How to Set Reasonable Expectations of Your Freelancer

One of the things that defines the relationship between freelancers and clients is that freelancers don't work for just one employer.  We still have to report to our clients, so they are still our "bosses" in some respects; but since we have many employers we work for, instead of just one, it changes the balance of power in the relationship.

One thing many clients struggle with is that they are not the freelancer's primary source of income, which changes our priorities somewhat.  Since we don't just work for one employer, we can't let any one employer's needs become more important than other clients' needs or our business's needs.

When you hire a freelancer, you are basically paying only for the finished product that you need.  Compare this to hiring a full-time employee to complete that product, for whom you would then need to pay the expected wage, provide benefits, set up work space for, and establish an employee culture conducive designed to keep employees happy.

Clearly hiring a freelancer is cost effective in many ways, but problems arise when clients expect freelancers to behave like salaried employees.  When we have many clients and many different projects we're working on, however, we can't behave like a full-time employee.

Here are a few of the most important things for clients to remember when navigating their expectations of their freelancers.

• Give freelancers adequate time to respond to you.  Don't expect freelancers to be at your beck and call.  We don't have to punch a clock, and many of us don't have consistent office hours.  We'll get back to you when we are working next.
• Provide ample time to complete the work.  Remember, you're not our only client, so order new work well in advance whenever possible.  This gives us the ability to plan it around our other client work.
• Expect to pay extra on short notice.  Of course, sometimes you may need something back quickly, and that's okay.  It happens!  But do expect to pay a premium for a quick turnaround, as we may need to rearrange our schedule, put off other client work, and/or potentially work long hours in order to get your rush job done in time.
• Let go of the control.  Above all, please do not try to micromanage us.  You've hired us to produce a finished product, so there's usually little you need to do in the meantime.  There's no faster way to destroy a relationship with your freelancer than to hover (even virtually) while we work.  We're not employees, often by choice, so if you try to treat us like we are, we're likely not to work with you again.
• Ignore the client-centric attitude of content platforms.  While content platforms have become an easy way for freelancers to easily find clients, they've also perpetuated many of the unreasonable expectations clients have of them.  Content platforms tend to have short, tight deadlines and some even require that freelancers allow clients to 

The guidelines I've laid out above are often blatantly ignored by freelancing platforms, which is one of my biggest beefs with them.  They can be a good way to find clients, but make no mistake, the freelancer is not the platform's customer: The client is.  As a result, content boards often turn into a place where freelancers get taken advantage of and boundaries are ignored.  If you intend to use a content board to order content, that's fine, but remember these guidelines and be good to your freelancers!

Every Day Should Be Freelancer Appreciation Day

My recent post about "quiet quitting" had me thinking about how clients can show appreciation for their freelancers.  And then, in writing the title of this article, it occurred to me: IS there such a thing as Freelancer Appreciation Day?

Close.  It turns out there's an entire week for freelance writers: the Freelance Writers Appreciation Week, which takes place the second full week of February every year.  (Hopefully other types of freelancers have a day or week to celebrate them as well.)

But honestly, just like many other holidays we celebrate, there shouldn't be just one day or week where we show our appreciation.  Freelance writers create probably a majority of the words you read every day.  So if you hire freelance writers to help you with your business, now is a perfect time to consider whether you show them enough appreciation for what they do.

Need help with ideas to show your appreciation?  Here are a few.

• Say thank you.  You have no idea how seldom we hear this.
• Provide positive feedback.  Usually we don't hear any feedback unless a client doesn't like something, so it's nice to hear from time to time what a client did like.  Not only does it make us feel really good, but it also helps us to improve what we write for you.
• Pay well.  Yes, we writers know you have a bottom line and need to ensure you maintain a profit.  The thing is, so do we.  Most of us depend on our income and need to make sure we can earn a living wage with our writing.  Show us that you value our work by offering that living wage up front.  Don't make us beg or negotiate, and certainly don't belittle us with offers for "exposure" or a chance to "do what you love" in lieu of making enough money to live on.
• Acknowledge us on the holidays.  The best clients I've worked for have all at least acknowledged us on holidays and special occasions.  It's not necessary that you know every detail of your freelancer's life, but wishing us happy holidays, and if you know the date, a happy birthday can go a long way toward making us feel like we're people in our clients' eyes.  I've even had some clients send me holiday cards or little treats for the holidays.  Of course, if you can provide a holiday bonus, do that too, as there's nothing like a surprise bonus for making a freelancer truly feel appreciated for everything they do.

