Client Permission for Portfolio Items

9fe872eb · ‎10-24-2022

Hi. Have many people here experienced clients being unwilling to let you display the work you've done for them in your portfolio? Were you able to find a workaround?

I am in such a situation right now and while I don't have permission to display the actual finished work I have done for a specific client, I think it would be alright to display partially obscured/altered form of the work as part of a new project in my product catalogue. I should mention that the work I did was of a fairly common/generic nature in my field of work while being customized as per client needs, and therefore should be a perfectly reasonable candidate for being displayed as catalog project in my understanding.

There might be potential to discuss certain concerns with the client (e.g., they might be more concerned about certain parts of the work than others), but it would be great to know the general thoughts and recommendations of the people here. Cheers.

martina_plaschka · ‎10-24-2022

If you don't have permission, don't use it. Don't try to negotiate with the client what to show, or how, or whatever. If I were you, it would be more important to me to retain the client as recurring customer than annoying him with requests he does not want to fulfill.

9fe872eb · ‎10-25-2022

Thanks for replying, Martina. Would you like to share any perspectives with regard to my question about displaying work as a catalogue project rather than a portfolio item? I do want to be able to offer one or more generic "packages" similar to what I have done for that client, and it is in that context I shared the possibility of altering/obscuring parts of previous work. I could make something from scratch, but it would be difficult to make a generic offering to be very different from what I already did except in a superficial/forced manner without degrading quality.

To try a moderately close analogy from your field of work, let's say you did a wonderful job of translating a highly technical piece involving a glossary of medical processes from English to German. Your client's objections may prohibit you from displaying it as a past-work item in your portfolio, but that shouldn't stop you from offering it as product in your Upwork catalog, and using something from your past work as a demo. Assuming for our purposes that there is demand from highly technical translation work of this nature, the fact that you did that for one client shouldn't stop you from showcasing to other clients what you have to offer in a fairly high-volume area of work. Look forward to knowing what you think.

50f7abd3 · ‎10-25-2022

Hi Amit,

This problem with displaying work done for previous clients is a common one and there are different workarounds depending on the nature of the work.

If a client is unwilling to have their work displayed, that is the end of that issue and discussion. If you signed an NDA, read it to be sure what you can and cannot do with the body of work. My advice, even when the NDA gives some rights of disclosure, is to disclose nothing whatsoever —to remain on the safe side. Do not attempt to explain why they should agree to your display of their work (redacted or otherwise). That would be unprofessional and could potentially backfire.

What you could do is, considering the work is generic as you stated, replicate the work applying the same process for a fictional client. Let's use your analogy for instance. If the job was to translate a medical glossary from German to English, find another medical glossary, translate it, and display that one. You can link your previous work (of translating a 'medical glossary') to this new fictional one but make it clear that they are similar but not the same.

Also, you may have done such work in the past for a client who isn't on Upwork. Here you could display such work if you are certain that you aren't bound by an NDA or a Confidentiality agreement AND the client doesn't own the process.

The first suggestion is your best bet in my opinion. Good luck and let me know if this was helpful!

9fe872eb · ‎10-25-2022

Hi Ubah,

Thanks for the detailed and considered response. My medical glossary analogy was written keeping in my mind the other contributor's area of work. A closer example might be something like a business valuation exercise. There are only a few major approaches to doing so, and as far an Excel spreadsheet implementation is concerned, such exercises can "look" very similar - almost identical - as far as the process/methodology is concerned. The specialist's contribution here is in the form of an accurate and customized implementation based on a deep understanding of their client's business particulars and needs. To use an oft-repeated phrase for such tasks, it is both an art and a science. The only way I can make a "new" product here is by changing some numbers around - but do you have a view on whether that will that be enough (and not merely superficial) from the perspective of fairly addressing the previous client's objections? (The other way I can change things is by modifying the layout, presentation etc. - but that's my way of doing thing and a strength that I want to showcase; I don't want to show a degraded version while pitching to prospective clients)

An additional reason that I am not sure if the 'fictional' portfolio item will pass muster is because my client apparently wants no linkage at all to be made to work I did for them (I could ask but that could be "annoying" as the other contributor opined). That's why I am not optimistic about being able to make a reference to previous work in my portfolio; and am asking questions mainly from the point of view of adding that/derived work to the project catalog instead.

I haven't signed a formal NDA, btw. I recognize this might ultimately be a matter of legal/IP minutiae, but at the same time I'm seeking opinions from fellow freelancers from a general experiential viewpoint. And if someone from Upwork Support can chime in that would be great, too. Thanks.

50f7abd3 · ‎10-25-2022

If I understand you well, your main question is "...do you have a view on whether that will be enough (and not merely superficial) from the perspective of fairly addressing the previous client's objections (to disclosing what they consider to be their IP)?

First off, I believe your ultimate objective is to showcase your work, with a view to attracting more clients. The question is does this IP belong to you or the client? These are issues between you and your client and Upwork will not "chime in" on such issues. So, whether it is for your portfolio or catalogue, you should make such clarifications on ownership of IP part of your business process going forward.

From a business perspective, you should consider whether the risk (to your reputation) is worth the potential reward of more clients. Seeing how circumspect you appear with this client, you may want to skip using this client's work —especially as you are unsure about who owns what.

I still believe you can be creative when populating your portfolio or catalogue without improper disclosure. If in doubt, let this particular one go. If you can't let it go, brief a lawyer to better understand your rights.