Get Better Clients for Freelancing: 3 Smart Tactics

Freelancing is a great way to make money, but it's also important to choose the right clients. Choose the wrong clients and it's an unmitigated disaster waiting to happen. Get better clients for freelancing using these 3 smart tactics 👇

Find out how to choose the right clients, get smart about who you decide to work with, and finally, help retain your sanity.

Here we go:

Look out for red flags

Despite your best efforts, sometimes you'll land bad apples. There's just no telling who'll creep into your otherwise great life and make it miserable. Your clients from hell are just one little lapse of reason away.

For that reason alone, it's critical to look for some fairly well-established red flags before you sign on dotted lines.

Here are some of the most popular red flags you should look out for to keep clients you don't want to work with at bay. Outside the wall.

Follow your Gut

We don't seem to consider that we've all been gifted with a sense, a warning of sorts, or the ancient wonder called "gut feel". This darned thing saved several of our ancestors from real dangers like wild animals, enemies, and even outright death.

Following your gut is as simple as taking a breath, and just listen to the warning signs that go off like factory sirens in your head.

Something about the client, the project, the proposal, the brief, or even the way a prospective client communicates with you just feels off.

You don't get the vibe. You have a sense of foreboding. You'll get the warning signs. Drown out all the noise and you'll hear it. Listen to it.

If you don't "feel" good, it's time to run.

Ask for a kickoff call

Never ever take on a project without getting a full sense of the following:

• The actual person (or an entire team) that you'll be working with.

• The business or brand and exactly what they do.

• And your "feel" (see above) for the whole thing.

You can't make out much about all of these requisites from a simple email, a Tweet, a LinkedIn message, or any other form of communication.

You need a full-blown zoom call (or anything else like Skype). I mean, a video call. Use simple tools like Dubb, Zoom, HippoVideo, or anything else you like but get your prospective clients to get on a call with you first.

One call leads to several things:

• You get to know what you have to know (the client himself or herself, the business, and the complete picture on what they really expect)

• Get to know your prospective clients, as in what kind of a person is he or she?

• The chances of converting this call into a project is unbelievably high if everything on your internal checklist checks off.

• There's a sense of relationship after the phone call (and not the impersonal email).

Remember: your entire freelancing business depends on the kind of clients you work with. Make the wrong choices and your business will fall apart. How do you choose your clients? What screening strategies or tactics do you have in place to make better choices?

Tell me about it.

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