Every freelancer, agency, and vendor has differing opinions about types of clients to work with and how to work with them. As a solopreneur, I’m lucky that I get to be picky about who I choose to work with, and I’m in full control of how I serve clients.
I think a lot about the work I want to do and the types of people I want to work with. Here are some of those thoughts.
My Client Philosophy
- Work with good humans
- Don’t lock them in or hold them hostage
- Be understanding
- I’m here to serve, to make their jobs easier
- Mutual trust is vital
Work With Good Humans
I have a very strict “no pricks” rule. I only want to work with good humans who are kind and understanding. I won’t stand for being yelled at, scolded, made fun of, offended, or treated poorly in general. I realize my privilege in being able to choose who I work with to project myself, my feelings, and my mental health.
My clients are good humans running good businesses. They care about their customers, treat customers and employees well, and do right by those they work with. This is important to me. I don’t want to work with shady people or shady businesses. I want to feel good about the work I do and who I’m doing it for.
Thankfully, I haven’t engaged in contracts with many pricks. In the rare case it happens, I cut my losses, end the contract regardless of the financial impact to me, and work on finding a better-fit client. Again, I am blatantly aware of my privilege being able to set these boundaries.
I don’t want to dread getting on a call or seeing an email from a client. I don’t want to worry about getting yelled at or disappointing a client (I worry about disappointing people enough on my own, thank you very much). I’m thoughtful about the people I choose to take on as clients, and most of them are as thoughtful about hiring the right type of person for outsourcing content marketing. It has to be a good fit for all parties involved.
Don’t Hold Clients Hostage
I don’t believe in holding clients hostage. I don’t lock anyone into a contract (there’s always a 30-day out for both parties) and I work to prove my value month after month to keep my clients.
I’ve always been turned off by agencies and freelancers that set their work up in a way that makes the clients reliant on them. For example, not giving clients access to ad accounts or removing access when a contract ends.
I always try to work so clients *want* to keep working with me, but don’t *have* to.
If a client does end work with me, it’s always sad. It’s usually because they’ve seen the value in what I do and want to hire someone in-house to do it, which is awesome. I make sure the transition away from me goes as smoothly as possible. I fulfill all contractual obligations. I make sure our time working together between the “hey, we need to stop our contract” and when the contract ends isn’t awkward.
And, importantly, I give them access to all the work I’ve done. They get their editorial calendar, drafts, strategic documents, account logins, everything.
I’ll never understand the hostile end-of-contract process. Things happen. Clients come and go. I value every client I have…for whatever amount of time I get to work with them. I also value relationships. No burned bridges here.
Be Understanding
I’m a naturally (or maybe it was nurture…or both) empathetic, conscientious person. I try to see things from my clients’ point of view. For example, if they’re not getting back to me on something—why? Did I give them too much to review at one time? Are they too busy serving their clients? How can I help them keep this project moving?
We’re all humans, just living our lives, and there’s no such thing as a clear work/life division. I think this has become even more clear since COVID hit. If I’m on a call with a client and their kid walks in, that’s lovely. No need to shoo them away—I tell my clients to do what needs done to help their child. It’s the same for pets! If a client’s dog is asking to go out during our call, make it happen. Things come up, and there’s no reason to be mad at an interruption.
I try to work with clients in a way that’s comfortable for them. I happen to be an internal processor, but I know plenty of external processors. I try to work within a client’s comfort zone—if they like to think on things, we use email and writing to correspond about details, but if they hate email, I save things for our bi-weekly calls. I can do my work in a lot of different ways and work to adjust how the client works best.
And because this is life, things happen. People get sick, people get busy, circumstances change. If a client needs to pause work, delay it for a bit, or stop altogether, I’m flexible. Nothing I do is of emergency-level importance (I structure my work that way purposefully), so clients know that they can handle other priorities if their plate is too full. In turn, my clients are understanding when I have to shift meetings, move work timelines around, or even take time off. It all goes back to working with good humans.
Here to Serve
I get a lot of pride in making my clients’ jobs easier. I want to take content marketing off of their plates and handle everything I can within that process.
To accomplish this, I set up my contracts as “fixed-ish” scope. Clients and I agree on the amount of work I’ll complete each month, and I deliver those items. But we can change things as needed without changing the contract. If I’m contracted to write 2 blog posts per month but a client needs a press release, we just swap the press release for one of the blogs. If a client wants a lead-gen email series, we can swap that work for the planned email newsletter (or something of similar effort).
I don’t want “it’s not in the scope” to get in the way of doing the highest-priority work at any given time. And because I’m an independent contractor, I can make these decisions to flex when it makes sense.
Mutual Trust
I don’t want to spend my time worrying about whether a client will pay me or whether I’m doing too much or too little work. Early on (usually before we sign the contract), I talk to clients about trust. If clients feel they’re not getting what’s promised, I trust them to raise that issue with me. In fact, I trust them to raise any issue with me—to please be direct and clear.
In general, they trust I’ll get the work done and do high-quality work. I provide monthly reports for reconciliation so I know I completed the work. I send them to clients, but I’m not sure anyone actually looks at them! And that’s OK. Because there’s trust there.
In return, I promise to do the same thing. I promise not to constantly talk about scope changes, but to focus on doing good work. If I have a problem, I want my clients to trust that I’ll raise it with them. And I do…even though I hate hard conversations.
I trust that my clients will pay me. If they’re late paying, I just send a friendly note and usually they just forgot (my clients have a lot of responsibilities). I am flexible with payment due dates because cash flow is hard and sometimes things happen. I can do this because I know clients will pay me. They understand I’m an independent contractor and that this is my living.
If I get a whiff of anyone trying to take advantage of me or break trust, I’m out. If my gut tells me not to engage in a contract, I trust that feeling.
Blessed to Be Choosy
I know how lucky I am to be able to say no to potential clients if it feels like the wrong fit. Most independent contractors aren’t so fortunate—they have to take projects with tough clients.
I’m lucky that I’ve found good humans working at good companies who value what I do. It allows me to protect myself and my mental health.