Do You Have the One Crucial Skillset All Freelancers Need?
Posted March 30, 2011 in Getting Clients
We’ve talked a lot about the importance of building your freelancing skillset here on Freelance Folder. It makes sense that to be successful as a freelancer you should be good at what you do.
If you’re a freelance designer, you should be very good at design. If you’re a freelance programmer you should be very good at programming. If you’re a freelance writer, you’d better be good at writing. If you’re a freelance photographer, you should be good at taking pictures. And so on.
However, there’s one skill that’s crucial to freelancers, but rarely talked about. Can you guess what that skill is?
In this post, I’ll identify that crucial skill and explain why it’s so important.
The Freelancing Skill We Rarely Talk About
The other day I was having an offline conversation (yes, I do have them sometimes). The question that arose was this–who would you rather have work for you:
- Individual One–Someone who is competent and easy to get along with
Or
- Individual Two–Someone who is brilliant, but difficult to get along with
It may come as no surprise to you that everyone unanimously agreed that they would rather work with individual one. For most situations, being easy to get along with is more important than being brilliant.
So, what skillset are we talking about here?
People skills, of course.
Why People Skills Are Important
People skills are very important for freelancers. Having good people skills may even be more important for freelancers than for employees.
You see, as freelancers, we are constantly in “interview” mode–constantly making new first impressions. Our people skills are constantly on display. If a prospective client doesn’t feel comfortable dealing with us, we don’t work.
For an employee, however, they go to an interview once and (provided they are hired) they probably won’t have to worry about making a first impression for years to come. Of course, you’ll need to get along with your employer and coworkers–but a few minor lapses in people skills probably won’t lose you your job.
Plus, if you’re totally honest, how would you answer the question?
If you’re like most of us, you’ll probably agree that brilliance in a field does not outweigh being difficult to get along with. Everyone has probably encountered that brilliant individual who just can’t seem to live up to their potential because they are so difficult to get along with. Most of us don’t have the time (or patience) to baby someone like that along.
Our clients are no different–most of them want to work with a freelancer who has good people skills (and is competent) rather than with a troubled genius who requires a lot of hand holding…
Do You Have Good People Skills?
It’s time to give yourself an honest appraisal. Do you have good people skills?
Here’s a quick checklist to help you find out:
- Good listener
- Considerate
- Polite
- Team player
- Willing to see more than one side of an issue
- Honest
Does this list describe you? If you fail to exhibit these client-friendly behaviors, your freelancing business may actually be at risk.
If you’re not sure how your people skills stack up to the list, you may be able to ask a trusted friend for some confidential feedback. Be sure to take steps to build any missing people skills that your friend may identify.
Other Vital Freelancing Skills
Of course, having good people skills is just one of the characteristics of a successful freelancer. In the past, we’ve listed many other skills and character traits that freelancers need and those skills are worth repeating again.
Here are a few other skills that are important to freelancers:
- Self-discipline–As a freelancer, you don’t have a boss to make you sure you stay on task.
- Communication skills–Good communication skills are a must for successful freelancing.
- Marketing skills–You have to be able to get the word out to attract new business. No one will hire you unless they know you are in business.
- Diplomacy–Staying calm and being tactful helps freelancers a lot.
- Integrity–Without integrity there can be no trust, and business is based on trust. Be trustworthy.
- Social media skills–Okay, you probably could run a freelancing business without social media skills. But, it would certainly be more difficult.
What Do You Think?
Have I left anything out of my list of people skills? In your opinion, how important are good people skills, anyway?
Leave your answers in the comments.
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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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36 Comments
Freelance FactFile
March 30th, 2011 at 8:59 amYou also need to be an organized person if you are freelance – so I’d add organizational skills.
Rachel Small
March 30th, 2011 at 9:58 amSo true – people skills are vital as a freelancer. I recently worked with a client whose project was a bit of a nightmare, but because he was so friendly, helpful, and accomodating, I wouldn’t hesitate to work with him again. I also agree that organizational skills are a must!
