I’m a contractor and my point of contact for one of my long term clients leads a team. They are fantastic and we’ve always got along well. Recently I spoke to one of the employees of the team separately, who disclosed their dislike of this team leader. Apparently some others on the team feel the same way as well.

Should I bring this up to the team leader? Part of me wants them to be aware of this. But another part of me isn’t sure if anything good will come of it. I’m also on good terms with everyone on the team and bringing this up may be rocking the boat, or seen that way.

Hi all, I’m curious to hear your experiences with this type of set up with a client. I’ve never had one who wanted to speak to me in a video call every day at the same time. That kinda stuff is why I don’t work full-time in an office haha. Once or twice a week, sure, but every day? I will not even be working on this project every day. I just need to do about 20 hours of work on it a week.

The client seemed to understand this when he agreed to work with me, but after a few days he’s now requesting these video calls.

FYI I do technical writing for software - it’s pretty independent.

Could I tactfully tell the client I’d rather do fewer checkins? I don’t want to lose the client. Anybody been through this sort of thing before?

Thanks!

I am an independent contractor for a company that has contracts with clients to provide care management services. The company has entered into contracts with these clients; I am contracted by the company to provide the care. My question is when I take time off, whose responsibility is it to arrange for coverage to these clients? Is it mine or the company contracted to these clients? Thank you.

I recently got an inquiry from someone asking if I could create a Shopify store for his business. He had a WordPress site with nearly 5k products, and it was doing okay, but I took a look at it, explained what all needs to be done and gave him a fair quote, keeping my margins low to make sure I could secure the work. After that, I didn't hear anything back from him, which, after being in this business for a few months, isn't exactly new. He must have gone with someone else. Fair enough.

But recently, I noticed his account pop up on my social media. Out of curiosity, I checked out his website again. He had moved to Shopify. But the site. to be honest, the design was poor, and the content was all over the place. It looks like the guy building the website abandoned the work, possibly because he agreed to do it at a lower cost and later realized it was too much.

I get it, everyone wants to minimize costs when building a website, but sometimes I wonder – is it really worth it to cut corners this much? Your website is your business's online face, and I just don’t get why people end up with something that hurts their brand like this.

Hi all, I’m considering transitioning from full-time salaried employee to freelancer.

Part of my reasoning is that freelancers have better aligned incentives. In the salaried world, doing good work doesn’t necessarily translate to more pay, and often just means more work for the same pay. In the freelance world, I figure good work begets more work which means more pay.

The other side is that salaried work pays you even when unproductive. While this is financially a benefit of salaried work, for the conscientious/industrious, this could actually harm one’s sense of meaning and drive to be productive in the long-run.

This is all theoretical - but I’m interested in learning whether you have found freelance work to be more or less motivating than full-time? Does what I say hold true or is there something I’m missing that would be good to take into account before transitioning?

Thank you!

Every client I’ve ever on-boarded treats project timelines as though I have no other clients. Some expect same day delivery on revisions, or expect full time work for the duration of a project.

I never accept this, and always set my boundaries and make contracts, but as a self employed person HOW do they never take into consideration that the only way I’m able to work for them is if I can stay afloat, which requires that I work multiple projects, with multiple clients.

I’m here to vent, but also because I just don’t understand this mentality that all clients seem to have. It’s as though they would have to be under the assumption I have no other projects and therefore make no money. If that were the case I would certainly get a job, and not be in a position to work for them…

The worst is when they’re like “welcome to the team!” And ask to put a picture of me on their website when it was made clear I’m a contractor. People need to understand that contractors are NOT employees. If we are treated as full-time dedicated employees, without benefits, RRSP matching a salary etc etc it’s just not a realistic or sustainable work relationship for us point blank.

Hi! How do you guys maintain your relationship with previous clients? Do you still reach out to those you had bad experiences with or the working relationship didn't end well? Idk why i've been overthinking lately my portfolio and all of the clients I've served and ones who did not end well because they were either toxic or I just quit immediately.

