Thinking of ditching the full-time job in design and taking the freelance option? Freelancers all over the world encounter exactly the same problems with clients; some are great, but some can seriously affect your earning potential. If you’re ready to ditch the day job, here are some perils to watch out for.
1. The Client That’s Bad News From Day One
One thing about being a freelancer is dealing with people direct. Where once you had a manager to hide behind, now you’re responsible for sales, marketing and customer services, all in addition to your regular job.
Make sure you never take on a client that gives you a bad gut feeling. If you find yourself stuck with a problem customer, it’s more difficult to give them the elbow if they’re paying your salary.
2. The Tyre Kicker
Problem clients are bad news, but at least they’re paying you. Tyre kickers are worse. These prospective customers can string out the quoting process for days, weeks or even months, changing their spec and trying to get you to do work for free.
Keep an eye on how much time a client is wasting. If you’ve exchanged a certain number of emails and nothing’s been confirmed, it might be time to politely decline the assignment.
3. The Non-Payer
Every freelancer is responsible for liaising with clients, and you’ll probably be the person chasing their payments too. Invoicing is every designer’s least favourite job, yet it has to be done – and done well.
If a client hasn’t paid, they may have forgotten. If they forget a couple of times, they could be disorganised. If the client keeps paying late, you have a problem: either they don’t value your design work highly enough, or they’re experiencing cash flow problems. Both are warning signs.
4. The Chancer
When starting out as a freelance designer, you will probably have to work for fairly low rates to build a portfolio and gather testimonials. Some clients will try to take advantage by asking you to submit work for free as a trial or test contract.
Be careful with chancers like this: it’s very difficult to protect your ideas, and you could find your design being used even if it was suppose to be a test piece.
5. The Amateur Designer
When someone hires you for a design job, they should be aware of your skill and willing to listen to your opinion. There’s nothing worse than a client who thinks they know the job better than you.
Find yourself being undermined and outvoted? The client may not respect your skills enough to work with you.
6. The Phone Addict
Some clients love to talk. They’ll call you to discuss a project, then call again right as you’re finishing work for the day. They might call over the weekend when they have a great new idea, too.
As a freelancer, it’s your job to either field these calls or set boundaries. You may need to explain that phone time eats into the hours you’ve set aside for design work, and if they want to chat, they’ll have to pay by the hour. You might want to get a free VOIP number to keep their calls at bay.
Is Freelance Design Work Always Worthwhile?
Being a freelancer sounds like a dream design job: free time, your own working hours and afternoons off here and there. But by the time you’ve factored in the extra admin, you might end up doing a lot more than you planned. Freelancing is a rewarding but risky step; if you don’t feel ready, stick to the steady 9-5 until you’re ready to make the leap.
Photo credit: David Wiley
