A Cautionary Tale About Negotiating Freelance Contracts

Leaving Money On The Table Is …. Oh So Easy

Via Reddit, edited:

I wanted to share the following story which I think demonstrates how easy it is to underbid on projects and to not capitalize on your worth. This is equally applicable whether you’re pitching for freelance work or a job.

It feels like a lifetime ago already, but some time not so long ago I was dealing with a marketing agency that approached me through social media.

They were looking for tech writers to cover a certain niche and my experience was a perfect match. It seemed, on paper, like a good fit.

This client unfortunately ended up falling into one of my “bad fit” buckets. In other words, it didn’t work out.

They demanded a rather massive amount in terms of workflow for very complex projects and — despite protests that they really, really wanted me to work for them — weren’t prepared to negotiate on budget (freelancers, be warned: this is a definite type).

It also seemed to me that they didn’t understand the complexity of the projects they were managing for their very technical clients.

Despite protests to the contrary, they were looking, in effect, for an SME to produce SME-caliber writing. But the budget to back that up simply wasn’t there (note: when agencies don’t charge their clients enough, which is what I suspect was happening here, that pain can get pushed onto freelancers. This isn’t good!).

Despite these misgivings, I reluctantly agreed to do one trial project.

They were right that there was a potential fit and I thought it was worth a few hours’ time to see if the process was more streamlined than I suspected it would be.

Unfortunately the experience only redoubled my initial feeling that they were asking far too much for their budget. Their workflow, while commendable, was extremely exacting. The background research alone ended up taking hours. The rate didn’t make sense.

They liked my writing (sorry to toot my own trumpet here) and so did their client. But they weren’t prepared to budge more than 5% on price. They then defaulted to another round of “we’d love to keep you writing for us, we pay by international standards” charade before again refusing to move an inch on budget. At this point, I gave up and said goodbye.

An important lesson to reiterate:

Around the same time, an acquaintance had left a job to resume freelancing.

I thought that she might have the requisite experience and, from my experience, I knew that Agency X was just short one freelance writer (as well as what type of writer they needed).

So I made what I totally accept was a lousy and sloppy referral.

For one, I didn’t tell my friend that I thought the client was a type I would recommend avoiding.

I don’t like people who play the “we really want you” card and then aren’t prepared to compromise. Negotiations are a two-way dance and if clients aren’t prepared to meet in the middle a simple ‘no’ is easier than leading freelancers on with fawning praise (also note: I hate praise!) Referrals are professional matchmaking. You should connect people you like with other people that you like where you can see a good fit.

I also crucially neglected to mention their budget or ask my friend what her rates were. And I failed to mention what I had been charging them. In other words: I threw my friend in totally blind.

A week later my friend informed me that she had agreed to a pilot project…. at a rate that was almost a quarter of what I had agreed to.

More tellingly, the agency had pulled a nice bluff stating that they “should be able” to pay the rate.

There’s a simple but powerful lesson here. And it’s one that has stuck with me ever since.

Clients will happily let you bid for 25% of their allotted budget if you let them.

Unless you’re drinking buddies with your client, you’ll probably know about it either.

In fact, there’s a good chance that — as happened here — they’ll pull a convincing professional poker face and make you think that what you’re asking is a doable stretch.

Perhaps one client in one hundred will tell you that you’re underselling yourself. Stories of such friendly professional steers do exist. But those cases are the outliers and clients are concerned with maximizing their budget rather than helping you get paid a fair rate.

I think the “what’s your budget?” “what’s your rate?” freelance-client tango is usually better avoided.

But freelancers need to ensure that they’re advocating a fair rate for themselves.

You’ll know if you’re asking more than your clients budget. But there’s typically no such cue in the other direction.

It’s painfully easy to ask for too little and get it.

Figure out the rate you need and ask for it.

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