4 Ways to Get Your Stalled Freelancing Project Unstuck
Posted September 17, 2010 in Managing Clients, Productivity
You never thought it would happen to you. You’ve landed your dream freelancing project. You’ve been working on it for a while now, when all of the sudden you find you just can’t go any further. You’re stuck!
There are a number of reasons why a freelancing project might get stuck. In this post, we identify four of those reasons and explain how to overcome each reason.
(A special thank-you to our Freelance Folder forum moderator Behzad Jamshidi, who is also the creative director and owner at DesignFacet, for suggesting this topic.)
Why Your Freelancing Project Might Get Stuck
Here are some reasons why a project might get stuck, and some suggestions for getting it unstuck.
1. You took on too much work.
You failed to estimate how much effort each project would take, or even worse, you didn’t bother to estimate the amount of effort required before accepting the project. Now, you have more work than you can possibly do and you’re overwhelmed.
Solution: The way I see it, you have three choices: you can either work around the clock to meet your commitments (and vow never to make this mistake again), if your contract with the client allows for it you can bring in subcontractors, or you can ask the client for an extension. All of these options have advantages, and disadvantages. My personal choice would be to bring in a subcontractor.
2. You don’t have the skillset to proceed.
Maybe you misunderstood the project requirements, or maybe you were counting on learning new skills on the job. It doesn’t matter. The result is the same. You’re in over your head and the project is stuck because you don’t know enough to finish it.
Solution: If you have a loose deadline on the project, you may be able to find a tutorial on the subject you are weak on or even take a class to learn the skills you need. If the contract allows for it, you may be able to bring in a subcontractor to handle the parts you don’t understand. In a tight time frame, you may just have to come clean with the client and admit that there’s more to the project than you can handle.
3. You don’t have enough information from the client to go on.
Sometimes the client is actually the hold up. Maybe they hired you on the basis of your past work and promised to provide details later and now those details are not forthcoming. Or, maybe you have a question that you need to have answered before you can proceed.
Solution: Take the project as far as you can without the client’s help and then let them know that you are stuck. You can say something like, “I can’t proceed further until you answer my question and I may not be able to deliver on X Date, as we planned.” If you still don’t get a response, put the project on hold and let the client know why. “Since I haven’t heard from you regarding Y, I am going to put this project on hold indefinitely.”
4. The client puts the project on hold.
The project started well and you’ve successfully completed the first few phases. However, in the middle of the project things change. Suddenly, the client slows down their communications with you. Then, they ask you to stop working on the project. Finally, they stop answering your emails altogether.
Solution: This is one of the toughest situations a freelancer can face. The truth is that sometimes client priorities change and contracts do get canceled. Try to get a clarification from your client as to the status of the project. If you suspect the underlying issue is money, you may be able to revive the project by offering the client more favorable terms such as spreading payments over time.
It Happened to Me
When I started out as a freelancer, a potential client contacted me about creating user documentation for a new program he was developing. I spent a great deal of time mapping out how I would help him develop an online help system for his application. He even gave me access to a beta version of his program and I started to get into the details of what it did.
Suddenly, just before the project was to officially start, he stopped answering his emails. Naturally, I tried to contact him using every piece of contact information that I had. Finally, several months later, he sheepishly admitted that his funding had dried up.
I never did get to work on the help system for that application, and as far as I know, it was never launched as a product.
What About You?
Can you think of other reasons why a project might get stuck? Do you have other methods for getting a project unstuck?
Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
Related posts:
- Why You Should Let Your Project Cool Off Before You Turn It in
- Living Project-To-Project?
- Ten Signs You Need To Refuse That Project
- The Worst Freelance Project Ever
- 10 Free Project Management Applications
About the author: Laura Spencer is a freelance writer from North Central Texas with over 20 years of professional business writing experience. If you liked this post, then you may also enjoy Laura’s blog about her freelance writing experiences, WritingThoughts. Laura is also on Google+.
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27 Comments
stoimen
September 17th, 2010 at 9:46 amwell this sounds like a great list! thanx
Giedrius
September 17th, 2010 at 11:00 amI usually get stuck on third reason. I think this is happening because I’m asking less price than the project actually worth, and the client just don’t look in the project seriously. At the moment I have the same situation, so thanks for giving me fresh ideas how to handle this.
Rebecca Leaman
September 17th, 2010 at 12:41 pmI can suggest two more possible reasons for getting stuck:
5.) Your heart isn’t in it.
Most freelancers take on a less-than-inspiring project now and then, usually in the midst of financial panic, and end up just dreading the act of sitting down to work on it. Suddenly, doing the laundry becomes a fascinating prospect. Solution: Suck it up and get it done, so you can get on to other projects that won’t suck out your soul.
6.) The client changes the brief or expands the scope of the project after you’ve signed on, so you’re trying to hit a moving target. Solution: get it nailed down – in writing – or add a contingency fee for changes that come in after the start date.
