The Importance of your Reputation as a Freelance Worker

Despite a number of high profile examples, the importance of managing your reputation when freelancing seems to escape many independent practitioners. Just ask Gerald Ratner about the impact of not getting it right. With marketing budgets at an all time low and viral networking the new medium of endorsement, managing your profile has never been more important.

We asked our freelance network about what to focus on in this field; here’s their top 4...

Communicate

I think that it is incredibly important to remain professional and make sure that you reply to any correspondence quickly and efficiently and with a polite manner. If you are struggling with the work, do not understand what you should be doing or do not think you will meet the deadline on time then make sure you let them know immediately. Generally if you have a good reason then most clients are quite understanding and will appreciate the fact that you kept them informed.

I know that many of my clients like the fact that I keep them up to date throughout the project so that they know exactly how I am doing and that the project will be completed on time. Failing to communicate often means the client has no idea what stage you are at and they will not want to have to keep contacting you asking where the work is. This will ultimately result in poor reputation and feedback and could damage your career and lose you work.

Stick to deadlines

One way in which you can instantly damage your reputation is if you do not stick to the deadlines you have been set. This will give the impression that you are not organised and cannot plan your time effectively. If it's clear that you aren't going to be able to meet your deadline for whatever reason, refer to our first tip; communicate this to your client as early as possible.

Complete the work to a high standard and raise problems first.

Obviously one of the most important areas is completing the work that you have been sent to a high standard. If you fail to stick to the brief or seem to have taken no care in the work then your reputation is going to be severely damaged. I think it is worth remembering that you could have a fantastic reputation, but one piece of bad work could severely affect this, so each project you take on is as important as the one before.

Remain professional

I think that it is incredibly important to remain professional and not cause your client too many problems. You should make sure that you reply to any correspondence quickly and efficiently and with a polite manner. Never forget that the client is paying you to do a job and you must make sure that you carry it out as they wish and to the standard requested.

And don’t be afraid to ask for feedback. During the course of a project you do not know how the client perceives you so it is important to carry out all work to a high standard and to remain professional at all times. In this way you should gain a good reputation for being reliable and hard working and could find that more work comes your way.

Internet link: This article was provided by network freelance www.networkfreelance.co.uk.

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