Clients in Freelancing: How to Spot the Good Ones from the Bad Ones

Nowadays, people rely on freelancing jobs as a potential source of income.

In the freelance life, a person does not have to work on something that they are not comfortable with, along with having a more-than-eight-hours-a-day time with different people and places.

However, there are also various risks in freelance jobs. Aside from potential communication issues and time differences that require certain adjustments, the absence of physical connection with the client is another concern.

Unfortunately, there many client-freelancer relationships that fail because of these.

This matter is not new especially to veteran freelancers. However, by carefully considering the clients before taking their projects can solve the issues of encountering bad clients before it can cause stress and frustration to a freelancer who only wants to survive and to give the best quality projects he can accomplish.

This article can help a freelancer on how to discern not-so-good clients from the nice ones.

How to Spot Bad Client in Freelancing

1. Bad clients will always try to cut the rate.

Just as how consumers consider every quality and convenience a particular product can provide them before purchasing, freelancers are considered based on their knowledge and the ability to produce good projects.

However, a potential client is considered not good if he keeps on bargaining the rate of the freelancer.

Moreover, if the client keeps on bragging that he is paying too much for the project that is accomplished, then it is clearly obvious that he doesn’t know how to appreciate the efforts of every freelancer that will come his way.

On the other hand, a good client knows the value of every freelancer’s efforts in producing the assigned projects to them. They are not just into money, rather, on the quality of the project submitted to them.

2. Bad clients have trust issues.

One of the main reasons people choose to become freelancers instead of full-time employees because aside from staying away from the stresses from the employment world, they prefer to work at their convenient time and place.

They have the freedom to do their workloads at any time they want to, without too much supervision from people who are superior to them.

A client is considered a bad one if he has a hard time trusting a freelancer on how he will do the task and if he will be able to submit it on time.

They keep on monitoring the development of the task, demand that he should always be online and requiring to give daily reports on the accomplishments of the projects.

These people do not believe in the freelancer’s capability of finishing the project. And these clients are prone to trouble because they do not know the essence of trust and professionalism.

3. Bad clients have no idea of what they really want.

It has been mentioned that there are no physical connections when it comes to freelancer-client relationship. This is the reason why clear communication must be prioritized right from the interview.

As freelancers, interviews are not only done to impress the client to accept them in handling the projects, but this is also an opportunity for them to know the details of the potential project to assess if they can accomplish it.

If the client is not able to give concrete information about the projects to be done like the time frame and expected results, it is clear that the client does not know what it wants to the project.

Accepting this client will be another burden to the freelancer because there is no sense of satisfaction to this kind of client since there is no direct goal upon the accomplishment of the project.

4. Sometimes, personal instincts tell something.

This has nothing to do with the specific quality of a bad client. But sometimes, especially those who belong in this industry for quite some time, the personal preference along with the foreseen attitude of the client can be an indicator.

The initial treatment of the client to the freelancer like the rudeness in answering the inquiries and being too demanding are some of the red flags that indicate that the transaction with them will be a hassle.

Moreover, if the freelancer is not comfortable with the would-be assigned projects and the projects to market, it can be an essential reason to back-out from the client.

Qualities of a Good Freelancing Client

There is no such thing as an ideal client, only good ones. Especially for a starter, getting almost every project is the ultimate goal.

But later on, the ability to discern and choose only the clients with the best treatment and project offered will and should be some of the essential matters to every freelancer.

Aside from that, here are some of the things that should look for in finding good clients in the freelancing industry:

1. Good clients are unbiased and adaptable.

Good clients in the freelancing world know and understand some of the complexities of the freelancer-client scenarios. Aside from the time zone differences (willingness to adjust to the distance of the freelancer), a good client is open to the freelancer’s strategies on how they execute their work and their communication capabilities as well.

Bottom line is, a good client will not reject a freelancer because they cannot work based on personal terms.

2. Good clients treat freelancers as their partners.

Any freelancer wants to have clients who value their work, better if they see and treat them as an essential part of the project.

A good client not only gives the freelancer instructions about the project and its expected results, but they also state them in the clearest and most detailed way possible.

Moreover, they also ask and seek suggestion and better techniques to their freelancers, and they are honest enough if that is a good idea or not. Most of all, good clients know how to appreciate and praise their freelancers for every hard work they do.

3. Good clients offer long-term projects, especially to their preferred freelancers.

As a freelancer, it is hard to look for clients who can offer long-term work with them. Despite of best quality projects, they always end up looking for other clients that can work with them.

A good client knows how to deal especially with freelancers who have the potential to make good projects.

4. Good clients know that every freelancer does not need to be controlled or manipulated.

As mentioned above, a client who intensely monitors and always asks for updates and reports are not good people to work with.

This attitude makes a freelancer question his ability and confidence, which will affect not only his project but his relationship to the client as well. For the client’s part, they will surely have a hard time looking for freelancers because of having these trust issues.

A good client understands that the freelancer is not obliged to be online especially at times that he is online. Moreover, he is aware that he does not have to be updated all the time and check their developments.

He respects the freelancer’s technique and own timeframe on how can they able to accomplish the project assigned, and let them handle it based on their terms.

In addition, a good client is able to discuss clearly the expected results and deadlines with the freelancer especially prior to the project. And having additional meetings, if needed, will also be considered, but not all the time.

5. Good clients do not see time zones as an issue.

As part of the client’s ability to understand the independence needed by the freelancer, a good client also knows that the freelancer has different (maybe entirely different) time zone from him, but that does not hinder to choose them especially of the freelancer has a potential to produce good projects.

A good client respects this difference and trusts his freelancer that they can still do the project.

6. Good clients do not pay cheaper if the freelancer lives in an underdeveloped country.

Unfortunately, there are clients who cannot give decent payments to the freelancer because of their location, in third world nations for instance.

Despite of the accomplishment of the project, they think that those freelancers deserve less than what should be the appropriate compensation for them because they live in a not-so-rich country. This is not the mindset of a good and respectful client.

A good client disregards the location of the freelancer and still gives what is agreed. They will not make excuses to pay the freelancer less just because of the awareness of the lower living cost the freelancer’s location has.

7. Good clients pay the freelancer always and on time.

A good client is not that unprofessional to pay the freelancer on delayed time, especially not pay at all. He understands that just like him, the freelancer works to get paid.

So, they will exert effort to pay them on their expected and agreed deadlines, all the time.

Conclusion

Now that you know how to spot a good client and dump a bad one check our article about the best 10 outsource websites where you can get projects and make some money on your work.