a freelancer – you don’t want to survive on freelance income as you get started. • Starting when you already have another income source means you can pick and choose who you work with (AKA Qualifying Clients – more on this later) • This is how you avoid CLIENTS FROM HELL • Transition your full time employer into a part time client if you can! • Take this time to build your professional portfolio, a stable of regular clients, and a better sense of what you WANT to do.
exactly enough that your client has to think about it, but still says yes. • An unfortunate reminder: the paygap exists in the freelancing world. That means you have to fight to earn what you deserve. • Rule of thumb: think of how much you want to earn a year, and drop three zeroes. That’s your hourly rate. • Want to make $25000 a year? Charge $25 an hour. $60000 a year? $60 an hour.
so many billable hours in a year: 40 hours a week x 50 weeks (52 – 2 weeks vacation) = 2000 hours • Half your time is going to go to unpaid work: outreach, hustle, and bookkeeping. • So 2000/2 = 1000 billable hours. • 1000 billable hours * your hourly wage = your yearly income • Want to make 100K a year? Charge $100 an hour.
to ask for that much an hour, but you HAVE TO. • You charge more as a freelancer because you spend more time on unpaid work (emails etc). You need to reflect that time in your rates. • Also, as a contract worker, your client doesn’t need to train you, pay for your benefits, your taxes, etc. • Therefore, even if you charge more, you’re STILL CHEAPER THAN A FULL TIME EMPLOYEE.
FAST. • There are other ways to charge, though! • TIMED wages: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, • PRODUCT wages: deliverable, project, and value • There are lots of resources on all of these options out there. Research!
freelancer, you’re not just selling a product: you’re selling yourself, and you’re selling a working relationship. • That means rather than thinking in terms of marketing and sales, you should think in terms of OUTREACH, followed by CLIENT QUALIFICATION and EDUCATION
started) • Some clients just come to you via your network. Others you have to work for. • DON’T JUST WORK ON YOUR PORTFOLIO! That’s passive outreach. Get active. • As a creative, working on your portfolio feels like self improvement. However, you will get more out of active outreach than you will passive marketing. • Use this method to make sure you have steady opportunities to avoid the feast/famine cycle.
site you can. NOTE: Upwork is NOT one of them • Start a bookmark folder and add any jobs you are interested in • set a goal for every week, whether it’s 10, 15, 20… whatever. • DO YOUR RESEARCH • Know WHO you are contacting • Know what the company does • Be ready to communicate how YOU can solve their problem(s) • Send an email that shows your research. • There are so many quality templates out for outreach emails. • TAILOR YOUR RESUME/PORTFOLIO TO THAT CLIENT • Follow up twice – more than that and you’re bothering them. Let it go.
do. • The Dunning Kruger Effect is a psychological paradox that relates to expertise. In short: • Novices tend to overestimate their skill at something, because they don’t know what they don’t know. • People who are trained in a field underestimate their skills because they know what they don’t know, and compare themselves unfavourably to those who can do what they can’t. • DON’T SELL YOURSELF SHORT BECAUSE YOU ARE GOOD AT WHAT YOU DO! • At the same time, your client doesn’t understand how skilled you are at what you do. What they understand is what you can do for them. • Pitch to them in those terms: SOLUTIONS, not skills.
a reason Clients From Hell Exists. • You have to interview your clients as much as they interview you. • Listen to their problems. Find out their pain points. Determine if you CAN help them. • The interview process is where you qualify your clients, determine the scope of the project, and start to educate your client. • Ask yourself: “is this someone I WANT to work with?” You have the power to say “no.” USE IT. • Interviewing the client changes the power dynamic: they aren’t just judging you, you’re finding out more about them.
potential client: • BUDGET: What is your client’s budget for this project? Does it match their goals? • AUTHORITY: Does the person you are talking to have the authority to make budgetary decisions for your project? If not, who should you talk to? • NEED: What do they need from you? DO they need you? Do they really need what they think they need, or can you correct them? • TIMING: How urgent is this project? Is their enough time to accomplish what they need?
sure you’re both on the same page. • BE CONFIDENT: You are the expert on what you do in the room. Reflect that. • QUANTIFY: What do you need to accommodate them in terms of time and budget? • COMMUNICATE COSTS: Remind the client that you’re working with available information and note what may change as time goes on. • FIT TO BUDGET: This may require trimming part of the scope or shifting deadlines, but either way, involving the client is crucial. Again, this is all about managing expectations. • OVERESTIMATE: This protects you against all the variables associated with estimates. Worst case scenario: you finish early and under budget, and the client is happier for it.
Make sure that’s clear. • Communicate WHY you made the decisions you did, and what purpose it serves. This takes practice. Start now. • If you’re a designer, you might have to have a better answer than “because it looks right.” • Continue to communicate timelines, requirements, and achievements • We all want to avoid Clients From Hell, but we need to accept our own responsibility in PRODUCING them. Client Education is how you do that.
that flies around the screen, and your cursor is a hockey stick and you have to CHASE IT! Me: I am going to do everything in my power to talk you out of this.
• Twitter: @clientsfh • Slack: The CFHWatercooler! • Brennan Dunn at https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/ • Kai Davis at https://doubleyouraudience.com/ • http://freeoutreachcourse.com/ • https://www.freelancersunion.org/ • Bonsai: https://www.hellobonsai.com • Useful for invoicing, contract generation, and more! • Creative Pulse!
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