.
Asking for referrals: Asking a happy client or contact, at a good moment, whether they know one specific kind of person who has the problem you solve.

Booking link: A scheduling link, from a tool like Calendly, where a prospect picks a short discovery call slot that fits your calendar and time zone.
Business basics: The small things that make you look like a business: a consistent name, a professional email address, a simple logo or photo and the same description everywhere.

Capacity planning: Tracking how many hours your projects really take and how many you have, before saying yes to new work.
Case study: A short write-up of one piece of work: the problem, what you did and why, the result, and a link or screenshots.
Change request: A written note when the client asks for something outside the scope: what is new, its extra price and how it moves the deadline, agreed before you do it.
Channel mix: Getting clients from more than one source, such as a platform plus referrals and a portfolio site, so one change does not stop your income.
Client-ready writing: Short, clear, polite English: one idea per sentence, no jargon unless the client uses it, a clear next step at the end of every message.
Cold outreach that is not spam: A short, personal message to one business you researched, naming one specific problem you noticed and one way you could help, with an easy next step and at most one follow-up.
Currency conversion cost: The difference between the mid-market exchange rate and the rate you actually get, plus fixed fees, when dollars or euros become your local currency.

Demand check: Counting real signs that people pay for your service: job posts on Upwork, competing Gigs and their review counts on Fiverr, or businesses asking for help on LinkedIn and in local groups.
Deposit: Part of the price, often a third to a half, paid before you start, with the rest due at milestones or on delivery.
Discovery call: A short first conversation, often 15 to 30 minutes, where you ask about the client's goal, current situation, deadline, budget and who decides, before you quote.
Dispute: A formal disagreement about payment or delivery.

Eligibility to freelance: Whether you are allowed to take paid work: platform age rules (18 or over to withdraw on Fiverr, for example), student visa conditions, your employment contract and local registration rules.

Fake cheque and overpayment scam: A client pays by cheque or transfer for more than agreed and asks you to send the difference back.
Fake client scam: A "client" who wants you to install software, allow remote access, open an account in your name, buy equipment, pay a fee or chat on Telegram before any contract.

Handling revisions: Collecting all feedback for a round in one list, confirming which items are in scope, fixing them, and summarising what changed on redelivery.
Handover: The final package: files, repository access, logins transferred to the client, a short guide to running or editing the work, and what support is included afterwards.
Honest testimonial: A short quote from someone you really worked for, such as a university society, an open source maintainer, a family business or a teacher, saying what you did and how it went.
Hourly versus fixed price: Hourly means the client pays for time worked; fixed price means one price for a defined result.

Identity verification: Confirming who you are to a platform with a government ID and sometimes a video check.
Income records: A monthly record of every payment received, the fees taken, the conversion rate and any business expenses, with invoices and statements saved.
Invoice: A dated, numbered request for payment with your details, the client's details, the work, the amount and currency, the due date and how to pay.

Kickoff: The start of a project where you confirm scope, deadlines, the client's inputs, how and when you will communicate, and who approves the work.

LinkedIn headline for services: The line under your name, rewritten to say what you do for whom, such as "I build booking websites for clinics and salons".
LinkedIn Service Page: A free section of your LinkedIn profile listing the services you offer, a description, work location, remote availability and an optional starting hourly rate.

Milestones: Splitting a project into parts, each with a deliverable, a date and a payment.

Niche: A narrow combination of the service you offer and the clients you serve, such as Shopify speed fixes for small clothing stores or data dashboards for clinics.

Ownership of the work: Who owns the code, designs or content you produce, and when ownership passes to the client, usually on full payment.

Payment fees: What your payment rail takes with no platform in the middle: transfer fees, currency conversion margins and sometimes receiving fees, charged by services such as Payoneer, Wise or your bank.
Payment rails by country: The services that can move money to you, which differ by country.
Pipeline: A simple table of every prospect, where the conversation is (contacted, replied, call, proposal, won, lost) and the next action with a date.
Portfolio piece: A finished example of the exact service you sell, which a client can open, such as a live site, a before-and-after, a demo video or a repository with a readme.
Portfolio site: A simple one-page site with your service, three case studies, a short bio, your rates or starting price and a clear way to contact you.
Posting about your work: Sharing short posts on LinkedIn or elsewhere about problems you solved, before-and-afters and lessons, written for the clients you want rather than for other developers.
Pricing in the fee: Setting your price so that what you keep, after the platform or payment fee, is what you wanted to earn.
Productised service: A service with a fixed scope, fixed price and fixed delivery time, described like a product: what is included, what is not, and what the client must provide.

Raising your rates: Charging new clients more as your portfolio and reviews grow, and giving existing clients notice before their rate changes.
Rate floor: The lowest rate that still covers your costs, platform and payment fees, taxes and the unpaid hours spent on proposals, messages and admin.
Red flag client: Warning signs: pressure to move off the platform or to Telegram or WhatsApp before a contract, payment promised later, requests for free samples, very high pay for vague work, or refusal to put anything in writing.
Referral habit: A routine of asking every happy client for an introduction, thanking people who refer you, and keeping in touch with past clients every few months.
Repeat client: A client who hires you again.
Retainer: A monthly agreement for a set amount of work or availability, such as ongoing site updates, fixes and reports, paid each month.
Revision limit: The number of rounds of changes included in the price, and what counts as a revision versus a new request.

Sample project: A project you choose and build yourself to show a service, such as redesigning a real-looking business site or automating a public dataset, clearly labelled as a sample.
Scope of work: A written list of the deliverables, what is not included, the client's inputs, the timeline and how the work will be accepted.
Selling an outcome: Describing your service as the result the client gets, such as "a fast landing page that collects sign-ups", rather than the skill you use, such as "React developer".
Service page on your site: One page on your portfolio site describing a single service: who it is for, what is included, a starting price, the steps, case studies and how to book a call.
Skills inventory: An honest list of what you can deliver today without a tutorial open, each with a piece of evidence: a project, a course assignment, a repository or work someone else used.
Status update: A short, regular message: what is done, what is next, any blocker or question, and when the next update will come.
Subcontracting and a small agency: Passing part of your work to other freelancers you pay and supervise, and eventually running a small team under one name.

Tax on freelance income: Freelance income is usually taxable where you live, and some countries have special rules or registrations for exporting IT services.
Time budget: The hours per week you can reliably give to client work, after classes, exams, a job and rest, written down before you accept anything.
Time zone overlap: The hours when both you and the client are working.

Unpaid test task: A request to complete real work for free as a "test" before being hired.

Warm network: People who already know you: classmates, teachers, former employers, family businesses, society and community contacts, and their contacts.
Withdrawal method: How money leaves a platform or reaches you: a local bank transfer, Payoneer, PayPal where available, or a wire.
Written agreement: The terms both sides agree before work: scope, price, payment schedule, revisions, deadlines, ownership, confidentiality and how either side can end it.