I was talking with my good friend Hollie the other week, who also owns a business (side note: get yourself friends who own businesses, they just get it on a whole other level) and we joked about having a train our clients when it got me thinking… that’s not actually a joke.
When you’re a service provider, you’re often working longer term with several clients all at once. So if there has to be an element of continuity in how we work so that things don’t become, well, a huge complicated and messy muddle.
I pride myself on fitting in to how other businesses operate in the most part, if you use slack – I’ll download it. If you have a group WhatsApp – add me in. If you have a secret Facebook page – invite me to join. But I have my own boundaries that I’ll always implement to ensure that my client is getting the very best from me.
I’ve learned the hard way that whilst you may think you’re being super flexible and the best freelancer in the world to constantly adapt to all of your clients – you’re potentially doing them a disservice by not operating at your best and you risk hurtling yourself towards being overstretched if you’re constantly working in ways that just don’t suit you.
As I’ve said before, I’m open to how I receive communication, but there are a few boundaries that I implement because its what I’ve learned works for me, and I’ve identified which roadblocks stop me from being my most productive or creative.
- Please don’t voice note me – if it’s a friendly chat, then go for it. But if you’re sending me information I need to know via a voice note – it’s a hard no from me. I’ll probably need to listen to your 2 minute voice note 5 times when it would have taken me 10 seconds to read it. It also leaves it open for me hoping I’ve written everything down correctly, and voice notes have a habit of being unplayable after a period of time – not helpful for checking back on.
- Keep everything in one place – as I said earlier, I don’t mind where we communicate as long as we keep it to one place. If you’re messaging me bits, sending me links on instagram, adding things to a google folder and then also emailing me – that’s incredibly hard to pull together and adds a whole other task onto my to-do list.
- Send everything through before I start work – I personally prefer to have at least a first draft of text and visual content before I start any project. Obviously for social media, I physically can’t do anything without some sort of visual content, and for websites – if I use stock imagery then I run the risk of creating an entire layout based on the wrong dimensions. I’ve learned the hard way to get as much as I can gathered before a project starts, it also eliminates the risk of the client getting busy elsewhere and no longer sending things over to me and stalling the project.
- Payment upfront – no negotiations, nothing gets published until you’ve paid. I’ve been burned too many times to operate on long payment terms that only kick in once I’ve delivered my work. Nothing zaps my energy like chasing for money and if you’re serious about working together then I’d rather wait a few weeks for you to sort out your funds, then we have a smooth ride going forwards.
- Business Channels Only – no you may not send me messages on my personal Facebook, instagram or WhatsApp. Well, you can, but if you do then I’ll likely read it during my down time and forget about it, or ask you to resend it to my business contacts. I have everything duplicated, so there’s nowhere you can’t reach me – but for my own sanity I like to keep things separate.
- You don’t control my hours – Obviously I would never expect a client to take a call with me at midnight (I’m in bed by 9pm so it would be highly inappropriate), and I never expect a reply on the weekend. But by the same token, I work the hours I do and as long as your job gets done – everyone’s surely happy? I have a daughter to work around, I have multiple clients and I sometimes work a weekend in order to do other bits during the week. My stance is, if you’re not paying me a full time wage – don’t expect my attention full time.
- I don’t take calls on the same day – Again, obviously if you ring me with a quick query, I’ll answer. But I won’t set up a Zoom call on with less than 48 hours notice. Nothing personal, nothing rude, but I plan my day the night before and things like that will surely derail it. It’s not just the zoom call, actions will come from said Zoom call and my office is part of my home that often needs clearing before it’s client viewing friendly! I’m also a massive introvert and physical conversation takes a lot of my energy, so I plan any face to face time accordingly and wisely.
Gosh, I sound a NIGHTMARE to work with – don’t I? But the truth be told, most of my clients don’t bat an eyelid at any of these because I’ve trained them not to. I’m not mean about any of them, I just send gentle reminders if they repeatedly overstep and point them in other directions. Think of gently herding sheep into a pen rather yelling at them where to go.
Most importantly, if they allow me to work in this way, then they get the best value for their money because I’ll feel respected and be comfortable enough to work to the very best of my ability – so everybody wins!