Cultivating Sincerity And Humility: Two Tools To Ensure Long Term Success In Your Freelancing Career
As a freelance programmer, approaching a client, marketing your skills to them, writing a proposal and executing a job is a science in itself. How you communicate with your clients, the content of your every email or Skype/WhatsApp message determines to some extent your success or failure in client retention and freelancing in the long run.
If you visit any freelance forum such as the Upwork community forums, the average freelancer's attitude towards their clients is quite toxic and full of scorn. Most freelancers dislike the average client out there for reasons like them trying to get a lot done for less money and hiring freelancers from Asian countries. But its only natural for them to be "penny wise", just as its natural for us freelancers to try and charge exorbitant hourly rates, isn't it? After all, we all want to earn as much money and spend as little as possible, that's life. This should be no reason to hate your employer or client.
A client who's trust you've earned is like a long-term investment, remember. Most of your successful and profitable projects will come from this source alone. Its difficult to gain the trust and confidence of a new person, be it a client or freelancer. For this reason alone, its very important to nurture your relation with the client by ensuring timely supply of deliverables, proper communication, meeting your deadlines, etc.
The following quote about clients attributed to Mahatma Gandhi is sincerely practiced by many large and successful companies in India. You can find this quote laminated and wall-mounted in many corporate offices if you've ever been there.
Trust me my friends, in the long term, it no longer matters whether you are an expert in React or Angular or Vue or any other crazy new technology. All that matters is your sincerity and humility towards your customers.
If you visit any freelance forum such as the Upwork community forums, the average freelancer's attitude towards their clients is quite toxic and full of scorn. Most freelancers dislike the average client out there for reasons like them trying to get a lot done for less money and hiring freelancers from Asian countries. But its only natural for them to be "penny wise", just as its natural for us freelancers to try and charge exorbitant hourly rates, isn't it? After all, we all want to earn as much money and spend as little as possible, that's life. This should be no reason to hate your employer or client.
A client who's trust you've earned is like a long-term investment, remember. Most of your successful and profitable projects will come from this source alone. Its difficult to gain the trust and confidence of a new person, be it a client or freelancer. For this reason alone, its very important to nurture your relation with the client by ensuring timely supply of deliverables, proper communication, meeting your deadlines, etc.
The following quote about clients attributed to Mahatma Gandhi is sincerely practiced by many large and successful companies in India. You can find this quote laminated and wall-mounted in many corporate offices if you've ever been there.
A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption on our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider on our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us an opportunity to do so.~ Mahatma Gandhi (2 October 1869-30 January 1948)
Trust me my friends, in the long term, it no longer matters whether you are an expert in React or Angular or Vue or any other crazy new technology. All that matters is your sincerity and humility towards your customers.
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