I looked him right in the eye, “No,” I replied. “A diet coke is all I want today.”

If you’ve ever purchased fast food through a drive-thru window, you’ve probably been on the receiving end of upselling. Simply put, upselling is the sales practice of trying to encourage the client to purchase more than he or she originally intended to buy.

Some people believe upselling is manipulative–for obvious reasons. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a pushy upselling salesperson, then you probably know what I mean. However, some freelancers successfully use upselling to bring additional work to their freelancing business on a regular basis. In this post, we’ll discuss responsible upselling.

How Does a Freelancer Upsell His or Her Services?

A freelancer is engaging in upselling if he or she suggests an additional (usually more expensive) service to a client. Here are some examples:

• A freelance copywriter who is hired to write a press release for a company encourages the client to also use their services to write the copy for their corporate web page.
• A freelance designer who is hired to re-design a website encourages the company to let them redesign the company logo as well.
• A freelance photographer who is hired to take pictures of a company’s new product for an ad encourages the senior management team members to get new corporate photos.

In my opinion, as long as it is done respectfully and honestly and with the client’s best interest in mind there is really nothing wrong with a freelancer offering additional services to a client.

On the other hand, if a freelancer tries to manipulate a client through upselling to buy something that he or she does not really need or even want, then that is not a good business practice at all.

Seven Freelance Guidelines for Responsible Upselling

Here are seven guidelines to follow if you use upselling as a marketing technique for your freelancing business:

1. Take the time to understand the client’s business. If you can really show the client how an additional service that you are recommending would be useful to their specific situation, the client is more likely to make the purchase. (Even you don’t make the sale, the client will appreciate the fact that you took the time to learn about them.)
2. Don’t offer something that isn’t in the client’s best interest. A mistake that many sales people make when upselling is trying to push a product or service that the client really doesn’t need and can’t use. If you do this to your freelancing clients, it could damage your reputation as a freelancer and decrease future sales.
3. Do take “no” for an answer (at least initially). Respect your client’s right to refuse. One reason that so many people are turned off by upselling is that it is often done in a rather pushy fashion. If your client says, “no,” let it go. You can always bring it up again (casually) the next time that they use your services.
4. Don’t argue with your client. Whatever you do, don’t argue with your client about whether or not they need the service that you are trying to sell to them. Most people don’t like conflict. Getting into an argument with your client will definitely give them a negative impression of you and your freelancing business.
5. Use compassion and common sense. If your client has just explained to you that their sales have been drastically down this year, you can still offer your additional service without pushing it. You could say something like, “when things pick up for your business we may want to rewrite that company home page.”
6. Don’t try to upsell if the client isn’t already happy with your work. It would seem to be common sense, but if your client is unhappy with your most recent work then this is not the best time to attempt an upsell. Make things right with your client before you try to sell them additional services.
7. Care about your client. This last principle is probably the most important. If you really do care about a client, you’ll instinctively know when to speak up and when to be quiet. You won’t be overly pushy or try to get them to buy something that they really can’t use. Most of all, your client will probably sense the difference.

If you follow these guidelines, your “upselling” should be a positive experience for both you and your client.

An Example of What Not to Do

Upselling can often be unpleasant to the client (especially when it is done wrong).

I had a very bad experience with upselling at a beauty salon recently.

I had gone in for a simple trim. In the course of trimming my hair, the beautician commented that she could feel hairspray residue on my hair. She recommended that I use a very expensive clarifying shampoo that the salon sold to remove it.

I explained to the beautician that I don’t use hairspray. I also explained that I didn’t want the expensive shampoo today.

If the beautician had stopped here, the whole experience would have been okay. However, this particular beautician took it upon herself to argue with me.

“I definitely feel hairspray residue in your hair,” she insisted, “I’ve been doing this a long time and I know what hairspray feels like on hair.”

The fact is, I don’t even own a bottle of hairspray. I have never used it. My mother used it. My grandmother used it–but me, I don’t use it.

Yet, despite my protests, the beautician kept right on arguing with me about the hairspray she thought she felt in my hair. I finally just said to her, “I’m not going to buy that shampoo.”

Not only did she not upsell the expensive shampoo to me, the experience was so unpleasant for me that the salon probably lost a client that day.

What Do You Think?

Do you engage in upselling when you market your freelancing services? If so, what do you think of the practice?

Have you ever been persuaded by a sales person to purchase something you didn’t want or need? How did it make you feel?

Leave your answers in the comments.

Image by tombothetominator

Related posts:

1. Eight Freelance Businesses That DON’T Require a Computer
2. Working With Other Freelancers to Expand Your Business
3. Grow Your Freelance Business With Killer Customer Service

Every once in awhile we come across one of those nightmare clients you read about online and wonder if someone could really be like that. The sad, sad answer is yes–there are plenty of crazies in the world. And they like hiring freelancers for some reason.

I had my first (and only I hope) nightmare project with an even worse client several months ago. While he and his company will remain nameless, I think we can all learn from my experience–and my mistakes.

In The Beginning

This client approached me with a seemingly simple project. Basically, it was just a simple one-page site with a form that users would need to fill out, submit and see the results below. He explained that his budget was pretty low (red flag #1!) but that he thought the project was really easy (red flag #2). In hindsight, I don’t know why I accepted the project. The two red flags already meant going against many of the principles I talk about on here. I think I was pretty slammed with work during that time and not monitoring my clients well enough.

