Transcription
One of the greatest things about being a freelancer is the amount of flexibility and freedom that you have. But sometimes this flexibility can be a challenge as well.
When it comes to the experience I've had as a freelancer, I'm really thankful for the variety of clients I've had. Some clients are already established companies, and they're just outsourcing their work to freelancers. Some are individuals who own their own business, their own sole proprietorship, and they're getting help from freelancers. Some have worked with freelancers before, some have not worked with freelancers. So as a freelancer, you're going to have to adapt to the different clients and the different situations and their different needs.
Because of the variety of clients, sometimes I don't have to do much of the onboarding because they already have their own documents prepared, and I'm just the one signing and working with them in that way. But sometimes, especially if the client has not worked with other freelancers before, I'm going to have to do more on my part to do the onboarding. So in those cases, this is my onboarding process.
The first phase of this onboarding process is what I like to call the introductory call. And I believe the onboarding process begins as early as the hiring stage because this is where a lot of things happen. It's where the client gets to know you better, you get to know the client better, you get to talk about your freelancing business and what you can offer, what you've done in the past. It's also the time where the client talks a bit more about the project you could potentially be working on. It's not very detailed at this stage because perhaps there are things that the client does not want to disclose, but it's still helpful to know what the project is about. And also, this is the time where you'll be talking about the rates as well as the budget that the client has.
And when it comes to prices, it's very interesting. It really depends on the whole hiring process. If you applied for the job, more often than not, there's already a budget stated, so you roughly know what kind of rate you'll be getting. But sometimes the price has not been discussed yet, so as a freelancer, you're able to talk about the rate that you'll be charging your client. And of course, everything is negotiable at this stage.
This introductory call stage, and this call or this phase normally ends with the client saying that they'll think about it or they'll get back to you. In the next stage, I like to call it the confirmation stage because sometimes you'll hear back from the client, sometimes you won't. But nonetheless, this is a stage where you get the confirmation on whether you will be or will not be working with the client. But let's say it's been about a week and you haven't heard back from the client, but you're really enthusiastic about this project, you can probably send a follow-up email. And if you do hear back from the client, then you can take this opportunity to reiterate what value you can bring to them, what you'll be doing, as well as how you'll be paid for your services.
So normally, I think a lot of people recommend being paid 50% up front and the last 50% when the project is completed. I think this is the best, just because it's, it just makes sense for both parties. So all this can be discussed in this confirmation phase. And after everything has been agreed upon, you enter the next phase, which is the contract phase.
Sometimes clients already have their own documents prepared, and they'll just send it over for you to sign. But sometimes you'll have to be the one to send over that contract to them. So if you're a freelancer, I definitely recommend having a service agreement contract template kind of ready for you whenever you have to send over documents to clients. So if you have that document template, you can just fill in the details accordingly and send it over to them for them to sign.
So once you've sent that over and it's been signed, the next thing is invoice. So in this invoice kind of stage, if you've already discussed that you want to be paid 50% upfront, then that's when you send the invoice for that. So of course, it's really helpful if you already have that invoice document or template on hand already. And once you receive the payment from the client, you enter the next phase, which is to get all the information for the project.
At this point, it's already pretty confirmed that you'll be working on the project, and you're gonna definitely have to have all the information that you need to do a good job. So this is the phase where you ask for all the documents that you may need, the design collaterals, and everything you would need to do the project.
And of course, throughout the onboarding as well as even during the project, it's really, really crucial to have good communication. This builds trust between you and the client, and it just assures them that you're on the job and you're doing what you have to do. Because it's never nice to be working and having someone kind of breathe down your throat and just to ask you what you're doing. It's always helpful if you kind of report to them like where you are in the project so far. Of course, it's good to discuss working style as well at the start during the introductory call, but of course, communication is really important, and it'd be good to always keep the client in the loop.
So that is that for my onboarding process. I hope it was helpful. Do comment below if you have any other questions. I think the main thing is that being a freelancer, you have to be very adaptable because you'll be working with so many different clients from so many different situations and backgrounds. So definitely just do what you can to meet the client where they are. And another thing is just to have the documents that you may need prepared just in case. And yeah, do follow @nomadamy.agency on Instagram. It's where I post content and resources and inspiration daily. So do check it out, and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.