In freelancing, minimizing risks is crucial to protect your time, reputation, and finances. This lesson includes practical strategies to avoid potential pitfalls, ensuring smooth and professional client collaborations. We also address doing business with family, which really is as bad as it sounds.
Always get a contract
With no contract, you have absolutely no protection. If the client has bad intentions, he will have a big incentive to follow through. This mostly applies to creators and freelancers working with companies. If you're a language tutor, demanding your student to sign a contract would be over the top. However, some creators don't feel comfortable requiring companies to do so, which can cause them many problems down the road. There's nothing for you to worry about - it's a standard practice, and no legitimate client would have a problem with it.
Requiring a contract is actually a good filter for potential clients with bad intentions. If the client has doubts, explain that a signed contract will significantly help reduce misunderstandings by clearly stating the expectations and obligations of both parties. It shouldn't be one-sided but protect the legitimate interests of everyone involved. You can be flexible with certain clauses to accommodate the client's particular needs but know which ones are non-negotiable. If you agree to change the terms of the contract later on, you can write a simple amendment that will modify certain clauses.
Prevention is key
Don't depend on involving a lawyer or the courts. Always try to resolve things peacefully if possible. The legal process will probably cost you a lot of money, time, and energy. Depending on your country, it may take a long time to have your rights upheld—if you're able to at all. Your goal should be to do your best to prevent any problems from happening rather than counting on being legally covered in case they do.
The best protection is working with reputable clients and putting in place guardrails that will disincentivize them to cheat you and discourage those with malicious intentions outright. If you sense that the client's expectations are too high, get him down to earth before you start the cooperation. In other words, make sure you know exactly what the client expects and that you can deliver it in an agreed time and for an agreed price.
Client shenanigans
To avoid or minimize the risk and effect of a client paying late or not paying at all, ask for an advance payment - either in full or at least in part. The lower the project fee, the more okay it is to demand a full payment outright. The necessity of this measure highly depends on your industry and the clients you'll deal with. In this regard, fellow freelancers or smaller companies are riskier than bigger companies.
Opt for monthly or milestone payments if working on a larger project. Anything beyond that puts you in a very uncomfortable and vulnerable position. Consider this: If you're working on a 3-month project and agree on getting everything paid after the project's conclusion, the client will be in a very strong position by the end and may try to take advantage of this by pretending the project is not finished yet and asking you to do additional work which he won't compensate you for. He'll be aware that you may be afraid to refuse because you don't want to risk him not paying you at all.
If your work requires you to purchase something for the project, it's highly recommended that the customer pays for this. Otherwise, if things go wrong, you won't be stuck just with your unpaid time but also with the goods or services you purchased out of your pocket.
If you're delivering creative work or a product, don't provide the client with the source files or anything he could use - whether it's pictures, graphic design, video, or other files - until the client doesn't pay you. When you send it for a revision, either send it in a lower quality, include a strong watermark, or present it in person.
On the other hand, the watermark won't protect you very much if the output can be easily copied. If you spend 20 hours doing a graphic design with a high creative value, the client can simply send the watermarked version to another designer who will copy your design from scratch in 2 hours. The safer option would be to present it in person.
💡 Keep in mind
This is an extreme precaution, though, and should be used only when necessary, ideally without making things inconvenient for the client.
Know when to cut ties
One thing to always remember is that you're not going to satisfy everyone. Whenever there's a dispute, think about whether it's due to you objectively not delivering a quality service or whether it's more on the client. Some clients just won't be a good fit for you - that's nothing to mourn about - it's natural. Just try to finish the work and don't accept more work from the client. If he returns, communicate your impression from the previous project and your concern about a potential taste misalignment.
Working with family and friends
People close to you can prove to be very difficult clients. Our advice is to avoid these cooperations, especially if they're bigger. Small projects shouldn't have the potential to cause problems. However, it's still vital to think twice about them and consider the character of a given family member or friend. You will likely be expected to treat it more like a favor and be much more lenient than you are with your regular clients. We'd specifically caution against this if your products or services may require your continual commitment - for example, creating a website or software application.
💡 Keep in mind
Once you're in, it's not easy to get out without having an uncomfortable conversation.
We recommend establishing a rule of never working with family and friends and then simply referring to it whenever you have to. Explain that you value your relationship and don't want to potentially jeopardize it by doing business together. To ease the situation, you can at least offer to give them some advice on the matter or recommend someone else.
Remember
👉 A signed contract protects both parties.
👉 Lawyers and court should be the last resort.
👉 It’s normal to request advance or milestone payments to reduce payment risks.
👉 When the situation requires it, deliver your digital work only after payment is made or with precautions like watermarks.
👉 Cut ties with clients when necessary to avoid prolonged disputes.
👉 Working with family and friends, especially on larger projects, can be a very bad idea.
Homework
1️⃣ Decide under what conditions and in what formats or resolutions you will share your work with clients before you get paid.
2️⃣ Practice how you would professionally handle common client disagreements to resolve them effectively.
3️⃣ Prepare a speech for a family member or a close friend who wants to hire you.
👏 Keep pushing forward!
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