A dispatch from the other side š¬
What I learned from working with freelancers over a three-month-period. š©š¼āš¤āš©š½
Regular readers of this newsletter will know that I recently completed an assignment that had me going into an office, working with colleagues, water cooler chat and all earlier this year.
What I didnāt mention in that newsletter about this thoroughly enjoyable experience is that I also commissioned other freelancers in this temporary role.
On my first day, I decided that I would treat freelancers the way I want clients to treat me. This was my opportunity to shine, to prove that it is perfectly possible to treat freelancers with professionalism, grace and fairness at all times. I saw it as my ultimate revenge on all the clients who ever ghosted me, insisted on a ludicrous number of revisions or otherwise acted nasty.
I resolved that I would promptly reply to every project proposal I received from freelancers. Though I couldnāt increase the companyās rates or make their contract terms more freelancer-friendly, I would give freelancers crystal-clear briefs and make the collaboration process as smooth and simple as I could. Though I couldnāt change anything about the clientās payment terms, I would immediately forward freelancersā invoices to the accounting lady so they could get paid as quickly as possible.
For the first two weeks, I was more or less able to do just that. But as my colleagues started giving me more work and responsibilities, I would also take longer and longer to reply to freelancersā proposals. I started to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of proposals I received every day, and began to feel increasingly frustrated at having to turn most proposals down.
I also quickly discovered that the invoicing process is as frustrating for freelancers as it is for the staffers handling their invoices. Time and time again, I would send out very detailed invoicing instructions only to get an invoice back that did not contain the information it should have. (I will note here that one freelancer managed to misspell his last name.)
I did try my best to look at the invoices as quickly as possible. In one instance, I went back and forth on a particular invoice while I was on holiday because I didnāt want the freelancer to have to wait an additional two weeks for their money just because I was off, traipsing around in Berlin.Ā Ā
Another lesson I learned was that the person who commissions freelancers is one little chain in a big machine. That means that there are many things that are outside their control; that they are playing by rules that they did not write.
In this temporary role, I had to find three freelancers to complete separate assignments at very short notice because we had just gotten the green light to go ahead with a project and due to another stafferās limited availability, we had to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. Sure, I didnāt write one of those screamy emails with an all-caps āURGENTā subject heading, followed by multiple exclamation marks. I tried to keep it casual, but the result was all the same ā I gave them less than 24 hours to get back to me. And once they accepted the assignment, I asked them to send me a detailed brief on an equally tight deadline.
In the past, it could frustrate me without end when clients wanted me to complete a project for them at extremely short notice. As a one-woman operation, I always found myself thinking that they surely could have given me a heads-up and that the sudden urgency of the assignment had to be the product of someoneās poor planning. Ā
But having been a little chain in a big machine for a little bit, Iāve realised that big organisations come with equally big decision-making processes. It can be hard to wrap your head around that when youāve worked solo for a long time.
As best as I tried, I also screwed up. I communicated the wrong fee to one freelancer (yup, not great). A few times, I gave them a brief that didnāt quite make sense to me, but I couldnāt do much about it as I was just passing along marching orders. And one time, I gave a freelancer the wrong instruction because I too hastily read another colleagueās email.Ā
As I said at the beginning of this newsletter, I really enjoyed this experience. But I was also happy to go back to being just a freelancer at the end of the assignment.
Because commissioning and working with freelancers was more challenging than I expected. I still think all freelancers deserve to be treated with professionalism, grace and fairness, but the experience gave me a better sense of the many balls project managers and staff in commissioning roles have to keep in the air.
I initially saw it as a role where I would be able to, figuratively speaking, run a nice warm bath for the freelancers I commissioned, put on some smooth jazz, close the door and let them do their best work.
But the reality was that I had to do that for a small dozen people, having just discovered the water was tepid at best, weād run out of bath foam, and I also needed to tend to a few fires in the kitchen.
Have you hired freelancers in the past? What was that like and did it make you rethink past interactions with clients? Let us know by emailing us at freelancerthefriendly@gmail.com or comment on this post on our website.
Linda
What Iām reading at the moment:
Writing this newsletter, I went back and reread this Q&A with an anonymous staffer who processes freelancersā invoices. Well worth a read if you have ever felt frustated at a clientās invoicing process or late payments.
This story I wrote about the Energy Charter Treaty, published just last week. Iām posting it here even though it is not freelancing-related because ā¦ ehm, COP 27, the energy crisis and, you know, that whole, pretty intractable problem of global warming.