Sean Nieuwoudt - Web, Business, E-Commerce, Tech

21 Mistakes Freelancers Should Avoid

A freelance web design business was my first venture and I made many mistakes that eventually resulted in the loss my business. In this post, I try to highlight what I did wrong and hopefully help you avoid the same mistakes. Despite the title, this post applies to anyone starting out on their own - not only freelance designers or developers.

Mistake #1 - Under estimating your clients

Generally clients tend to only care about *their* business - not the inner workings of yours, but it’s surprising how much attention they actually pay to what you are doing and saying. Never underestimate your clients. period.

Mistake #2 - Taking your clients for granted

It doesn’t mean you can slack off once your managed to get the business of a new client. They can just as easily take their money elsewhere. You need to make a constant effort to show your clients that they have made the correct choice of investing in you. You need to show them that you sincerely appreciate their business. There are many ways to do this - most importantly… always be prompt, follow through, be accessible and easy to contact, be friendly and show a true interest in them and their business.

Mistake #3 - Not being transparent enough

You’ve given me a large sum of money. You expect to know what I intend doing? right? That’s right! Make sure your clients can see every aspect of their project when ever they need to and keep them in the loop at all times. There are some really great tools out there that can make customer relationship management a breeze.

Highrise
Customer Relationship Management - Wikipedia Page

Transparency doesn’t only apply to your client projects - in many instances clients want to know more about you and your business. They feel more secure with this additional information at hand. Provide a way for clients to “find out more” if they need to. Remember that you are judged by the company you keep. Make sure your online image is respectable - someone will eventually do a “Google Search” on your name.

Mistake #4 - Not maintaining consistent communication channels

This one could possibly fit in with the point about being not transparent enough, but it is worth mentioning on its own. You need to keep a reliable way for your clients to contact you. Communication is key in our day to day lives - make sure people can contact you. Mobile phones, Skype, email, fax, sms, social online applications, client management solutions are all very important so make sure you have a variety of contact methods readily available.

Mistake #5 - Don’t be the “yes” man

Think before you answer requests relating to work. If your gut is telling you that you don’t have capacity to fit it in - say so. Rather decline the work or reschedule than accept it and not deliver. The latter reflects worse on you and your business. Trust is one thing that you can only gain fully once.

Mistake #6 - Never talk negatively about your clients - especially online

I’m not guilty of this one, but I did receive a number of new clients coming from other freelancer designers that are. Clients make outrageous decisions - deal with it. Don’t go on to public forums or other public places and talk negatively about them. You never know who’s listening and incase you’ve never heard of it, there’s this little service called “GoogleAlerts” that many people use, including your some of your clients. This can get you into a lot of trouble and mostly likely put a dent in your profits. Never talk negatively about your clients - it reflects badly on you.

Mistake #7 - Not balancing out your life

It’s great to run a business, dedicating yourself and enjoying the great rewards - but its dangerous to not do anything else. You need to find a balance between work and personal life. I for one, enjoy working hard and then going skydiving, flying or taking my bikes out on the motocross track for the weekend. Your brain needs a break from the tough crunching it does during the week or eventually you will burn out… this will have a disastrous effect on your future and business. Humans are social beings - isolation brings about insanity “in my mind”. Spend time with friends or in a social environment. I should also mention that taking your vitamins, omega fatty acids, eating correctly and working out are very important. Keeping fit is one of the best things you can do for yourself

Mistake #8 - Friends are bad business partners

This is something that I’m very guilty of. I mistakenly decided to bring my best friend on board as a partner in the small company I created - this was a terrible decision. No one will ever be as dedicated to your business as you are. Your dedication is based on your passion for what you’ve created, someone else’s dedication will most likely be financially based - especially if they did not play a key part in establishing the business. I’ve seen this happen many times where friends absolutely destroy businesses. If you have a different story - I would love to hear about it.

Mistake #9 - Not keeping track of things that need to be done

Not every type of person can keep a well structured diary, calendar or TODO list and it’s exceptionally easy to completely forget important tasks. It is important to stay on top of what you need to do on a daily basis - how you do this is up to you. Managing to keep track of my tasks and TODO list has been an invaluable skill to learn - nothing works better than good old pen and paper, but there are awesome tools that can help you with this:

A good book on this subject that I can recommend that relates to this subject:

Getting Things Done - by David Allen

Mistake #10 - Not keeping your tax obligations on track

No one likes paying taxes, its like giving away a large chunk of your hard earned money to governments that don’t always do all that much for the tax payers, but its one of those things that you just can’t get around. There are ways in which you can minimize your taxes legally with certain tax cuts - but those are beyond the scope of this post and I recommend that you read a book called “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki. In most countries you are not required to pay tax if you earn under a certain amount per year. In South Africa this amount is about R120 000 per annum. Be sure to keep systematic records of everything, there will certainly be a time where you need to review something or send proof of payment to someone and you will want that information on hand.

Mistake #11 - Stop trying to be perfect, nothing in life is

It’s quite easy to fall behind when you are obsessing about perfecting everything you do. I know that when you design or develop something, you tend to stress about every small detail… there is no point to doing this. You are less productive when you over analyze. You can always revise your work once it’s done and make changes then. Plan well, design & develop the product well, have faith in your ability and get the product out the door - you make money when processes are flowing smoothly. Evolve projects according to client feedback and constructive criticism. Don’t take it personally.

