ThinkerPool.Com

It is no secret that human beings are pretty self-absorbed creatures, and while that sounds negative, a smart freelancer should actually think of it as a positive — because in the end people choose to hire you because of what you can do for them.

That’s right, “ask not what your clients can do for you, but what you can do for your clients”. Apologies to John F. Kennedy.

Despite the ubiquity of buzzwords like personal branding and other popular forms of self-promotion, in the end it stills comes to down to what a potential client gains from working with you or using your services: in other words, what is in it for them. You can use this natural self-interest to your advantage when crafting pitches and proposals by focusing on exactly that.

What’s In It For Me?

While it is certainly important to share your portfolio and point out past successes as a testament to your skills, when a prospective client is reading your proposal, they are most likely thinking “so what’s in it for me”?

As someone who has been on both the sending and receiving end of queries, I’ve come across a shocking number of pitches that don’t answer that simple question. Instead, they made me think “well yes, you are a talented writer with some great clips, but what are you going to do for my publication? Why would my readers be interested?”

That leads right to my next point: think about what your potential client is trying to accomplish when you are crafting your next proposal. Do they want some killer linkbait? Are they looking for an ecommerce site that is both efficient and elegant? Do they have products to promote? Who or what is their audience? Of course, you can and should ask them those questions during an initial interview if you’re able, but most freelancers must respond to ads and postings without that luxury. You can, however, research prospects online and learn more about their needs and goals that way.

It’s All About (the Word) “You”

When you are writing that first email to a would-be client, you should use the word “you” much more often than “I” or “me”. It is easy to get caught up in how much you want a particular gig, your stellar qualifications, and how you are an all-around rockstar freelancer, but guess what? The person reading your email almost certainly cares much more about their current needs than your past successes.

When I pitch new editors, I prefer to include just one or two lines about my work (and a link to my blog), and then use the rest of the (relatively short) email to share my ideas and describe how I can contribute to their publication.

That’s not to say that you should ignore previous triumphs entirely, but testimonials, references, and other proof of your positive impact on former clients’ businesses are best limited to your website (you do have a website, right?). Even those should be more specific than “X is a fantastic illustrator and a pleasure to work with!” An ounce of precise commendation is worth a pound of ambiguous praise when it comes to recommendations and testimonials.

This approach is also helpful when you don’t get the gig, because then you won’t take it personally - you know that rejection is not necessarily a reflection of your abilities. It’s not you, it’s them.

Put In the Effort, Reap the Rewards

Yes, it does take time and effort to thoroughly research your prospects and tailor your proposals accordingly, but those pitches are how you introduce yourself to new clients – and we all know how much first impressions matter. You want them to say “yes! This person totally comprehends my company/my audience/my needs – they get it!” when they are reading your initial emails. This works especially well when you go beyond their immediate requests and anticipate to their long-term goals.

So instead of saying “I’m an expert on this topic and I can write several posts a week for your blog”, you want to say “I am not only an expert on this topic, but I can write several detailed posts a week for your blog and develop a community by engaging commenters and linking/commenting on other blogs in the same niche”. The key here is to go above and beyond your competition and speak to your prospect’s ambitions and aspirations.

Make your proposals all about your client’s future success and you can’t lose, and remember that when it comes to getting freelance gigs, it’s not all about you.

Jacqueline is a freelance writer who covers everything from travel and fashion to professional blogging. She writes about her life and work on her personal blog (jacquelinezenn.wordpress.com) and muses in fashion, style, and design at her fashion blog (fashionablekiffen.blogspot.com).

Original post by FreelanceSwitch.com

If you’ve been a solo freelancer for any significant stretch of time, you’ve probably learned the hard way that a work project can go horribly wrong. They turn out to be life lessons in the long run, but there are ways to protect yourself.

Working with bad projects or bad clients generally boils down to mismatched expectations and inadequate communication. Your best safeguard is to make sure you and your client are on the same page before any work has even begun using a Terms of Service Agreement, which essentially puts into clear, written language what you expect from your client and what they should expect from you.

