4 Ways to Kill Scope Creep
Some clients just keep asking for a little more: a four page website design can turn into a design plus copy or even a design plus copy plus marketing. It often happens just a little request at a time, as the scope of the project creeps ever larger. Scope creep isn’t always an entirely bad thing, of course. As long as your clients are willing to pay for the work that goes along with a bigger project, it can be beneficial. Depending on the situation, there are several responses you can offer to a client with a case of scope creep. Continue Reading
Start Off Your New Year With an Ideal Project Profile
As I plan my business activities for 2010, I’ve decided to create an ideal project profile. You may have heard of an ideal client profile – it helps you visualize the exact type of client you’d like to work with. The ideal project profile describes in detail the exact kind of work you’d like to do for your ideal client. This post will show you how to create an ideal project profile for next year and beyond.
What to Do When a Client Doesn’t Pay in a Timely Manner
Some clients are happy to pay you for your work as soon as they get the finished product. Others make a tortoise look speedy when it comes time to cut you a check. The slow-pokes tend to fall into two different categories: clients who are going to do everything they can to avoid paying you and those that just haven’t managed to pay you yet. There are plenty of remedies for that first group, from lawsuits to collection agencies. But what about the folks that are just behind because of cashflow or paperwork?
There are a few ways that you can speed up the payment process, making certain clients easier to work with.
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.
Cool in a Catastrophe: How to Tell Your Clients
I hate to be a pessimist, but sooner or later something is going to go wrong — and it’s going to affect your ability to complete a project. It’s happened to me more than once over the years: I’ve gotten sick, lost power and faced other situations that spelled disaster for whatever I was working on.
I still get a little worried when I think about how I’m going to have to tell a client something has gone wrong. I’ve done my best to make sure that I’m ahead on my work, that even a catastrophe can’t delay a project — but I’m also prepared to tell my clients when something goes wrong.