Some Design Blog
March 30th, 2011 at 10:42 amI whole-heartedly agree. Having good people skills will gain you more referrals, and will gain you ore latitude from the client if you make a mistake. It goes the other way, too. I’d way rather work with a client who I like than one that is more profitable, but awful to deal with.
Saffron S.
March 30th, 2011 at 11:09 amI agree 100%. I’ve met a lot of brilliant designers over the years who scare off work and never make it because they’re hard to get along with. And it’s a shame, because they’re often some of /the most/ brilliant artists.
It does go both ways too, as others have said. I worked with a client recently who is an absolute peach. His project started out simple, but because of issues beyond his control (the old host/designer) launching was a bit of a nightmare. Do I hold it against him? No. Did I drop everything three days after launch when he was having a meltdown to go to his office an hour away and spend the afternoon ensuring he and his guys were all good and put out fires? Heck yeah. And did my doing that result in about a half dozen referrals so far? Yup.
Morgan
March 30th, 2011 at 11:14 amHi Laura!
Right on point! Luckily, my mother taught me at a very early age about manners and how to have excellent people skills. My people skills are exactly what have landed me so many jobs (even when I didn’t necessarily have the skills they might have wanted, but they knew I could learn).
I have also been on the other end where I rip my hair out trying to deal with someone who just doesn’t know how to talk to me like a human being.
My approach is: Be professional, but also be a human being.
Great post!
Veronika Walker
March 30th, 2011 at 11:47 amAbsolutely, Laura; people skills will make or break practically any socializing you do, professional or otherwise. I would hate to work with a service provider (or client, for that matter) who has an attitude or who comes across as having a chip on their shoulder.
Great article, thanks for the encouragement!
Laura Spencer
March 30th, 2011 at 1:14 pmGreat comments!
I’m a little surprised that no one took up for the brilliant, but non-personable worker. ;)
Seriously, as far as I’m concerned, life is too short to work with someone who is difficult. :)
Daquan Wright
March 30th, 2011 at 1:15 pmThe most important aspect of freelancing is not selling your skills, it’s selling the experience of working with you (which is what Apple does).
You can always learn things along the way as long as you’re capable, but if you can’t sell the experience, people won’t bite the hook in the first place.
Give your clients milestones, keep them informed about the project, involve them from the beginning, listen to their ideal application/story/design, etc. I always try to keep my clients involved, which means I do like small projects. Their satisfaction is above everything else. You don’t need to really be brilliant in a field, at all, but the experience of working with you should feel “brilliant” or “natural” to the client so they come back for more and possibly refer others to you. ;)
zedkin nimgram
March 30th, 2011 at 2:27 pmI’m not the best designer around……but clients always point that I really care about their needs….That’s my strong side, while I try to be a bether designer…
Laura Spencer
March 30th, 2011 at 6:04 pmHi Daquin! Interesting comparison. I didn’t actually think of that, but I can see the similarities…
zedkin nimgram–It’s great that your clients can see that and even better that they told you.
Steve Vitek
March 30th, 2011 at 6:33 pmI respectfully disagree.
People skills are always useful, but since I don’t really need them that much, the little bit of what is now called people skills that I might have had 24 years ago when I launched my freelance career as a patent translator must have atrophied quite a bit.
I mostly communicate with clients by e-mail. All they want to know is how much it will cost to translate a certain Japanese or German patent to English and how soon it can be done. Since I do the work myself, I don’t need to be nice to other people so that they would be willing to work me = again, no need for people skills.
If I do my job well, i.e. the translation is good, the clients will come back when and if they have another translation and they will refer other firms to me = they could not care less about my people skills. All they care about is the quality of my translation, how much it costs and how soon it can be finished.
A few times a month I am actually talking to a prospective client on the phone, usually a patent lawyer, at which point some people skills come in handy. But the important thing is again the bottom line: how much will it cost and hows soon can it be finished.
So all I really have to do is be polite and reasonable. I can handle that.
That is about the amount of people skills that I need on my job as a freelancer. In fact, I am pretty sure that I could no longer work as an employee, a member of a team (God, I hate that word!) because I don’t have any people skills.