Anyway, I sent the project to the designer. The designer sent something back to me and without looking at it; I sent it to the client. The client had a few changes and went back and forth a couple of times. Then hell started.

Red, Red Everywhere!

The third red flag came at the end of the design process when the client asked for custom illustrations of a city in a foreign country. Mind you, he was only paying $400 for the design. After explaining to him that he couldn’t get custom illustrations for the price we quoted him, he complained that he was disappointed, but approved the design anyway.

The fourth red flag was when he sent the programming spec. It was nowhere near what we had talked about. All of a sudden, he required that the user be able to upload images, choose from several different options and dropdowns. I told him this wasn’t possible with the original quote and he said OK.

My Biggest Mistake

My biggest mistake in the middle of all of this was that I was slammed with my own projects and I stink at project management. I was so slammed, that I was forwarding emails left and right and not paying attention to what was in them. Little did I know he had asked the designer to place a ton of stuff in the design that would have to be programmed and wasn’t in the spec! He assumed because I didn’t say anything that it was OK.

An Angry Client

After explaining to the client that basically everything he asked for wasn’t what was in the quote, he was furious. He demanded that we do all of it and he wouldn’t pay a penny more. He refused to acknowledge that we told him earlier it couldn’t be done. Normally, I would tell a client to walk, but this was the first project where I was handling two other freelancers, and both of them had done more work than what they were paid for and all three of us deserved to be paid.

After several back and forth emails, we finally did most of what was out of spec for free and sent him a preview of the final project. Expecting to be thanked, I found this email in my inbox instead:

There are a lot of issues. Please send the illustrator/photoshop design mock-up quoted for $400 and consider the project closed.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with the project. I even politely tried to ask the client what the “issues” were and he refused to explain it to me. He demanded the “files he paid for,” but wouldn’t pay the final invoice. I finally had to (for the first time ever) threaten him with the contract he agreed to. He finally paid the final invoice and disappeared.

What Did I Learn?

While this was certainly an outragous client, I did manage to learn several things from the project:

• I stink at project management, so future projects will be broken up and other freelancers will deal with the client separately, with separate contracts.
• I should really stop writing vague programming specs. It’s the programming that always trips me up.
• Don’t take on a client with so many red flags
• Never, never, never take on a client who asks for a discount.
• Properly read your emails!
• If you don’t catch the out of spec work early on, it’s almost on you to provide the work for free, since you let it go.

Since then, I’ve gotten better at managing clients and spending the time to make sure I read each of the client’s emails thoroughly. I also try to examine all PSDs and put everything in the contract, so if need be, I can go back later and say, “this isn’t in there.” While I still mess up the programmer’s specs, both of us have gotten a lot better at figuring out how to manage the client’s expectations. Neither of us want to do free work ever again!

Nightmare Projects

What was your worst project? How did you handle it?

Image by ark

Related posts:

1. Ten Signs You Need To Refuse That Project
2. Elements of a Successful Project Proposal
3. Why Your Worst Clients Should Still Get Your Best Service

Still, there are a few elements to the freelance lifestyle that I could definitely do without. In this post, I will share with you some of my least favorite parts of being a freelancer that I have come to terms with and accepted as facts of the freelance life.

No More Scheduled Payday

When I made the leap into full-time freelancing, I suddenly had to rethink how I managed my income. No more dependable weekly or monthly paycheck. No more scheduling online payments. No more guarantee that I would have a check coming before rent is due.

Saying hello to freelancing meant saying goodbye to financial stability. Although I make more money than I used to when I was working a regular job, I never know when it is actually coming in. The juggling of bills and responsibilities is a new skill I have had to learn that someday may lead to an ulcer, thanks to the increased potential for stress. I imagine this fact is a little bit easier for single freelancers to handle, but since I am providing for my wife, three kids, and myself, this is definitely at the top of my list of freelancing facts I could do without.

A Blurry Line Between Work and Off Time

For those that go to their workplace every day, there is a clear definition of the beginning and end of business hours. Even with stringent strides toward creating the same clarity when working from home, it is far more difficult for freelancers to declare when they are on and off the clock. For me personally, I try to integrate my work life with my home life rather than separate them, so this makes the discipline of defining work hours even more challenging. Many freelancers choose to have a separate office in their home, but still find it taxing to try to stay away from work when they’re supposed to. There’s just no way other than strong self-discipline to keep this line from getting blurred, and it’s one down side of the freedom of freelancing from home.

Now I’m a Salesman Too

Freelancers have to continually find ways to bring in new business. Our livelihood depends on it. So, once I began freelancing it wasn’t long before I realized I was also donning the proverbial plaid leisure suit of the used car salesman and making those sales calls. I am somewhat an introvert, and networking has never been my strong suit, but without it my freelancing business would have never even got off the ground. I’m better at it than I used to be, but it is always a joy when new clients come to me rather than me having to pound the pavement.

Those Unaccepted Proposals

How many proposals have you put time and effort into preparing, sent to the client and waited with your fingers crossed, only to learn that someone else got the job? I’ve never taken the time to look at my statistics, but my guess is that a significant number of the proposals I write end up in someone’s wastebasket. We have to write them, and learn from our mistakes in an effort to get better at them, but there are a lot of unpaid hours that go into those unaccepted proposals. I could definitely live without that wasted time and energy.

Ridiculous Requests and Demands

Every freelancer has at least one client horror story, and if you’ve been doing it for any length of time you may have several. For me, handling outrageous requests and demands from clients and potential clients with professional prowess is not one of my favorite things to do.

