I’ve been doing freelance design for over 10 years now. In any business customer satisfaction is important. In freelance it’s necessary. I suppose you could, as a freelance designer, just do a bunch of mediocre work and find your next client on the web and low bid everyone else to get the job. That would be tiring though. Constantly looking for new work instead of it coming to you. So today I thought I’d share a couple of lessons I’ve learned in my time doing this work.

Always deliver on time:

This should go without saying, but it’s extremely important. There is almost nothing more frustrating to a client than having to wait on you to deliver a product. One of the final questions in a meeting about starting a project with a client  always seems to be, how long will this take. Be honest, but don’t be afraid to give yourself a healthy buffer. I also like to put some of the time-frame back on the client. I explain that a project like this would take me “x” amount of time if I had all of the info and immediate client feedback. I like to tell them that the more responsive they are during the process, the quicker it gets done. At that point, you at least have a partner in the time-frame and you’ve placed some of the responsibility on them and if they are slow to offer feedback or needed information through the process they take the blame for some of the delay.

Always be close to your estimate, or provide an explanations throughout the project as to why it will be going over budget:

Money. Probably the only thing that ranks higher negatively than not delivering on time is going over your estimate and demanding more money than originally budgeted for a project. It will inevitably happen. But you better make sure that it’s the clients fault and not yours. And try, at all costs, not to make the additional costs a surprise at the end of the project. If your client is constantly demanding new features, ect. for their project that will punch it over budget and was not a part of the original estimate, just be honest about the cost of each new request/demand and let them make the call on whether or not to include that element. You don’t want to be taken advantage of to be sure and the easiest way to avoid that is communication laying down clear goals, objectives and costs that relate to those project goals.

I’ve found many times that one of the best and safest way to avoid going over budget is to bid high and deliver at a lower cost. You may push off some clients who are looking for a cheap project, but you keep the clients you do procure happy which is much more valuable in my opinion.

Experience is also a key factor. With every project you undertake you are building an archive of project experience and the cost associated with similar projects. That is invaluable.

Hire help when needed:

This is, I’ve found, very important. Everyone is good at at least one thing and some of us are surprisingly good at a lot of things, but you want to lean on the expertise of others when necessary. This comes up frequently in web development, I think. While I think of myself as a pretty savy interactive designer, there are elements of programming that I know others can do more efficiently than I can. I believe there is almost nothing that, with a little time and experimenting, I can’t figure out, but when it comes to delivering a project on time and done correctly, I firmly believe in leveraging the expertise of others to get it done. Again, it all comes back to a happy client and a happy client is one that gets their project on time, professionally done and within budget.

Treat friends and friends of friends as you would any other clients:

This is one that I have had to learn several times (and still run into). Friends and business are hard to mix. Everybody wants a hook-up to be sure, but a lot of times it’s also that a friend will come to you because they already know your the best (or at least good enough that they don’t have to waste time vetting other people for a project). Resist the urge NOT to treat them as another client. You still want to be as clear as possible and up front with them. In fact, maybe more so. Deliver the same paperwork, contracts and up-front payment requests when beginning a project with a friend. If a project is going over budget, explain to them why and allow them the option of making the call on new features or elements of a project. Resist the urge to just do the work no matter what happens on the project just because you don’t want to tell a friend it will cost more money. If you’re clear and up-front a friends project will go off without a hitch, but if you’re not eventually somebody will feel as if they are being taken advantage of, and that will kill a friendship.

Have a solid contract:

This is a tough one and developing a solid contract is often trial and error. But make sure you are protecting yourself no matter what working situation you find yourself in. Be clear and concise in the estimate and include elements of the product description in the contract so as to avoid any future confusion or manipulation of the agreed upon terms. The best place to get started on a good contract is a Google search. There are plenty of example contracts on the web related to design work and with some experience and tailoring, you can develop one that protects you and helps to expel any miscommunication with future clients.

In all my experience, the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that if you make your clients happy the work comes to you. Have I ever had an upset or unhappy client, of course. There will inevitably be a breakdown in communication at some point when dealing with clients, it’s human nature. But I do try to make reasonable concessions when it comes to that point because I know that a happy client goes a long way in procuring future work. Currently all of my work comes in on a referral basis and that is, after all the end goal I think. No marketing money. No spending countless hours chasing potential clients and working bids and estimates for projects that you may or may not get. If you’re fair and consistently deliver a product that meets the clients expectations, you won’t have to look for much work, it will come to you. And a potential client that comes to you from a referral is almost always already sold.