Official 2011 Second Guest Blogging Contest Post #10
Contest Article
If you are a freelancer, or even thinking about becoming a freelancer, I urge you to read this post in full. Though my mini-rant comes as a result of a few bad experiences, sadly, these experiences pervade the industry. This is my attempt at fixing it.
So what’s wrong? Well, in my opinion, there are two types of freelancers:
1. The kind you pay once and don’t go back to.
2. The kind that are worth their weight in gold.
The first have to fight to get work, while the second get as much work as they need.
So What’s the Difference?
As someone that’s paid people for a myriad of services, I’ve come to the realization that most freelancers simply don’t care about their clients. Instead of focusing on my needs, they rely on credentials to tell me what’s best for me, or worse, are too busy thinking about the next client to care about providing good work.
I’ll often hear arguments like:
“This is the way it should be done because it’s how I like to do it.”
“This is what the rules say.”
“My Harvard design education trumps your design noobness.”
“I’ve served over 100 clients.”
Now, about all of this…there’s something missing:
What about what I want?
1. I don’t care about your credentials
I don’t care where you got your degree or where you were trained or who you worked for. I care about one thing, and that’s results.
2. I don’t care about your other clients
I don’t care if you’ve worked for the President of the United States or my next door neighbor. No matter who you’ve served or how many gigs you’ve done, you should still listen to what I want.
3. It’s not about the money
Don’t hold me hostage because your prices suck. If you aren’t charging enough, then that’s your fault, not mine. My work should be the most important think on your plate.
What I’m getting at is that there’s only one thing that clients, such as myself, care about when working with freelancers, and that’s results.
Don’t tell me how many jobs you’ve done, tell me how much money you can make me.
Don’t tell me who you’ve worked for, tell me what will work for me.
Don’t tell me where you got your degree, tell me how you can use it to make my business better.
This is true whether you sell writing, design, development, or any other type of work. As a freelancer, your job is to help produce results, and many times, part of those results includes having happy clients.
So next time you get a freelance gig, stop thinking about the next client, or trying to figure out how you can prove your client wrong. Instead, take a good hard look at their business and try to decide how you can use your skills to improve it.
Stop thinking about you, and think about your client. This is the secret to freelance success.
Andreas Pazer (194)
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bbrian017 (62)
Justin Germino (60)
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James Pruitt (46)
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Twitter: kirapermunian
Almost anyone can get paid on the Internet. But I think as a freelancer also, we need to know our way around to get paid generously in the web. The freelancers’ bazaar has its rules; just make sure you understand these rules; so that you can stand shoulder above the rest.
kirapermunian recently posted..Engage with the Best Bloggers at BlogEngage
Yes, every thing on earth had a rule, no matter what it is, but whether the rules are correct or wrong is just another story, as for freelance, I think the number one rule is “honesty” I had met a few freelance with good records but when it comes to solving certain problem they will try to think I’m the person who is in wrong… I do not care who is wrong or who is right… I mean if you are a freelancer and you know you can’t solve a problem then just be honest and don’t waste my time or anyone else…
So rule number 1 is always be honest… you can’t do what you cannot do… I’m not blaming any freelancer out there, it’s just that blaming is not going to solve anyone’s problem…
Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger recently posted..Blog Engage Guest Blogging Contest 2011 – Take Every Opportunity for Exposure that Comes Your Way!
Twitter: kirapermunian
Oh you’re right with honesty thing! I could relate to that, I was been in a freelance world and an honest attitude helped me to clarify all things out to avoid misleading. So LOL for those who are trying hard making their clients an experiment LOL of the things they cannot do.
Anyway, I also believe on the rule of clarity making sure that I and my client is having the in-depth understanding with the deal. A freelancer must always learn to be as specific as possible about everything. You can’t do what you cannot do is just by knowing the expectations and limitations.
kirapermunian recently posted..Engage with the Best Bloggers at BlogEngage
I did a freelancing stint after i got laid off before and things actually went better than i expected. It’s tough work though, and folks are more than happy to take advantage of your time if they can. Excellent ideas though.
rohan recently posted..53 Washington DC Carnival
Yes, I do believe there are people who will take advantage of either the service or the customer. Sometime this is just personal sort of handling work. But seriously being honest is better then taking advantage especially if you are a freelancer.
Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger recently posted..7 Nasty Blogging Habits You Should Dump Right Away!
Twitter: AboriginalMama
Hi Wong!
Glad to see you here. =) As a freelance writer myself, I’m actually rather appalled that there are freelancers out there with the attitude you describe.
Whenever negotiating with a new client, I’m always very happy to hear about their project and where they intend for it to go, and brainstorm with them on how I can help them achieve that faster, better, or whatever. I’ve even asked for higher rates than previously negotiated because a client who turned me down a few months ago recently came back and asked if my bid was still good. He’s been very happy with my work so far, but all I do is make sure that his project is my focus.
It’s really not so difficult. I wish more people were like that! Sorry you’ve had such tough experiences.
Delena
Delena Silverfox recently posted..Testing
Well… as you probably know forums like Warrior Forums and site like Fivve, there are tons of freelancer but if you really look at the way they introduce their work, they always talk about how they could do a a great job, but when you really hire them… they actually can’t do a great job… more over telling you what they have done are a level of profession….
And that’s when I know…. ya… your profession kind the suck because… the result can’t even satisfy me and you expect to satisfy my customer… well done…
Although not all freelance are like this, but most of them are… Luckily from experience, I had found 3 guys out of 10 to 20 freelance I hired that I can trust my work to…
Twitter: problogsuccess
Hi Wong,
You seriously hit the nail. I am sure that Freelancing has become somewhat substandard to most people just because of what a handful of people are doing. They talk talk and talk about other clients which is far more irritating.
Now every freelance writer should read this. But I can assure you that there are lots of nice pals around.
Cheers,
Jane.
Jane | Find All Answers recently posted..Effective Blog Commenting to build high quality backlinks
Yes, there are still nice people around that really do a great job as a freelancer, but to get these nice people, sometime we just need to have some luck and experience in knowing them… but anyway I really hope all freelancer could be able to reach this posts.
Twitter: IMRelations
Great post. I started out freelancing, and even though I quit due to a lot of other things, I still have clients contacting asking if I will do just one job for them, even though I am not into it any more.
One thing that I always recommend is do the unexpected. For example, they can hire anyone to write that article, and often for less than I charged, but my clients learned that I often gave them tips on picking out some better keywords, or how they could maximize the use they got out of the articles I wrote for them.
Often it took maybe 5 minutes of my time, and it really went above and beyond what they expected.
James Pruitt recently posted..How are You Inspired to Write Your ARticles
Yes, by giving a little extra usually is a great way to actually get trusted by clients, but of course.. there are some clients (not me) who will always take advantage of some freelancer like you… to do extra work… so is best to stick to what you are paid for and do the best out of it, and send your client results they want, and I believe having good result usually have better trust with you.