Fuss Free Freelancing
I’ve now worked as a freelancer for 7 years. It goes without saying for any business owner that those first few years in business are a steep learning curve, but those challenges are definitely important steps to make you a better, more competent and stronger asset to any clients you wish to work with.
One of the major challenges I felt I faced in the first few years was confidence. I had a tendency to ask a lot of questions, take up valuable time with doubling up on information I’d already been given to feel confident in what was required of me and making sure the client was happy at every stage in the process.
Not a bad thing really, I hear you say!
However, in the last few years I’ve come to realise this pressure to have every box ticked and every avenue explored before starting a project or working relationship is both ineffective and inefficient, and so I’ve changed the way I work for the better of everyone…
I didn’t go to university. I did my last GCSE exam on a Friday afternoon, and went to start my very first job at the age of 16 on the Monday morning. There really wasn’t much more to it than that, apart from I’d managed to bag the position as junior sound engineer after impressing on a work experience placement a few months earlier. It was a big decision, and one I didn’t fully have all the answers to but just had a feeling it was right for me. I learned on the job. I made mistakes. I struggled with anxiety thanks to the pressure of a busy working environment and responsibilities to deliver and avoid costly mistakes. However, as the months rolled on, I was able to learn new skills, improve my confidence and eventually master a roll and, in time, move onwards and upwards. Due to the fast nature of the work environment I was in, there wasn’t always time to ask questions and have everything figured out, it was a case of getting stuck in and hustling my way to get the job done. And it’s exactly that notion that I think worked out for everyone so much better in the end. My manager and colleagues go work completed to a good standard, on time, and I got to just crack on and get my hands dirty without wasting valuable (money-making) time watching, asking, waiting for my time to work.
I’ve found the very same thing works beautifully in recent time with my clients. Working with a freelancer is often seen as risky and hard work should they require a great deal of hand-holding. Clients want to lay down project guidelines and receive the work back on time and on budget. No fuss. No hassle. No big issues. Of course there will always be questions when working with a new client, but my job is to make their life easier. They have hired a freelancer because it’s cost effective, it’s efficient and solves a problem they simply cannot resolve in-house.
And so with that, I want to offer everyone of my clients a comprehensively tailored solution that works for them. Maybe they want to email, text, voice note, slack, Trello or google chat their requirements at their leisure? No problem! Maybe they have random midnight thoughts or monthly to-do lists they want to drop box to me, or they want a sit-down meeting over a good strong coffee? Of course! Coffee’s on me! If they don’t have time to give me every last detail, it’s up to me to do my research and refine my own requirements to deliver good results. I see it as part of my role as their extra arm in the business to do just that. The less I can ask questions and take up their time, the more valuable my position becomes and the bigger impact I can make on our relationship and their long-term goals.
Many of my clients also work with me as an ‘inhouse freelancer’. With this, I work with them and for them as a perceived staff member. I have my own email address within their company and I’m included in marketing materials as a member of staff. This helps to boost the gravitas of the business with a wider team with a varied skillset and enables their clients to feel well looked after by the whole ‘team’.
So, if you’re in need of assistance within your business for blogs, marketing materials, digital content, social media, client liaising, project management or audio production, get in touch! If I can take a weight from your shoulders and provide peace of mind that everything is taken care of, you can get back to doing what you do best.
Craft you’re A Team, go fuss-free and enhance efficiency.
Let’s go!