By submitting a comprehensive Terms of Service Agreement to your client beforehand and having them return confirmation to agree to abide by your terms, you will be saving yourself (and your client) a lot of headaches down the road and avoiding the kind of surprises that can cause a project to get derailed.

1. Billing structure. What are your rates? Do you bill by the hour or by the project? This is important because it’s usually one of the first three questions a new client will ask. Agree with the client what a final estimate includes and what will happen if changes are requested beyond the scope of the initial parameters of the project.

2. Late payment. Determine the grace period within which a client can submit their payment after the invoicing date. The standard practice is 30 days, but you can determine this according to your particular company. Also spell out late fees and/or interest rates for late payments. This will give incentive to your clients to pay their invoices sooner than later.

3. Interim charge caps. I’ve known too many freelancers that have rung up large invoices for major projects adding up to thousands of dollars only to be shafted by deadbeat clients who walk away with your hard work. If you’re working on a major project or are doing several smaller projects for one client that add up to major charges, put a cap on how much outstanding debt the client can carry.

I personally put a $500 cap on my clients so that when their total bill exceeds that amount, they will need to make an interim payment to bring it under or face work suspension. This will prevent clients from promising lots of high-paying business without delivering on their word. This is paramount when it comes to new clients, even those referred by people you trust.

You have the option to waive this cap if you have a long-standing relationship with a trusted client who pays on time and in full.

4. Scheduling. Can you service your clients twenty-four hours a day? Weekends? Holidays? You need to have a balanced life, which means you need to set hours that make sense with your lifestyle. Set appropriate hours when your clients can contact you and expect you to work. If you don’t want to be woken by a panicking client at one in the morning, tell them specifically at what time your shop closes.

5. No spec work allowed. This is a controversial subject among many freelancers and prospective clients. The consensus for most is not to accept work on spec. Speculative work involves doing actual work with the hopes of impressing the client enough that they will provide further opportunities without any guarantee of payment or that you will retain rights over the work if it isn’t paid for. It is bad practice to allow for this type of work with the extremely rare exception of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Your time and talent are precious and shouldn’t be doled out for free under any circumstance. Spell it out in the agreement: no spec work.

6. Termination of services by client. If you’re a writer or a designer or another creative professional and you’re submitting a first draft to a client and they are unsatisfied and want to end the project then and there saying something to the effect that your work does not meet their needs, they may be looking to get out of paying for the time you spent already, or worse, intending to steal your ideas for free. An honest client will pay for your time and move on to another freelancer. Otherwise, you’ve effectively just worked for spec and received a rejection. Set a minimum rate for work done that is immediately refused and where the client does not wish to allow you to continue.

It should be stipulated that work that is refused by the client cannot be used in whole or in part. This may or may not be respected, but can be actionable as long as the client has agreed to this term and then subsequently violated it.

7. Ownership rights. Establish who owns the work after it has been completed and what rights the owner has to use or modify the final product. You may also want to consider retaining rights to utilize the work in a repertoire or portfolio for future promotion while the client retains all other major usage rights.

8. Unforeseen or sudden termination of a project. Most freelancers work on their own, so if some mishap, illness or accident occurs that makes it impossible to continue a project in progress, the client needs to know what protections they have. You may have to associate yourself with a backup freelancer who will agree to take over. Otherwise, you can make a provision where files or assets for a project are turned over to the client to be continued by someone else and billed for the work done up to that point.

Whatever you decide, let the client understand that however unlikely, hiring a single freelancer has certain risks and that there will be some compensation or provision made in case of a stoppage.

Most clients will act in good faith, so keep an open mind and be willing to negotiate in instances where there is disagreement. But by explicitly setting the terms in advance, potential disputes can be avoided and you can focus on what’s most important: doing great work.

Gary Horsman is a full-time Graphic Designer for a Canadian film distributor and part-time freelancer living and working in Montreal, Quebec.

Original post by FreelanceSwitch.com

The following is a short story from my web design freelancing experience that took place in the earlier days of the Internet around the year 2001.

A customer that we’ll call Jack said he wanted a web site with tabs along the top of the screen like Amazon. The problem is that his site did not lend itself well to this model because it was very small and was meant to drive people to call him for his services. It wasn’t that I couldn’t create a site that resembled Amazon, it was more that his true needs were for an easily navigable web site.

