How to Manage Your Freelance Relationships
Spike is my inspiration for doing whatever tf I want and walking away from anything that doesn’t make my tail wag.
I was an employee for most of my life.
I let someone else dictate when I had to be somewhere and how I spent my time and what I did with my body and what I wore on my body and what my time was worth.
It sucked.
When I started my own business, it took me a few clients to transition from “income source as authority figure” to be my own authority.
In my freelance work, I fire any clients who don’t respect my time or process.
Those are the clients who want me to track my time, refuse to pay per project, and want to pay me hourly, and micromanage my work.
No thank you! That’s why I’m not an employee.
You can teach a client how to work with you, but I charge those clients at least double.
Here’s what to do instead:
✅ Clear Contracts and Deliverables
Go through your contracts line by line with your clients.
Explain what each line means and why it’s in there.
Have them initial all deliverables and deadlines.
✅ Clear Communication
When and how can they expect a response? 24 hours is reasonable.
I don’t respond to phone calls.
My voicemail is “send me a text if you want a response.”
I want paper trails for everything so that our communication is transparent.
My clients talk to me on my terms.
It’s in the contract and we confirm it verbally.
✅ Clear Attitude
My clients have no authority over me.
We have decided to work together because I have more expertise than they do over whatever I’m helping them with.
They hired me to advise them.
They hired me because they trust me.
And I let them hire me because I’m passionate about the project and because I enjoy working with them.
We are equals.
I’ve been running my own business full-time for 3 years, and have worked freelance part-time for over 15 years.
The less you need your clients (this happens automatically as you get better at booking clients...this is what I can help you with!) the easier it is to work for them because you don’t *need* to.
You *want* to.
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