By: Paul Karpinski

Being good to your clients and cutting bad ones

Freelancing has been always a peculiar type of employment for an individual. It has nothing to do with uncertainty of “what might happen tomorrow” but rather with establishing one’s name on the market, good network of clients, winning new and maximising old business and finally getting paid for the work you’ve done. At the same time one has to learn how to say “no” to the “baddies”.

Freelancer’s profession of choice, in my opinion, does not really matter. Whether you are a journalist, a producer, an accountant or a graphic designer, the rules are almost all the same. The golden one that comes, after generating a portfolio, is picking the 5 – 7 best clients on a simple basis: either because their pay is best, although not regular, or because the streams of business coming from them, or future opportunities, give more stability to your freelancing. You know then that they might not have a lot work but they will always give you something to work on. It’s totally up to you what model of business you prefer but the best one, frankly, is a mixture of both.

From my personal experience, all clients have to be looked after but it has to be done with a bit of common sense of how you approach them. There’s 80-20 rule where 80% of your income comes from 20% of your clients. That 20% of clients gets the priority and mostly do not like to be harassed and pleaded for some work. The “beg, steal or borrow” attitude will do no good here. Although it’s good, as always, to maintain a relationship, sometimes it’s just better to leave them alone for a while. This has been always my personal approach that works with no flaws. With smaller, irregular clients, I would always be more on a “be careful” side. They would be respected and would get quality service but they would be also managed differently. I would never let them “demand” extras some of the others might be getting. People out there that are to give you work know that it’s one of the rules, and they would push you only as much as you let them to be pushed. Then they normally accept the deal in the end anyway. You still have to get paid, though, which is another issue.

In the current economic climate a lot of businesses are in trouble so making sure you get money for your work is, obviously, of utmost importance. Different clients pay differently. Invoicing will work with the biggest names – those ones that are ok on Creditsafe. That’s the way they operate, and if they’re trustworthy, I would follow that simple rule. If their rating is anything below 50, my alarm bells would start to ring. In this case, I would always ask for prepayment, even partial. This can be done either by credit/debit card, if you have an accountant with a terminal or by direct money transfer to your account with transaction confirmation screenshot sent to your e-mail. Creditsafe is good for smaller companies, too. Following the above-mentioned rules dramatically cuts down bad debts and I can’t remember if I ever had any issues with getting paid. These clients that pay you on time and provide you with constant stream of work should also be getting a bit of an extra preferential treatment. Don’t undercut your regular rates, though, but rather offer a discount for a large project or, in case of a series booking, try the “buy three, get fourth free” option at the regular rate. Marketing people love that. You will get respect for knowing how to play the game and, as a result, your finances will not suffer.

Reference

Creditsafe at www.creditsafe.ie
Experian at www.experian.ie
Small Claims Court at www.courts.ie

About the Author

Over the past decade Paul Karpinski has worked as a News Editor, Producer and Correspondent as well as features writer for media companies around the world. Apart from working as staff for the main market leaders that include i.e. BBC as well as Bauer Verlagsgruppe (Continental Europe, UK, US ), as a Journalist, Producer, Editor and Correspondent, he has also gained Commercial and Subeditorial experience at Associated Newspapers Ltd., Connected Magazine and Sunday Tribune in Ireland.

Email Paul: paul.karpinski.freelance {at} gmail(.)com