He associated Amazon with easy navigation, good style and a professional look. So what he was really looking for deep down was not a specific type of navigation bar, but these three simple things: a website that was professional, easy to navigate and stylish. After I understood his true needs and explained to him that I could arrange for those needs to be met without an Amazon-copycat design, he was delighted. The client ended up doubling my quoted rate because he was so happy with the results!

So what should you do to eliminate the problem of the customer who says one thing but means another?

1. Strip client requests down to their needs, not down to what they think they want. Have you ever had a client say they wanted X, but then after you finished creating X, decided they want Y? That’s a clear signal that what they really want is neither X nor Y, but something deeper from which both X and Y stem from. Figure out what underlying theme or ideas are motivating their changes in opinion or their vagueness. Sometimes simply getting away from a computer or concrete examples and sitting down with a pen and paper to map out their business goals helps.

Working your way back to the issue at hand starting from their lowest level requirements can help you to come up with a solution neither of you had previously thought of. Similarly, working from business goals helps keep doors open and can eliminate any preconceived notions the client might have about the type of final result they are looking for. This gives you more room to be creative and can help make the job more enjoyable for you.

We all know the best clients are those that just give you some guidelines and let you get on with it, but other clients might need a bit of coaching to give you their real requirements and then to let you do your thing.

2. Provide a prototype to give the customer a feel for the final product. There are times when concepts and ideas just don’t translate well and you need to see something tangible. There is one caveat with the prototype method, which is that clients might think the whole product is done and they can just pay you for a few more hours’ work and get their final product. You need to emphasize to your customer that the prototype you are showing them is just that, a mock up and a non-functional representation of what you can do if they approve it.

After you have explained the prototype, you should give them time to play with it or otherwise observe it. If they like what they see, then you struck gold and you can go ahead and continue with the work. Otherwise, you can help guide your client to understanding what it is they want you to change and why. Knowing why they want to make changes is important to your being able to help them reach their business goals.

You may need to iterate and produce more than one prototype version, but at least this way your client is seeing your progress and if the final product is not what they had hoped for, you can quote their requests for changes and let them know that they had the chance to make changes during the creation process but they chose not to.

3. Use your past experience and judgment to convince clients that you are delivering what they want, even if it doesn’t look like what they expected. An example from the book ‘Blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell shows us that people react poorly to new products or designs that they are not familiar with.

In the case of a new chair that Herman Miller designed called the Aeron, the focus groups reacted so badly to the new look that it consistently got bad reviews. Herman Miller had already spent so much time and effort designing the chair, so they went ahead and released it despite the bad reviews. The chair went on to win awards from the Industrial Designers Society of America and it really caught on in New York and in the Silicon Valley. Today the chair is regarded entirely differently and new focus groups even give it good reviews. Sometimes you need to be able to follow your gut instincts and convince a client that your work may be a little bit experimental or unheard of, but it will make big waves and more importantly it will serve their needs.

Of course, I want to caution you to listen to your customers because sometimes you could be off the mark and have produced a dud, but if you have been in the freelance business for awhile you develop a sense for these things. Now all you have to do is convince your client that your sixth sense is right.

Never again should you have to worry about second guessing what your customers really want, when they say they want something else. You can use these three techniques to analyze what motivates your client deep down, create prototypes to give them a chance to make changes, and finally, you might need to convince them to go with your experienced judgment!

Nathalie Lussier is a recent Software Engineering graduate who has had a passion for freelancing since her early days on the Internet. She shows people how to regain their innate power and flourish by expanding their possibilities at http://www.billionairewoman.com.

Original post by FreelanceSwitch.com

Most new freelancers make one vital error: we catch ourselves acting like employees.

But even as we become more seasoned, even the best of us can fall into the ‘employee’ mindset trap that is at the foundation of virtually every major freelance mistake:

“As long as I do the specific job I was hired to do, and I do it well, everything will be fine.”

But unfortunately for us, when something goes wrong with any portion of a project we’re working on, somehow it’s always our butt on the line.

