It\u2019s been an interesting, COVID-filled few weeks.<\/p>\n

You read that right. I have COVID. I contracted it from my mother, who\u2019d fallen and broken some bones, ended up in a rehab facility, and contracted it from someone there.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re both mending, but this post isn\u2019t about that.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s about the expectations you set with your clients. Some of you are doing it really well. Some of you are phoning it in.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at an example:<\/p>\n

Robin and Kathy are former colleagues, both now freelancing. Whenever the opportunity arises, one will bring the other in on a client project or proposal for a project.<\/p>\n

Recently, Kathy called Robin about a gig she was trying to land. Big corporate client, deep pockets, and the work was plentiful.<\/p>\n

Robin was more than happy to participate.<\/p>\n

However, it turned out that Kathy didn\u2019t actually have the project, nor had she wooed the client yet. And the big client with deep pockets? It was a discount seller\/manufacturer with questionable manufacturing behavior.<\/p>\n

Hmmm.<\/p>\n

Still, without more information, Robin was willing to hear more. So she sat down and wrote up a one-page proposal for the end client, complete with total project fees and a break-down of what those fees entailed. She handed it over to the client.<\/p>\n

Before she did so, she checked in with Kathy, whom she hadn\u2019t heard from in two days. \u201cMy proposal is coming\u201d was the promise. At the eleventh hour, Kathy\u2019s proposal did come. It was one line: \u201cI charge XX for YY and ZZ work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The client reviewed the project parameters and fees, saw the total from all contractors, and wanted to lower the price. He was quite happy with Robin\u2019s bid as she\u2019d broken everything out, making it easy to see where the total cost was coming from.<\/p>\n

Kathy\u2019s, not so much.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In fact, Kathy could well end up losing this gig. She\u2019d put in minimal effort to secure it, and showed no reason why her price is her price. If the client has to cut the project rate, why wouldn\u2019t he choose to cut the freelancer who\u2019s not really doing anything to prove her fee is justified?<\/p>\n

Now, Kathy may shout \u201cFoul!\u201d all day long, for she was the one who\u2019d brought Robin in, not the other way around. However, her shouts fall on deaf ears if she\u2019s not made her case to the client for her fee.<\/p>\n

Kathy, by taking the quick, lazy way out, could have lost both the client in front of her and any connections he may have. These could well be passed on to Robin.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Are you Kathy or Robin?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rather obvious what Kathy had to do in order to impress her client. A more detailed, thoughtful quote of her rate, especially after seeing how Robin had presented hers, could have impressed the client.<\/p>\n

The client would have seen that Kathy:<\/p>\n

\n
• Was invested in the scope of the project<\/li>\n
• Was serious about doing the job right<\/li>\n
• Was paying attention<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  [bctt tweet=”Show your #freelancewriting clients that you take their project seriously.” username=”LoriWidmer”]<\/p>\n

  In most cases, formalizing in some way your fee sends the message to the client that you\u2019re taking them and their needs seriously. Yes, I\u2019ve had one client balk and insult me after I\u2019d sent a formal proposal, but that\u2019s on him, not me. His rude behavior in no way stops me from doing the job right for the next client. It simply means he\u2019s not my client, nor will he ever be. Amen.<\/p>\n

  Writers, how formal do you get with your proposals?
  \nHave you ever scored a gig because you went those extra steps?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  It\u2019s been an interesting, COVID-filled few weeks. You read that right. I have COVID. I contracted it from my mother, who\u2019d fallen and broken some bones, ended up in a rehab facility, and contracted it from someone there. We\u2019re both mending, but this post isn\u2019t about that. It\u2019s about the expectations you set with your…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[404],"tags":[42],"class_list":["post-8084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-finding-freelance-work","tag-finding-freelance-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8085,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8084\/revisions\/8085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsonpageblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}