Freelance Advice

[sempei13]

I know that some of us here are or have been freelance/one-person business owners. I'll be entering that world on February 1, 2011 and am looking for any advice, where to find clients, pitfalls, etc.

Paul

[macon church]

Since you are starting so far in the future. I would recommend starting a website. Pretty easy to get it really cheap and get free localized traffic. Your help was invaluable when I started on the site so if you need any more advice just PM me.

Also a good way is to go to Vista Print and get some free business cards and start passing them out.

[[Admin] skstarkiller]

Get a good program for tracking hours and billing clients. I recommend Freshbooks.com

Join a local BNI Chapter. You can find one for your area by clicking this link

Also consider joining and participating in your local Chamber of Commerce.

[sempei13]

I'm redesigning my site now (temporarily redirected to a wordpress.com site). I'm also planning on starting my podcast again (and streaming live video via Justin.tv, Ustream, etc.) Business cards are coming soon. BNI is a good idea, too.

Great tips. Any more?

Paul

[[Admin] osborn4]

Originally Posted by sempei13

Great tips. Any more?

Don't quit your day job.

Oh. Wait. Nevermind.

[tedanderson]

Originally Posted by sempei13

Great tips. Any more?

Paul

1. Never concern yourself over anything that you are not familiar with or that you do not understand. If you don't know how to do something, and you are upfront about it, your client will respect you for it. You could even say, "I don't know, but I will find out." As the professional it's your job to get it done and if you are open, honest, and transparent in your level of knowledge, sometimes they don't mind giving you the opportunity to learn on their ticket.

2. NEVER be too quick to address an urgent issue. For instance if your client comes to you and says, "Paul! The _______ is not working! Can you fix it?" you could very well have the solution and I think that we are all inclined to rush in showing our client how good we are at what we do. But the wiser thing to do is to calmly and attentively listen to everything that the client has to say even IF you know what they are going to say and/or exactly what can be done. When you hastily address a problem or issue, it gives the impression that your expertise lacks value. So in this scenario, if it happens to be a single switch that was not flipped to the on position, I would start out by asking, "So Mr. Client, what you are saying is that the ______ is not working? Is that correct? Ok, I understand. Let us go through the basic procedures of turning on the equipment" And even though you know exactly what switch they forgot to flip, you've just added to their good experiences and you have also added value to your expertise in their eyes.

3. Always operate with integrity. If I was forced to choose, I'd prefer a vendor that I trust than one that does good work.

4. Once you are on the job site working, don't speak unless spoken to. Saying "hello" in passing is one thing but you never want to do to is start conversations or get involved as a third party. Clients love consultants who don't waste their time and money running their mouth.

5. DON'T GET DISCOURAGED BY GETTING FIRED. Not every arrangement works the way that everyone would like for it to work. I've done some freelance gigs where everyone thought I was the greatest camera operator to walk the earth, then there have been some others where you would swear that I was so green, I couldn't even write my own name. Freelancers get canned all of the time. It goes with the territory.

6. Learn the culture of your client and his organization ahead of time. For instance if you are consulting a church, you could visit their Sunday service a couple of times prior to your initial meeting. If it is a business, find out everything you can about it. If it is government, learn everything you can about politics and public service.

[Esoteric]

I am with you on #4, but I have also lost some business because I was "aloof" and "not social enough" because I don't schmooze on my clients dime. It drives me nuts but some clients want to have 30 minute conversations and 2 hour lunches even if it means you spend an extra day onsite.

And don't get offended if people assume you do not have integrity. I recently had a client of over 5 years accuse me of scamming them because someone offered them a lower price on a particular estimate (this client has no sense of value though, only price).

Mike