So how can you approach each client’s project in a way that protects you, protects their interests, and helps secure overall success and fuzzy feelings?

Well let’s look at common mistakes we make, and how to prevent them.

#1. Did You Start the Project on the Right Foot?

We know the drill about first impressions, but when someone has just dropped a check for a couple thousand dollars, or they’ve just fastened 40% of their budget to your coat tails, well…it doubly matters!

After securing and managing over 100 projects for myself and freelancers I coach, I’ve tested various ways to instantly set a project on the right foot within the first 30 minutes of securing the deal. We tested sending thank you gifts like movie tickets, informative articles we think they might like, doing nothing at all, and even calling everyone on the team for a brief introduction.

Surprisingly, none of that did much to sway results. What seemed to make clients happy and secure a long-term relationship even when problems arose later on was one simple thing:

Within the first 30 minutes, send an immediate deliverable related to your project and what you were hired to do.

Example: If you were hired to design a company’s website, within a half an hour of taking the project, just send an email with links to a couple websites you think have elements they’d like for their site. Ask them for their feedback, and ask specific questions like “I’m thinking of creating a header similar to the one at xyzwebsite.com. What do you think? We’ll change the colors and exact design, but is this the feel you’re going after?”

Same with copywriting or virtually anything else. Send examples of what you think they want to get their feedback with specific questions.

#2. Have You Been Too Available?

This one really surprised me when I first began freelancing. I found that when I made myself overly available, my client more than took advantage – to the detriment of my sanity and the project’s health.

Though not as much of an issue with a corporate client or a medium sized business, if you freelance for professionals, startups, or very small companies, you’ll find that they get really excited, want to discuss new ideas with you, and sometimes even want project updates numerous times a day.

Not only does this stress you out, but more importantly it prevents you from focusing on the actual work. Studies show that when a person’s focus is interrupted, even if for just a moment, it takes an average of 25 minutes to two hours to regain concentration and return to the original task. In essence, it is costing you time and costing your client money.

Photo by foundphotoslj.

I suggest providing an email address and an emergency phone number, and that’s it. Definitely no Instant Messenger! I made that mistake with my first client and literally, several times an hour, he would message me about some press they were trying to get, who said what about their website, and new ideas he had that he wanted my feedback on.

Regulate that small talk to a weekly meeting if you have to. And if you’re in the middle of a productive session, don’t pick up the phone. Let it go to voicemail, give it half an ear, and if it sounds like a fire burning, then you can stop what you’re doing to put it out. Otherwise, call them back when you’re done.

#3. Will You Let Your Client Sabotage the Project?

One of my freelancers recently accepted a project she was really excited about. Unfortunately, her client was also very excited and constantly bombarded her with new ideas, new tweaks, and additions he wanted.

The project they originally specified grew way beyond its initial framework and worst of all, every time she would make progress on the project, he’d call and say, “I just had a brilliant idea. Scrap everything before…let’s do it like THIS!”

Because he was one of her first clients, she didn’t want to rein him in and tell him “No.” But then, three months after they began working together, he started accusing her of taking too long to complete the project, and over-estimating her hours.

“But he keeps changing everything!” she’d complain to me.

So finally she took my advice and sat him down for a serious talk. She explained that during this meeting they were going to revisit the project’s goals and set a new deadline for completion. She was going to ask him to tell her exactly what he wanted and at the end, she would review the new project details with him. If he had no changes to make, then she would consider the new outline approved and he would, under no circumstances, be allowed to change it afterwards.

It was the only way to meet his deadline.

He agreed and after a couple kind but firm “No, I told you, we can’t change it,” talks, he eventually stopped calling. And the project met its deadline and he was satisfied.

But what if you try to say no and your client isn’t willing to cease?

Say, “That’s a great idea. I’ll write that down for Phase 2. We’ll see how this version of the product/campaign does, and once we have enough data, we’ll test these new ideas against it, and see which does better.”

I’ve yet to meet a client that could argue with a strategy that involves testing and cold, hard data!

And that leads me to….

#4. What If You Disagree With the Client – Or *gasp* Argue?