At least once a week I receive an email from someone asking if I could build them an entire website for one tenth of what any respectable web designer/developer would charge. Another common fail is the vague statement, something like, “Make the design better.” Yes, I have actually heard that one a few times.

The challenge for me is to refrain from losing my temper and destroying any possibility of working with the client in the future, while still managing the relationship in a way that does not belittle the experience and skill I bring to it. Yet, every time I receive a ridiculous request, I am reminded yet again of those days when I just had work placed on my desk with clear instructions, instead of a barrage of ignorance or disrespect.

I Still Love Freelancing More

Regardless of these facts that I fight with regularly, I very seldom focus on them. The joy and freedom I have found in freelancing is much more valuable to me, and I choose to look at the glass as 90% full rather than 10% empty. Still, there are occasionally days where several or even all of these things occur at once and I could very easily catch myself dreaming of past experiences and situations where a co-worker or supervisor handled these painful duties instead of me. Yet I am certain I would never go back to the nine-to-five, short of the only other choice being homelessness. The adventure of freelancing is a thrilling roller coaster ride that I don’t ever want to unbuckle myself from.

What About You?

Have you found some facts of the freelancing life that you could live without? How do you handle them when they arise? Please share your thoughts in the comments so we can learn from each other’s experiences and move toward keeping the negatives of freelancing to a minimum.

Image by Grafoo at Dreamstime

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1. The Uncomfortable Facts About Plagiarism
2. Freelancing Dreams vs. Freelancing Reality
3. Staying Sane While Freelancing With a Loved One

And laugh we do. The freelancing blogosphere is filled with funny posts about what it’s like to be a freelancer, about the freelancing life, and about freelance clients. In fact, the ability to laugh about ourselves and our situation can keep us going. It also helps us bond together as a freelancing community.

Laughter is great for when we are feeling down, or when we just need to lighten up a bit. Laughter might even improve your productivity if it can get you to stop fretting and start thinking more creatively.

In this post, I share more than 15 funny links to posts, comics, videos, and more. Each one made me laugh, and I bet you’ll laugh when you read them too.

Really Funny Posts

In no particular order, here are some really funny posts that most freelancers will be able to relate to:

1. The Freelancing Lifestyle, parts one and two. At PoeWar, freelance writer John Hewitt takes a tongue-in-cheek look at what it would be like if all of the misperceptions that non-freelancers believe about freelancing were true.
2. 10 Ways to Stay Creative While Exhausted. Just about every freelancer knows what it’s like to work when you’re tired. At Minervity, Richard Darell shares some methods for staying awake that you will NOT want to try.
3. 10 Things You Should NOT Ask a Freelance Writer. Freelancers get asked the dumbest questions. Freelance writer Susan Johnston shares some of those questions at The Urban Muse.
4. Can You Be a Web Designer? This humorous flowchart helps you decide whether web design is right for you (posted by Jacob Gude on Six Revisions). If you liked this flowchart — here are even more funny flowcharts at DesignReviver.
5. 10 Blogs Every Freelancer Wish Existed. There aren’t enough freelancing blogs in the world–at least not according to Grace Smith who posted this list of funny blog ideas for the freelancing niche. Who knows? You might even find a blog idea here that you’d like to turn into a reality.
6. Top Ten Reasons You Should Quit Your Job Today and Become a Freelancer. Laugh at these hilarious reasons to become a freelancer from Jack Knight, posting on FreelanceSwitch.
7. 23 Signs That You’re Becoming a Design Geek. Are you a design geek? Are you sure? Sverre Sjøthun shares some common traits of design geeks on The Crestock Blog.
8. Freelance Client Relationships in Real Life, Everyday Situations. What would happen if clients treated merchants and vendors they way that some clients treat freelancers? This very funny video posted on BradFitzpatrick shows what might happen. (Warning! You’ll probably want to watch this video more than once.)
9. 30 Twitter Comic Strips. We freelancers love Twitter, but we also love to poke fun at it. You’ll enjoy this compilation of Twitter comics on Webdesigner Depot.

And, from our own Freelance Folder site:

10. How to Make Your Freelance Business Fail. Have you given up on trying to succeed as a freelancer? Grin with us as we share how you can fail instead.
11. You May Be Addicted to Social Media If. Do you overuse social media? Take this funny self-test to find out if you are addicted to social media.

If you thought these posts were funny, just wait until you see the sites that are devoted to humor…

More Funny Links

In random order, here are some sites that are just plain funny:

12. Clients From Hell. Yes, there really is a site dedicated to client horror stories and some of the stories are pretty funny. Visit it for yourself and suddenly your clients will look a whole lot better.
13. The Oatmeal. Just about everything on this site from Matthew Inman is funny. You’ll find comics, quizzes, and more.
14. Freelance Freedom. Okay, this is not an actual site, but a portion of a site. The Freelance Freedom comic strip at FreelanceSwitch by N.C. Winters is worth a visit.
15. Will Write For Chocolate. Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s comic strip chronicles the daily challenges of the freelance writing life.
16. We Make Clouds. A comic strip that highlights the struggles of commercial copywriter from Mike Farah and J. Longo. Although this strip seems to be mostly about the corporate life, freelancers will enjoy looking at some of the corporate zaniness they’re missing out on (not).
17. The “blog” of “unnecessary” quotation marks. If you’re a bit of a grammar geek like me, you’ll probably love this blog. It’s entirely devoted to the misuse of quotes. (If grammar’s not your thing, don’t worry. There’s more funny stuff to come.)

