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bushra_a
Community Member

'24/7 Freelancer' Is it ever possible?

' I am a 24/7 freelancer'

'I will provide unlimited revisions'

 

I have seen many freelancers mention these specific sentences in their profiles.  Does it really increase the chance of winning more jobs?  Personally I don't like this type of mindset.  Because, I have family and social life, I need to sleep, spend time with my cats and so on.  But, I am also dedicated to my work.  In the case of revisions, I will definitely change the design when my client asks for it. No matter how many times, I'll have to do it, right? What do you think about it? Please share your thoughts with me. Thank you.

10 REPLIES 10
a_lipsey
Community Member


Bushra A wrote:

' I am a 24/7 freelancer'

'I will provide unlimited revisions'

 

I have seen many freelancers mention these specific sentences in their profiles.  Does it really increase the chance of winning more jobs?  Personally I don't like this type of mindset.  Because, I have family and social life, I need to sleep, spend time with my cats and so on.  But, I am also dedicated to my work.  In the case of revisions, I will definitely change the design when my client asks for it. No matter how many times, I'll have to do it, right? What do you think about it? Please share your thoughts with me. Thank you.


My clients know that I am a business and operate generally during business hours in my time zone. They also know if they need me ASAP to just send a text, and I can let them know when I'm available to speak. I generally don't work with clients outside the US because my work is very US-centric, so I generally only have to deal with a 3-4 hour time difference. 

 

I do not think you should market yourself as available 24/7 or that you do unlimited revisions. I think what you should do is let your clients know when and how to communicate with you and find out how best and when best to communicate with them so that communication can be seamless. As to revisions, I don't think you should even market how many revisions you offer. That should really be something you discuss in the contracting phase, not on your profile. 

As a freelancer, my inbox is open "24/7".

 

My clients are welcome to send me a message 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week. Even on holidays.

 

I will read their message and respond to it or work on something for them during my regular working hours.

Maybe sooner if it is really critical.

 

The clients I work for are intelligent. None of them expect a high-level professional to be online waiting for their messages 100% of the time. They expect that a high-level professional (such as themselves, and such as the people they hope to hire for critical work) have families, lives, activities, interests, etc.

 

So if the clients I work for are looking for a low-paid overseas VA, they MIGHT look for somebody who is available to them 24/7. (But: probably not.) Certainly they don't expect any high-level professional to be available 24/7.

 

If we are working on a time-critical project, such as a database migration for a live system, then there may indeed be periods of time we schedule where I'm available around-the-clock. But something like that is rare.

I agree with what you said about the message 24/7. But, I think there are few clients who expect to have an instant reply.  If you fail to do so, you won't get the job- which actually happened with me. ( It was 5.am and I was sleeping). At first, I was upset, but now reading all your comments I understand that there's nothing to be sad about. Still, I am a newbie here and I have many things to know!   Thank you  🙂 

versailles
Community Member


Bushra A wrote:

' I am a 24/7 freelancer'

'I will provide unlimited revisions'

 

I have seen many freelancers mention these specific sentences in their profiles.  Does it really increase the chance of winning more jobs?  


No. Of course no. Those are desperate people ready to say anything to get a buck or two.

 

 

-----------
"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless
lysis10
Community Member

I'm available 4/5. Maybe I should put that in my profile to throw off the scourge.

Noooo way.

When are people supposed to sleep? Let along have a social life and spend time with family etc. 

Weekends are mainly off limits for me. I work hard in the week but, when Friday comes, the gin comes out and remains out until some time on Sunday. Or I'm in the pub or on a beach somewhere; there's no way I'm cutting that short because somebody wants some articles written. 

And I don't think a single one of my clients would expect it to be any different. 


I did try working at weekends once when I was short of money.

I ended up feeling jaded and was less productive and ended up making less money than I would have done otherwise. 

When I am interviewing, I let the potential clients know that I am generally available during normal working hours but that I can be available on weekends if truly necessary.  I only work hourly so revisions are part of the deal although my work doesn't normally require revisions.

The thing is that as a freelancer, you are a business owner and must act like one in order to be treated properly by clients.  Be very clear about availability and stick to it.  It's your business...

mtngigi
Community Member

I've always thought that the 24/7 claims are made when there is actually more than one person "hiding" behind the single freelancer on the profile.

Virginia:
An interesting observation. But I don't think most such claims represent anything quite so organized. I don't think it's anything different than silly claims such as "unlimted revisions" or "100% satisfaction or you don't have to pay."

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