Freelance Finance

It is important and necessary to do everything in your power to satisfy your clients. But you must have the courage to limit unreasonable demands. You cannot drop everything for two days to help someone hand-wring over the website you’re designing for them, nor should you volunteer endless revisions of your work. For many years, I had a perfectionist client at major magazine who had me do a minimum of 10 revisions per article. At the same time that I was writing for this person, I had a regular column at the New York Times, where editors there never altered a word I wrote. Based on the feedback I was getting from my clients, I could never tell: Was I a brilliant writer or the world’s lousiest? If I had been better at sticking up for myself and my time, perhaps I would not have grappled with such doubts.

When in doubt, establish the standard number of revisions, and the minimum number of hours of face or phone time you will grant to a client during the course of a project. Put it in all your contracts. And then stick to it.

Links to previous posts in the 16 Things series.