Payments, Time Management, & Getting Clients — The Freelancer Version | Personal, Professional Opinion

So I’ve been a “freelancer” for more than a year now. I love the gig-based economy and if I had my way, that’s how it’d be for everyone. A gig-based economy is simply more efficient, organized, and skill-driven. And over this year, I’ve met many people who told me they’d like to have a side gig too. So, about a week ago, I conducted a poll on LinkedIn.

The question, “A lot of people would like to freelance/consult. But they don’t. If this is you, why?” These were the results.

LinkedIn Poll Results

Clearly, not many have any contractual restrictions, and to be honest, I’m not a legalese expert. All I can say is, try to get that clause out of your contract if you can. There are no two ways about it. Now for the other, more addressable concerns.

How Do I Get Clients?

Well, this is the bane, isn’t it? If I got a nickel every time someone asked me this, my pants would be much heavier. So much so that they’d fall off. Thankfully, and less embarrassingly, this does not happen. What does happen is a bunch of people expecting actionable, step-by-step guidelines on how this process works.

Well, there isn’t one.

Let’s be clear about one thing. Freelance/Gig-economy isn’t for everyone.

Freelancers/Gig-economy professionals need to be able to multi-task, have impeccable project management skills, top-notch communication qualities, an insane efficiency-effectiveness quotient, an unbelievably large network, and an extreme passion towards their work.

So first, see if you fit the bill. If you do, then congratulations! Kudos on being an enterprising, sales-first businessperson. That’s what you are. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Second, each field/job works differently. This article will definitely be more useful if you’re into any aspect of marketing or content creation, but I’ve definitely learned that it’s important to learn across different industry sectors.

Now, getting clients — what’s the step-by-step guide?
Well if you’ve been skimming through this, then you probably missed the bit where I said, “There isn’t one.”

But fear not. Although there is no ‘one size fits all’ policy, let me be the first to tell you, it damn near comes close!

Here’s what I do to get new clients:

1. Network Like Mad: How often do you log in to LinkedIn? How many new conversations are you having in a day? How can you add value during first impressions? Are you even thinking about these things? Well, it’s time you do.
2. Right Clients v/s Clients: Every freelance professional’s career goes through three stages: survival, passion, and thought leadership. I’m super excited to tell you all I’ve successfully made it past the survival stage and I am loving life in the passion phase. I get to work on the projects I want, and I’ve achieved enough financial freedom to openly reject or thrash projects I feel unworthy of my time. Yes, I value my time very highly (more on this in the payments section).
   That said, there’s a huge difference between finding clients and finding the right clients. This means sending out cold emails to people you want to work with, starting off cheap, figuring out your own process, and all the mental-health-meet-financial-turmoil stuff.
   Certain traits distinguish the right clients from clients. The right clients always:
   a. know what they want (albeit vaguely)
   b. are open to suggestions
   c. treat you like a subject expert
   d. value their own time
   e. value your time
   f. have reasonable expectations

3. Actually Work and Not Promote: Is this article all an effort to sell a course? No! It is not. I’m a busy professional who finally found time(2 weeks later) to write this article. My work, and subsequently, my clients speak on my behalf. If you don’t have a client, then create a fictional one. Don’t waste time — work! To me, this article is work. It’s not fun. It’s useful, practical information. Such is the tone too. If you want to read fun, exciting stories here’s a piece I wrote on how Soothsayers Ruined My Life.

If you work diligently, time will get you clients. Exponentially.

4. Stop Bidding on Price: Think the only way to get projects is by offering the cheapest services? Well, that tells you what the people you want to work with value. Even Warren Buffet mentions how bidding on price is possibly the worst idea for any business to scale and grow. This is a really bad strategy to get new clients.

5. Use Listing Services, But Only For Research: All freelance job portals have an inherent flaw: first mover’s advantages. It’s very hard for new people to enter this space and find quality projects. But there is usually an email, or other contact details you can find on pretty much all platforms. Getting outside the portal does have its own pros and cons, but the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

How Do I Manage Time?

Arguably the most important skill in the gig-based economy, time management is critical to success for any freelancer. This process requires a lot of introspection, measurement, optimization, and organization.

Speakers like Nir Eyal and Adam Grant have done extensive work in the space of time management, and making work suck less respectively, and they have a much more elaborate knowledge infrastructure you can follow depending on your personality, style, etc.

But here are a few things that I do which I think help me a lot:

1. Task Breakdown: Those of you who’ve never known me personally may not know that I used to be a chef. That life taught me many things, and task breakdown is one of them. Here’s what this looks like.
   Imagine going out with 4 friends to a restaurant. Everyone orders something different. Now the chefs have to ensure all the different cooking times, methods, ingredients, and garnishes for each of the four dishes line up in such a way that all of them come out hot, and at the same time. To do this, we break down each recipe into its smallest, most individual steps. Even stirring and cooling times are factored in.

Implementing this level of task breakdown is neither easy, nor intuitive, but it’s worth it and I have my experience to thank for that.

2. Return on Time: Same as return on investment, but the investment is time. What tasks give you the most return for time? Client servicing may not be measurable, but it helps foster relationships. The more time you invest, the stronger the relationship. This is true across all aspects including learning/upskilling, creation, execution, and other aspects of your job role.

3. Parkinson’s Law: Wrote a whole different blog on this called “Do More with Lesser Time”. Hope you read it and find it valuable.

What Payment Protocols Do I Follow?

Freelancing is not free. Another piece I wrote previously which I believe is quite relevant even today. But in terms of payment protocols, I’ve very little advice to give because this is largely dependant on two things: a. The contract you draw up; b. Your client

Here are some general rules to follow though:

1. Fine delayed payments. Enforce it. Take them to court. Call them out publicly. But whatever happens, don’t give up. You worked for it, you deserve to get paid.
2. Set up a milestone based payment system. If you’re taking on a new client, this is usually super effective. A 3/4 milestone project with a 33 or 25% at each phase is usually a fair ask.
3. Charge hourly. Client got you on a call? Charge for it. You sending an email on behalf of your client? Charge! Networking on their behalf? Buddies, you deserve the money.
4. Be reasonable. Don’t create a cost with the aim of negotiation. I’ve noticed many people give me a “fictitious cost” and then reduce it to as much as 50% if cost is an issue. Stop devaluing yourself and the work you do.

If you’ve read till here, congratulations and thank you! I really appreciate it. If you think you’ve differing opinions, other concerns, or think this piece is worthwhile, do mention it in the comments and share it with your professional network. It really helps a lot.

Until next time!