How to be Funny

Would you like to create your own funny blog posts?

Humor can be very difficult to master, but here are a few tips from some professional bloggers to get you started:

• The Secret of Writing Funny from Annie Binns on Write to Done.
• How to Be 20% Funnier Than You Really Are from Brandon Mendelson on CopyBlogger.

What Do You Laugh At?

Naturally, I’ve just touched the tip of the iceberg here. There is plenty of funny stuff online. Why don’t you share your own links to what makes you laugh in the comments? (Keep it G-rated please.)

Image by orangeacid

Related posts:

1. 5 Kinds of Blog Posts That Attract Clients
2. 2009 Freelance Folder Best Posts Edition
3. 5 Sneaky Ways to Get Free Traffic to Your Freelancing Blog

But to think that this is all it takes, especially in an online environment… well, you’d be wrong.

Branding goes a long, long way in the great big world of business. The right look, the right image, the right promise… and you have a winner. Sure, your skills and reputation count, but in most cases, it’s the brand packaging that sells.

Yes, people really are that shallow. Don’t believe me? Join me as I tell you the story about branding.

Oh, the best part? It involves beer.

Once Upon a Time…

… I was having a great day. It was beautiful outside, the sun was shining and life was fantastic. But I had to grab fixings for supper at my local grocery store, so I headed over and started my shopping.

Everyone was smiling. No one was rude. The whole store felt like one big happy family. A hungry family too, because cheese slices and hamburger buns and relish were going fast. Seemed like we all had the same idea that day:

Barbecue.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I figure that nothing goes better with a hot barbecue than a cold beer, so I headed over to pick up a six-pack. That would be the perfect top-off for my private little backyard cookout.

Except when I got to the piles of cases and rows of cans, I slowed down. We Canadians are known for liking beer, and the slew of choices before me was a good indication we liked it a lot. The only problem was that I don’t drink beer that often, and I didn’t know what to choose.

Cans? Bottles? Pale ale? Dark lager? Moosehead? Molson? It was option paralysis.

That kind of option paralysis is what your potential customers face. They might need a designer or a writer, but they aren’t that accustomed to knowing the difference between good and bad, between “right” and “not so great,” between this person or that business.

So they blink at the masses of you and think, “Who the hell should I hire for the job?”

That’s about the same feeling I was having while I stood there gaping wondering which beer I should buy for the barbecue. Then I spotted it: Bud Lime.

I’d seen Bud Lime before. My friends drank that brand, so it must be alright. There’d been television commercials showing pretty people having fun at parties. I wanted a party. I was pretty people. So I reached for the six-pack.

But then something else caught my eye: Miller Chill.

And I was back to square one. My options had narrowed down to two brands (just like your clients narrow down their options to two potential hires), and I had to find a way to pick between them.

Well, good luck with that! They were both light beer, both came with lime flavour, both were in six packs, and both were sold at the same price.

Looks like I had to get picky about it. Miller Chill had clear glass bottles and a silver and green label. Bud Lime came in sleek silver cans stamped with green accents. Miller Chill wasn’t sleek – in fact, the labels and bottles reminded me a little of a Mexican fiesta.

And then a whole bunch of mental images came to mind. Mexico was sunny; it was sunny here. A fiesta was fun; I could have my own barbecue fiesta. Fiestas made me think of music; I’d put music on!

The Bud Lime cans weren’t bringing me the same emotional impact. They made me think of urban clubs and thumping disco music and high-fashion clothing. I didn’t feel urban or thumping–I felt like relaxing and chilling.

Same beer. Same product. Same features.

What Finally Sold Me?

But it was the brand image sold me. And brand image is what sells you as well, when your clients are trying to decide between you and your competition. They look at the type of site you have, the message in your copy, the colors you’ve used, and the way you communicate.

Then they build up an image in their mind thanks to the emotional impact you’ve created. They’ll decide if you’re friendly or sharp or smart or fast or qualified, all from looking at your packaging, and how you present it.

Shallow? You betcha. Does it work? Sure does.

Branding creates an emotional pull that draws in the right clients. They “fit” with your image and relate to it, personally. They buy into not just what you sell, but the feeling they get from working with you. And if the feeling you’re giving is common old charismatic zen-white?

Well, you might as well be a no-name brand.

Think about how you stand out from your competition. What makes you special? What makes you different? What makes someone think you’re worth hiring over the competition?

You’re probably going to have to dig deep to find the answer, too. Your first ones are probably going to be words that you share with your competition, like “best,” “expert,” and “skilled.” That’s no help. That’s like saying “beer,” “light,” “six pack.” You need more than that.

You need to find what makes you catch someone’s eye and what makes them put down the cans they’re holding. You need to stand out from the crowd like a Mexican fiesta on a hot summer day. And that’s the way you’ll get thirsty clients coming to you like you’re a drink of cool water.

Or beer. You choose :)

What About You?

Does your marketing catch the eye of your prospective clients? Do you stand out?
Share your thoughts in the comments.

Image by tibchris

Related posts:

1. Five Freelance Branding Tips You Can Use Right Now
2. 7 Ways to Identify and Market the Uniqueness of Your Freelance Business
3. 5 Misuses of Social Media That Could Kill Your Freelance Business

Here at Freelance Folder, we’ve addressed the issue of loneliness several times.

Freelancing loneliness is a well-established fact–or is it?

Recently, I realized that I’m not very lonely and haven’t been for quite a while. That got me wondering about the issue of loneliness and freelancing.

