If you’re a freelancer, I’m guessing one of the reasons you like being a freelancer is the ability to say “no”. No, I’m not available. No, I don’t want to work with them. No, I don’t want to do that job. No, that pay doesn’t work for me. No, that’s not the way it works.
So why is it so hard for some freelancers to do that? I think the main reason is a fear that they won’t be called again. That’s not entirely wrong, in some cases. If you’re not available, they may call another freelancer that they fall in love with, particularly if they haven’t worked with you before. But let’s consider the other side of the coin for some of these other reasons.
1. You don’t want to work with them. And that’s a great reason to say no. If they are not good people to work with, for whatever reason, you DON’T have to work with them. That doesn’t mean that the producer will take them off of the shoot, that means you have the right and opportunity to decide not to expose yourself to working in an uncomfortable or unsafe environment caused by a co-worker. You don’t have to say yes to bullying, harassment, laziness, arrogance, or any other matter of poor behavior from others. That’s a perk of being a freelancer! Are you going to miss out on money? Maybe that day, but that just means you’re keeping your calendar open for jobs and people that you actually enjoy working with.
2. You don’t want to do that job. The first time you work with a new client will define the role they see you for going forward. That can pigeon-hole you for YEARS. I should know, it happened to me a few times! I tried to move up in sports production, and was told that I had to start at the bottom as a runner. Which I did. But while the rest of the work I was doing moved me through various roles of camera work, floor directing, producing, and more, I couldn’t move out of being seen as the best 40-year old grocery getter out there. It wasn’t my aspiration, it was pigeon-holeness. I was an awesome PA for about 15 years with a couple of my clients, while I was producing corporate videos and events for my business clients. That finally stopped happening when I removed “PA” from my website, and did some serious re-branding to completely eliminate the PA conversation.
3. That pay doesn’t work for you. Don’t compete on price. Ever. Two things will happen: 1) You’ll dilute the value of your colleagues who are charging reasonable rates because they know more than you do about what you SHOULD get paid for that job, and they’re not afraid to ask for it. 2) You’ll end up working for a client who sees you as a commodity–meaning, you’re just a checkbox, and every person with your title has equal value, and they’re just looking to pay the least amount of money for that title. You won’t be valued, and the client likely doesn’t understand what goes into the job you’re taking on, in terms of the equipment you need, the time you’re taking to prepare, and the fact that you have to pay your own taxes and health insurance!
4. That’s not the way it works. In corporate video, a lot of my clients have to be educated about the process of creating videos. Or perhaps I should say, “of a professional’s process of creating videos”. It’s really important to set expectations with your clients in your proposal process, or in those first conversations. Explain what they can expect from you (and on what timeline), and explain what you will expect from them. Watch out for scope creep by having a change order form ready when they start asking for things beyond the budget. Don’t do the work until the change order is signed.
So if you have to, don’t hesitate to say “no”. Make your choices wisely, as you’re driving YOUR business. And the choices you make define how people see you and treat you. Make sure that’s “like a professional”, because you ARE!
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