Freelance For Money

‘We the People’ (and for ‘people’ read ‘client’)

Posted on 22. Jan, 2010 by Chris Green in Money

It always seems freelancers are very good at telling you why they’re great… why to freelance… and how to freelance. I’m sure you will hear many tips from very professional people, but as I’ve been more the client than the freelancer I thought I’d tell you what ‘we the clients’ want.

Over the last few years I have used various freelancers. Their jobs have ranged from writing or graphic design to web-design. I have provided work for musicians, fashion designers, artists and consultants. I have been impressed and at other times seriously disappointed.

So here’s my list (and forgive me for starting with #2…)

2. We want you to listen.

Yes… listen! It’s a very simple exercise that many fail at. We want you to listen to what our needs are for the project. We don’t want you to push your favourite piece of code or your latest flash animation trick. Only suggest them if they will add actual value to our project (not your invoice).

1. We want you to listen.

Did I say that already? Being a freelancer means a lot of work in creating clients and sales. Yes you need to put bread on the table, but to see us just as clients will mean you miss a returning customer or a recommendation.

We buy into you first your skills second. Take ‘L’. L is an extremely friendly guy. He will take calls from clients even when there is nothing to be sold. He is a top seller in his company because he sees people first and sales figures second. His clients and vendors return to him not necessarily because he provides the cheapest or best products and services. He gets taken out to lunch often by people passing through to say thank you. He has listened to life-stories and problems.

Likewise I have returned to certain freelancers, coffee-shops and clothing boutiques because I felt valued as a person (not a customer).

If you’re not a ‘people person’ you may have picked the wrong career. Am I saying we just want to be friends? In a way yes. And if you don’t like us FAKE IT!! I would be grateful if you were sincere in caring, but the truth is we won’t know the difference. Email clients such as outlook have sections for detailing information concerning spouses, birthdays, anniversaries and children. They are there to be used within a business context rather than forgetful dads.

3. We want you to be professional.

We want the services/product you agreed to provide at the price we agreed to by the time we agreed to. If you can be early- even better. We want you to be on time for meetings; to reply to our emails and phone-calls.

4. We don’t want to be ripped off!!

This is a particular pet peeve of mine. As most freelancers would place themselves in the entrepreneur bracket they are very quick to ’steal an idea’. This has happened to me on several occasions. Word gets around when someone has no or little ethics in their business dealings. If you think you can do a better job with the project or product then set-up a separate meeting and request a ‘buy-in’ if you really think it’s that good. You may make a quick buck now, but people will soon realise you are not worthy of their time or ideas. You will lose integrity*, ‘friends’ and money in the long-run.
*personal and professional integrity go hand-in-hand.

If you can fulfill these four and a half criteria and provide a great product/service we will always be returning customers and recommend you to others we know.

Tags: clients point if view, Freelance clients