Being the Client

One of the most eye-opening experiences in my freelance writing business has been having other writers work for me. For the first time, I really understood what it was like to be on the receiving end of things. It changed my perception of my job, and it changed my perception of my clients.

Here are some of the key lessons I’ve learned by being the client:

• Deadlines are often not as important to the client as they are to the writer. Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not saying you can afford to constantly blow deadlines. But when one of my writers occasionally misses a deadline, I don’t bat an eye. By “occasionally,” I’m talking about maybe one out of ten projects or more. I’m not suggesting you go out and refuse to meet deadlines, but I am suggesting that most of your clients are going to be understanding if life occasionally gets in the way.
• Clients would rather have your work done right than on time. They want it both, of course. But if they have to pick, they’d rather wait an extra day than have to go back and fix it themselves, or bounce it back to you and wait two extra days.
• Rates are relative. When I’d do subcontracting work for other writers in my early days of freelancing, I would occasionally feel envious when I realized that the writer for whom I was working was making an extra $10 for each article. Now that it’s my business and I’m doing all of the sales, marketing and editing, I realize that the $10 is completely reasonable. I spend as much time with the work – from finding clients to editing to billing and customer service – as the writer does.
• Clients don’t always look at your work closely. Once you have a client who trusts you, they’re not going to examine your work nearly as in-depth. This isn’t a reason to slack off, but rather it demonstrates their confidence in you, and you should work hard to keep the quality up. If you don’t, some of your work is going to get out there and be less than stellar. When it does, the client will be hopping mad, because your quality tanked and he had no idea.