Let’s face it, freelancers like me don’t really need any.
TLC
March 30th, 2011 at 11:47 pmLaura: Like the new hair and new photo!
Along with people skills go PR skills. You need to represent yourself in the best way possible. And if you’re teaming up with another freelancer on a project, you need to be sure to represent that person in the best way possible.
Making your partners look good makes YOU look good. And it leads to more referrals and more work for BOTH of you.
JohnM
March 31st, 2011 at 12:13 amYou know what! I prefer working with brilliant, difficult people because they give me the result I am looking for. I am looking for people to give me brilliant design, code or copy. Not the usual, predictable rubbish that comes from competent, average people who give you back what they think you want to hear.
Team players. Give me a break. That’s another word for moving along with the crowd, depending on the crowd, acting like the crowd, safety in numbers. I prefer people who are willing to break from the crowd and be original, and think differently. These are the people who bring fresh ideas to the table. Because brilliant people will find a better way to deliver results and will often make sure their thinking and execution is heard. Because they are passionate about their beliefs. Because they want to be heard, deliver a better project, does this make them difficult to deal with? I say no.
Easy to get along with people trade away their souls to be people pleasers. That makes them average.
Give me the brilliant, difficult people. Life is too short to deal with the competent, easy get alongs. I have seen too many of them.
Daquan Wright
March 31st, 2011 at 12:45 am@JohnM, so on the reverse side, you think freelancers should go after original but difficult clients to work with? Difficult people are a headache, but good look dealing with them, you’ll need it.
Chris
March 31st, 2011 at 1:39 amI agree people skills are quite important but it boils down to this. If there are 2 persons of the *same* professional skill but with varying people skills will this be taken into account. Otherwise as always the person will the higher technical capability will always be preferred whether he has people skills or otherwise.
Jason
March 31st, 2011 at 3:48 amI’m going to have to agree with both @Steve Vitek and @JohnM
What is this suppose to mean “Willing to see more than one side of an issue”? If you are talking about being objective that’s impossible for human beings unless you don’t have any emotions.
People skills are fake. It’s just the ability to get by pretending you like someone or something to be social. Even the most sweetest old church going lady has something nasty to say behind someone’s back ;)
Honesty can never exist in the same place as people skills or being polite. Are you really going to say “that design is crap dude” or “should have coded that myself”. “Yes honey, you are fat, lose some weight”. What about “I don’t care”, try saying that to your partner when they ramble on about something you really just don’t care about.
I believe in honesty over being polite. I prefer to go with not commenting at all than lying to someone.
Bogdan
March 31st, 2011 at 7:22 amIf you are rock star, people skills don’t truly matter. If you’re just a competent violin player in a symphonic orchestra they are essential.
The word average should not be used so condescendingly.
Steve Vitek
March 31st, 2011 at 7:44 am@Bogdan
Good point. I would add something like this: If you are not a rock star (if you are not really, really good at what it is that you are doing and trying to sell), maybe freelancing is not really the best option for you.
Join a company as an employee and use your people skills to sell refrigerators to Eskimos.
Bogdan
March 31st, 2011 at 8:24 am@ Steve
Thank you.
Maybe the discussion should not cover such general terms. I perfectly understand that in your line of work, people skills are not that important. But in other fields they are. For example, I wouldn’t imagine a trainer with bad people skills delivering a good service to his or her clients.
dp
March 31st, 2011 at 8:35 amI take offense to this article (probably because I have no people skills)
But honestly, I’ll take the brilliant person over the easy-to-get-along-with person any day.
If you are working on Apple’s new brand identity or the new Nike campaign, “competent” ain’t gonna cut it.
In fact, the MOST brilliant people have no people skills whatsoever because they sit around communicating with God (or whatever) through their work, while the others are honing their people skills.