The other day I had a client who wanted help with a content assignment. The client was very nice and was clear about what needed to be done, but told me he needed the final results within 48 hours. And in the coming days, I had had work planned to reach new potential customers. What did I do?

I delivered the finished content within 24 hours. Prioritizing and providing the best experience possible to the customers who value you and are ready to pay for your services should always come before prioritizing potential customers who may not even know who you are yet.

Always prioritize those who choose you first, and show them that they are right in their choice.

I’ve noticed E-Myth Revisited gets recommended a lot in this subreddit, even though it’s primarily a business book. It talks about building systems, working on your business instead of just in it, and creating something scalable. For freelancers who are often solo operators.

If you've read it, do you think it applies to freelancers? Is it practical for those of us doing client-based work, or does it make more sense for people running traditional businesses?

Hey everyone! I've been freelancing for a while and, although I love the flexibility, the isolation can sometimes be a real challenge. I'm curious to know how you all manage feelings of loneliness or disconnect when working solo. Do you have any unique tips or strategies that help you stay connected and maintain your mental health? Looking forward to hearing your experiences and advice!

Hi, Ive been following Jandas course on freelance, but keep struggling on how to put the kickoff meeting. I mean, what if the client kinda told you: i want a video, my target audience is this, and they even send you an example. In that case do you still make another kickoff meeting or should you erase it from the phases? Client explained me what does the video needs, and an estimated duration. He also wanted me to do another one, similar manner, but i wanted to start with the first one and focus in one for the proposals. Because proposals is separating what are all the phases are about right?
Phase 1, investigation conceptualization. If first is done, next video will needed another proposal in this manner? D: what if they say it should cost less if the creation of little assets is already done ( buttons, name tags...) Should i put them both in the same proposal?? AHhh i feel so alone on this

Yesterday, I had an interview with a potential client who mentioned he was having a tough day. We had a great conversation, and by the end of it, they were ready to proceed with the project. I freelance in digital marketing, so this was about a potential collaboration.

At the end of the call, I gently asked if he felt comfortable sharing what was troubling him (giving him the option to decline), and he opened up, saying he had gone through a breakup that day. I empathised and offered a positive perspective, saying that I know it’s hard but that hopefully the future would bring something better.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t comfortable with that either. He later said he saw my approach as “asking personal questions and giving life advice during the very first meeting,” which he felt was inappropriate while discussing Google Ads strategy. That was his reason for not proceeding, even though he had called me the “top candidate.”

What’s frustrating is that, just the day before, I had another call with a different client, where I was equally personable, and that client commended me for it. They’ve now asked me to send over a quote.

So here’s where I’m struggling: has anyone else experienced something similar? I don’t want to lose the quality of being empathetic and personable, which most people consider a strength, just to become a cold, efficiency-driven professional. I love marketing strategy and have plenty of ideas to offer, but I also believe in building genuine connections with my clients.

It’s frustrating to be rejected over something that’s usually seen as a positive trait. How do you strike the right balance?

I'm working on a project where my client is sending me infinite like modifications and i don't know how to make her understand that i can't put all my time on endless modifications.

Do you know how to make her understand while still being professional ? I'm kind of scared that she might not work with me anymore tho

I freelance fulltime and I spend most of the time alone at home staring at my computer and I was wondering if I will eventually get used to the loneliness. I realized it was a problem when I had been alone for a couple days and when a neighbor stopped by my house for 20ish minutes, it felt so satisfying having someone to speak with. Literally felt way better after speaking with them for the few minutes they were at mine. Obviously the neighbor doesn't come all the time and it can get lonely. Anyone gone through this, did it get better?

I recently had a situation where the campaign I handled for my client did not produce the results the client had expected even though initial results were really good, and understandably I was a little worried this would impact our partnership. So what did I do?

I wrote a multi-page analysis of actions that could improve the campaign for next time, even though this was not part of my contract.