Freelancers may be just contract employees and not permanent members of your staff, but we still deserve (and crave!) recognition for our work.  And if we don't feel like we get it from a certain client, that's the first client we'll drop if we get a better offer.  Remember, the whole point of being a freelancer means we can work for whomever, whenever we choose.  So if you value your freelancers and want to continue working with them, make sure they feel appreciated for the work they give you!

"Quiet Quitting" from a Freelance Perspective

Lately there has been a lot going around on social media about "quiet quitting," and the inevitable backlash.  One side says it's a form of protest for how workers are somehow simultaneously expected to work extra, but also not recognized for doing so.  Another side says no, it's just setting healthy boundaries at work.  A third side says it actually shouldn't be confused with organized protest, which is actually called work to rule, and is intended to function as a sort of strike without any actual striking.  Work to rule is where the employees produce a significant slowdown of production by following all the rules exactly.

It's interesting to watch this debate take place not only as a freelancer, but also as a freelancer who has worked regular jobs in the past.  One of the benefits of self-employment is that if a client doesn't appreciate me or the work I give them, I have the freedom to stop working for them and find a different client who works better with me.  I can also set my own rates and refuse to work for less, especially when a client has unreasonable expectations about my time.

Fortunately I've known very few clients who weren't appreciative, but I have known some who had unreasonable expectations.  For instance, I've had a few clients who assumed that since I am a freelancer and set my own schedule, that it means I'm available any time they want.  I even had one client once who asked me to set up a chat service (I think it was AOL or some kind of Microsoft chat - back in the day before Facebook Messenger) so he could contact me any time he wanted.

I was a fairly new freelancer at the time, so I didn't realize the potential consequences.  At first I set it up, but I quickly discovered what a mistake that was.  I started not being available unless I was actually working, and when the client didn't like that, I eventually ended the relationship.

Of course that decision is a little tougher for full-time employees, many of whom get a lot of pressure to be available during off hours.  It's typically pressure that employers won't admit to, either.  For instance, at a former full-time job of mine, I was always under a lot of pressure to produce faster and faster, which initially led to me working on my off hours.  There wasn't a requirement that I do so, in fact if I asked my boss would have said not to; yet if I wanted to complete my work in time, I had to.  I still remember being so proud of my first fast turnaround, and my shock when my boss yelled at me that I was still too slow.

The natural consequences of that interaction were that I stopped giving my job anything extra, doing only what was required.  In fact, all of us employees banded together, putting forth only the minimum effort, becoming religious about taking our full lunches and breaks, and pushing back when our boss tried to cut our breaks or work us harder.  And one by one, we all found other work.

It's an important lesson for employers and clients alike: Make sure you show your appreciation for your employees.  Interestingly enough, appreciation doesn't have to mean extra money.  Most people just want to feel they are noticed and valued, and will gladly work a less lucrative job if that job also offers a healthier and more fulfilling work environment.

If you find you have a team of employees who won't do more than the minimum requirements of their job, you should probably ask yourself what kind of programs you have in place to recognize employees who go above and beyond.  If the answer is "none" or "just an employee of the month program," you will likely need to rethink how you show your appreciation for hard work and dedication.

The same goes for your freelancers, and perhaps even more so, since they can much more easily walk away from a single client.  Returning clients are usually a freelancers' bread and butter, so if you have a track record of freelancers only working for you once, I recommend honestly considering why that could be.

Ultimately, I agree with the memes circulating on social media, that "quiet quitting" makes it sound like employees are doing something wrong, when they're actually probably protecting themselves from burnout and potentially even making a bid for change in their workplace.  Our society has gotten to a point where the boundaries of a healthy work-life balance have become completely blurred, and employees are expected to give continually more and more of their lives to their jobs.  It's time we stepped back from the precipice and gave ourselves - all of us - some space to breathe and just live.

In writing this article, I've realized a couple of other topics that I want to address: what's unreasonable to expect from your freelancer, and how to show your appreciation for their work.  Stay tuned for more!