Mistake #12 - Not keeping up to date backups

This is a very common problem, it takes time and effort to create backups - especially complex source code spanning of over multiple projects, but what happens when something goes wrong and you’re stuck without your vital work? Does the time it takes to create backup outweigh the reward? … no it doesn’t - even worse when your primary PC is a mobile laptop. I use a version control system called Subversion to keep all my source code in one place. I’ve also scheduled a backup task that runs once every 2 days that copies all my important files over to an external hard drive. FYI: the price of storage is becoming ridiculously cheap these days, it costs roughly R2.4/gig for external hard drives on the South African market and probably cheaper in the US and UK. There’s an endless amount of backup tools available, but here are the ones I use regularly:

Amazon S3 (Online)
Dropbox (Online)
Genie Backup Manager (Windows)
Apple Time Machine (Mac)
SuperDuper (Mac)

Many great version control systems exist for your source code and files - some of these are:

Subversion
Version Cue (Photoshop)
CVS
GIT

Useful links:

Don’t get caught unprepared!

Mistake #13 - Not knowing your business

It’s vital that you know exactly what it is that you are offering and what you do not offer. Don’t try offer something else in another field on the sideline, chasing after the quick buck. This takes time away from your vital core business and the “quick buck” is short lived.

Mistake #14 - Failing to network or collaborate with others

The benefits to networking with other people are not always obviously visible when you are overwhelmed with business and client requests. When you network - your social circle grows, potential to get new clients increases, your reputation increases, your public image improves and you get to face new opportunities that you would have missed otherwise. Start networking by creating social profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Behance, Virb, Twitter, MySpace, start your own website or blog, join Tumblr. The possibilities are endless. I make it a daily mission to network with at least 20 new people in different fields. The more people you know, the easier it is to find people to network with.

Mistake #15 - Not keeping a close eye on your competition

It’s arguable that there’s no business you can get into that hasn’t been done before. You will inevitably have stiff competition. You need to ensure that you keep an eye out for what the competition are doing - learn from them, study their tactics and improve on them. They will eventually be doing the same to you. Competition is great for a business, it forces you to be creative and continually improve your products or services. You won’t make it if you don’t constantly evolve.

Mistake #16 - Not doing any marketing

This is pretty much a no-brainer. You won’t get your share of the market if you don’t advertise. Marketing can be a very complex subject and involves a whole lot more than just putting ads in newspapers, cars or websites. Your lifestyle, your public image and the way you talk can all contribute to your marketing plan. Be confident, be bold, stand out from the rest and find your niche. If your work is superb and your existing clients are happy, they will provide the most valuable form of advertising for you … word of mouth. Keep in mind that small business advertising and large business advertising are different. Small businesses and freelancers usually have very limited marketing budgets so you need to employ very creative tactics. Existing customers can provide you with invaluable feedback, so don’t be afraid to ask for their advice. A limited budget does not mean that you cannot compete with the bigger guys, it’s actually an opportunity to engage with customers on a more personal level. Concentrate on making great first impressions - not only on a personal level, but as a business too. If you’ve spent time on networking (point #14) , your chance of finding new clients and work is increased exponentially. Make sure you are listed on as many freelance job sites as possible. Useful links:

Mistake #17 - Neglecting your finances

Sometimes looking at your bank statements when times are tough can be a very scary thing - I know, but you have to be aware of your financial position at all times. Spending blindly can be addictive, especially when you know that your clients will be topping you up soon again, but what happens when something goes wrong and you lose that potential “top up”? I suggest hiring an accountant, a financial adviser and attorney from the start. You can learn from these people and they will take care of you and your best interests. It’s also a very good idea to read up on basic business accounting and law, this will benefit you in the long run and you will know how to read financial statements, balance sheets and ledgers. Useful links:

Mistake #18 - Under estimating time required to complete projects

This is a very common mistake especially when you are trying to impress clients with how fast you can produce results. This is also a mistake that can hinder the possibility of landing any new projects from existing clients - some might be more forgiving than others. Ensure that you allow for enough time to complete the project - including mockups, documentation, margin for error, QA and bug fixes. It’s best that you do some more research on this subject, the better your become at this, the better experience your client will have when dealing with you. Useful links:

Mistake #19 - Charging too little

A common mistake when feeling guilty about asking for money for the services you render. Put your bib away and throw down the numbers. Your client will respect you for being confident & direct. Human beings tend to be happier with the slightly more expensive product or service because we feel we’re getting more value and better quality. Make sure that you charge enough to cover all of your expenses and to make a profit on top of that. Let your clients know exactly what they’re getting and why your service has its price tag. If you find yourself in the position where you’ve charged too little, don’t be afraid to go back to your client and explain the situation. The value you are adding to their business far exceeds the amount they’re paying you and they know that.

Mistake #20 - Not learning from your clients

Most of your clients will be small to medium businesses - in some cases, large businesses. There is a lot you can learn from them and their business processes. Take it all in, use what you can ask for as much feedback about your service as you can.

Mistake #21 - Not having fun

Lastly … this is your business, you should be enjoying every moment at the helm, even the tough times. If you hate it or you feel that you need to step away … you are clearly not doing what you should be. There are tons of resources online that are free for anyone to access. I strongly recommend that you never stop learning and persist through the tough times. I hope that this post helped you in some way and I would love to hear your feedback

Happy freelancing! Books that I recommend: