How to Juggle Clients in Different Countries
The web allows us to offer our services and skills almost anywhere in the world. Many of us are able to speak more than one language and have already worked for clients overseas.
As a freelancing web designer who is currently in the process of moving from Germany, where I was born, to Melbourne in Australia (Good city, that. — Ed.), I’ve been able to establish a client base in both countries. Over the last 6 years I’ve been flying back and forth visiting friends and family while also staying in touch with clients and picking up new gigs.
Dealing with clients in two countries that are 10 hours or about 15,000km apart can create many new challenges. Simple things like the time difference make communication a lot trickier and depending on what nationalities you are dealing with, there can also be differences in business culture you should be aware of.
Dealing with clients in more than one country
Once you’ve picked up some new gigs you now face the challenge of communicating with your clients in different time zones and different languages. Many of my friends keep asking me how I handle inquiries and phone calls from Germany while being in Australia where the time difference can be up to 10 hours or more.
It sounds pretty complicated (and sometimes it is), but there are also advantages to working in different time zones.
For example: if a client in Germany sends over a job via email, I’m able to work on it while he’s asleep. Assuming that I don’t have any further questions, he finds his quote or the finished work in his inbox first thing in the morning. Many of my clients really appreciated that.
Try to focus on email communication rather than phoning clients. Due to time differences this can make your life a lot easier. The benefit is you have everything in writing and you can reply at a time that suits you best. That said, try not to solely focus on email communication. Actually speaking to your client once in a while gives the relationship a social touch and provides you with the chance to establish all those important inter-personal things that a quick email just can’t do.
Unfortunately, when I ask my clients whether they use Skype or Instant Messengers, too often I still get the perplexed “what’s that?” answer. In Australia I’ve got a local number, so local clients can get in touch easily, but I can’t expect my German clients to call an Australian number and spend $1 or more per minute. Here’s one great piece of advice for all of you who regularly need to call or receive calls from clients in a different country: get yourself a VoIP enabled modem and a separate telephone handset.
There are several VoIP providers that offer local landline numbers for pretty much any country in the world. I personally use a VoIP phone in Australia that runs under a local German number. I just plug it into my modem and can call German clients for around 1 cent a minute and, even better, my clients from Germany can get in touch for the cost of a local phone call. In case I’m out of the office or asleep I’ve also recorded a German answering machine message to let clients know that I’ll get back to them as soon as possible. God, I love technology!
In another attempt to make the time difference easier to manage, I’ve hung two clocks on the wall right above my desk: one showing the local time in Australia and the other showing Berlin-time. When working in different time zones you often can’t be available during office hours in both countries. In my case Australian businesses start to close for the day while Germany is just waking up. To compensate, I try to start work in Australia at around 12pm and work late till around 9 or 10 pm. This way business hours in both places overlap and I can communicate with people in each time zone via email, IM, Skype and even the old-school telephone.
Of course, if that doesn’t suit you, try to establish a certain time-pattern with days where you can make yourself more available for each country -– e.g. Monday, Wednesday and Friday you could start work later to suit your second-country client base, while on Tuesday and Thursday you could try to adhere to local business hours. You’ll find that this will need to vary depending on your workload for each country/client though.
It’s also important not to forget to socialize with your clients every now and again. Usually I’m on a plane back to Germany once every 12 to 18 months to visit family and friends. Beforehand I arrange as many meetings with my German clients as possible. Meeting them in person, inviting them for a coffee or shouting them lunch makes sure they don’t forget you. Being a very popular tourism destination for Germans, they love to hear stories about Australia and how life is just more fun down there. It’s a great conversation starter and leaves a lasting impression on them.
Getting paid – financial stuff
So far I’ve been pretty lucky with my clients. Most of them pay relatively quickly after receiving my invoice. Unfortunately, not all of us have the same luck and things can get even more risky when working with clients overseas.
Find an invoicing tool that allows you to issue invoices in the necessary languages and currencies. Be aware of the inclusion or exclusion of the local VAT/GST (usually you don’t need to add that tax if you invoice clients from overseas, which, on the other hand, could make you more appealing to your clients. Confirm with your accountant though!)
If you have an established base in country #2 it’s a good idea to get yourself a local bank account. Stating your local bank account details not only looks more professional on your invoices; it also makes it a lot easier for your clients to pay you and hence, increases your chances of getting paid on time. I manage my German and Australian bank accounts solely over the internet and it works absolutely fine.
