Pop Quiz!!!  What's the worst possible thing that can happen to your freelance project?  Okay, besides not getting paid for all your hard work, what's the worst thing that can happen?

I know there's some out there that will say the answer is that they will not get enough inspiration for the project, and will burn out on an only marginally interesting design.  Others might swear that the answer is that they'll overbid the project and feel guilt about over-charging their client.  These people are crazy, by the way.

Seriously, though, the real answer is scope creep.  What, exactly, am I talking about?

First, let's lay down a definition.  While I'm sure many will disagree, this is how I define scope: "A description of all deliverable products, including their requirements and features."  Pretty simple, really–it's an outline of the project, from start to finish, that defines what things are going to be produced for the client, down to the level of specific product features and functionality.

So yeah, this seems simple enough, but the truth is far from that.  Why?  Well, there are a few reasons.  First, alot of inquiries to my site look like this:  "I need a blog.  How much do you More >