ILANNA M wrote:
Hello:
I began working with a very nice company out of Australia about 5 weeks ago. They have praised my work and complimented the courses I designed for them. Then, they even raised the amount they would pay. But, to do that they switched from hourly to fixed price, even though I expressed concerns over the fixed price process. Still, I spoke with them via Zoom, and they were very nice about everything.
I have completed 4 out of the 8 modules, and all of a sudden they stopped communicating. I haven't heard from them in several days and I don't know why. They haven't expressed any concerns over the work. I gave up 2 other contracts to be free to do this and they know that. Any advice?
Thanks!
That's a tough situation. Can you afford not to seek other clients while you wait? I would probably look for an opportunity (or two) that I felt I could weave into the workload even if the client reappears tomorrow.
Most clients in my niche realize that if they aren't keeping me busy, I'll have to add someone else to the mix and then everyone has to wait their turn. I don't delay people by weeks, but I have no problem saying, "I'm finishing up a project right now and can start your next phase on X day." In your case, if the client wants you available full-time and on-call, they should pay you a weekly amount to reserve your time.
I've noticed, btw, that Upwork messaging isn't alerting me to any of my messages lately--not even when I open the message tab. I have to look in each client's message "room" to see if they've been in touch. So, if you are using Upwork to correspond, your clients may not know you've tried to reach them. If you have another way to contact them, I'd write something like, "I haven't heard from you about the next module. I'm filling in the rest of my schedule for the month, should I plan to add you?" (Something like that)
