The things I wish I knew as a beginner freelancer

submited by

Style Pass

2022-10-06 01:00:11

I’ve been freelancing for over 5 years now and have come across all sorts of situations. If you were to introduce me to a new freelancer and ask to give them some pointers, here are my top takeaways:

If for some reason you feel uncomfortable about the prospect of working with your lead, just walk away. Your intuition is likely correct. I’ve only gone against my intuition once and had it work out. 99.9% of the time it did not work out well.

Haggling is usually a sign of a window shopper. This is a type of lead / client who is looking for the lowest bid and will often be talking to 2-5 other people besides you. They’ll waste your time talking about the possible project, and then hit you with a reduced offer at the end.

Not only is the offer going to harm you, but you’ll find that the client is particularly difficult to work with. Hagglers are a sign of difficult clients. Do yourself a huge favor and walk away.

Even if this is the case, unless you are about to starve, I’d recommend walking away. The thing with bad clients is that they’ll keep you on as long as they need you, but you’ll suffer tremendously the entire time. Stress is going to eat away more years of your life than anything you gain by working with these people.