My So-Called Freelance Life - Michelle Goodman [41]
Paid Ways to Sneak Through a Client’s Back Door
When you’re trying to wedge a foot in the door as the low freelancer on the totem pole, giving it up for free (or cheap) isn’t your only option. Remember being a fresh-faced admin assistant back in your early cubicle-monkey days? And remember how you initially had to take on a couple of crappy projects no one else in the office would do so you could win over the big cheese? The same good old-fashioned dues-paying works like a charm in the freelance world too.
Here’s an example: Suppose a women’s clothing boutique from your Top Ten client list hires a freelance stylist to design and install their annual Valentine’s Day window display. Now suppose that freelance stylist delivers the design specs but has a tiff with the store’s creative director and bails on the project before installing it. Frantic to get the window finished, the creative director remembers that charming letter of introduction a budding freelance stylist (for the sake of argument, you) emailed her last week. Within minutes, she’s on the phone with you, asking if you can help paint, light, and install the display the next day.
Cut to your office, where you’re jumping out of your chair, pumping your fist in the air, and silently mouthing, “Fuck yeah!” You tell the creative director you’d love to help out, provided you can clear your schedule. (You don’t want to give the impression that you have nothing better to do—even if you don’t.) As your client-to-be is apologetic about the last-minuteness of the gig, you don’t make a big stink about it. And although you’d have preferred being hired to design and acquire props for the display too, you don’t turn up your nose at this production gig that’s landed in your lap. You know a good investment of your time when you see one. If you show up on time tomorrow and paint like a superhero, the bigger, better gigs for this client will be right around the corner.
In my early freelance years, I had no qualms taking a project that wasn’t necessarily my first choice if it was for a client I coveted. I’d write a piddly two-hundred-word gadget review for an in-flight magazine knowing a job well done could lead to a beefier feature story next time or the time after that. I’d agree to proofread a book manuscript knowing I could probably convince the publisher to hire me to copyedit a gig or two down the line. I even took a couple of “We need it by 8:00 AM Monday morning—sharp!” copywriting jobs assigned to me at 4:30 PM on a Friday to get in good with a hotshot high-tech client.
There’s no law against double-dipping—freelancing for more than one person or department at an organization—provided your clients don’t mind sharing. (The last thing you want is coworkers fighting over who “gets you” first—awkward!) I’ve simultaneously edited manuscripts and written book cover copy for a couple of the technical publishers I’ve freelanced for. Either one department would recommend me to another, or I’d wait till I’d earned a client’s undying love and then ask for an introduction to another manager or department at the company (another way to sneak through the back door!). As long as my deadlines for different managers didn’t conflict and I didn’t ditch my first contact, my clients were happy to pass me around the office.
When it comes to doing a stepping stone gig or two for a dream client, you have my permission to throw those project minimums we talked about in Chapter 8 out the window. So you don’t get pigeonholed, gently remind the client that you’re not only a whiz at window display production, you’re a crackerjack at retail window planning and design, with the portfolio to prove it. And if you get offered a rush job or a job outside your normal business hours, be sure to let the client know that in the interest of getting acquainted