Not all clients are good clients, and being able to tell the difference between the good and the bad will go a long way towards enhancing your career as a freelancer. I can tell you from first hand experience that many of the clients you encounter will not be worth the money they pay you. When evaluating clients, you must look beyond the money you're being paid, and instead look first at the personality of the person you're dealing with. Always be wary of clients who are not able to properly explain their projects.
I've done a variety of freelance work, including a an extensive amount of writing, and I one day came across a client who needed a 500 word article for his blog. In his emails, he gave me a generalized idea of what he needed, but he didn't provide enough detail, requiring me to send him several emails trying to understand exactly what it was he wanted. I had a general idea of what he wanted, but in the world of freelancing, having a general idea of what your client wants means nothing. I expect all my clients to fully explain all their projects in detail, so there is no room for error.
In most freelance fields, the work is labor intensive, and completing these projects will often require a large amount of physical and mental energy on the part of the freelancer. As a freelancer, you cannot afford to keep repeating the same thing over and over again because your client is a poor communicator, and can't provide detailed instructions. The more you have to repeat the project over again, the more tired you become, and in addition to time being wasted, frustration may set in as well, both on the part of the client, and with the freelancer. This is precisely what happened to me. I wrote several re-writes of the article, and each time he told me it wasn't really what he wanted, but he was never able to explain exactly what it was that he did want.
In the end, the project was never completed. While it could be said that I wasted my time, I actually did learn some new information about the topic that I hadn't tried before, and in that sense, it wasn't. However, I didn't get paid, and had I been able to see that this guy was a poor communicator from the very beginning, I would have avoided starting the project altogether. When you're negotiating with a client for the first time, take the time to evaluate them carefully in order to determine how well they give instructions.
Are their instructions concise and to the point? Do you find it hard to understand what they're asking for? Do you find that you have to ask them multiple times what it is they need? Does it seem like they're indecisive and not sure of what they want? If any of these things describe your client, then it is very likely that you're dealing with someone that is going to waste your time and give you headaches. These people are terrible at communication, and over the Internet, you cannot afford to be a poor communicator. Regardless of what project you're working on, whether it is a writing assignment, software program, or a 500 word article, the instructions provided by your clients must be detailed and concise, leaving no room for error.
If your client, or a potential client, cannot provide coherent instructions, then this means that it is best to take your business elsewhere. Another type of client that you will want to avoid is the client who can never be satisfied. We will call this type of client the perfectionist. No matter what you do, or how well you do it, these people always find something wrong. These individuals are more than just demanding, they are perfectionists who have unrealistic expectations of the people they hire. They may also provide poor instructions, but even when they provide detailed instructions, they will always manage to find something wrong with everything you do.
Because these individuals are paying you for your services, they feel that they must ride you into the ground, that everything must be perfect. In fact, with these types, you will often find that the stress and headaches they cause vastly supersede the money that they're paying you. When you encounter these types, the best thing to do is simply to “fire them.” Let them know that you have other clients, and you don't have time to deal with the stress or headaches that they cause. At this point, they may try to apologize, but don't give in, move on to someone else. They will only eat up your time and energy.