Is it a myth that most freelancers battle loneliness, or is it a truth?

To find out I decided to pose the question “do you feel lonely” to my Twitter community.

In this post, I share those answers and invite you to share how you would have responded to my question.

What Do Other Freelancers Think About Loneliness

Here are the answers to my admittedly very impromptu and unscientific poll (since participants were limited to my followers on Twitter). I found the responses interesting, and I think you might too.

I’ve divided the followers into two categories: lonely and not-so-lonely.

First, the lonely responses:

• @2inspired, “Yep sometimes it does get a bit lonely here. I try to mix it up by joining a group & having lunch w/a pal every once in awhile.”
• @RaeConover, “I was just talking to a friend about that. I try to make at least 1 lunch date per wk & networking via twitter and FB helps too.”
• @amberweinberg. “Yes, it gets lonely working in my office alone, so I try to work in a cafe and at a friend’s office a couple of times a week”

Now, the not-so-lonely responses:

• @YoFinanceWriter, “Not often. I have a hubby who is with me so that helps, I also have many friends who work from home and we meet up weekly/monthly.”
• @leslieajoy, “I like being alone, but with being a freelancer I find that I get tired talking to the same people, most of who don’t get my job.” and “I can go two days and only see my boyfriend. I’m always on the lookout for online communities for this reason. They help!”
• @seanmlyden, “Not really. To fight isolation, I go to Starbucks to write. The “white noise” (along with the caffeine) helps me focus!”
• @ocopy, “No. Honestly, I like working alone!”
• @stephauteri, “I used to feel SO lonely! Now I work in an office three days a week, and it’s the perfect balance!”
• @theautowriter, “Generally, no. If I need a change of pace, I can get out & connect with someone. The occasional special event helps too.”

As you can see, there are a few more not so lonely responses. However, since this wasn’t a scientific poll that might mean nothing at all.

What I Think

After conducting this poll, I thought a lot about the results. On the surface, it looks a lot like freelancers are less lonely than many bloggers suppose.

While I can’t draw a definitive conclusion based on this one informal study, I did come up with some theories:

• There’s a huge initial shock when a freelancer starts–particularly if they’ve worked in a traditional environment previously. You’re used to being around other people all day long, and all of the sudden there’s no one else there. That can be a big adjustment for some people.
• Over time, most freelancers do adjust to the isolation of a freelancing environment. They start to work out their own solutions to finding social contacts (as you can see from the responses above). In short, they just get used to being alone.
• Loneliness can be an attitude or an outlook on life. For some people, loneliness can be the filter through which they view the world. If this is the case, the actual circumstances that such a person finds themselves in don’t matter that much.
• Loneliness is not limited to the freelancing community. People get lonely in all types of professions. Some people can be lonely in a crowd if they don’t feel connected to anyone. For that reason, loneliness posts often strike a sympathetic chord.
• Sometimes it’s necessary to find professional help to deal with loneliness–and there’s nothing wrong with getting help. I can’t bring myself to write a post about an issue like this one and not make that statement. If you’re having a lot of distress and can’t see a way out–get help.

I should also say that no one individual response led me to these theories. Rather, this is something that I have been thinking about, off and on, for some time.

What Do You Think?

It’s your turn to share what you think about loneliness. How would you have answered the question?

Do you think freelancing loneliness is largely a myth–that freelancers are no more lonely than other folks–or, do you think freelancers are generally lonely. Why, or why not?

Leave your answers in the comments.

Image by invisible-lens

Related posts:

1. Overcoming Loneliness: How To Develop a Flesh-And-Blood Support Group
2. 42 Questions Every Freelancer Should Ask Their Clients
3. Open Thread: What Type of Freelancer Are You?

On one hand are those who have been forced into self-employment as service providers, because they’ve lost their jobs and are having a hard time finding another one.

On the other hand are those who would be freelancing no matter what: even if the job market were booming, and even if the Internet weren’t around to give so many opportunities to work from home. They would still be hawking their services, working in their pajamas, and being completely happy doing it.

The latter are what I call freelancers at heart. They have the freelancing mindset. For them, freelancing is more than about working from home.

What Freelancing Is REALLY About

I’ve only been freelancing for two years, not at all as long as many others out there. However, I recognize that true freelancers–those who do so by choice and not by circumstance–have a different way of thinking.

In this post, I describe the five characteristics that make up the freelancing mindset.

1. Independence

Freelancers crave independence… from bosses and employers, from “the establishment,” from structures and hierarchies imposed upon them by somebody else.

Sure, we work for clients. In a way, they’re our bosses, because we have to meet their requirements and satisfy their expectations. Unlike bosses, clients can be chosen or rejected. We can sever relationships with a client if things aren’t working out, or if we don’t like how they’re treating us.

This isn’t very easy for somebody who’s an employee. Quitting your job is not something an employee can do lightly, unless you have a lot of money stashed in the bank, or a job offer waiting in the background.

Freelancers are willing to self-direct, to self-manage, and to be our own bosses–including all the responsibilities this entails.

2. Adventure

The freelancing mindset is one that is open to new experiences and challenges, and is always looking for adventure. In contrast, an employee mindset wants predictability and routine.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a stickler for routine, and if I veer away from it, my productivity suffers.

Yet in spite of my daily routine, I’m always working on new projects, learning about new things, meeting new clients and prospects, developing new skills, and redesigning my business.