This is a very touchy subject for many freelancers. How do you approach a client that has strong opinions that, in your professional opinion, may hurt the success of the project?

If you let the client have his way, you risk the project not hitting its targets and regardless how you feel about it, the responsibility will almost 100% land in YOUR lap.

But who wants to go against the client we value and depend upon for our daily bread?

I’ve found the safe, but firm ground to always walk on is that of the data. We all have opinions and they will always be attached to emotions. To keep from arguing with a client or having it get personal or uncomfortable, just use this simple technique:

If your client wants to use a different headline, or a different color, or a different marketing channel – whatever it is, just say, “Sure. We can test that. In my opinion such-and-such might be a better option because [always validate your alternative with reasons and as much data or past experience as you can].”

Most of the time, because you haven’t invalidated their idea, they’ll go with your expertise and let you do it your way. But if they feel strongly about it, there’s still no need to argue. You just agree to split test your alternative to theirs. Then go with the one the market chooses.

#5. How Will You Manage a Client’s Dissatisfaction?

Strangely, my staunchest supporters, most prolific referrers, and happiest clients are the ones that at one time came to me with some issue about where our project was going or how I was handling it.

How could this be?

Because misunderstandings, miscommunications, and overall discomfort are guaranteed to occur at some point in the virtual freelancing world. Your client is most likely used to an office atmosphere where everyone is copied on every email, clarification is just 10 feet away in the next cubicle, and someone else can always be to blame.

But we’re the lone rangers on the other end of the DSL line (or hey, maybe you’re into cable…). And if you’re like me, most of your clients have never, and will never, meet you in person. So you’re mysterious, removed, and “what exactly is she spending all her billable time on?”

So what do you do when your client comes to you dissatisfied or even upset?

Unless it’s a simple issue to handle, don’t respond right away. Tell your client that you understand this is an issue and you’ll get back to them within the day (or the next day) with a solution. This way, you’re not put on the spot.

Then try to see the problem from their point of view and find what element, action, or result is leading to their dissatisfaction or belief that something is wrong. Don’t treat this as a blame game where, if you validate their assertion that something is wrong, it automatically makes it your fault. It doesn’t. The key here isn’t to find blame. It’s to acknowledge that no matter what, the client sees a problem and that means you have a problem: how to make the client satisfied again.

What I’ve found works every time for handling client dissatisfaction is to first validate their belief – explain to them that you see where they are coming from and you apologize for the inconvenience. Just don’t invalidate yourself in the process.

If you see where they may have misinterpreted the situation, don’t be afraid to bring this to their attention…but don’t be defensive either. Always see you and the client on the same side of the line, a team trying to solve a problem together. Not as opponents trying to fling the blame to each other.

Next, propose a solution. If you both agree that the real issue was client misinterpretation, explain that their misinterpretation wasn’t their fault, but rather a result of the process. Work with them to find the missing link. Perhaps you aren’t providing them detailed reports on progress, or you’re providing the reports but not summarizing for them what the data means.

If the issue is that you aren’t getting deliverables to them fast enough, re-evaluate the project and its deadlines. It’s important to be honest with each client at the outset of the project. Leave yourself ample time with deadlines – don’t rush yourself on account of pleasing them. Be reasonably speedy, but don’t promise something you can’t deliver without breaking your own back.

Also, the moment you see your time availability shifting, or a new project taking much more of your time, notify all other clients that you won’t be as readily available or quick with turn-over of deliverables as you’ve been in the past.

I find that clients can handle almost anything as long as they’re aware of it before it affects them and their project. That way everyone involved can re-task to deal with it.

Ummm…So Now I….What?

Okay, that was a lot of information about several scenarios, many of which aren’t completely concrete.

So what should you do with this list to make sure you look out for the mistakes discussed?

One option is to write down just the headlines of each mistake and a quick sentence to jog your brain about how to address such an issue if it came up. Then pin it to the wall above your desk. Some freelancers feel it helps knowing it’s there and a quick glance while writing an email can save you from shooting off a quick response committing one of these mistakes.

Another option is to move on with your day and trust you have it committed to memory.

I suggest you share which one was your favorite and share with us the biggest mistake you’ve made or heard about, and what happened.

