how can I tell our freelancers they should charge more? by Alison Green on January 25, 2024 A reader writes: One aspect of my job involves hiring short-term contractors. Their pricing can be all over the map and some are hourly, but most charge a lump sum. Those rates typically start at about $1,500 but it isn’t uncommon to pay over $10,000 for someone in demand. While I’ve run into times when […] Read the full article →
how can I get people to stop misreading professional friendliness as a real connection? by Alison Green on January 17, 2024 A reader writes: I’m an events freelancer who works on a variety of projects. Most are just a one-day event, but a number of times per year I will do a longer-term project which spans a few weeks to a month. An increasing problem I have is people misreading my professional friendliness and problem-solving abilities […] Read the full article →
my client refuses to pay my cancellation fee by Alison Green on October 18, 2023 A reader writes: I have a friend, Frank, who I met because we both enjoy certain sports. I only see Frank when I am involved in this sport, but it’s a small community so everyone knows each other. Because my business caters to this sport, Frank decided he would like to use my service. And […] Read the full article →
my co-host at a workshop will be someone who didn’t pay me for my work by Alison Green on October 2, 2023 A reader writes: I am the sole proprietor and member of an LLC that sells products and related services, specifically consulting on a topic of my expertise. I’ve recently learned that for an upcoming workshop I’ll be delivering, one of the co-hosts is someone who didn’t pay me in the past for agreed upon work. […] Read the full article →
my client is always late paying me by Alison Green on September 25, 2023 A reader writes: One of my clients, a creative agency, has always had issues paying my invoices on time, but it’s getting worse. Every single time I send an invoice, I have to go back and remind them to pay me. It’s a great company, but I’m starting to get frustrated that I can’t send […] Read the full article →
I accidentally ghosted a client by Alison Green on August 7, 2023 A reader asks: I recently took on a freelance web design project at an hourly rate. However, I ran into some issues that I hadn’t anticipated having to deal with, and my anxiety got the better of me after we had to cancel a meeting a few weeks ago, and I haven’t responded to any […] Read the full article →
how to work with clients who can’t make up their minds by Alison Green on October 11, 2022 A reader writes: I work as a designer and recently have had clients who cannot make up their minds. I end up going in circles with designs. It feels like an endless game of whack-a-mole, they ask for X, I give them X, but now they really want Y, so I give them Y, but […] Read the full article →
how to deal with a client who’s always late by Alison Green on August 1, 2022 A reader writes: I run a professional services consulting business. I work from home and all of my clients are elsewhere, so our meetings are always over the phone or Skype. For the most part, I love my clients, but one of them has a chronic problem with being late or simply blowing off our […] Read the full article →
clients hire me to edit their books and then get angry about my feedback by Alison Green on April 19, 2022 A reader writes: I’m a freelance editor who enjoys the freedom of taking on projects that I get to choose and working my own schedule. I work regularly and finding work is not my issue — it’s the feeling of being burnt out by my clients. As an editor, I help writers develop their novels […] Read the full article →
update: freelance agency keeps paying me late, but they give me a lot of work by Alison Green on March 24, 2022 Remember the freelancer whose client kept paying late, but gave them a lot of work (#5 at the link)? Here’s the update. I was the freelancer wondering if I should cut ties with a chronically late paying agency. In the end .. I did! It took over 3 months for payment to be made, after […] Read the full article →