It’s Time to Move on (Breaking Up With Your Freelancing Clients)

Good morning everyone! Today I have a guest post from Martin of Studenomics, where he helps you with launching right now so that you don’t waste time. Let me know if you would like to guest post on MMYW!

“It’s not you. It’s me.”

Nobody likes a breakup, but sometimes it has to happen. Not everything can last forever. All good things come to an end.

My friend brought up an interesting question the other day. He noticed that some of his clients will come, get what they want, and leave! Just like a one night stand. Okay, bad joke.

But anyways, my friend noticed that in his freelancing business, not all clients would be permanent. Most would be very short term. So we started discussing how to wrap this up.

When do you end a freelancing arrangement?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t care about bottom feeders. I also don’t want to waste time as a freelancer. I want to get better, help my clients, and make some money in the process.

There are a few scenarios where you need to just get out. They are when:

• The client has learned everything possible. It’s totally cool to graduate clients. This really depends on the service, but there’s nothing wrong with teaching someone everything you can and then letting them move on to learn on their own. You can watch them grow like a proud parent.
• They’re not taking your services seriously. How seriously are your services taken? If not at all, then you need to move on.
• They show zero commitment. What’s their commitment level? As a teacher or someone hired to perform a service, you want to work with someone that’s committed. Why bother if they don’t commit?
• They don’t pay on time. Some clients are horrible with payment. You can put up with this once in a while, but when it becomes consistent, it’s time to move on.

That’s when you should strongly consider ending the arrangement. You have to move on. You have money to make. You have other people to help. You too also have to grow.

This leads to the next question…

How do you end a freelancing agreement as a freelancer?

There are diplomatic ways to do it. There are also less-diplomatic ways to go about this. It depends on your relationship. There’s a few ways it could all end:

• Organically. I’ve seen freelancing arrangements just end organically. Both parties are satisfied with the results and they move on. Not all arrangements will be long term. Some are on a one time deal. Others last for a few weeks or few months and then move on.
• You cut them off. You’re not perfect nor are your clients. It’s easy to get sick of each other. If things aren’t working out, you have to hire your problem clients and focus on the ones that are serious and don’t cause you any trouble.
• You graduate them. Your clients will graduate and be ready for the next level. You have to let them go!

That’s when you end the agreement. There’s only one more thing left to touch upon.

What’s the main lesson here?

You have to go after higher-end work.

You’ll never succeed as a freelancer if you don’t. You can’t waste your time on problem clients. You can’t become a slave to your own machine. You have to be constantly evolving and growing as a freelancer.

“Once you’ve removed all the noise, it’s easier to see what really matters to you. When you stop listening
to what other people think you should find important (mostly media, marketing and subliminal messages), you get a chance to see what is important to you.” — Jonathan Mead

Don’t forget to check out Studenomics!

This post was featured on the Financial Carnival for Young Adults, thank you!