PayPal is of course another way of getting paid, but apart from the fees you are paying there are certain risks involved that could leave you empty-handed.
Whatever way you get paid, if it’s a new client — especially in a different country — make sure you ask for an initial deposit of at least a third or even half of the total price estimate.
In addition to all this, remember to think about the value and fluctuations of the different currencies you are dealing with. In my case, as a rule, German jobs bring in more money than Australian ones. This is simply due to the stronger Euro and the maturity of the web industry in Germany.
Two client pools to keep yourself busy
Over time you’ll see if having to deal with clients in a different country is for you or not. It has worked for me so far, although I’m planning on focusing more on the country I permanently live in, which will be Australia soon. However, it’s always good to have a second pool of clients that you can promote yourself to when local business is slowing down. While people are on their summer vacations in Australia, I tend to get more inquiries from Germany so that, overall, I can maintain a pretty steady stream of leads all year round.
If you’ve worked for international clients, I’m sure you have some great stories to tell. So please, leave your experiences and/or more pieces of advice in the comments section below! Danke and cheers…
Kai Brach is a German freelancer with almost 10 years of experience in designing and developing websites for companies of all sizes. Apart from working for some of Germany’s biggest web start-ups, he’s launched several projects himself with globalzoo.de, a popular German travel community, being one of them. His freelancer portfolio can be found at brizk.com
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Another issue for dealing with international clients is shipping documents, cheques, disks, etc back and forth between countries as needed. I deal with everything digitally to the best of my ability, but there will always be times when something needs to be sent the old-fashioned way. I’ve found that by knowing in advance (whether through my own personal experience, or through getting advice from other freelancers) which methods are most reliable, I am better able to avoid disasters such as delays, losses, etc. Once I’ve found a courier I trust, or a shipping method I am happy with I remind the client to send things that way, and warn them against using services that have proven to be unreliable or time-consuming. In some cases (for instance, shipping cheques or contracts) I make shipping method a condition of my contract.
The VoIP Phone sounds good, I’ll have to do some research into that.
I use the ‘World Clock’ widget to track time in different cities. It lets you drag multiple instances of the widget to the OSX Dashboard and you can configure them individually.
Thankfully the time difference between Japan and Sydney is only an hour, but i also work with developers in Russia and the US.
It’s also great when clients send you food parcels from back home. Of course you have to reciprocate. Also after three years, I still haven’t gotten my head around doing business in Japan. Some western customs can seem quite rude, but there’s a certain amount of understanding for cultural differences.
The great thing of having clients overseas is that if they found you online, you can work anywhere in the world and the client wouldn’t mind. It is a bit different when you have a local client that you met in your local chamber of commerce. It is very likely that they prefer face-to-face contact.
Kai also has the advantage that she is bilingual, like me (I speak Spanish and English). A bilingual professional can double the pool of clients, diversify the type of projects (different cultures have different views of the world) and diversify the technologies used.
What happens with transferring money from your German account to Australian account? For example, I have a Westpac account in Australia and New Zealand, but transferring the money from one to the other is such a pain.
Very interesting article… I’m in South Africa but my clients are in France…
I don’t have any time difference issues – but my question is about getting paid ?
If i open a bank account in France, will i not need to pay taxes in France too, to justify the money i receive?
I’m already paying taxes in South-Africa and have a registered business here, I don’t want to pay taxes in 2 countries… who would ?
And to add to my problem, Paypal is not available to receive funds in South-Africa, it’s driving me crazy and my frstration levels are high/
Any help regarding this matter would be appreciated, since getting money form one continent to the other has proved tricky at times. (and I’m still waiting for 60 000 USD that the banks managed to lose between Paris and Cape Town… it’s been a month and is costing me a fortune in time and phone calls)
Just found this blog and its great. I am a freelance web developer in Israel and I have clients in Israel, USA, and UK. I have found that the time differences actually can work to my advantage, since I can always work when one is sleeping so I can always make deadlines. I still do need a good voIP solution for my UK clients but overall its working well.
Thanks for all your pieces of advice.
#Pristine
I live in New Zealand and have a Westpac account. In my experience with Argentina, I used the EFTPOS/ATM card to extract as much as I could. Sure, I got a currency fees, but it was easier and cheaper than a normal transfer.
