Should You Reserve Your Time for a Freelancing Client?
by Laura Spencer
on December 27, 2013
“Are you available to work on my project in three weeks? I have a project starting then and I know that you’d be great for it.”
When I received this email from a former client, my current projects were scheduled to end after two weeks. So, I sent back my response. “Sure, I can start a new project in three weeks.”
“Great,” came the reply. My contact also said: “This is a huge project and you were my first choice. It should take up most of your time for the next month.”
I finished up my current work, breathing a big sigh of relief that I would soon be busy again and on a very large project. A few days after I finished the project I had been working on, I received an inquiry about work from a prospective client. I turned that down–believing that I would be starting the huge project from my former client in just a few days.
The three week start date came and went. There was still no word from my former client. I was forced to ask, “When will the XYZ project start? I excited about working on it with you.”
“No worries,” came back the quick response. “We’ve just had a slight delay is all.”
Another week passed. By now, I could have finished the work from the prospective client that I had turned down. I was beginning to wish that I had accepted it.
“How are things going? I’m ready to start.” I asked the former client.
The response was a little delayed.
“We’re not quite ready. Just wait until you hear from us.”
That was not the response I wanted to hear. Another week went by and I sent another email asking about the project again. This time there was no response. In fact, I never heard about the project again. A few months later, my contact left the company.
If you can relate to that story from my early days of freelancing, this post is for you. It deals with the question of whether you should reserve time in advance for a client.
If you liked this post, you’ll probably like 10+ Tips to Help You Close the Freelancing Deal.
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