Jaime Mintun is the premiere expert in internet marketing consulting to offline businesses, and is recognized as the leading expert in earning a six-figure income freelancing for offline businesses part-time.

Original post by FreelanceSwitch.com

Learning how to carry out a compelling conversation with your non-tech-savvy client is a crucial skill that all freelancers must possess, especially if you want to keep a steady cash flow.

This article will go through some strategies on how to talk jargon with your clients in such a way that you can maintain their attention and give an accurate picture of what they really need to understand.

Fish for an estimate of their expertise

So you know how much explanation is needed for certain terms, you must first try to determine the client’s starting knowledge. This can be done indirectly by using “fishing techniques”.

For example, you could bring up a generic question in one of your earlier conversations related to your industry. If you worked in the web design industry you could ask your client in passing “Hey, what is your preferred web browser?” or “What operating system do you use?”.

What you are trying to find out is whether or not they know the basic terms of your industry, if they have a knowledge of the industry, if they have any experience with it, how comfortable they are with technology and whether they can engage with the topic at hand.

Some more questions could be:

• If you worked in graphic design industry: “Do you use Adobe Photoshop or any other image editing software?
• If you worked in the programming industry: “Do you subscribe to any RSS feeds?”, “How familiar are you with the programming process?”
• If you worked in the writing industry: “What are some websites / authors you read regularly?”
• If you worked in the illustration industry: “Have you ever worked with an Illustrator before?”

Don’t Underestimate Their Knowledge

Let’s imagine that you are a blogger and you’ve just asked another blogger if they know what RSS feeds are. They would most probably laugh in your face or worse, get offended. That is what you’ve got to avoid. You can do this by not underestimating your client’s knowledge. Don’t patronise them.

As quoted in Freelance Switch’s 12 breeds of clients and how to work with them, make sure you balance the playing field by asking for their input in the areas they know about, i.e. their business. This will keep them happy and stop them feeling the need to weigh in on your area of expertise, which can waste everybody’s time.

If you’re unsure of their grasp on a particular subject, don’t assume they know nothing. Ask fishing questions and judge by their reactions whether or not you’ve explained enough. This is even easier if you are in a face to face interview.

Keep It Simple & Slow

Once you know their level of knowledge you’ll start to gather an understanding of how deeply you need to explain the job at hand. Explain in plain English, use examples, keep it simple, keep it slow and don’t overwhelm your client with technical jargon or over-the-top explanations. There is no reason to explain how you are going to do something, you should be telling the client why you’re doing it and what it will do for them.

When you visit a doctor and he uses unfamiliar medical terms, don’t you hate that? But when he slows down, provides a good explanation in plain English and shows you diagrams from a book, he accomplishes his task of communicating with you more effectively. This is what we need to do as freelancers: slow down, provide examples and talk in familiar terms.

Talk In Terms Of Results

As mentioned above, explain to the client why and what you are doing for them, not how you are doing it. Talk in terms of results — this will keep them listening and they will be more appreciative of the job you are
doing for them.

For example, when trying to describe the importance of standards-compliant XHTML, you could say: “Standards-compliant XHTML ensures that the website’s code is valid and supported by most modern web browsers. In the end, that means less maintenance and fewer customer support enquiries due to elements of the website not working on certain browsers.” It is still technical but it gives them the results of your efforts.

You could also go for a more simple approach and say “I will optimise the code so that you will get the best Google rankings possible and make your site viewable for as long as possible into the future, by the widest possible array of users.”

Photo by jurvetson.

Pause or Ask for Questions

If you leave pauses in between your explanations this will encourage your client to clarify or ask a question. Behave as if you’re always willing to answer any question, no matter how simple or stupid it may sound. If they ever seem confused or remain silent, ask them “Should I explain further?” or if you’re writing via email, tell them that you’re “happy to answer any question that you may have”. (I had a similar experience a couple of days ago where the shop attendant at a bike store treated me in the most condescending way imaginable for not knowing whether my bike took short valves or long valves. The only result of the exchange was that he lost a customer. Never make your clients feel stupid, even if their questions are! — Ed