The client appreciated this so much that they invited me to lunch to discuss how we would adjust and improve the work going forward instead of canceling the partnership. That's this Thursday and I'm really excited!

How you treat, value, and prioritize your customers matters a lot, even when things don't go as planned!

Hello. I’m new in the freelance industry and currently have a full-time job. To survive in an economy where inflation is rampant — I’ve came to join this industry in hopes of sustaining my living.

However I’ve also noticed that in Freelancing, you have to push yourself to produce high quality outputs due to the fact that my client is working with me together. I have to maintain the level of focus and discipline to hit my targets.

These overly exertion made my work life balance messy. As during my day offs, I am doing more sleep and rest than actually enjoying life outside work. These has been taking a toll on me as I also would want to fill my other aspects of life too.

Also, I know that this is the price of getting my plates full. But welp, I kinda have to do this in order to pay bills and student loans.

I know some of you have already overcome these things so I am hoping to get some advice:)

Hey everyone, this is my first time freelancing and I’m submitting my first invoice. We’ve agreed to 10 hours per week, but the week of my contracted start date, the FTE manager was unexpectedly out of office.

That means that I did ~2 hours of work for the first week of the month. Do I bill for that week the agreed 10 hours or the 2 hours actually worked?

Thank you!

Has anyone ever had a freelance agreement with someone in which they pay you via either course credit or their personal services? What if you complete the work and they refuse to compensate you in the way that you agreed in writing beforehand? What are the actions you can take?

For example, I set a rate of $55 per hour to do copywriting and editing for a personal trainer. He said that I could use this credit to get personal training sessions from him. When I still had $715 left in credit with him, he cut me off and said he didn't want to train me anymore. I was shocked and asked him to pay the cash equivalent and he refuses.

Can I take him to small claims for the $715? We have a solid email trail of work completed and agreements regarding my hourly rate and how much he needs to compensate me for.

I'm a consultant in a somewhat specialized IT field. Most of my clients require NDAs. I've recently been approached by a firm whose services are very similar to a few clients I've had over the years.

Can I disclose (just) the names of those other clients? I've scanned the Confidentiality section in their NDAs and Contractor Agreements and it generally mentions trade secrets, processes, inventions..etc. What wording do I look for to check if my business relationship is itself meant to be confidential? The general existence and activity of all these clients is public so I just want to list them as clients.

Thanks.

I’ve been having trouble with this since I don’t have to go anywhere for work technically. But I don’t want to wake up and go straight to my computer either. What are you doing before work to help you get set up for the day?

i’m a freelance junior developer and i want to attract more clients.. but i’m nervous about my time management. just curious about those who work on multiple projects or take on multiple clients at once- how do you go about organizing tasks and managing your time daily?

I do this on the side (web dev / SEO), and wanted to get some insight.

I've had 4 projects come my way. First was a referral from my neighbor (got the client), second was through cold email (got the client), third was through cold email and fourth was an inquiry through my website.

The third and fourth completely ghosted after multiple follow ups, after they said they were excited to get started and I sent over the proposal.

I find it unreal that people who say, 'yeah! lets do it!!' - and then completely ignore you when you send over the invoice / next steps email or whatever, don't have the decency to just say, 'you know what, we decided to go elsewhere' or whatever. But for people to ghost, especially after I take the time to meet with them, create a proposal, send the invoice and all that, is pretty dumbfounding to me. I've never in my life when that far in committing to something, to just.. backing out.

I might be swinging at the fences of non-reality here but, is it ever in our favour when ghosted to say, 'come on man - really?'

It's just such a piss off. I'm wondering how you guys here deal with people that don't have the decency to just respond if they're not interested.

I have been doing a side PR gig for a new client. We decided on a "PR sprint" for a holiday product. The contract was for a specified $ amount for 1 month of work, equaling 3 hours/week. Because the product is a bit niche, I was unable to get any placements for the client during this time. She paid 1/2 $ up front and 1/2 is due at the end of service. I feel slightly guilty asking for the rest of the payment because I was unable to get the client placements/impressions, even though I reached out to over 400+ media who specifically cover gift guides, youtubers, and influencers to help promote this product. In this time, I also wrote and published a press release for the new product launch. What should I do?

