Ben Gran

One of the most rewarding aspects of being a freelance writer is building relationships with clients. Probably 95% of my clients have been good to work with. There have been a few that weren’t the best fit for me, or something wasn’t right with the project. But for the most part, I’ve been fortunate to work for some really great clients.

What makes a great freelance client?

• Great clients like your work. If you find yourself encountering clients who are constantly dissatisfied or asking for significant revisions, maybe you’re not on the same page with the expectations of the project – or maybe the client isn’t the best fit for the kind of work you do. The best client relationships have a level of mutual understanding and an ability to anticipate needs – you can predict what the client is going to want for a certain project, and the client trusts you enough to let you work independently.
• Great clients pay their bills on time. Freelancers depend on multiple clients to pay their bills promptly – instead of one steady paycheck, we rely on many smaller paychecks from different sources. The best clients will pay their bills on time and without making you jump through too many hoops – if you’re constantly having to call and serve as your own collection agency, that might be a sign that it’s time to cut ties with a client.
• Great clients communicate promptly and reliably. One of the hard parts of being an online freelancer is that there’s no direct personal connection to “the office” and co-workers/colleagues. Most communication is by e-mail – so if a client suddenly stops replying to e-mails, the freelancer has no way of knowing if everything is OK or not. “Did they like the work? Am I going to be paid on time? Is something wrong?” Great clients don’t “go silent” like this – they stay in contact, even if it’s a brief note to say “I’m busy with other projects this week, but I’ll get back to you soon.”‘
• Great clients trust you. Some of the best clients I’ve ever worked with are the ones that invest their trust in me – they want my help to build their businesses and deliver great results, and they’re willing to work closely with me and confide in me to help convey the full scope of what they want to accomplish. It’s better to be a trusted advisor than a “hired hand.” Great clients will share their ideas, hopes and dreams for their businesses – rather than holding you at arms-length.
• Great clients pay you what you’re worth. It always amuses me when I’m talking to a new prospective client, and before we’ve even discussed the project, they immediately ask me to discount my rates. (I once had a prospective client call me to ask if I would work for $15 an hour – the answer is “No.”) Do these people do this to other professional service providers like mechanics, accountants or orthodontists – “Uh yeah, I need to get my car fixed – can you do it for $5 an hour?” Clients that try to undercut your pricing or that act suspicious/incredulous about how much you charge aren’t worth the trouble – they’re not used to hiring professionals and paying professional rates. There are always going to be bargain-hunters and tire-kickers out there. Let them go, and instead focus your energies on clients who understand and appreciate the value you provide.

Now and then people will ask me for advice on how to get started on Elance. I’ve written about this before, but here are a few other ideas that new Elance providers should keep in mind:

• Read the job description (the whole thing). I’ve hired people on Elance myself, and it’s always immediately apparent which ones have actually read the entire job description (and put some thought into how to respond) and which ones are just sending out mass-produced auto-replies and copy-and-pasted responses.
• Be sincere: Employers respond well to people who sincerely care about the project. Show that you took the time to read the description and that you’ve put some thought into how you want to approach the project. Write a 100% original response to each and every job that you bid on. Be human – be “real.” Show some enthusiasm and emotional connection to the project – explain why it is interesting to you and why you want to work on it.
• Be forthright: If there is part of the job description that you don’t totally fulfill, say so – but emphasize instead the skills and experience that you are most confident about.
• Get your pricing right: Don’t underprice yourself. You don’t want to be the lowest price bid for an Elance job. Make a reasonable estimate of how long it will take you to do the work. Setting rates can be complicated, but you should plan to make – on an hourly basis – at least three times your equivalent hourly earnings at a full-time job. (If you make $30,000 a year at your day job, your hourly rate is $15 – so your freelance rate should be at least $45 an hour.) Don’t sell yourself short. Don’t try to compete on price – instead, compete by showing how you can create value for the client and demonstrating why you are the right fit for the project.
• Follow up: If you don’t hear back from a client right away, feel free to follow up with an e-mail on the Private Message Board (PMB). But don’t just “ping” them with requests for replies – always try to add some new information with every time you contact the client. For example, say: “I’ve been thinking about your project and I had some ideas that I want to share with you,” or “I don’t think I mentioned this in my project bid, but I also have experience in (OTHER SKILLS)” or “Here are some samples from a similar project that I recently completed.” It pays to be persistent – not annoying, not “spammy,” but just check in with the client and let them know that you’re interested and that you are thinking about how you can help them.
• Act like you’ve already got the job: Your project bid should give the client a good sense of what you’re like to work with, how your thought process works, and how you plan to achieve the project goals and deliver a good result. Instead of asking questions to the client, make recommendations to the client. (“Here’s how I think we should proceed….I recommend doing the following steps first…”) Convey a sense of momentum. The client should be thinking, “Wow, this person is ready to go and they’ve got a lot of good ideas – they’re ready to take this project to the next level.”
• The first project is the hardest to win – but every project can lead to others. If you’re a new provider, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. It might feel overwhelming, like there are dozens of people competing against you and they’re all willing to work for less. Be prepared to persevere through some frustrations and disappointments – you might have jobs that seem really promising that turn out to be awarded to someone else, or clients who seem interested to talk with you but then disappear forever. Just keep at it, stay positive, and keep bidding on jobs. Every single project has the potential to lead to many others – every project gives you a story to tell to the next client.

I recently completed my 7th month of full-time self employment as an online freelance writer.

I love being a full-time freelancer. I love the freedom, the flexibility, the variety, and the rewards. I love building relationships with clients and delivering great work. Part of me is still a little surprised that things are going as well as they have – I was saying to my wife the other day, “I can’t believe we’re getting away with this.”

Two years ago I signed up on Elance – I was looking for some new challenges and to make some extra money on the side (in addition to my full-time job that I had at the time). I almost quit Elance before I really got started. It took me awhile to land my first project, I wasn’t sure if Elance was really “for real,” I wasn’t sure if I would make any money, I was afraid of wasting time and money and effort on something that wouldn’t pan out.

Two years later, Elance is a significant part of my full-time income. I’ve worked for clients on four continents and all over the U.S. I’ve traveled to New York City for client meetings and stayed up late and gotten up early for conference calls with clients and team members as far away as Australia, India, Romania and Pakistan. The newness of this new way of work has not entirely worn off. I’m grateful for all of it, and I feel very privileged to be able to earn a living doing work that I enjoy, being part of the “human cloud” of online freelance talent.

Which brings me to the title of this post.

I used to get a lot of hate mail on my blog – anonymous comments from trolls and haters. (Hard to believe, right? Who would waste their time sending snotty comments to some random freelancer’s blog?)

Most of the hate mail was unintentionally funny – lots of misspellings and poorly reasoned arguments. But one of the messages stuck with me. “You are ordinary,” it said. “Your blog is ordinary, your thoughts are ordinary.”

That one really made me think. You see, I’ve always considered myself to be somewhat of a nerd: somewhat introverted, somewhat socially awkward, somewhat alienated from my fellow human beings.

And now, to hear that I am, in fact, “ordinary” – why, that’s awesome!

I’m one of the cool kids now!

But seriously – in many ways, I am ordinary. Everything I’m doing in my online freelancing business reflects the skills and experience I developed in my regular old full-time cubicle-dwelling career. I’m doing the same type of work that could be done from a cubicle, and I’m doing it for clients all over the world. You could too. I think, in the not-too-distant future, this kind of online work will become even more common and, well, “ordinary.”