Writers Worth: Removing the Mind-Killer from Client Relations

Some friendships are purely coincidental. Such is the friendship that Dana Ford and I share.

A technical writer by day, he dons the garb of Super Friend in his off-peak hours. We bonded over fathers and loss. We also bonded over all sports Pittsburgh-related, sharing snippets of “Can you believe that call?” or “Where was that ref’s head?” types of interactions. Yet what makes Dana a good chum is that he reaches out. He extends himself and his concern to you when you need it. That’s someone you want in your corner.

He’s also had his share of fear. Here’s how he’s overcome it.

Removing Fear from the Client-Writer Relationship

By Dana Ford

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” – Frank Herbert

I’m sure at some point every freelancer has to face or deal with that nasty thing we call fear.

Probably the biggest and most common fear is “where’s my next job coming from?” As in the Frank Herbert quote above, we have to learn to face that fear.

Way, way back (probably before a number of you were born), I played basketball. I was a clumsy geek and worked hard to shed that image and play the sport. It didn’t come easy for me and at the beginning of every game against someone I’d never played against, there were always butterflies in my stomach and the fear I wasn’t good enough and didn’t belong out on the court. Once into the flow of the game and proving to myself I belonged out there, the butterflies would disappear.

It’s much the same in the freelance world. Those nagging doubts we don’t belong in the profession, or everyone else is better and we won’t be good enough to snag that next job. We just have to get out there and work at it without giving up. Those butterflies will go away when clients are thrilled with your work. Instead of butterflies, you’ll feel like you’re soaring on the wings of eagles when those happy clients come back for more.

Speaking of clients, there’s often a measure of fear when dealing with them. Maybe there was a long-trusted client who suddenly became deceitful and betrayed us. It’s natural to fear trusting any of the other clients we deal with after that, but we have to face our fears and allow ourselves to trust others again (but don’t forget to validate as much of that trust as possible and protect yourselves when you can).

Maybe it’s the deadbeat client who won’t pay and you’re fearing you’ll never see a penny of it. Sad to say, I’m sure there’s a lot of freelancers who’ve had to deal with that one. But we can’t fear every new client is a deadbeat.

After getting burnt once, that fear will be there to nag us from the depths of our consciousness, but we have to face it in the ugly snout and work to build a good writer-client relationship. One thing’s for certain, we will all have our trials, have our failures, and have our successes. Along with those will be our fears.

Will I survive the trial I’m facing? Will I have nothing but failures? What if this is my last successful job? Whatever the fear is in front of us, we must face it and work through it. And after we’ve worked through it, as Frank Herbert said, “Only I will remain.”

Dana Ford is a technical writer specializing in Automotive Systems and Mechanical Design. He also works as an Editor, Journalist, and writes fiction novels.