Why Freelancers Don’t Want To Work With You: 5 Signs You’re A Red Flag Client
There’s no denying it: clients are the most important thing in a freelancer’s career. As a freelancer, if I’m not looking for new clients, I’m working hard to maintain the relationships that I already have. Most clients are great, but there are always exceptions.
So let’s start off with this: what are “Red Flag Clients (RFCs)”? In short, they’re the clients that no freelancer ever wants to work with. They’re the clients that make a freelancer’s life a living hell; the ones they wish they never took on in the first place. There are a ton of articles aimed at freelancers talking about how to avoid RFCs, but I thought it was time to talk about how to not be a RFC instead.
Here are the signs that most freelancers look out for, and how to avoid being that RFC:
1. You Lowball Your Freelancer
Everyone has a budget — all freelancers understand this. But all freelancers have a rate as well. You wouldn’t walk into a store and tell them to lower their prices, so why would you do that to a freelancer? When you ask a freelancer what they charge, respect what they say in return! Most freelancers are open to negotiation, but if they’re rates are not closely within your budget, thank them for their time, let them know they’re out of your budget and find someone else that is!
You’ve most likely reached out to the freelancer you want to hire because you admire their work. Think about the time and effort they’ve put into their craft to get to this point in their career. Don’t undermine someone’s work and experience just because you want to save some money. You may get lucky and get more than what you paid for, but most of the time, that’s not the case.
Freelancing is a business and a freelancer has a lot of expenses to cover that most clients don’t see or even think about. These expenses may include marketing costs, software licensing, equipment, health insurance, business licensing fees, general office expenses and more. So next time you want an exceptional website for only $15/hour, don’t forget that there’s a lot more that goes into someone’s rate than meets the eye.
2. You undermine your freelancer’s work
On the same frequency as the point above, please don’t undermine your freelancer’s work. Emails requesting something “quick” and/or “easy” are usually in fact, never quick or easy. If it were indeed so quick and easy, why would you pay us to do it? Making those statements not only diminishes your project but the work and expertise your freelancer provides as well. If you’re used to your freelancer turning projects over quickly, please keep in mind that they’ve had years of experience to make it happen that way. And while most freelancers will be too polite to tell you, we aren’t just throwing your projects together on a whim. We take pride and care in everything we present to our clients, no matter how “quick and easy” the end result may seem.
3. You Don’t Trust Your Freelancer, You Micromanage And You’re High Maintenance
Maybe you’ve had a bad experience with that $300 website that didn’t turn out how you wanted, or perhaps you have some super secretive information on your Facebook page that is for your eyes only. Whatever your reason for needing to constantly monitor/email/text/call your freelancer, don’t do it! You wouldn’t tell a mechanic how to do their job, so don’t tell your freelancer how to do theirs. By hiring us, you are telling us that you trust us to be good enough to complete the project you’re asking us to do. Most freelancers will always complete projects to the best of their ability. In cases where you and your freelancer just don’t jive and you’re not happy with their work, just make sure your contract has an exit clause where you can leave. If you’re hand-holding your freelancer through your project, chances are you probably won’t be happy with your end result and even if you are, your freelancer will probably never work with you again.
4. You Don’t Know What You Want
We get it — you just want a website. Or perhaps you just want a logo. Or maybe even a social media manager. Whatever your project is, always have an end goal for what your project is trying to achieve. By saying this, I’m not telling you to know 100% exactly what you want, but at least have an achievable goal that your freelancer can help you attain.
Here are some examples:
- If you want a website, what do you want your website to do? Do you want to provide your clients with more information about your business, or do you just want to start selling your products online?
- If you want a logo, what do you want it to represent? Is your business luxury, or affordable? Is it a serious business, or is it playful and fun? Who’s your target audience?
- If you want a social media manager, what goals are you trying to achieve? Do you just want to grow your following count, or do you want to keep your clients in the loop about what your business is doing? Have you signed up to all the social media platforms you want to use? Do you know all the passwords? That last question may sound like a joke, but trust me — it’s happened before.
Most freelancers will have at least one consultation session with their client to help figure out what they want, so please have answers ready for us when we ask. Keep in mind, consultations are not always free so don’t be surprised if they’re not — it takes and energy into gathering information to serve our clients as best we can, so we do expect to compensated in return. Don’t worry: it’ll always be worth it. A consultation will not only allow us to figure out what you want, but it will also allow you to get to know your freelancer and their working style better. Think of it as taking a bit of time, to prevent wasting a lot of time.
5. You Don’t Respect Your Freelancer’s Time
Remember how I talked about hidden expenses in a freelancer’s rate? Chasing clients down is part of that unexpected expense! Whether it be chasing down clients for payment (the worst), or just asking clients for approvals and/or feedback. You’re most likely not our only client so if it takes too long to receive your feedback, the momentum for your project naturally slows down and we will likely begin to prioritize our other clients. It should not be our responsibility to ask you to pay us or to get you to provide feedback on our work. Most of us are project managers to some extent, but our jobs should not include managing our clients as well. If for whatever reason you’re running behind on your freelancer’s requests (payment, feedback, content, etc.), just let us know! We’re reasonable people but please don’t take our time for granted.
Along with all the points I mentioned, I assume that I don’t have to mention that you should always respect your freelancer. If you’ve had a bad experience with a freelancer in the past, think about these red flags and see if you’ve ever been guilty of any of them. Don’t agree with me? I’m always happy to chat.