For other freelancers, part of the adventure is working in your home office one day and in a coffee shop the next. Or, working while traveling the world. Our lives are like a create-your-own-adventure book.

3. Risk

True freelancers are not averse to risk. With our independence comes more responsibility, more accountability for our lives.

Not having a fixed income every month, for example, is part of the risk. The risk may scare us, but it doesn’t stop us. It’s also part of the adventure.

This uncertainty is more than others can bear. If I were the sole breadwinner of my family, I’m not sure I could put up with this myself. (In fact, the reason I took so long to finally plunge in my dream to be self-employed was because I wanted to make sure that my family wouldn’t go hungry if I failed.)

4. Creativity

Freelancers tend to be creative people. I say this not just because a lot of us are writers and artists and photographers. Programmers, virtual assistants and other service providers are creative in their everyday lives as well.

Our work are forms of self-expression. Our daily lives are a reflection of what we believe in and stand for. We’re creative in the way we handle the daily problems and challenges of freelancing. We don’t rely on others for solutions.

5. Idealism

Finally, the freelancing mindset is characterized by idealism. This is what makes some of us stick through the hardships, failures and pitfalls of freelancing.

We believe in a “better world,” where one doesn’t have to fit a mold to succeed in life. We believe that fancy titles are meaningless (and if not, we can give ourselves a fancy title anytime we wanted to). We believe in the freelancing lifestyle, and we’re committed to make it work.

We believe we can be happy, even prosperous and downright wealthy, doing what we love.

In Conclusion

Freelancing is all about the desire for more freedom and all that it entails. This freedom means we’re solely accountable for our own success or failure, for our happiness or misery, for our wealth or poverty.

There are no bosses, no backstabbing co-workers, no unfair HR policies to blame. Unless you embrace this, then freelancing will suck.

If you don’t believe this in your heart, then you will resent the work it takes to find clients. You’ll hate not having a regular paycheck and paid sick and vacation days. You’ll reject having to work long hours occasionally (am I the only one who worked longer hours while employed?).

Some freelancers have a freelancing work arrangement, but they’re employees at heart. They’re the ones who will jump the freelancing ship at the first opportunity of a good job. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong. After all, freelancing isn’t for everyone.

What Do You Think?

Is there a freelancing mindset, as opposed to an employee mindset? If so, what other characteristics does the freelancing mindset have?

And do you think such a mindset can be learned and developed–or is it something wired into us?

I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Image by divemasterking2000

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In freelance circles it is a common topic of discussion, often infused with a certain level of disdain for the clients and their lack of respect for those who they hire. While this can be therapeutic, it can also lead to developing an incorrect and misguided attitude toward clients in general, which can in turn negatively impact a freelancer’s approach to customer service and put them on the defensive rather than encouraging an expectation of the best.

This post seeks to remind us all that, although there are definitely clients that can drive even the most flexible and patient freelancer insane, clients themselves are not demons from hell but people, just like you and me, and therefore should be treated as such if a positive outcome is to be achieved.

One of My Recent Client Nightmares

One of the main reasons I am writing this post is because of an experience I had recently in which the client belittled my expertise and experience at each step along the way, questioning decisions and disregarding my advice for their own obviously awful ideas. At each point of contention, I made a clear and concise explanation of exactly why I was recommending things, over-explaining and educating this client well beyond what I should have had to do in this situation. Yet one by one, they overruled my suggestions and made demands that I eventually complied with, against my better judgment.

The project was a new WordPress website for a client of a consulting firm I have partnered with. It started out as a rush job, with a deadline of less than a week. I took the job only because the client was more than willing to pay up front and with a substantial increase in price due to the rush priority. However, within 24 hours of starting I was ready to refund everything and let someone else take this beating.

The troubles began when it was announced that the client’s wife was a graphic designer and had been working on a mockup of the website as well as a logo. Of course, this was revealed to me after I had already spent several hours creating a mockup of my own. Next, it came to light that the wife had never designed a website in her life, which meant a considerable lack of understanding of what is involved and what makes web design different from other types of design. Even more disturbing were the files she sent over with instructions of what must be included in the website.

Now I will be the first to admit that I am not the world’s greatest logo designer, but this logo was sorely amateurish, utilizing dated ideas and styles as well as a poorly designed font. The website mockup was even worse, and next to impossible to try to accommodate within a WordPress theme, much less to be completed in a matter of days. Immediately I responded with a detailed explanation of what could and could not be done, along with my recommendations and accompanying reasons for each. Typically, when I do this most clients will admit their lack of understanding or experience and yield to my expertise. In this instance, however, the client’s wife was insistent and chose to ignore a majority of my recommendations. She did, however, realize that she was in over her head when it came to web design and graciously withdrew her mockup to see what I could come up with.

So I began designing a mockup around an awful logo, and it wasn’t long before I realized this was going to be one of those projects that I would never put in my portfolio or let anyone know I had anything to do with (other than anonymously sharing about it here.) I did my best to maintain my personal and professional standards of quality and design, but it was a rough battle. Thankfully, the client’s wife approved the first mockup with minor changes, but once the site was built she decided she was going to create her own header image to replace the one I had created.

Shortly thereafter, she decided she wanted an intro page. You know, the annoying, death-to-user-experience, increase-the-bounce-rate intro page with a video of her husband welcoming visitors to the site. Again, I gave a detailed explanation with articles supporting my recommendation to refrain from using an intro page, only to be instantly dismissed.

