10 Mistakes You Don’t Want To Make As A Freelancer

Posted on 24. Mar, 2010 by Hilde Torbjornsen in Freelance

I’m very happy to present to you my first article here at SmashingShare. In this article I will give you some tips on mistakes you don’t want to make as a freelancer. By following these suggestions you will have a better chance at succeeding.

1. Pretending To Be Someone You’re Not

Image Credit: Adam Ciesielski

In the heat of the moment, when you are trying to land a deal with a client, many times it can be tempting to make it sound as if you are a little bit better at certain things than you actually are, – adding a year or two to your working career or skipping to mention that you are going to have a vacation right in the middle of a critical time period for a client. Maybe you’ll get away with it once or twice, but its really not anything you should let yourself do. One thing is that lying is bad, another thing is that in most cases it will probably do you more harm than good. Maybe you will loose a client or two, but as most clients value honesty you will come out better in the long end.

Be honest on what you are capable of doing and not, tell it like it is and set deadlines that you are sure you are able to keep. If you fail a project because you took on too much or did things you don’t really do that well, your client wont be back and it may affect the other clients you currently have. Remember that every client can give you good or bad reputation in the market, so try to get a name out there as someone who’s honest and can be counted on.

2. Overpricing/Underpricing Yourself

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Pricing your products/services can be very critical, so its important to do some good researching before you set the prices. Check out what others charge for the same or related services, ask your friends or business-partners, you can even ask potential clients. Depending on which country you work from there may be different forums and websites that can help you out on this. If you price yourself too high the clients will choose your competitors or just get very unhappy when they receive the bill. If you price yourself too low it can be hard for you to make ends meet and the clients may also find it a bit unprofessional. Just remember to do the required research before you start up. And most importantly: don’t be afraid to do adjustments along the way if you feel you started off a bit wrong. My hottest tip on this point will be to keep a close dialogue with the clients and try to get feedback from them after the project has ended.

They are the ones that are responsible for your paycheck and the ones that in the end decide if they want to use your services or not. So make sure to listen to them and value their opinion.

3. Thinking You “Know It All”

Image Credit: Bruno Coelho

This can truly be one of the biggest mistakes you ever make as a freelancer, and probably on many other fields as well. Even if you land a great project, or ten for that matter, that doesn’t mean that you know everything. It’s so important to always have an open mind. This means listening to feedback and using it in a constructive way, evaluating yourself, seeing your own good and bad sides, spending time to read up on news in your field and being humble. Just acknowledge the following: You will never be done learning, so you’d better keep your feet on the ground and always focus on doing your best. That being said it’s also important to remember to be confident and value your good sides.

4. Not Being Specific Enough

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There are many things that can go completely wrong if you don’t focus on being specific in your communication with a client. You should always have a set deadline, a price and a good understanding of what the client wants. If you fail on either of these you may be in for negative surprises. To deal with this before it occurs you should have some sort of written contract where all the essential things are mentioned and agreed upon. Depending on what kind of project you are doing you should also have regular meetings or at least phone calls and updates via mail.

This way your client will feel involved and potential misunderstandings can be corrected along the way.

5. Giving The Client Something He/She Doesn’t Want

Image Credit: Jason M

This is obviously one of the worst things that can ever happen as a freelancer. Though if you follow the other tips you can be pretty sure that this wont happen. Just remember that the client is the one who decides what he/she wants. As long as you make sure to involve your client along the way you will be able to make sure that you stay on track and end up where you want to.

6. Breaking Deadlines

Image Credit: Richard Dudley

Breaking a deadline doesn’t necessarily have to mean that the whole project will fail. On the other hand you should always aim to plan ahead well enough to not break any deadlines. The way to do this is basically to always make sure that you don’t agree on too short deadlines. I always think it over at least twice before I tell a client when I can have something done for them. And depending on the size of the project I always add a day or two to make sure that I have some time available in case unexpected things happen. Remember that all clients would much rather have a flawless end result that they had to wait a day extra for, compared to getting something that is only half finished. Add some extra time and if you end up delivering the product a day early it will be nothing but a positive surprise.

7. Working 24/7

Image Credit: Billy Alexander

Being a freelancer you will experience periods that will require more work than others. Just remember that with your brain being one of your clearly most important tools it needs time to recharge. Many new freelancers get overwhelmed with huge workloads early on, only to be completely burned out a month or two later – not being able to work at all for days or even weeks. As much as you would love to dive into all projects at once and work 24/7, you have to be able to hold back a bit on that part. It can be hard to remember this when you feel filled with ideas and energy, but make sure to have enough time to rest up and take care of other aspects of your life besides the work part. In the long run you will be able to produce better quality work and the chance to long term success will be bigger when you remember to take care of yourself.

8. Being Too Gentle On Yourself

Image Credit: Irum Shahid

Some people mistake freelancing for being something very easy and relaxing. These freelancers rarely succeed. Going into your freelancing adventure thinking it all be easy, not require much work and that you can do as you want at all times and still make money, is wrong. Not only do you have to work hard and be disciplined, but you have to evaluate yourself and make sure to do the best you can.

9. Being Too Hard On Yourself

Image Credit: Michal Zacharzewski

As important as not being too easy on yourself, is not being too hard on yourself. Sometimes you will have to work extra hours, maybe more often than you prefer, but remember to also reward yourself and take the time required to rest up and do other things. It’s also important to sometimes actually be satisfied with your results and give yourself a pat on the back. As long as you don’t go way over the top, some confidence will get you a long way.

10. Failing In Separating Professionalism And Friendship

Image Credit: Ramzi Hashisho

This is a touchy point. In many professions a lot of people know each other both on and off work. First you need to remember to not take the feedback you get personal and separate the person you are at work from who you are the rest of the time. Going into new work relations, it’s also important to always act professional. Don’t talk to clients about other clients, be aware of the language you are using and don’t mix work and leisure. If you fail on this point you may find yourself involved in complicated relationships and not knowing how to solve things properly. Maybe some clients will become your friends, but remember to separate the roles clearly, or you will be in trouble.

I hope you enjoyed this list of things to be aware of in the freelance world. Please feel free to leave your own tips and feedback in the comments. Thank you for reading!

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Tags: Freelance, Tips, Web Design, Web Development