“Anything great in this world has come from neurotics”
-Marcel Proust
“Some people never go crazy, What truly horrible lives they must live”
-Charles Bukowski
So it goes…
-dp
Steve Vitek
March 31st, 2011 at 9:13 am@Bogdan
“For example, I wouldn’t imagine a trainer with bad people skills delivering a good service to his or her clients.”
I can imagine a trainer just like. She’s blonde, petite and somewhat unorthodox in her approach to her clients.
Her coworkers refer to her, with what seems like envy, “the dominatrix”.
In fact I used to have a trainer like that a decade ago.
Bogdan
March 31st, 2011 at 9:57 amA little blonde drill sergeant :) what a sight…
But was she the exception or the rule?
dp
March 31st, 2011 at 10:02 amThe authors mistake here was comparing theses two types of people.
Brilliant or people skills? That’s my choice? What’s the point?
The article could have been about the importance of people skills without the comparison.
The editors should have caught this.
Very inflammatory.
So it goes…
-dp
Steve Vitek
March 31st, 2011 at 10:22 am@Bogdan
She was the memorable exception to the execrable rule that you always have to be nice to your clients.
Laura Spencer
March 31st, 2011 at 11:09 amGreat discussion! (I didn’t expect everyone to agree.)
I think one of the real problems with self-proclaimed disagreeable geniuses is that they are rarely truly a genius, which leaves them being merely disagreeable.
@Steve Vitek I’m betting your unconventional trainer had better people skills than you realize or people would be calling up to complain about her classes and asking for their money back. Being unconventional doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t have good people skills.
Steve Vitek
March 31st, 2011 at 11:13 am@ Laura
I agree. I was just making point that there can be different kinds of people skills.
Jameson
March 31st, 2011 at 1:11 pmHello my name is Jameson and I am a recovering know-it-all.
I thought my sarcasm, was witty, my vast knowledge on oh so many subject was a bright spot in my personality. These were the quirks that made me me. I was wrong; any success I had had up to that point was in spite of these traits, not because of them.
In his book, What got you here, Won’t get you there, Marshall Goldsmith identifies 20 personality flaws that result in self-sabotage. The list includes things such as always needing to win, making destructive comments (I used to think of simple sarcasm), and trying to show the world how smart you are.
The most important people skills, is knowing how not to turn other people off.
Jeremy Darko
April 1st, 2011 at 3:11 amI completely agree. I would say my shortcomings are time management & distractions and events/marketing. I would love to go out to every event but I just simply cannot. It’s also quite difficult to monitor every account simultaneously and work. I really enjoyed this article. I also find it difficult to communicate with individuals who feel the need to take over your job and who want to direct every step while being ignorant to your own opinions. I can be quite fastidious, but I trust that people will have faith in your ability to do what you are supposed to at your best and reserve judgment for finalization.
Ensemble
April 1st, 2011 at 6:47 ami think one skill is very imp that is honesty….if u r not honest no one is bothered how good you are…. :)
Steve Vitek
April 1st, 2011 at 6:59 am@Ensemble
Honestly, that’s not really your picture, is it?
Lex
April 4th, 2011 at 4:55 amNice article!
And i just want to shout out: I just told my boss that i’m going to take matters in own hand because i’m going to jump into freelance business!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!
oh what a relief it is! All i want to do is scream right now woohooohh!
Thx for this article and all the others here on freelancefolder. Lot’s of them helped me to finaly take the step. And in the near future i’m here probably more often :P
Vecto2000
April 5th, 2011 at 4:23 amHi ..
This bit funny but this is really good
Shakirah Dawud
May 12th, 2011 at 12:10 pmI think the people who said brilliant jerks are better kind of forgot the context. Generally, in order to be a *successful* brilliant jerk, it’s necessary to buff those people skills up at least at first. Then, when enough money has been made, other people can provide the people skills and let the jerk provide the brilliance. There are exceptions, but not enough to make a rule.
Running a business alone without any intermediaries, partners, or barriers does require people to filter their behavior at least to the point acceptable to the person they’re dealing with. That point varies widely across all kinds of factors, but it’s still true that when you stick your hand out for money, you’d probably best not smack the payor with the other hand.
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