 How to get the best clients to build your freelance business How to get the best clients to build your freelance business? Hey, if you're looking for dreamy clients ones that pay you a lot of money ones that aren't problems the Unicorns then you're gonna want to watch this video because I'm gonna show you how to get the best freelance clients Hey before we get started don't forget to subscribe hit that big button down there turn it from red to gray And then a bell is gonna pop up just like this. Don't forget Ring the bell turn on all bell notifications So you're notified each and every single time I go live or I upload a video now If you're a freelancer and you seem to have a book of clients clients from hell Then you're gonna want to watch this video to the very end. I know it can happen I know you can have problem clients matter of fact It seems like most of them out there are problem clients until you watch this video And you're gonna see why they're problem clients and how to get the right kind of clients now There are times when clients seem like they're great when you first make the deal But they're really wolfs and sheeps clothing. They will say things like before I pay you Can I just change the approved image? I want it yesterday. They lost your invoice. Can you resend it? Sorry, I didn't reply. We'll really need this finished today. Can you send me an example? And if I like it I'll pay you for it. Oh god. I love that one. Yes, we scrapped that didn't you know? I'll know what I want when you show me. Can I have 12 examples, please? You will have no life when you work for me. It's a great portfolio piece. I own you This is the one but maybe Hmm Actually, I think I like the first one better now if you've got some bad clients But they seem like they were great when you guys first hooked up major deal It's because you missed some warning signs and what I want to do is I want to go through all those warning signs because This kind of client the one that turns into the wolf the one that was in the sheep's clothing Can be easily identified if you know what to look for in the beginning now I know it's tough in the beginning, especially as a freelancer or consultant whatever you want to call yourself Whatever you're doing because you need money you want to take every single client that comes along But I want you to think about this for a second If you take every single client that comes along and 99% of your clients are just Problems they're eating up your time that you could spend with a really good client That's willing to pay you a lot of money That isn't the big problem that some of these other clients are now What I'd like to do is go through this list of red flags with you so that you can identify The clients that you may not want to keep or the clients you may not even want to take in the beginning now The first one has to do with communication communication is key To everything in life really everything to raising your kids to working to ordering your meal over the phone Bottom line is communication is important now if you get a client in the beginning This is after you've taken this client you may want to consider getting rid of them If you get a client in the beginning that is pushing you pushing you pushing you to get whatever project done Extremely fast and you submit it to them and then crickets You don't hear from you can't find them. They ghost you That's going to be a problem client on down the road if you see this happening You're best to drop this client immediately because this is not going to get any better number two Make sure they are clear on who the point of contact is This can be a real bummer when they say hey the editing team will get with you and then one day Dan's talking to you and the next day Jenny's talking to you and the next day Margaret's talking to you and then Dan says that's not what I wanted Where why'd you do that and you say well because Margaret told me it's a nightmare Make sure you have one point of contact that person can make decisions And if a company is not set up that way you're better off not to take that Client that company because it's going to be a problem for you on down the road Communication is key number three. They have to respect your opinion and your advice as an expert Now keep in mind if you're hired as a freelancer, you're not an employee That's not the point the point is not for them to direct what your activities are It's for them to listen to the advice of an expert which you are so if up front They're already trying to tell you what to do or they don't listen to your advice You're better off not to take that client a good client has hired you because they know you're an expert in whatever field You're working in and they respect that advice and they actually do what you tell them to do You know they can respect your advice, but if they don't act upon what you tell them they need to do or provide to You they're not going to be a good client and you're better off not to take them or to drop them If you've got a client like this right now Number four, you know it speaks to communication again, but I think it it demands its own area and that is What are the expectations of the project? What exactly are the deliverables? What exactly do they expect to get from what you provide to them? I was doing some consulting a number of years ago And I would have people get on the phone with me and say well I want to hire you because I know I'm gonna be successful and I would say to them No, that's not true at all. You want to hire me because I want to give you the tools to help you become successful But I cannot do the work for you. That's not what the type of consulting I was doing. I was an advisor I would guide people so when I did consulting I let them know upfront because you hire me That does not guarantee your success when you hire me it guarantees that you're gonna get the tools to be successful But you yourself have to do the job now. That is a real Specific way of explaining deliverables your deliverable may be something different It may be you know, you need to provide them with you know Four different web page designs and they're gonna select one from that that is your deliverable My deliverable was tools and advice to the person So be very clear about this upfront because if you're not clear upfront They're gonna say that you didn't provide what they wanted We have to figure out what they want first for us to be able to provide it And we're down to number five now number five is they include you in the process Okay, they have to include you in the process if they don't include you in the process If they don't keep you up to date with what's going on on a project You're not going to be able to provide good