which technology or strategy a new / inexperienced freelancer should use to earn profit?

Actually I m fresh recent grad who has just started his freelancing work. In due course i have got a project to develop website for a middle scale business (travel agent). As I don't trust on my client whether he will pay to me in full or not after the completion of website, i want to use cheaper and efficient technology so that how much he would pay I could got at least few units of % of profit.

As i have learnt ASP.NET and when I inquired about the expense in Hosting of my website i got the recommendation to develop my web app using the combination PHP and MYSQL instead the asp.net + ms sql. And the problem is I don't know PHP.

should I learn PHP and or work in what i m comfortable with and should try to cover whole deserved money. (as it is my first project so i m also advised that i may got some loss in starting but contrary to this i don't want to go in loss and want to earn appropriate profit)

I asked this question on the webmaster section but unfortunately i didn't which type of question i can ask or where anyway as i have got the suggestion to ask this question in this forum. so i hope i ll get an appropriate answer here of my problem.

PhilipK is right: I've been taken for a ride, I've lost $2000. So now here's how I do:

• rule #1: never ever ever trust clients. Nowadays, money is often more important than anything else. So be warned: many clients may try every possible things to see how far then can get with you for free.
• Now as for the contract: 30% of the total cost first. Don't worry: if the client doesn't want to pay, find another one. If you're good, or if you believe in you, you will always do the job and find a client that is willing to pay. Don't hesitate with small jobs.
• then define 7 steps: and 10% / each step; maybe you could change (that's what I usually do actually) 2 steps: 35% first, 35% for the last one (where you give your source code)).
• the only hard stuff is planning: just imagine how long it will take to make that, then multiply by two and you may be close to the reality. No kidding at all.

Once again: whether you're a beginner or not, just think that you're always worth something. ;)

To add one thing (after your comment): I was thinking like you a few years ago i.e.: "if I've lost some money (or if I'm underpaid) that's not a problem, because my work isn't that good". Here's what happened: you've learned a lot between the start and the finish.

So now that you've learned a lot, you find your work to be not as good as it could be, and you feel guilty about that. You are wrong. In computing (maybe everywhere else (including relationships)) you always learn a lot and if you look back you will always think your work isn't very good because now you can do better.

Knowing that, keep in mind:

• your work is always worth something event though it's not the best you can do;
• you always have to be paid for a work. Period.

First off, I like PHP & MySQL. However I think you should work with what you already know.

In my experience the best strategy's in your situation are...

1. Get a down payment, some % of the total cost you will be paid. Then show the client the completed work and get the rest of what your owed before handing over the code.
2. If the first option is not possible, work on the project but always have a back-up plan of what you will do if you do not get paid. I always keep back-end entrances on my site which allow only myself to enter a clients site. If they were to rip me off I would be able to take down the website. If you don't want to invest in making a program or script to do something like that, simply with hold the code until you get paid.

Good comments thus far. If you are looking to learn a new technology for the web I would suggest Ruby on Rails versus PHP. I started with ASP, then did PHP, then ASP .NET and am now doing Rails and it is amazing. Also tutorials online and books you can follow to get started with it pretty quick.

Other suggestions:

• Collect an initial payment up front
• Deploy to a development server that only you have access to. They can test it but not 'steal' it or take it without your approval
• When they eventually want to go live and launch then make sure they are paid up before hand -It sounds like you are pretty new to web development, so there is also some risk on your client's end that you might not be successful with the application. You should also consider that possibility.
• You should draft at least a basic contract / agreement of expectations of features, deliverables and payment.