Finally, the site was launched and the client was very happy with their end result. I was not proud of the work, but it was a quick project that paid extremely well, so I really could not complain. Besides, it was finally over. Or, so I thought.

Less than one day after launch the client himself decided the intro page was annoying, along with his acknowledgment of several other previously-ignored recommendations. He hired me to take down the intro page and go through with some of the suggestions I had originally made to his wife. I resisted emailing an “I-told-you-so” message and happily commenced with making extra money and improving the site along the way. In the end, it is still not something I will include in my portfolio, but instead a lasting memory of bitter frustration and hopefully something I can learn from.

What I Learned

This leads me to the point of this post. Every step along the way when the client made decisions that showed a blatant disrespect for my experience and knowledge, my immediate reaction was one of defensiveness. I took offense that someone who obviously possessed less knowledge than me in these areas was still making choices they believed were best, in spite of my advice otherwise. I saw this as truly insulting, and I wanted to remind her that I was hired because I am good at what I do and because the client does not possess the skills, experience and knowledge that I do. Several times, I came very close to picking up the phone and initiating this conversation.

Somewhere along the way, amidst all of the emotions and struggles, it struck me. I had been missing something here, and the revelation has impacted how I view clients ever since.

The client could not possibly know that they were insulting me with their decisions to ignore my advice, because they did not know enough about the process, or have enough experience to fully understand the depth of what they were communicating.

In other words, the client’s lack of understanding–and the reason they hired me to do the job–was not only the reason they made poor choices, but it was also the reason they could not possibly have a clue that their poor choices were an insult to the one giving the advice they were ignoring.

Make sense?

This revelation helped me to see that although at times this client seemed to be a demon from the pit of hell in her dealings with me, the reality is that she just didn’t realize what she was doing. Clients are human beings, not demons. Human beings make mistakes, poor decisions, and often succumb to selfishness. We all do it. So why should clients be the only people to whom freelancers show no tolerance, compassion or mercy?

Sure, there will be the occasional exception when a client is just plain mean, but the thought that there are a multitude of demonic clients waiting to ruin every freelancer’s life is a prejudice I prefer to free myself from. Instead, thanks to this learning experience, I choose to move forward with expectations of the best from each and every client that comes my way. Innocent until proven guilty, and then forgiven even when proven obstinate. Because in those worst moments, the likelihood is that they don’t even realize that their lack of knowledge on a subject, combined with a desire to control the process toward what they deem a satisfactory outcome, could quite possibly be insulting the professional freelancer they have hired to fill that void.

What If It Happens to You?

What if you’re faced with a “bad” client? How will you choose to move forward?

Share your ideas in the comments.

Image by Shutterstock

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Why? Not because they loved their 9-5 jobs or because they thought the idea of running their own business was a bad one–but because they were scared. Several people asked the same questions over and over:

• “How much savings did you have?”
• “How did you pay your bills?”
• “Weren’t you scared to leave your guaranteed paycheck?”

Thousands of people who have the potential to make it on their own don’t and they don’t for one reason–fear.

The Myth of the “Guaranteed” Income

Most people say they don’t want to make the jump into freelancing because they’re afraid of leaving their job. After all, their job gives them a guaranteed paycheck every two weeks, right? Unfortunately, this mindset is misleading. Income from a full-time job is not any more, and in some cases actually less, guaranteed than freelance income.

Especially in today’s volatile market, a full time job doesn’t guarantee you anything beyond the work you’ve already done for that week. It used to be that you could find a good job, show up and do passable work, and then get paid for the rest of your life. Nowadays though, you could be the best designer, writer, developer or whatever, but if the company no longer has the money to pay you–well you could be let go tomorrow.

So why wouldn’t you want to control your own business to ensure this doesn’t happen to you?

The Fear of Fear Is Anxiety

I’ll let you on in a little secret. I’ve been struggling with anxiety and panic attacks. I hate conflict and I’m scared of fear. However, for some reason, this anxiety does not enter into my business at all–in fact, it’s allowed me to see why my personal anxiety is ridiculous and has helped me towards recovery.

What does this have to do with you? When you tell me you want to start your own business, but are afraid of losing your house, bills or whatever–you’re experiencing anxiety. Don’t let this fear consume you or you could be stuck in that job you hate for the rest of your life.

The Fear of Being Poor

Anxiety phobes in business and personal situations focus on one thing–fear. They avoid doing something because they want to avoid that fear of the unknown. I’m going to talk about a touchy subject here–the idea of being poor.

When I was leaving the nest to start off on my own, I was scared. I was scared I would be a failure and would live in a cardboard box. I’d say that’s probably a pretty common fear for any college graduate, right?

However, I realized that I could never be poor if I truly didn’t want to be poor. Sure, I could be fired from my job and be temporarily broke–but I would always have the drive to make sure I would never live in a cardboard box. This is a good kind of fear that motivated me to be where I am today.

This could be you too. If you truly have the drive to succeed, you’ll never be a failure. You may figure out a couple of ways something shouldn’t be done–but eventually you’ll find the right way. You’ll never be poor because you’d do anything it takes to not be poor. Temporarily broke is a situation. Poor is a mindset.

How to Get Over this Fear

While my fear of being poor became a motivator for me to succeed, it can also go the other way and be a demotivator. If you decide not to take a risk or try something because you’re afraid it will make you poor, then that’s a demotivator.

The first thing you should do is to try to figure out your worse case scenario and then the likelihood of it actually happening. What’s the worst case scenario that could happen if you leave your job for freelancing? That you had no clients, work or money coming in right?

