How I May Have Sabotaged My Freelance Career
One thing I’ve always wanted to do, is write more on topics pertaining to my work. From design techniques to WordPress tips, and even the business side of freelancing. I just never get around to it, and usually attribute my hectic work schedule to this short-coming. But I find myself in a situation I never thought I would be in, and I only have myself to blame.
Client Handling Know-How
Handling clients can be tricky business. There are many different breeds of client, and identifying them early on is key in how you handle them moving forward. I’ve heard of some people taking the “all clients are equal” approach, but I really don’t understand how that would work. You wouldn’t handhold a client who is well informed in the area you’re dealing with. And at the opposite end of the spectrum, you wouldn’t skip over the basics with a low-tech client. Determining what type of client you’re dealing with and addressing their needs accordingly can make our break your relationship.
There may very well be certain clients that you don’t want to deal with at all. Personally, the “always urgent” client really gets under my skin. But unfortunately, they’re probably the hardest to feel out in the beginning. It’s usually not until the project is live that you start hearing from them at all hours of the day (or night) in a panic. Generally, I’ve been open to working with people of all flavors and haven’t discriminated against those that might not be ideal.
Picking & Choosing Projects
Being a web designer with front end development skills, I’m able to take on projects of all shapes and sizes. From design jobs, to churning out (awesome) standards compliant XHTML/CSS templates, to full-blow blog design from start to finish. I can do it all, which gives me the flexibility to take on whichever I’m feeling most inclined to work on at the time, or arrange my calendar in a way that gives me a nice variation in the type of work I’m doing.
Like clients, there are projects that are less desirable and realizing which aren’t your favourite is just as important as sniffing out a potential problem client. For me, I avoid start-ups and larger corporate jobs like the plague, which are often very similar when it comes to paper work and politics. Being a solo freelancer, smaller projects work best for me – anything that would require more than a month of my time needs to be seriously considered. And this isn’t due to the workload – regardless of if I’m working on a single project over a couple months, or 2 or 3 smaller projects, I’m working all the same. Simply put, I need variety. Every time I’ve been on a project for more than 3 or 4 weeks, I’ve started to lose interest toward the end, which drags down motivation in a big way. So what is normally the most exciting part of the project, turns out being borefest and something I can’t get away from soon enough. The odd time it has worked out and I’ve enjoyed my time on a larger project right to the end, but I steer clear from them for the most part.
Another down side to taking on bigger projects, is having to miss out on many projects with short(er) timelines. Or even worse, not being able to help a previous client in a time of need.
Premature Panic Attack
Nearly 6 months ago I made a triumphant return to freelance web design. I had been working with a design studio for a year prior and was eager to jump back into some exciting projects with previous clients. Right out of the gate, I was booked for 2 months solid, and within a week of making my announcement, I found myself with no availability until the middle of the summer. This was great! I was excited to have so many people eager to have work done by me, and my calendar was full of projects that I was really looking forward to being a part of. During that time, I continued to receive work inquiries, but since my availability was so scarce, not many of them panned out. Regardless, I always sent a fully detailed reply with my rates and an estimate for the job in question.
A couple months in, leads started to slow down and I found that I was getting more “tire kickers” than anything else. Many people would write just to ask my rate and availability and that was the end of it. But again, I continued to send detailed replies to each and every one. It got to the point where I was starting to get nervous about not having enough work lined up. Granted, at the time I still had 5 or 6 weeks booked, but I have always been used to 2 or 3 months of projects lined up in my calendar at any given time. In this situation, I ignored my better judgment in an attempt to line up some new work, and it came back to kick my ass like I feared it would.
Making Mistakes
A rather large project for one of the world’s leading car manufacturers came my way. It was a big project, with a big budget, and it was just what I needed to fill my calendar for a couple months to come. Mistake number 1. I setup a call with them to get all the details and line up some dates. It went very well and I was lead to believe we would be starting the project on September 1. Since this was a decent sized project, I wanted to get a formal outline of all of the required components so I could prepare a comprehensive time estimate and quote. They needed some time to get that together, so I agreed to give them 2 weeks to sort things out. In the mean time, I would keep September 1 through October open for them. Mistake number 2. During that 2 weeks, I had several new leads come in, all of which I had to inform that I didn’t have exact dates open as I had a large project pending. Mistake number 3. Unsurprisingly, I heard back from very few of them.
July 31 rolls around, which is the deadline I had given this client to produce their specs. I actually touched base with them a couple days prior to ensure they were on track to deliver, to which I was assured they were. I didn’t hear from them. I gave them 24 hours leeway, but they failed to come through. I followed up and was met with a half-assed apology, a mediocre excuse, and a promise that the specs would surface within 24 hours. At this point, I wrote them off and began to kick myself for ever having dealt with them. I’ve checked in with them a couple times since, and even just last week I was reassured that I would receive the specs – still nothing.
Once I realized that things weren’t going to pan out with this client, I started trying to fill the rather large gap I had left for them in my calendar. Another large project came along with a near identical scope and budget. “Perfect!” I thought. Mistake number 4. This time around, I identified the client as being low-tech and proceed with caution. There were many email exchanges, which were mostly of the question and answer variety. Very time consuming and a little on the frustrating side, but I was determined to land this project. A couple weeks passed, when all of the sudden communication stopped. I followed up asking what had happened, assuming that they might have been talking to a few designers and had decided to go with someone else. But instead was told that the client had actually “given up” on this phase of the project and had passed the torch to her partner, whom I haven’t heard from to this day.
Hanging in the Balance
I’m at a point now where I’m doubting that freelance work is going to cut it. I’m down to only a couple weeks of work lined up, and only a handful of potential projects pending. The really strange part of all this, is how exchanges between myself and potential clients have gone. It’s pretty easy to pick out the copy-pasters, and I’ve had my share of those. But even the people that have clearly written directly to me and seem genuinely excited and ready to move forward on their project have been falling flat. In many cases, I’ve been able to accommodate their timeline and my quote has been within their budget. I can’t help but wonder where the disconnect is?
With my freelance career hanging in the balance, I decided to crank out my redesign in hopes of re-igniting the flame. I realize that my blog has been feeling stale, with a nearly 3 old design. And with my side projects all having been shut down or sold off, I don’t have a lot on the go to get people excited about. So again, it’s my own fault that things have gone the way they have, and no matter how awesome my redesign is (fuck, I love it!), it may be too late.
Normally, I hesitate to be so open about things like this. Especially when it leaves me vulnerable. But I’ve dropped some hints that the waters are choppy on Twitter, and people have expressed genuine concern. I also felt like a douche for being all dramatic with cryptic messages, so here it is. How I may have sabotaged my freelance career. Learn from my mistakes, and don’t be a Twitter douche.