You now have some information that should help you get started with your freelancing career. The cover letter samples should start paying off if you are using them to not only promote what you can do, but why you should be considered the winning bidder on gigs based on the quality of your work, your ability to meet deadlines and other factors. Now it is time to start thinking about how to best negotiate with your clients. Here are a few tips that can help you keep your head about you when you enter into negotiations:
Know your bottom line – In addition to knowing what your bid was on the assignment, you should also have in mind what your real bottom line is. One of the challenges that often faces freelance professionals is they get hung up on wanting the assignment that they often find themselves losing the bidding war. Do not accept any contracts for less than your lowest bottom line.
Negotiating - While you may be anxious to get that new assignment, make sure that you are negotiating with potential clients fairly and ethically. Do not make promises you cannot deliver, do not “oversell” your skills and do not attempt to get rich off one assignment. In some cases no matter how fair you try to be, a potential client is only interested in their bottom line. If this is the case, it is better to just move on. Clients who are interested in saving money only will not accept your bid regardless of how good a job you are going to do.
Making points – When you are negotiating with a client make sure that you are clear about expectations. Do not allow a client to bully you into doing an assignment faster than you are capable of doing it. Quality does matter. Deadlines matter also, but at the same time, you do not want to accept a gig that has a tight deadline that could impact the quality of your work. Remember, under-promise and over-deliver is always the position you want to be in!
Additional Thoughts
Negotiations are perhaps one of the things that most of us dislike the most about freelancing. Negotiations however can make the difference in your business succeeding or failing. If you consistently involve yourself in projects that take too much time for too little return, you will quickly discover that you will not be making a living, instead you will be working on assignments for pennies on the dollar. Make sure you calculate exactly how much money you need on an annual basis and break it into a reasonable hourly rate. Most of us do not need to earn $50 or $100 an hour to manage our expenses, save for a rainy day and live comfortably. Only you know what you need to accomplish your goals. Find out what that is and when negotiating, stick to your bottom line.
In our next segment we will discuss long term and short term contracts with clients. Should they be billed the same?
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