I am actually surprised that you have problems between Westpac accounts in Australia and New Zealand!
Hey folks,
thanks for commenting. Hope you liked the article.
@mave: yeah this really can be an issue. I don’t usually ship any documents. There are tons of ways of getting information across the globe.
@riki: thankfully German and Australian culture is not far apart. We share the same values and morals when it comes to doing business.
@pristine/pablo: I either transfer money from my German to my Australian bank account which costs me about $10 for every 1000 Euros or I use my bank card to get cash from the ATM and deposit it onto my Aussie Bank account for a small fee. Easier: sometimes I use my German credit card when paying for larger purchases in Australia, so that the money is taken off my German bank account anyway and I don’t need to transfer a cent across.
As someone living in the Philippines, I also have some experience dealing with clients outside (as labor is cheaper here). Its a good thing most clients I dealt with have paypal account so it was a breeze getting the payment. The real challenge in terms of payment when dealing with clients outside your host country is how to get paid. In my case I followed these steps:
1. Ask client of his preference
2. Make sample layouts
3. Once client agreed, ask for the 50% down payment. Don’t do ANYTHING unless you get something. I have one particular client asking me to do some programming stuff and right after prototype, I didn’t hear back from him. Worst, he was already using my hardwork.
4. Do the project, finish it. Once satisfied get the other 50%.
This has work fine with me dealing with some clients from North America and China.
Sam
Fix My Personal Finance
http://fixmypersonalfinance.com
@max: You don’t need to pay taxes in that second country just because you have an account there. I’m no accountant and every country surely treats this different, but in my case and a lot of others, you only pay tax where your business is conducted.
HOW you get to a French bank account, that’s a different story. It’s sometimes quite difficult to open a bank account without proper address or references. Good luck!
Hey Kai, nice to see you writing for my favorite freelance blog. Thumbs up!
Und bei der nächsten Gelegenheit gehen wir mal wieder einen trinken
Cheers from Cologne
thanks Kai for answering my question… i already have a bank account in France… so maybe this is the solution !
Any recommandations from legal or accounting experts are appreciated…
Interesting post. Never having done international gigs this is enlightening.
Thanks for the post. I live and work in Tokyo and also do work for clients in New York.
Invoice tools?
I have been looking for a good invoice tool and have gone through all the tools listed at the link above as well as some others but I have yet to find one that works just the way I need. The two things I am looking for is the ability to invoice in both Dollars and Yen and the ability to maintain two profiles since I maintain an address in both Tokyo and New York and use them for the clients in those locations. Anybody have any suggestions on a good invoice tool to use to solve these problems?
Telephone #
One suggestion for maintaining a phone number for clients in the distant country you do work in is Skype. I maintain a New York based phone number through Skype which only costs me $60 a year (including voice mail) plus the cost of my calls which is very low. Really simple and you don’t need any separate hardware if your computer already has a Mic and speakers built in (like my macbook).
@Craig: did you try Zoho Invoices? I had similar issues and found that with the Zoho template engine I can simply create several templates for different client groups… It works alright!
I recommend to try CurdBee if you want send invoices in multiple currencies.
Thanks Kai Brach and Jimwesh, I’ll check them out.
@max: Just for your information, I work with a french Payroll Company. French government takes 40% and the company 10%. I only get the 50% remaining. But as Kai stated, I don’t think you would have to pay taxes in France.
great tips here! thanks
What would you guys suggest if you needed a $ bank account? I have my € account but when it comes to transferring $ to an € account PayPal has rediculous conditions imho. I don’t really care where that account would lay, as long as it’s a safe account with a reliable bank and feasable for an EU citizen. Thanks!!
The tip with withdrawing from the account with the other currency via ATM or paying things with the credit card to get the money seems good – have to do the math though if it’s worth the second account fees
I am based in Singapore and have clients in the UK (where I’m from originally) and also in Singapore. I used to have 2 bank accounts, 1 in UK and 1 in Singapore. I recently changed all that by signing up to moneybookers who can transfer money into my Singapore account. Fees are much better than others. Paypal is expensive, although I do have that facility for very trusted clients only. Only trouble with moneybookers is that they are exceptionally finicky about setting your account up with filling in forms and getting the right info etc etc but once it’s running it works brilliantly. Plus they accept credit & debit cards and bank transfers. This makes a huge difference for me personally as I am on a retainer with my UK clients so they can set-up a recurring payment so they’re happy too.
Time difference is a bit of a pain but I’m generally around so have a voip system (I use sipgate for this) and it works really well. Was cheaper than when I was in the UK and so far have had no problems and have been out this way for about 18 months. You do tend to find that clients are far more accepting than you expect them to be. Mine were just interested in ensuring that the quality wasn’t going to be lost nor the speed of turnaround – mist of my clients are instant ones, you know… I need an advert, like now!
Anyway, all-in-all a good piece and I’ve just found this site so bookmarked ya.
hi there,
here is an interesting one for you – I am a UK citizen, i also have Permenant residency in Australia and have my own business in Australia. I do work for clients in the UK, Australia and the States. All my clients pay into my Australian account and then i pay my salary out of my business account.
This is all fine and dandy – but this is where it gets complicated. I have now moved to the states for a year .. i am happy to carry on the same system as above – but do i have to declare myself to the irs and do i have to pay tax in both countries?
@Lisa: you usually pay tax for your world income in the country you permanently reside in. if you are in the states for a year and are employed full-time by a company there, you would have to pay taxes like everyone else. if you just freelance while you are there I’d just continue to pay taxes in Australia. Otherwise it’d get to complicated. after all, the Australian tax department is what you should worry about since you live here long term. so keep them happy and don’t worry too much about the us tax department. my 2 cents
I have clients in NINE countries! Don’t know how that happened; but I love it. That is mainly because I’ve always loved different cultures and people, etc.
I do have a bank of $3.99 clocks on my office wall…it looks like the old-style newsrooms. I also have all of the different time zones on my iPhone.
All of my clients speak at least enough English for us to communicate, and I always make sure that I learn at least the basics of their language: Hello, how are you, thank you, have you set up your PayPal account…(smile)
I use Skype almost exclusively, although I also have an international discount on my cell phone. I have a local Skype number in the countries where I have the most clients; although many of them also have Skype.
Although I try to keep a regular 9-5 schedule and my clients know that; I also sometimes make adjustments depending on the project.
I work with a lot of graduate students whose 1st language is not English. I am naturally a very early riser, so when there is a very important project due, and I have finished it when they are in bed, I check my email very early in the morning to make sure no more adjustments have to be made before submission time because it is afternoon for them.
Otherwise, we just all make time zone adjustments; we knew the differences from the beginning.
The coolest thing that happened to me recently is that one of my ESL (English as a Second Language) students overseas recorded an important meeting with his supervisor on his iPhone and sent it to my iPhone! It made things so much easier for me to understand for the project. We didn’t have to depend on him trying to explain to me what his supervisor recommended.
Another app I rely on a lot is Google Translate. G.T. is really only moderately functional, but when my clients or students write their requirements or questions in their own language and then translate it, it is good enough for me to understand what they mean and vice versa.
It’s awesome to see how far our marketing efforts go. For the past couple of months, I’ve been getting work from Australia & operate in the U.S. It’s been fairly convenient so far. They’re 16 hours ahead of me & I work when they’re asleep. If they want a quick Skype chat, I stay up an hour or two late while they’re the ones in their afternoon. PayPal has been an awesome tool to handle payments.
One question I do have, knowing that the currency fluctuates day to day, should we start paying a closer look when it’s most beneficial to the recipient to get the most out of their invoice when currency is weaker than the other?
Re: currency fluctuations, I have never thought of dealing with that. Too many changes for a one-person shop to worry about. As many people said upthread, I deal only with PayPal and if necessary, Western Union. With PayPal, verified credit or debit card only–no “echecks”. They take WAY too long and sometimes don’t go through for whatever reason.
Re: time zone differences, I try hard to get my international people to work on my timezone, but I make exceptions for great and/or long-term clients when necessary.
I recently worked with a student in the UK who had an online project that was active only from 9am to noon–UK time. Wow. That was 4 – 7 am my time.
I told him, yes I would do it because: 1) I’m an early riser anyway, and 2) I could always go back to bed. (Which I did.) Plus, it was a one-time thing.
Everything went well and of course, he referred me to others.
Otherwise, we just work around the time differences as best we can. The “free” in freelance means you are free to adjust your schedule to mutually benefit you and the client.