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mcpilot
Community Member

One tip for freelancers

Hi everyone, 

 

I work both as a freelancer and a client.  As a freelancer, I am always busy and I have never, mind you *never* pinged an existing or former client to see if they have more work for me. 

 

However, as a client, I am bombarded with requests from freelancers I have hired for more work. It's not unusual for me to get pinged by some nearly daily "any new tasks for me?" and sometimes I am fending off multiple requests a day. 

 

If you're a freelancer and want to be successful, do not do this. I will always go back to freelancers who've done a good job for me, but as a client, I can't make tasks appear out of thin air. They come up when they come up. 

 

I will often provide an increasingly stern admonition to freelancers who do this but eventually, they get blocked for good. 

 

Just a little Sunday musing from the client side. 

16 REPLIES 16
yitwail
Community Member

I’m strictly a freelancer and I don’t pester old clients for work. However, I’d cut some slack for freelancers who do, IF the client never closed the contract, because that theoretically means they might need more work done.
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"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
florydev
Community Member


John K wrote:
I’m strictly a freelancer and I don’t pester old clients for work. However, I’d cut some slack for freelancers who do, IF the client never closed the contract, because that theoretically means they might need more work done.

Agreed.

 

I would also say that, although pestering someone is annoying , I don't think putting yourself back in the client's mind is always bad idea? 

I contact past clients every few months or so, I typically don't say anything much beyond asking how things are going with the work I did.  I take a local client out to lunch every few month, last time he did he said there might be something coming up.  Would he have thought of me if were not eating Mongolian BBQ together?  No way to know but I don't regret doing it.

 

Since I can say I have had some success doing this I can't advocate NEVER doing it.  After all a client that never gives you work again is not really a client are they?

 

mcpilot
Community Member

I think there's a big difference between reachign out to a client and saying "hey Tim, let me know when you'd like to talk about the Phase III piece of that project, my schedule is looking fairly flexible right now" and a daily "Hello Tim. Any new tasks for me?" I am not referring to ongoing open contracts, I am referring mostly to closed jobs.  

petra_r
Community Member


Patrick M wrote:

I think there's a big difference between reachign out to a client and saying "hey Tim, let me know when you'd like to talk about the Phase III piece of that project, my schedule is looking fairly flexible right now" and a daily "Hello Tim. Any new tasks for me?" I am not referring to ongoing open contracts, I am referring mostly to closed jobs.  


Do you mainly hire "not very expensive" freelancers from sort of far away countries?

mcpilot
Community Member

It's a mix. I hire mainly depending on the need at the time. I have hired freelancers from India to Ukraine to Venezuela to Canada to the US. But to answer your question, there's definitely a geographic pattern here, yes. 

Patrick, there is a huge difference between the two scenarios.

 

As a website writer primarily, I touch base with clients to see how sales might be going every few months; to remind them to update their copyright info annually, and stuff like this.  It's a far cry from pestering ...

 

FWIW, if a freelancer pstered me for work > I'd block them. 


Wendy C wrote:

Patrick, there is a huge difference between the two scenarios.

 

As a website writer primarily, I touch base with clients to see how sales might be going every few months; to remind them to update their copyright info annually, and stuff like this.  It's a far cry from pestering ...

 

FWIW, if a freelancer pstered me for work > I'd block them. 


I was going to say something similar to Wendy. As a grantwriter, I will occasionally let former clients know about upcoming grant opportunities that they are eligible for, just for their benefit, to apply on their own or use my services if necessary. It's certainly not every day that I forward opportunities to them, and they are always appreciative that I thought of them to let them know. I will also remind them when their grant reports are due, even if I'm not on contract with them, because they aren't usually thinking about it. So I think this depends widely on the field you are in. 

mcpilot
Community Member

that just sounds like quality service.  I am talking primarily about what you see in the attached image, which represents a SINGLE MORNING. 

 

If a contractor I'd hired reach out and said "Hey Pat, just a reminder, the plugin support is going to expire next week, you may want to renw that", I would be thrilled. But an almost daily "Hey Patrick, any new task for me?" is block-worthy. 

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

florydev
Community Member


Patrick M wrote:

I think there's a big difference between reachign out to a client and saying "hey Tim, let me know when you'd like to talk about the Phase III piece of that project, my schedule is looking fairly flexible right now" and a daily "Hello Tim. Any new tasks for me?" I am not referring to ongoing open contracts, I am referring mostly to closed jobs.  