The Freelance Geek
September 17th, 2010 at 2:21 pmThe Client changing the goal posts is a big one for me too. It always seems to be the smallest changes that have the biggest impact on a Project.
Laura Spencer
September 17th, 2010 at 4:37 pmThanks for all the comments!
If this helps somebody get unstuck, I’m happy. :)
Giedrius, I think #3 is a very common problem. This is one reason why it’s so important to scope the project out thoroughly if you can before you accept it.
Rebecca Leaman & The Freelance Geek, First off, great additions to the list Rebecca! To both of you, scope changes can be the difference between a profitable project and one that is not.
Timothy Long
September 17th, 2010 at 5:29 pm#3 is a common occurrence in freelance web design. Getting copy from a client is like pulling teeth!
Jen
September 17th, 2010 at 5:49 pmLaura, thanks for sharing! These are very real issues that we deal with and/or will deal with in the future. It’s good to know how seasoned freelancers handle such problems.
Speider
September 17th, 2010 at 9:51 pmNaturally, because you have collected 25%-50% up front and collected at each milestone, if the client stops the project you can walk away and still have been paid for the work to date. The trick is when the client returns a four month-old email and asks if you’re done with the project yet.
If the client stops communications, don’t drop your price or take a hit because the client didn’t do their math. If you haven’t collected money up front, bothered to get a signed contract or haven’t built in milestones for the project and payments, continuing to work further is most probably only going to see you doing more work for free.
The client won’t return an email for a week, then call and call again. Then send an email stating you will be closing the job folder and billing for the kill fee (in your contract, right?). If you still don’t hear from the client, send and invoice. After that, it becomes the subject of an article on how to get paid (available on a design blog near you).
Laura Spencer
September 17th, 2010 at 11:19 pmGood points everyone!
Timothy Long, I think #3 is winning in terms of being the most common problem (at least as far as these comments go).
Jen, I think sometimes a freelancer fails to think about these possibilities until it actually happens to them. In those cases, I hope this post will help.
Speider, Yep, I definitely agree with collecting money up front. I wasn’t necessarily suggesting a drop in prices, but I think a freelancer can negotiate to do the work in phases and thus allow the client to spread it out over multiple months. Naturally, I would only make this offer to a client who had already their upfront deposit.
Speider
September 18th, 2010 at 12:06 amOh, I didn’t want it to come across that way. I was just adding price drops into the mix, because, it happens. That, of course, is a whole other article (probably several good ones on the Smashing network).
I almost make a practice these days of offering two estimates/bids when the client wants a flat fee quoted. One is high priced with several changes allowed and one which is lower but I get to do what I do best and changes are charged high and hourly. It’s sort of the mutated triad of “cheap – fast – good.” Pick two (someone asks for a discount because their third cousin, twice-removed knows your sister’s neighbor’s doctor who treated Kevin Bacon, who was in the same restaurant, blah, blah, blah, who once petted your dog, so they deserve a discount. They have to pick two from the triad).
Great article, by the way.
Laura Spencer
September 18th, 2010 at 8:44 amSpeider, No problem, we’re good. :) I think your advice is helpful. Although, that would also make a good guest post right here on Freelance Folder. :)
Melissa Breau
September 18th, 2010 at 9:21 amTimothy,
Sounds like you could benefit from partnering with another freelancer (in this case a copy writer) and when your client stalls, say, “I understand you’ve got a lot on your plate right now, would you be interested in bringing on a writer? I’d be happy to recommend one. But it’s essential we get the copy in by X date.”
Or you could find someone who’d be willing to do writing as a subcontractor – in my experience you can also mark up what you’re paying the subcontractor so you’d even make more money on the deal.
Susan Johnston
September 20th, 2010 at 3:46 pmGreat post, Laura, as always! As others have alluded to, the biggest problem is what happens to your pay check when a client stalls a project. A lot of the work I do is for magazines and websites and it’s almost impossible to get those kinds of clients to pay up-front. Fortunately (and thanks to a lot of persistance on my part), I’ve only had a few instances of non-payment and it was a small enough amount not to royally mess up my cash flow.
Elise
September 21st, 2010 at 7:37 amI’m a web designer #3 and #4 are the most common sticking points for me as well. I’ll take this advice and hope it will get things moving again. Thanks!
Ajeva
September 21st, 2010 at 10:02 pmI think that it’s all about communication and trust that will help avoid stalemate when it comes to freelance projects. On a client’s perspective, I’d say yes, we do change plans and then, there are those moments when plan A doesn’t work that well or that the freelancer hasn’t lived up to my expectation. I believe that no matter what the reason is for canceling the project, it will always be good to extend some kind of courtesy to a freelancer and inform him/her of the situation — than just ending the contract and leave him/her wondering.
mohit
December 31st, 2010 at 4:09 ami wanna take the project for freelancing……………..
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