Define Your Role As A Freelancer
Posted December 20, 2007 in Business 6 Comments »
One of the problems a lot of new freelancers face, is maintaining the proper role in the freelancer/client relationship. On the one hand, you became a freelancer to gain more control over your life….to be your own boss. Problem is, from the perspective of many clients, you work for them until a project is completed. No entrepreneur wants to be managed, and even worse, micro-managed. When starting out, it’s easy to get caught in this situation. Making the right first impression can make all the difference in how you and your client interact with each other.
Setting the Tone
In order to set the tone of this working relationship, it’s super-important to define your role from the very beginning…..by how you present yourself. The more professional you come across, the more your client will respect your abilities and your time. Chances are, they aren’t your only client. It’s up to you to get that across.
Being confident in what you do is a good start. However, self-confidence is a dual-edged sword. Nobody wants to deal with someone who is over-confident, but being confident and well-organized is pure magic. Having confidence in yourself and your abilities, builds the confidence a client will have in you. The more organized you are, the more comfortable they will be following your lead. The goal here should be collaboration, rather than a boss/employee relationship.
Being Organized Like a Pro
Like a pro? Absolutely…….you are a professional, right? The way I see it, there are basically two reasons a client would come to you in the first place.
- They don’t have the skills to do what they want done, or
- They don’t have the time to do what they want done.
Either way, they came to you because they need your services. By being well-organized, and having a basic first-meeting process and list of questions, this will not only provide you with much of the information you’ll need for the project, but it will also demonstrate to the client that you have your act together. Setting that impression and communicating effectively is the second most important thing you do next to the actual work.
What About You?
Have you ever gotten in the situation where a client tries to take over your life? How did it turn out, and what do you do differently now to avoid the situation?
Anthony
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Anthony Baggett is a freelance web designer, blogger, and Wordpress theme author from Mississippi. He rocks at Antbag.
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About the author: Anthony Baggett is a freelance web designer, blogger, and Wordpress theme author from Mississippi. He rocks at Antbag.
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6 Comments
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
December 20th, 2007 at 7:58 amYep, I’ve had this happen a few times. The clients that tend to end up taking over my job and telling me what to do are usually the ones in corporate positions or in high-paying jobs. They’re so used to telling others what to do or leading the troops or having a finger in the pot to control the situation that they just can’t cut the cord and let the writer do his job.
These are usually the people who also often say, “This is just my opinion. I’ll let you decide. You’re the expert, after all!…”
Oh. Thank you for noticing.
I think clear communication is vital to handle these types of clients. I also think that the ability to put the client back on track, to say no, and to know where to draw the line is vital to keeping your sanity.
Anthony
December 20th, 2007 at 1:07 pmJames,
Exactly. If you don’t stand your ground and stick to the plan, you can easily end up doing way more than you originally agreed on. Keeping the project on track isn’t always easy, but necessary.
Grace Smith
December 21st, 2007 at 2:20 pmExcellent article Anthony! You cannot underestimate how important setting the tone is, it defines the rest of your working relationship. Being confident in your abilities and honest with the timeframe go along way!
If a client finds me through my website and contacts me i ask them to fill out a Client Worksheet which gets all the necessary details i need for the project without asking endless questions. I find it to be extremely productive and that it often defines areas the clients had not necessarily thought of.
Anthony
December 21st, 2007 at 2:44 pmGrace,
I took a look at your Client Worksheet, and let me say, it’s put together very well. I’ve been working on putting together something similar. I currently have several client questions that give me direction, but I need to get more detailed like your Worksheet is……very nicely done!
Grace Smith
December 21st, 2007 at 6:47 pmThanks Anthony, it was a matter of keeping a note of the type of info i had to ask for on a constant basis and finding a way to simplify it and work it into sections, its definitely a time saver!
Its also great to refer back to when your actually working on the project.
Joel Chess
March 9th, 2008 at 1:41 pmI absolutely agree that you must be oganized like a pro, because you are a pro! You cannot let the tail wag the dog–be in charge and all the work you do for the client will go very smoothly.