For me, the most important part when I freelance is creating a positive work relationship with my client. Not only does the work become more enjoyable for both parties, but I am able to ask my client in the future for referrals or a testimonial.
Here are 3 principles that have helped me become a freelancer that (I think) clients love working with.
1. Communicate!
In my opinion, communication is the most important aspect of any professional relationship, much less a freelance one. Communication helps everyone stay on the same page, which significantly decreases the chances a person will be negatively surprised by something.
Several ways I like to communicate:
- I schedule a call with my clients once a week to ensure they are happy with the direction of my work
- I use a task tracking system (e.g. GitHub Issues, Trello, Phabricator), so that the client doesn’t have to contact me to see my progress
- I am extremely responsive over email, and will always respond within 12 hours (sometimes even just to say that I will respond with more detail in a week)
2. Produce for the client, not for yourself
Before I start work on a project, I always try to get a sense of my my client’s priorities. Some care about user experience, some care about performance, some want to launch as soon as possible. Whatever the client’s goals are, I am comfortable adapting my style to them.
For me, it has been important to remember to disregard my own preferences (see next section). It’s unproductive for both sides if I spend too much time working on something that the client does not value.
3. Offer suggestions, but be prepared to defer
Even when my opinion is not directly asked for, I always like to offer my perspective. One of a freelancer’s greatest values is his or her previous experiences, and that insight can be extremely valuable to a client without similar experiences.
Since I have worked with many early-stage startups, my insight regarding deciding whether to build a feature vs. using a workaround has been especially helpful. For example, my last client wanted to build a email system, but I suggested that Mailchimp could get him 90% there for his use case. He definitely appreciated the idea, which saved him both time and money.
However, in cases of disagreement, there’s no point in putting up a fight. The project is the client’s, and they always get the final say.