What We Wish We Had Known When We First Started Freelancing (Part 1)

Hi Weekend Club friends! Currently writing this while stuck in the airport in Phoenix on our way to NYC. It's been a journey since we left San Jose 24 hours ago to say the LEAST. Anyway, I'm really excited about this post, I feel like it really gets at the heart of why we started this community, to foster a place where photographers can share their experiences in order to learn and grow together. 

When we started out, we had no idea what we were doing, literally none. We didn't know anything about starting a business, working with clients, or even about product photography. To read more about our story, check out this post. There are so many things that we've learned over the years, and so many things we wish we had known back then, so now I want to pass them along to you to hopefully help you avoid some of the mistakes that we made along the way. As I sat down to write this, I had so much I wanted to say that I decided to make this into a two-part post so stay tuned for the second part coming soon!

One thing I will say though is that experience is the best teacher and sometimes you do need to go through things and make mistakes to really learn, so even if you end up making some mistakes and feel like you should have known better, it's ok! It's part of learning and it's only human nature to make mistakes so don't beat yourself up, just learn from it and move forward.

Ok, here we go! 

Communicate Everything in Writing
If you've listened to the very first episode of our podcast, Per Our Last Email, where we share one of our early client stories, you know how we learned this lesson. Communication in writing is KEY, and so important. If you don't have documentation of what was said,  when things go down it will be your word against the client's. This has saved us many times. One time in particular the client tried to say that we didn't deliver what was discussed. I was able to point to multiple emails where she had approved concepts and also said things that she was now claiming she never said. Because of this I was able to charge her for reshooting since I could prove that it wasn't a mistake on our end. 

Our recommendation is to avoid communicating over the phone as much as possible, and whenever you do talk on the phone, always send an email afterwards listing out what was discussed, even if it seems trivial. 

If you have a client who is constantly calling you unnecessarily, you can simply say, "my preferred way of communication is through email, so let's discuss this there." After that, let their calls go to voicemail. Send an email after you listen to the voicemail answering their questions, eventually you will train them to email you. You can also avoid giving out your number to clients by taking calls over Google meet audio which helps prevent clients from calling or texting you outside of your office hours. 

Never Work Without a Contract
This is something else you will hear us say on every single episode of our podcast. Contracts are essential, not only for running a professional business but for protecting you as well as protecting the client. Always have a contract, even if you aren't getting paid, and even if you're doing work for a friend or someone you know well. 

Make sure to list out exactly what is expected of both parties, when/how/how much you will be paid, and what happens if the client stops responding or pays you late. You'll also want to include all details about licensing, including who owns the copyright (it should be you unless you are getting paid VERY well), where/how/how long the client can use the images and how they can renew usage. Make sure to also include a clause on revisions and alterations. 

We definitely recommend hiring a lawyer to review your contract and make sure it's super airtight. A few good resources for a template that you can start out with are Sprout Law and TheLawTog, but definitely hire someone to go through it with you if you can. 

Saying No Can Help Your Business Grow
When we first started out, we took on every single job that came our way without question. This led to us working on a lot of small shoots that took up a ton of time with clients who didn't really value us or pay what our work was worth. When you first start out, you're probably going to do this exact same thing, and it's going to feel really scary when you have to start saying no to work, especially when you don't have a ton of projects lined up, but what we have learned is that saying no and turning down work is the best way to grow your business. 

It can seem counter-intuitive, how can turning down work actually help your business? By saying no to smaller jobs or clients who show red flags, you will avoid burn out and leave your schedule open for the clients who actually value you. We now say no to 90% of the jobs that come our way, we take on less shoots than we ever have, but we make much more than we did when we were taking on every shoot. It can definitely take time to get to that point, but start building that mindset right now. If you need some help deciding if you should take on a project or not, check out this post on saying no, and this post on red flags. 

The Client is Not Always Right
This kind of goes along with the previous point - it's ok to say no, but it's also ok to tell a client what you need in order to accept a project. Remember that you are the expert, not them. You know how much time you need, or how much things should cost. If you need a longer timeline or a higher budget, or anything else, just say so. 

For so long we were bending over backwards to throw together shoots with unreasonable timelines, small budgets, etc., and now we simply say, "we would love to accept this project, however we are currently booked until X and we need X amount of time to put together a shoot of this size, if that timeline works for you, let's jump on a call." You'll be surprised how many times the client will still want to work with you even if you push back on those things from the beginning. 

I think part of this is also being realistic with yourself and acknowledging what you can actually accomplish. We tend to try to convince ourselves that we can make things work and then end up regretting it. This is also why we recommend against saying yes to a job or giving pricing over a call. When the client is right there, you will feel more pressure from them and from yourself to make it work. Instead, take some time after the call to think through what is realistic and what price would make sense before sending an estimate. 

You are Not Inconveniencing the Client by Having a Process and Boundaries
Sometimes we can feel like the processes or boundaries we have in place are an inconvenience to the client. We can tell ourselves that asking for a deposit, getting a contract signed before starting work, enforcing late fees, or not emailing over the weekend are going to hurt our relationship with them, when actually the opposite is true. We have a process and boundaries in place for a reason and sticking to them will only help prevent the kind of issues that can arise from allowing the client to walk all over you. 

Usually the client won't even see these things as an inconvenience, it's our own insecurities that make us think that they will. Your process and boundaries should be explained in the initial call and in your estimate and contract so they have a chance to let you know if anything won't work for them. However, if they do really push back unnecessarily on these things, or act like they are inconvenienced, it's a red flag and a sign that they might not be someone you want to work with in the future. 

Your Time is Valuable and Should be Protected
As a freelancer, your time is literally money. This is why we always talk about being careful which projects you choose to take on, and what else you choose to fill your time with. You don't need to take calls or projects or anything that you don't think is best for you or worth your time. If someone asks to interview you, or get on a call, or ask you a question, you can say no or that your schedule is filled at this time. Not every opportunity will be the best for you, even it it's good for someone else. 

This is why we have a really through intake form that we use before we even get on a call with a client (you can read our post about that here). We used to get on a call with every single person who reached out and then created estimates for most of them, and it sucked up so much of our time. We now can tell from their answers in the intake form if it will be worth moving forward with a call. 

We've also learned to outsource certain things that are not our strong suit or that we find overwhelming. If you've been around any amount of time, you've heard us talk about Kirsten who helps with our inbox, our social media, our monthly newsletter, outreach, and many other things. We also have an accountant because the time it would take for me to learn how to properly do our taxes just isn't worth the headache. As your business grows, pay attention to what your strengths and weaknesses are and look for ways to outsource your weaknesses so you can spend more time on your strengths. 

Pay Yourself
We talk a lot about Profit First (purchase it here and find our blog about it here), and I'm planning on doing a post on finances soon so I won't go too much into this here, but it is essential that you pay yourself as a freelancer, even if it's just a little to start out. We often think that we need to put all our money into business, and that we'll pay ourselves once we're making more. The thing is that when you make more, your expenses will grow and you'll never really end up paying yourself unless you choose to set money aside for this. If you're not seeing a reward from all the time and effort you're putting in, you will burn out more quickly. This is why a lot of small businesses fail, so put aside a little money every time you get paid from a client to pay yourself (and make sure to put aside tax money too!!). 

There you have it! A few things that we've learned that we wish we had known when we were starting out. I have even more to share, so make sure to stay tuned for post #2 on this topic!

Is it the weekend yet?
Elle