Freelancers face numerous challenges during their remote careers, but there are definitely some problems that are bigger than others. Every freelancer has their own fears and what they consider to be “a freelancer’s worst nightmare”, but all remote workers have something in common – they don’t like bad clients.
In this article, we will take a look at what happens when a freelancer sticks with a bad client, or even worse – when they work for months for a certain client who ends up disappearing and not paying them. And of course, there’s that even bigger problem every freelancer fear – a dispute.
Starting a new project as a freelancer
It’s no secret that every single freelancer is a little bit nervous when they have to start a new project with a new client. First of all, freelancers think about their skills, if they are a good fit for a certain project, will the client be someone who is satisfied with their work, and so on.
Let’s say that you have met a new client and you’re starting a new freelancing contract. A client appears to be nice, communicative, and friendly. What a relief…
Yet, after a month or two some problems appear. Those are mostly – the client is unresponsive or too “responsive” like requiring tons of calls and meetings, or they bring more work than agreed, don’t assign milestones on time, or even worse – just disappear while you have completed like 90% of the agreed project. Let’s take a look at what to do with every single freelancer’s nightmare we’ve mentioned.
Client that is unresponsive or too responsive – freelancer’s solution
A client who appeared to be normal suddenly stops responding – a freelancer should continue communicating or better said sending messages to the client via a freelancing platform. This is important because you may end up in a dispute lately and will need proof that you have tried to contact a client. Be sure that you communicate as you would when the client was active. After that, you have nothing else to do until it comes the moment that the client should pay you, about which we will talk a little bit later.
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But what if the client becomes “too friendly” and requires a lot of your daily time, like after work? A client may call you non-stop or require a different meeting, like Zoom meetings. Here, you have 2 solutions. The first thing a freelancer should do is to talk with the client if such calls and meetings are considered work, which means that those should be paid as working hours. If you are okay with earning more money that way, it can be a solution. Yet, if you don’t have enough time to constantly communicate with a client, you can clearly tell them when you are available to communicate and to stick with that agreement.
The client constantly asks the freelancer to do more work without raising the payment
This happens to too many freelancers – you start a project, you get work, you complete your tasks, and get paid. But with time, the client asks you to “just upload this”, to just “take a look at that”, to “just tell your opinion about this business idea” and so on. Every freelancer knows what we are talking about here – when you hear a sentence: “It’s an easy 5-minute task”, you instantly know that you’ll have some issues with the client.
The solution would be setting 100% clear requirements with every single client even before the contract starts. But if the client changes and suddenly starts acting as described, you should immediately tell them that you can complete those tasks but for a certain price. Of course, if you don’t have time just let them know that you don’t have time and that it’s not the work you’ve agreed on.
What should freelancers do when clients don’t pay on time or don’t pay at all?
First, a freelancer should remind late-payer clients about missed milestones. If that doesn’t work, or if the client completely disappears, freelancing platforms offer dispute solutions. A dispute is probably the worst freelancer’s nightmare, but it actually isn’t such a big deal once you experience it.
When it comes to the dispute, the steps every freelancer should take are clear:
– Provide as many details as you can that are related to a certain project. Most often, third-party members of the freelancing platforms will appear to provide solutions. Remember our advice to continue sending messages to a client that doesn’t respond, so you have evidence later.
– Never argue with the client on the dispute. Be as calm as you can.
– Upload files and screenshots that can help you to win a dispute. If the client is not willing to pay at all, or they say how they aren’t satisfied with your work, always offer to edit, or change what they want.
– Patiently wait until the dispute is resolved. Freelancers should know that if they were honest and hard-working, there’s no fear of dispute – you’ll win it.
When should freelancers give up on a client or a project?
Yet another nightmare for many freelancers – sticking up with a long-term client who is taking all your energy. They might not be requiring something extraordinary from you, yet you may feel completely drained every single time to work with them. When to end a project, or when to decide that it’s time to end a contract? If that’s not your only source of income, you should end a contract as soon as you realize that it completely sucks your energy. If it’s your only source of income, be sure to find at least 2 new long-term clients and then end a contract.
Some other things freelancers fear as well
Some other things freelancers fear is being banned from a certain freelancing platform. To overcome this fear, you should always do everything according to the platform’s regulations and never break the rules and requirements. Besides that, you should also be active on more than just one freelancing platform, so you don’t fear losing all your income.
A verification call is also something freelancers fear. Overcoming that fear is simple – be confident about your business and truly know what your profile looks like and how you represent yourself online. Most often, verification questions include something related to your personal information and your online business. So, as long as you don’t hide anything, you have nothing to fear.
The last freelancer’s nightmare we would like to mention would be a bad review that comes from the client once the contract is done. We have already written a lot related to this topic, but the most important things to keep in mind would be:
– A top-rated freelancer can remove a bad review. For example, UpWork allows you to remove one bad review from a client. After that, you can remove the second bad review after 10 new reviews from other clients. This can be done approximately every 3 to 4 months.
– Respond to that review and explain what truly happened.
– Ask the client to change the bad review.
Overall, there are many freelancers’ nightmares, and as we’ve said those may be different depending on personal fears, but the ones we have mentioned are definitely the most familiar nightmares among all remote workers.
