We didn't set out to be freelancers because we love dealing with
clients, sorting out taxes and taking our financial lives into our own
hands, we are freelancers because we love the craft that we do. We're
creative people not business people and because of this it's easy to
make mistakes.
Here's how you can avoid them in your career.
1. Charging Too Little
This is probably the biggest mistake and that's why it's at
number one. The idea was to charge as little as possible for my work with
the hopes of that being attractive to potential clients. This actually
has the opposite effect. Clients may see you as 'cheap' and someone who
provides low quality work.
Solution
It's important to charge what you think you're worth as well as how much you need to live. Here are a few articles about pricing
2. Contracts
Having no contract or formal agreement in place when working with a
client can mean you doing more work than you expect to and some clients
may take advantage of this. A contract should make everything clear
about your services for the client. This means you should spell out
everything about your services from payment schedules to the amount of
revisions you're willing to do.
Solution
You don't have to be a lawyer to get yourself a contract, there are
plenty of templates and samples out there to help you set your terms and
conditions for your clients.
3. Knowing When to Say No
Many will argue that the client is always right. Others will argue
the opposite. Regardless of this sometimes you need to say no. You may
be asked to work less than your regular rate or the client may add tasks
to your current work pile. It's good practice to say no to clients that
could harm your reputation, try to barter on pricing and companies with
a bad reputation.
Before starting work for any client you should research their
business. How do they treat their customers? What are their work ethics
like? Answering these questions will help you get a better understanding
of the project and also give you an idea of what to expect working with
them will be like. If you decide to say no, don't regret it - there's
plenty of more potential clients.
4. Appealing to Everyone
It makes sense to offer more services to broaden your market.
However, focusing on and specialising in one or two services could gain
you more clients. This is because you can easily make a name for
yourself as the expert in landing page design, for example, but it's
much harder to be known as the best web designer. Pick a niche that you
love doing and something you're good at.
5. Staying in Touch with Clients
You work so hard to find your clients and then once the work is done,
you simply pack up and leave. This is something I did often and
probably lost out on a lot of work. The easiest way to stay in touch
with past clients is to build an email list that provides your clients
with content about your business. Offer discounts to your previous
clients and they'll be sure to hire you again.
6. Time Management
Give your client an estimate of how
long a project will take, it's easier to break it up in sections and
think how long these sections have taken you in the past. That way,
you'll keep your clients happy!
7. Marketing Yourself
If you want to
find work, you have to go to them and find your clients. Here's how.
Blogging
Probably the most popular way freelancers market themselves is by
blogging. Show your potential clients how professional you are by
writing about your craft.
Networking
Networking online and offline can gain you a lot of clients as they
get a chance to know you before they work with you. Setting up your
social profiles, sending email proposals and participating in industry
meetups will help you meet potential clients
and future colleagues.
8. Working Too Much
As a freelancer, you are the only person in your business and means
that you don't get paid time off or other benefits that employees get.
This caused you to work everyday all day in fear that you would never have
any money and soon burned yourself out. Taking time off for yourself
helps you to regain motivation and feel more refreshed to work.
Solution
Many self employed people regularly put earnings into a savings
account so that when it comes to take time off for whatever reason, they
have the money to do so and not have to worry about losing out on
income.
What Mistakes Have You Made?
It's our human nature to make mistakes. If we didn't mess up once in a
while, we would never learn so don't feel bad about screwing something
up, embrace it!
source:
creativemarket
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