Let’s analyze that fear. Let’s say that six months after you started freelancing, you still have no money coming in. Bills are starting to be overdue and your wife/husband/kids are getting angry. Okay, fine. So go find another full-time job. It’s not the end of the world.

Think about this–what’s the likelihood of you actually going six months without any work? If you sit at your desk everyday and play on twitter, it’s a pretty high chance you’ll fail. If you actually push yourself to be where your clients are on the web, to make contacts and to work while you have no work–it’s a slim chance you’ll fail.

Stop Making Excuses

Freelancing is not a scary thing. In fact, I’d almost say it was pretty easy after the first two months. That’s not to say it didn’t require a whole lot of hard work, but I don’t have a business, financial or marketing degree, but I still figured it out.

Some people tell me they’re saving up money to freelance. That’s okay, but if you’re still saying that after a year, then you have an excuse, not a plan. Some people tell me it’s “not the right time.” Okay, so when is it the right time? Did you know that more small business are started in recession times than in times of plenty?

It’ll never be the right time, you’ll never have the right amount of money and the weather will never be perfect for freelancing. If you really want to do it, do it now.

Have you ever seen the movie Idiocracy? In the beginning, it showed a very intelligent upper class family who were waiting for the perfect time to have a baby. First, they got good careers. Then, they were saving up for a house. Then, for money for the nursery and then they waited for the perfect time. By the time they were “ready” to have a baby–they were too old to make one. That will be your business if you wait too long to start it.

I’ll let you in on another secret–I didn’t do anything the freelance books told me to do. I quit my job on a whim one day (thanks to my anxiety) and I had zero savings, zero clients and not even a proper desk for my laptop. But, here I am eight months later and I have so much work, I’m booked for a month and turning away people. Of course, I could still fail six months from now, but then I’d just try again–or get a job somewhere. It’s not really that scary!

Your Turn

How did you get over your fear of freelancing? Or, are you still stuck in that fear? What are you really afraid of?

Image by Capture Queen ™

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A few freelancers don’t take their business seriously enough, and quite frankly their unprofessionalism is hurting the rest of us who want to make a career out of freelancing.

So, if you’ve been merely dabbling in freelancing, if you’ve been inconsistent with the quality you provide, or if your attitude towards clients needs a little bit of adjustment, I have just two words for you:

QUIT IT!

To all the bad apples out there–Quit having a bad attitude towards clients. Quit producing low quality work. Quit playing at freelancing and get serious. The rest of us would really appreciate it.

If you’ve ever had to clean up after an unprofessional freelancer, you’ll probably relate to this post (you might even want to add your own thoughts about unprofessionalism in the comments).

Can Someone Else’s Bad Attitude Hurt My Business?

There’s been an ongoing debate about whether unprofessional freelancers hurt the rest of us. I’ve heard a lot of folks on social media say that it doesn’t make any difference what others do, so just “shut up and mind your own business.”

I’m normally a pretty meek person, and in many cases I do have a “live and let live” philosophy, but in this case, I think it’s important for us to speak out. It’s important because, in my experience, sometimes unprofessional freelancers do hurt the reputation of the dedicated freelancer. Unprofessional freelancers can hurt the rest of us by:

• Providing misinformation
• Providing poor service

Sadly, in the minds of some clients, we are all lumped together. If they have one bad experience with a freelancer that client assumes they’ll have a bad experience with every freelancer. To them, one freelancer is as good as the next.

Believe me, it’s not fun to hear your client insist, “but the last freelancer told me…“–especially when you know that what the last freelancer told them was very wrong.

Would You Use an Unprofessional Professional?

We’ve all dealt with professionals before. At some point in your life, you’ve probably also been in contact with a professional as a consumer. Draw on your own life experiences.

Consider the times that you’ve been to the doctor, or dentist. If you’ve used the services of an attorney or an accountant, then you’ve also used a professional.

While there are bad doctors, dentists, attorneys, and accountants out there–most of the ones who stay in business have fairly decent professional skills.

As you think about your last experience with a professional ask yourself these questions:

• Did they give you inaccurate information?
• Did they belittle you?
• Were they rude or confrontational to you?
• Did they talk about you behind your back or divulge your personal information publicly?
• Did they waffle on their price and apologize for costing so much?

If you were dealing with a true professional, most likely your answer to all of the questions above is: “No, of course not.” (If you answered “yes,” I would expect that you would never go back to that individual. You might even report them to the Better Business Bureau, or some other consumer watchdog group.)

Yet, a few freelancers do exactly the things to their clients that they wouldn’t ever dream of accepting from another type of professional.

I’m telling you right now, that’s not cool at all.

Learn More About Professionalism

We’ve written quite a bit about professionalism here on Freelance Folder. That’s because it’s so important.

• It’s important to your individual success as a freelancer
• It’s important to the overall reputation of freelancers everywhere

Professionalism can get clients to take you more seriously. It can help you develop a business mindset.

Even though we balance our materials here at Freelance Folder between writing for those freelancers who are just starting out and writing for those freelancers who have years of experience, in general the posts here have one thing in common–they are for freelancers who want to improve themselves.

Fortunately, that’s most of us. I’m confident that most of us are not the “bad apples” I’m referring to in this post.

What Do You Think?

Have you ever had to clean up after a “bad apple” freelancer who did a less than professional job? Do you think unprofessional freelancers make it harder for the rest of us?

Without leaving any specific names, share your experiences in the comments.

Image by ragesoss

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