Hi there, so how much time do you spend looking for clients through emailing and cold calling?

Second question, do you spend an amount of hours each days or like you spend 2 half-days a week? Or maybe you spend your full Monday doing sales prospecting?

So I'm a graphic and UI-UX designer trying to find the perfect balance between looking for work AND doing the work. I never found the best recipe like maybe he doesn't exist. I'm 30, hopefully it's never too late to ask for advices :]

J.E

Most posts I see in this sub are just employees with a low salary but with extra steps. If you need to work full time to afford rent and vacation, you’re not really freelancing, you just have an unstable job without any of the perks that come with having a full time employment.

My 17 year old daughter died completely unexpectedly exactly one month ago. She simply did not wake up in the morning. We do not know why as of yet.

I have been freelancing for 15 years and have been the sole source of income in our home for the past 10 years. We, unfortunately, do not have anything saved for retirement yet. We have one younger child and two older who are both in college.

The grief - shock, despair, pain - is relentless and overwhelming. I find myself unable to focus through out the day or even really care about my clients. I've already walked away from one client. I took an interview with a prospective client and had to hang up halfway through as I had a panic attack. I am really struggling and unsure what to do. I wish I could afford to take some time off, or even explore a whole new career path, but that's just not a possibility.

I'd really love to hear from anyone that's been in a similar situation on how you got through. Did you employ any tricks to set aside the grief and brain fog and get work done? How did you find it within yourself to care about unimportant client wants when all you want is the person you lost back?

I started freelancing and it's for bookkeeping and my clients usually have set ups to do and catch ups. This takes a fair amount of time. Learning their companies and such. I also took on another client where it's been very challenging with road blocks so I've spent way more time with them, even to the point I've told them that I need access to do the job and we need to communicate better and part of my contract is to create sop and systems that can be part of the company's like how to--

Long story short. I have taken on too much and I've taken longer than expected to finish the set up clients books and finish the catch up. I have been optimistic and said deadline dates which I over promised.

Have you ever done this? I am working hard to get it done and explained the situation with my schedule. That one other client like turned nearly full time. Both of these will be super systematic once the front loaded set up is done.

The client I pushed back.. I worry he may not want to use me to continue to maintain because of this.

I guess you win some and lose some. I even have stayed up all night trying to and I wish I didn't tell him it will be done at a certain time like for the past two weeks and it was just impossible and I wish I never said I could do that because it stressed me out and then I feel guilty for letting them down.

It's a learning experience but do you not give deadlines while you're working?

I've been doing research into what might happen economically now that Trump has won the election (I'm Canadian, but I do a lot of work for American companies and most of the money I make is in USD, so I try to stay on top of things). Economically, it appears that freelancers could potentially have a work surge from Republican policies. I came across this article, https://www.wired.com/story/project-2025-tech-industry/ that says " “Tech, of course, relies a lot on independent contractors,” says West. “They have a lot of jobs that don't offer benefits. It's really an important part of the tech sector. And this document seems to reward those types of business.” What do you think?

Working out of an agency’s office for a month for the final leg of my project. I realise I now have pretty bad social anxiety, I’m a lot more introverted than I used to be, and a lot less tolerant of certain personalities and egos. Everyday I’m reminded why I never want a full time job again.

I have been freelancing for about 6 months now and have had a pretty steady income. Of course there's months that are better and worse but I haven't had a month yet in which I couldn't cover my expenses and save some on the side.

I can budget for one time expenses, but am having a hard time letting myself make long term financial commitments, because I am constantly thinking 'well what if I suddenly get no work anymore'. Things like maybe moving to a bigger appartment or getting a first car are really difficult for me to justify.

How long did it take for you to feel secure in your income and to not feel so... stuck in an imaginary low salary.