The Seven Deadly Sins of Freelancing Part 2 - Overestimating Your Abilities
I told you last time: most people who fail as freelancers don’t fail because they are good at what they do. In some cases, they fail because they underestimated the job. It’s not about your writing or design skills; sometimes, those skills can even get in the way of your success as a freelancer.
Deadly Freelancing Sin #2: Overestimating your abilities
OK, you’re a kickass writer or a hotshot designer. That’s great. It’s a good feeling, being at the top of your field. You’re exactly the kind of person that has the potential to make a go of it as a freelancer.
There’s a problem, though. Sometimes, you’re not as good as you think you are. Sometimes, you look at a job, say “piece of cake” and then proceed to give it a half-hearted effort. Sometimes, you are too busy thinking about being done with a project to remember that the client had specifications that you need to follow. In short, pride often comes before a fall.
Here’s the truth of it all, folks: the best writers and designers aren’t always the most successful freelancers. See, having the ability to write or design isn’t enough; you’ve got to have the ability to use those skills effectively to give a client something they want, something of value that enriches their life or makes their business more profitable.
So, how do you avoid the freelancing sin of pride? There are a couple of ways:
Listen To Your Clients
It’s true that, sometimes, clients don’t know what they want. Getting specifications from some clients is a lot like pulling teeth. However, once you have the specs for a project, pay attention to them. Ask questions for clarification if you need to. If something doesn’t line up right, point it out to the client and give them options of how to fix it.
Clients don’t hire you to do what you want to do; they hire you to make what they want you to make.
Sometimes, you can see a major flaw in the client’s specs. Maybe their design idea is crap, or they want too high a keyword density. Point it out, but if the client insists it be a certain way, do it. You’re not an artist, commissioned to paint the Sistine Chapel or a composer hired to write an Aria.
You’re a freelancer, hired to do what the client wants you to do. Short of compromising your ethics, stick to the specs your client gives you.
Remember The Basics
As a writer, basic things like punctuation and grammar are essential tools I use in my trade. The problem is, sometimes, I get cocky. I trust my instincts too much, and I fall back on incorrect constructs or old habits.
After five years writing for the web, for example, I am just now finally able to do all of my writing with only a single space after the period, as opposed to two. That’s a very basic web writing concept that I refused to master for far too long. When you do realize you’ve missed something like this, fix it and set your mind to never doing it again. Yes, I was a damn good writer before I fixed my two-space habit; now, I’m even better.
Don’t Take Work For Granted
No matter how good you are at what you do, there’s someone out there that can do it better. When you get an order from a client, remember that the client doesn’t have to give you her business. Give the client your best, every time, because if you don’t she’ll start looking somewhere else. There are plenty of other freelancers ready and willing to fill the gap left when the client drops you.
So, what about it? You ever have a client point out a glaring error and knock you down a notch or two? Has your pride ever got in the way of your success as a freelancer in another way?
Bob Younce
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About the author: Bob Younce is a full-time Internet writer and writing mentor living in Linwood, Michigan. He is dedicated to helping Internet writers to achieve their dreams. Visit Bob at The Writing Journey or follow him on Twitter.
The Seven Deadly Sins of Freelancing - 7-part Series:
13 Rockin' Comments
July 8th, 2008 at 8:27 am
This is a really good reminder for me. I forget too. It took forever to stop doing the two space thing because I learned to type before the age of computers. Thanks for the reminder, it’s a good one!
July 8th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Thanks for the reminders. I am just getting started in the way of freelancing seriously. It’s good to have someone looking over my shoulder to let me know what I might have been doing wrong.
Cheers!
July 8th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Don’t under-estimate your abilities either! That’s a mistake I made a few times thinking “There’s probably no way I can get this done in time”. The first couple of times I let it go, but one time I finally decided to take on a bigger project. It was of course more work, but nothing I couldn’t handle.