advice to them You're not going to be able to provide a good service to them So they have to keep you in the loop and I think a lot of companies do this where they hire people for Specific little areas, but they don't keep the person in the loop about the entire project. So up front You need to let them know that you need to be involved in all this And I think you're gonna get a better client to if you let them know up front what you expect I think too many times as a freelancer We're just listening to what they want instead of telling them that you need to be involved in this for this to Be successful and I think they respect that and if they don't respect that you don't want them as a client Okay, you want to get rid of them and you'll find that by doing this You're gonna get better and better clients and that's the key to all of us number six They let you work the way you want to work now remember Why did you become a freelancer anyhow because you didn't want to take orders from somebody else You didn't want to have a boss So if you like to work from 6 a.m. You know to 1 o'clock and then take a nap in the afternoon And you know and then at midnight work another couple hours That's what your process is and that client has to adhere to that process now I have different people that work for me in different countries and I respect their time zones Some of them want to work at night when I'm asleep some of them want to work during the day Some of them, you know want to work, you know two hours one day and 12 hours the next I don't really care I don't really care because when I hire these people I'm hiring to get that project done I'm hiring to get that job done and I respect the fact that they have to do it the way they want to do it As long as they meet the timeline as long as they get the things done that need to be done. I'm happy I'm really really happy. Okay, so I don't want I know because I I've done freelancing I know that people have freelancing jobs because Their schedule doesn't match with the rest of the world sometimes and that's okay as long as they get the project done So make sure they understand that you got to work the way you work number seven They pay on time now. I don't know what on time is for you when I hire somebody to do anything I either will tell them as soon as the project's done I'm gonna pay you or I'm gonna pay you 50% up front and 50% upon completion or if it's a long-term Project, I'm gonna pay you every single week. You've got to get that set up in advance Don't assume that everybody knows when to pay you and if they don't want to agree on paying you the way you want to be paid It's not one of your clients It's it's a client you need to get rid of or it's a client that you never need to take on Payment is so very important I used to work with a sales team and the one thing I figured out is the quicker you paid them the better results You would get and this was an automotive sales team I had a whole bunch of car sales people and you know the dealership would pay them every two weeks or whatever week I can't remember what it was But I would come up with bonus programs and I would say hey anybody that sells a car today is going to get an extra $100 and I'm going to give it to you in cash on the spot You can't believe how hard they would work for that now the normal commission on that car may be four or five hundred But having a hundred dollars today meant so much more to them than having four or five hundred on down the road They still got their commission don't get me wrong, but that extra incentive would help us sell a whole lot more cars So if if you get a client that pays you quickly, and I always pay quickly I always pay on time when somebody sends me an invoice. I mean within hours. I'm already on it And I'm paying it and when you get a client like that It's a dream right because you don't ever have to worry about collecting you don't ever have to worry about saying hey Did you get that invoice? Did you send it over to your accounting department yet? You know I don't want to talk to accounting. I don't want to talk to payables I don't want to talk to anybody in their company except the person that I need to talk to and when I send my bill over there Or when I record the hours I get paid and you should too now We've been through seven different things that's going to help you find an ideal client The hardest thing for you is going to be to say Know to somebody to be able to say know to somebody when you say know to somebody You understand that you're giving up some money possibly some of these people don't even pay you But you you understand you're giving up some money But understand that your time is way more valuable than you probably think it is right now You could probably charge a lot more money than what you think you could right now But you'll never know if you're bogged down by a bunch of bad clients who asked too much of you who expect Too much of you who don't pay on time who don't keep you in the loop and cause frustration for you every single day Don't take these kind of clients and if you're listening to this right now Then you have a book of clients like that get rid of some of them And I know you say well It's a steady income for me because you know it's a monthly job or whatever if it isn't worth it If it's causing you heartache if it's causing you stress you need to get rid of it Remember the reason that you became a freelancer in the beginning was so that you would have less stress So you could work the way you wanted so that you wouldn't have a boss Okay, so don't get into a situation where you're freelancing for somebody who acts like your boss Now if you take this advice, you're gonna have a book of great clients You're gonna be happy you're probably gonna make more money and you're gonna enjoy your life more and isn't that what it's all About I want to thank you so much for watching this video if you got something out of it Put a comment below as a matter of fact if you've got one of those nightmare Clients from hell. Tell me the story below. Tell me how you got rid of them. Tell me how you got them Tell me what you did. I want to hear your story. I love your comments below. Don't forget to give me a thumbs up I would greatly appreciate that. I really appreciate you watching this video Don't forget to subscribe if that subscribe button down there turn it from red to gray Matter of fact, you can do it right now all week You Get it done great Okay, don't forget also ring the bell a bell is gonna pop up next to that subscribe button You want to turn on all notifications? That way you're notified every time I go live or I upload a new video Thank you so much for watching this video and I'll see you in the next one I do