Unreliable Clients?
Hey IndieHackers 👋
I’m a full time front-end developer but a couple of months ago I decided that I wanted to start freelancing in my spare time with the hopes of it becoming a full time thing.
I’ve had a few leads from word of mouth and reaching out to people but I’m struggling to really close a deal and get started on their projects. One guy has kept my hopes up for weeks now saying he’s interested but then all of a sudden I don’t hear back and it’s becoming a regular thing with my leads.
Do I just cut my ties with these types of clients even if I could really do with the work? Has anyone had similar experiences and found a solution to closing deals with these types of clients?
I would recommend starting with one of many consulting/freelancing agencies that are a match-maker between companies and freelancers! :-) It's hard in the first few months to have the necessary authority with clients and have the intuition which one will be good and which one will be flaky.
My two cents, from being strictly freelancer, for more than 15y :)
Don't get this too personal. More than 90% of clients are unpredictable, especially when they projects are self-funded.
My tip for survival is while working on one project, keep looking for another and another and .... basically never stop looking.
And the second tip is to become specialist rather than generalist. Find a niche, and become good at it.
Working with clients is a little bit like dating – if you seem thirsty, the client is going to get even more turned off.
When someone is iffy and on the fence, I will consistently follow up with them, but with the tone that I don't need the project, and if they want to work with me, they better take action to do ____ quickly.
People like to work with busy, in-demand people.
I had a sales mentor tell me once, "'No' is the second best answer you can get, if you get it in a hurry." People who sit on the fence and get your hopes up are a real psychological drag, so I wouldn't put much stock into them.
That's pretty normal thing if you're just starting out.
One thing you can do is improve you client qualification process.
You do that by branding yourself to be super-specific on what clients you want to work with.
For e.g., instead of branding your self as a Front-end Developer, you brand your self as a Front-end Developer specializing in Compliance Training Startups. Not the best of examples but I'm still on my first cup of coffee for today 😅
And also learn to say no. I know it's especially hard when no one heard of you and don't have that many clients on your portfolio but it'll make your career 10x more enjoyable.