July 8th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Freelance writing is a humbling experience. Even if I think I’m my own boss, I’m not really. Because my boss is my client. And the hard part of freelancing is that I have several bosses!
I still keep reminding myself to focus on the work especially when the work is easy. But I think I’m always being tested because even if the work is easy, I get assigned to do dozens of articles like it for one client. So that’s a humbling experience for me and stops me from getting too cocky with myself.
July 8th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
What’s nice is that even if you over-estimate your abilities, you tend to get another shot. First drafts are first drafts - if you screw up majorly by over-estimating, you can redeem yourself by busting tail to solve the problem. Bonus: you have a new ability now, since you just spent all that time learning how to do what the client needs you to do.
Great post, Bob.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
have i ever been knocked down a notch or two by a client? of course! luckily, not too often. one came back with this comment after i submitted a design:
“if i’d know this was what you were going to give us, i would have had my cousin do the design”
yikes!! that was years ago, and i’ve very much honed my design skills since then, but man, did it knock me out of my stupor. i came back to them with a much better design that they loved. and, about 6 years later, they’re still using it.
July 8th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Thanks for the reminders! Very informative.
rgds
muvar
July 8th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
I’m sure we’ve all made that mistake at one time of overestimating our own abilities, gotten into a project, and thought, whoa, what did I get myself into? The bottom line, I beleive, is this: If you want to uphold your reputation, you pull out all the stops and do whatever it takes to get the job done to the absolute best of your abilities. Sometimes, though, if it’s really too much, you might be better off admitting your mistake to your client and helping them find someone else who can do the project justice. They’ll have more respect for you in the long run if you take that approach than if you completely botch their job because you were too proud to admit you screwed up.
Jaq - Loved your point about the client being your boss! It’s so true, and we need to remember it, as much as we hate to admit it sometimes.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:56 am
@ Lois - Glad to know I wasn’t alone on the two space thing!
@ Nathalie - Heh heh. Let’s hope that, from time to time, you have someone looking over your shoulder telling you what you’re doing right, too, OK?
@ Alex - You make a good point. I personally am more likely to over-estimate, though.
@ Jaq - Yep. Writing someone’s boring SEO articles really puts things into perspective for me. Don’t get me wrong, I still like that I’m providing value, but it becomes especially tedious.
@ Tei - Excellent point. Now, the footnote to that is that some clients expect a finished product and won’t send it back for revisions - they just move on. I like what you say about gaining a new ability, though. I’ve had that very thing happen recently with a client.
@ Melek - Is it wrong of me to laugh at your client’s comment? I’m glad that one worked out for you, though.
@ Muvar - You’re welcome.
@ Angela - For me, I’m less likely to admit a mistake to a client than I am to outsource the work (with the client’s permission, of course). I might just break even on the project, but it saves my reputation and keeps them happy.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Excellent article!
Re: not taking your work for granted, right on! The most successful freelancers I know are level-headed folks who know how to strike a balance between gratitude and confidence. They are confident in their abilities to produce high-quality work for their clients…and they’re grateful for opportunity to do so.
July 9th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I have been doing web development/design for the past year. My work ethic gets me far more work than my “experience.” That said, I have taken projects that definitely needed a more experienced hand. I learned from them, but I can’t say I gave the client good work.
Also, it’s a fine line to walk between confidence and cockiness.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
I have the opposite problem. Granted, starting out it makes sense to charge way lower than ideal until you have a good client base up and running (though that’s debatable). The truth is, I really should be charging three times what I do, and competitive rates are even higher. Still gotta get it through my head that it’s reasonable to ask for money for my work.
July 24th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Nice post!
I agree that overestimation of one’s ability is dangerous, I just don’t agree that it’s necessarily a deadly sin; it can be inspiration for achieving higher goals than you expected. I wrote a bit about this topic on my blog not long ago.
http://www.theagilebadger.com/....._4027.html
If you’re interested, please let me know your opinion.
Thanks again!
Share your thoughts, leave a comment!