How I Avoid Consultation Casualties
The first few years of my career as a freelancer, I figured that an in-person meeting was logical in order to get jobs. After all, not everyone is comfortable hiring someone they have never met face-to-face.
And it does make sense for clients to want to meet with a prospective freelancer, but I have come to observe the same thing with most face-to-face meetings: They don’t land the work for me.
At first, I thought it was me; that I wasn’t getting the jobs because I didn’t present myself well in person or did not do enough to hook the client. Perhaps my portfolio was lacking, I figured. But after finding out that many of the people I met with had postponed their project or still have yet to complete it, I’ve realized that there has to be more to it. It’s them…the prospective clients.
17 Ways to Use Active Listening Techniques in Online Communication
Business depends on communication, and communication is a two-way street. Not only do we need to develop the skill not just of making ourselves understood clearly and accurately, but we need to return the favor and put some effort into understanding the other person.
In a recent article I talked about the value of active listening for improving business. Only 35% of communication is contained in the actual words we are hearing or reading. The other 65% of the message is contained in body language, facial expression, tone and rate of speech, and other non-verbal aspects of communication. Active listening techniques can help us make the most of that 65%.
When Should a Freelancer Barter?
Every once in a while, I have a prospective client ask me if I’d be willing to accept payment in barter, rather than in money. Most of the time, my response is ‘no.’ My landlord doesn’t accept payment in barter — I checked — so, I have to bring in cash in order to pay my own bills. But there are some barter deals I have taken, and they’ve really paid off for me. I get a fair amount of my design work done by bartering with another freelancer: I trade writing for his site in exchange for him designing my site. There are certain situations where barter can really pay off for a freelancer.
How Freelancers Can Use Active Listening to Improve Business
Imagine we’re having a conversation, and I’m telling you about where I live. I might describe how Eagleby is located between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and mention the names of important roads. I might explain that Eagleby is situated between twin rivers, and the bird life in our wetlands—including eagles—attracts bird watchers from around the world. I might also mention that the reputation of some parts of Eagleby is summed up by the name given it by the locals: “Illegalby”.
While I was talking, most likely you were only half-listening. Perhaps you were also thinking about lunch, organizing three things you need to get done this afternoon, daydreaming about how cool you think eagles are, evaluating some ideas for a new website, and wishing I would change the subject.
Now imagine that the context of the conversation was that you were about to drive to Eagleby to meet with me about an important job. You would have listened in an entirely different way. And that’s the difference between passive and active listening. In this article we’ll look at why active listening is an essential skill for freelancers.
When You & Your Client Have Failure to Communicate
What we got here is… failure to communicate.
Firing a client is an emotionally anguishing action, but one that sometimes is the best strategy in a situation where you can’t see eye-to-eye on the scope of a project and its requirements. How you get to this situation is often a confusing mess of poor contract writing on your part, poor communication of requirements on the client’s part, and a muddle of clarifications, expectations, and sometimes a total lack of understanding by the client of underlying technologies and the possibility that you acted without full understanding of their project needs; all of which leads to their disappointment and your frustration.
To Your Satisfaction: How to Get on the Same Page as Your Freelancer
Freelancers have wide skill sets, but most don’t really offer mind reading. In order to make sure that your project is completed to your satisfaction, it’s important to carefully communicate with your freelancer. Even a relatively small miscommunication can affect the end result of your project, whether you need a website designed or copy written. And if a problem creeps in at a fundamental level, the way a freelancer executes your project can be very different from what you have in mind. The final project may be great, but if it doesn’t reflect what you originally wanted, you won’t be too pleased. Such situations can be avoided by making sure that you and the freelancers you work with are on the same page throughout each project.
Considering Portfolios: 6 Tips for Choosing the Right Freelancer
When it comes to finding the right freelancer for your project, resumes don’t always tell you everything you need to know. With creative work, like a website or copywriting, a freelancer’s style can be far more important than the companies he or she has worked for. Looking through examples of a designer or writer’s work can make choosing between freelancers a much simpler matter, especially if you have a whole stack of responses to a job listing. The review process doesn’t have to be complicated: you can find the right freelancer by focusing on a few key points.
Cheap Logos: Not Worth the Cost
Sites like PixelLogo and LogoYes offer incredibly cheap logos, starting as low as $39 — which can seem like a real steal if you look at the average freelancer’s fee. But the actual value of such a deal isn’t quite what a business owner might hope for.
A logo, like other elements of a business’ brand, is meant to set you out from the crowd. The idea is to make your company more recognizable to prospective customers — to create a unique identifier. But when you purchase a logo through a service that just lets you browse through a collection of pre-designed logos, you won’t be getting a unique identifier. It’s still relatively rare to run into someone who has bought the same logo as you have — but it happens. And as more businesses purchase logos from these sites, the likelihood of encountering someone in your city using the same logo is going up.
How to Get Quality Results on a Project You Needed Done Yesterday
There seems to be an age-old struggle between clients and freelancers: You need work in a pinch but don’t want to compromise on quality. Yes, I’m talking about rush jobs.
For many freelancers, this raises red flags. They’re concerned about being frazzled and not compensated for turning around top-notch work in a short span. You’re worried about meeting a deadline that just came up and saving your skin, too. If you can at all include more time for a project to be completed, do so. It’ll help you avoid rushing around—and probably save you a few bucks as well. But if that inevitable rush job comes into play, you’ll need to work with a freelancer that can swiftly get the job done.
Here are some tips on working with freelancers to complete rush projects.
Freelancers Versus Employees: What to Expect
On the surface, freelancers don’t look so different from employees: you assign them projects and pay them for their work. But if you consider how freelancers will interact with you, how they complete projects and even how they are paid, freelancers are a lot different than employees. It can require a shift to start working with freelancers, rather than trying to manage them like employees — but if you can build up a strong freelancer-client relationship, you can get much better results than trying to have an employee complete the same project.
5 Ways to Save Money on Freelancers
This post is a part of our Client Week series (check that page for an index as the week continues).
Many people turn to freelancers to complete project-based work, but some contractors can be on the pricey side. In addition to providing their services, freelancers have to factor in other costs associated with self-employment. Still, there are numerous advantages to seeking a solo worker, and ways to optimize costs in doing so.
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How to Client-Proof Your Work Schedule
It’s a fact of freelance life that some clients just don’t really seem to understand the sort of schedule that is necessary to complete a project. Keeping to a schedule when you’re waiting for approval, content or something else from a client can take a lot of patience and a little skill. While not every client is the same — some are absolutely wonderful when it comes to scheduling — having a few tricks up your sleeve can be useful.
