Retainers, tariffs, and our meeting notes from 9th April 2025
Posted by Paul Silver
On the 9th April, eleven freelancers met in the Lord Nelson Inn, Brighton, to talk all things tech and freelancing. This is some of what we talked about:
- American tariffs
- Manufacturing in China
- The market for Python programming
- Daft tech tests as part of job interviews
- Writing your own programming language
- The Shopify CEO letter about using AI
- When ChatGPT is not good (e.g. obscure areas)
- Testing and issues with using Pytest
- Making a prototype to replace a “vibe coded” app that doesn’t work
- Phoenix framework for Elixir
- Morse code telegraph machine
- Radiation and half lives
- Migraine symptoms and triggers can be weird
- Block Bindings in WordPress
- Retainers
- Good running routes in Brighton
- Juggling clients
- Formula 1 and E racing this weekend
Highlights
American Tariffs
As President Trump had announced tariffs for trading with America which were to come into force on the day of our meet up, it was no surprise there was a lot of talk about them. Some people have American clients, others have clients who trade with America and will be affected.
One thing was obvious, the situation appears very chaotic. We weren’t sure whether the tariff rates would stay at the levels announced earlier in the day. In that, we were right. The next day tariff rates had changed, and some had been suspended for three months. This only affected us a little, but our sympathies are with people running companies exporting to the States. It must be very hard to run a business like that with the situation changing so often.
Retainers
If you are consistently working for a client, it can make sense to move to having a “retainer agreement.”
This is you agreeing to reserve a certain amount of time for them a month. They know you will be available, you know you have a certain level of income booked. If you get busy, you know you have to keep time set aside for the client’s project, and they know you will be there when they need you.
Depending on how you work, you may want to agree when in a month the time is reserved, e.g. the first week of the month, or every Thursday, or whatever works for you and them – it’s going to be a negotiation.
You may agree to give the client a (slight) discount for booking you on a retainer, as you’ll have the safety of knowing that time and therefore income is safe. You do not have to give a discount. It is up to you what you agree to. You might offer it if you’re trying to sell the client on setting up a retainer, but equally if you value your time at the rate you’re charging, often just reserving the time is enough.
The main stumbling block to setting up a retainer tends to come from a client wanting to have flexibility. For instance, they’d like you to reserve four days a month for them, but not bill for the time you don’t spend on their work. How you structure your retainer is up to you, but you should give a firm “no” to this arrangement. Do not reserve time for someone who won’t pay for the time, that’s not good for your business. If they want this, suggest a shorter amount of time be retained, and you can offer to fit in the extra “if I have time available” and either they can go for that, or you end up not having the retainer at all – it’s not like they’re mandatory – but the client runs the risk of you being busy when they want work done.
I’ve had clients for many years without retainers, and some with. Some freelancers I know have almost all their clients on retainer. If they help you feel reassured about how you are booked, they can be a very good thing to look into.