Going International

by Doug Florzak

I just went international. I completed a project with a company in Europe even though I didn’t have to leave my home, meet with the client, or even talk to the client over the phone.  How did I do it?

If Thomas Malone’s vision of an e-lance economy (see “The Dawning of Opportunity”, Contract Professional, September 1999) continues to unfold, it is inevitable that the market for a technical contractor’s services will expand not only beyond our own cities and states but beyond our country’s borders. Of course, it’s always been true that a contractor could hop on a plane and fly to a foreign country to work on a project. However, what’s different today is the convergence of international marketing available through Internet contractor sites and easy electronic transport of our product through email or FTP. Here’s how it worked for me.

A while back, a German software company contacted me via email, looking for a technical writer to create an API document as a help file. They found my profile on FreeAgent.com and contacted me about the project.  After exchanging a couple of emails, I established that they wanted the document written in English (whew!) since most of their clientele is English-speaking. We set the cost of the project in US dollars.

As exciting an experiment as this purported to be, I still had concerns. Specifically, what changes should I make to my contract? How would I handle the currency exchange? How will we handle our communications and file exchanges?

Contracting

I have to admit that I did not consult an attorney to see if I needed to change my standard contract for the project. However, in retrospect it seems one important part of an international contract is the clause that states the “governing law” for the contract. Mine says the governing law is the state of Illinois. This could be important because otherwise, the contract will be subject to the laws of whatever country or state is in the governing law clause. As it turned out, my German client accepted my standard contract as-is, but in the future, I plan to consult an attorney to see if any clauses need to be re-written for an international client. For example, I’m sure there are issues regarding NAFTA that need to be addressed if you contract with a NAFTA country.

Currency Exchange

Another problem with international transactions is getting funds converted from the paying client’s currency into US dollars. We had the option of doing an electronic transfer through our respective banks, but that carries a significant fee. Fortunately, I have a merchant account because I sell copies of my own book and this allowed me to accept Visa or MasterCard at a rate lower than what the banks would charge to exchange the currency. Another advantage to having a merchant account is that you get your money as soon as the client approves the charge. No waiting for the “check in the mail”. From the client’s point of view, they have security because if they really feel you’re not delivering what you contracted, they can protest the charge with their credit card company. In that case, the credit card company will act as an arbiter for the conflict. The charge for an average merchant account runs from 1.9% to 4%. There are several places that you can get a merchant account or the equivalent including PayPal.com and Charge.com.

Communications

The best part of this project is the fact that the product of my work was electronic files—there was no need to go to Germany to do the work and no need for them to come here. We could do all our communications via email and, if necessary an international call or two. They sent me a copy of the software I was writing for and I could send them drafts of my work as I completed them through email.  This is the major advantage that IT e-lancers have in an international market; our product is quick and easy to transport between client and contractor over great distances. Also, while I may have to subcontract a translator some day for a documentation project, the international language for IT programmers is English, reducing the language barrier for IT contractors.

One thing to keep in mind when managing a project through email is that you must be careful how you write your messages. It’s easy enough to miscommunicate intentions through the written word, but even easier when the audience is not native English speakers.

A project like this is heavily dependent on trust. If possible, you might want to start with a small project that’s not mission critical to the client. This lets you and the client work out any communications glitches before you tackle a larger project. If you can be flexible, taking on international clients can open up a whole new market for you services without ever leaving your home office.