I understand, which is why I said pestering.  My concern is anyone reading your tip might think that they should never reach out to a client they have worked to in the past, mainly because you said this:

 

As a freelancer, I am always busy and I have never, mind you *never* pinged an existing or former client to see if they have more work for me

Because I think never contacting a client for more work might be bad business.  Relying on a client to think of you, are more importantly know that you are capable of helping them with their current problem sounds like missed opportunities to me.

 

tlsanders
Community Member

Patrick, while some of those freelancers are just desperate and annoying, I think many have fallen victim to trying to follow advice they don't really understand. It's pretty common in the freelancing world to hear suggestions about keeping yourself in the client's mind and such. And, in fact, I can tell you that I have quite often accidentally triggered new work this way (sometimes when I wasn't looking for it and had to turn it down because I was booked solid for the foreseeable future).

 

This has happened when I've wished a long-time, sporadic client happy birthday on Facebook, when I've reached out to request permission to share a ghostwritten piece privately with a prospective client, when I've shared an article I ran across that was relevant to the client's business (and so on). A lot of clients have projects back-burnered because they're busy, and when a freelancer they were happy working with crosses their radar for whatever reason, it triggers a "Hey, you know what you could help me with if you have time..."

 

Of course, that sort of response grows out of building actual relationships with clients over time, but a lot of the time freelancers--especially newer freelancers or lower-end freelancers--only get the headlines and do more harm than good by trying to follow "tips" without understanding them.


Tiffany S wrote:

I bet also you have had some turn of ... the only thing I have right now is not something you do, I need someone to do {excactly something you do}...Oh, you do that?

 

It doesn't matter how many times you tell a client what you do people still place you in pigeonholes and it is up to you to fly out of them.


Mark F wrote:

Tiffany S wrote:

I bet also you have had some turn of ... the only thing I have right now is not something you do, I need someone to do {excactly something you do}...Oh, you do that?

 

It doesn't matter how many times you tell a client what you do people still place you in pigeonholes and it is up to you to fly out of them.


I don't have that issue at this point because my niche has become so narrow that I literally provide exactly four services and provide them only to three types of businesses (which are all in the same general industry).

 

I do have one side thing I do that doesn't fit those categories, but I don't even promote it as part of my freelancing business.

lysis10
Community Member


Patrick M wrote:

Hi everyone, 

 

I work both as a freelancer and a client.  As a freelancer, I am always busy and I have never, mind you *never* pinged an existing or former client to see if they have more work for me. 

 

However, as a client, I am bombarded with requests from freelancers I have hired for more work. It's not unusual for me to get pinged by some nearly daily "any new tasks for me?" and sometimes I am fending off multiple requests a day. 

 

If you're a freelancer and want to be successful, do not do this. I will always go back to freelancers who've done a good job for me, but as a client, I can't make tasks appear out of thin air. They come up when they come up. 

 

I will often provide an increasingly stern admonition to freelancers who do this but eventually, they get blocked for good. 

 

Just a little Sunday musing from the client side. 


Just reply "Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?"

 

Throw them five bucks if they have a clue what you're referring to.

As a client, I have freelencers that just say 'Hi' sometimes. On one occasion, one just said that they wanted to see how I am. Um, OK then! So very candid!  It is usually those that are out of favour that are leaving such messages. That reminds me, I need to close come contracts.

I do also have some that are often busy with other things let me know that they are available, but that's cool. As is to be expected, it is the better writers that are not dependant on me for work. 

As a freelancer, I do have one client that I nudge from time to time. I have worked for him for about 2 years, though, and I know he appreciates the occasional reminder. Sometimes I leave a 'nudge' by offering suggestions for new articles. Again, though, I know that is appreciated because it is sometimes a lack of ideas that is holding them up. 

robin_hyman
Community Member

I will admit to reaching out to previous clients who provide good, challenging work and in turn, pay on time, appreciate my work and leave positive feedback.  In fact I did it the other day when work was slow.  

 

However, if your clients are reaching out daily or even weekly, perhaps a simple - "don't contact me, I'll reach out to you if there are any projects that are a good fit" would do.  If they continue to pester, I agree to just block them.  

Just to add to this. If you absolutely feel the need to contact clients to ask if work is available --- at least keep it professional.

I have just had a freelancer send me a 1-word message: "hello". Nothing else. He can't even be bothered to make an effort, which leaves me wondering why I should. I can't help but feels as though he is treating me with contempt. 

The thing is, I have had a request come in today and was in the process of allocating work. The freelancer in question will be receiving nothing. It will go instead to somebody else with a more professional attitude. 

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