Every month we run through a series of questions to help you run your freelance business like a bigger business—“self-coaching” your way to better results and a better life. 

Hey!

A lot can go wrong on a freelance project, but there’s one phase of the client relationship where you can get ahead of a good 90% of the issues that will throw things off…and that’s onboarding. 

So for this COO month, we’re going to review a few onboarding questions that can help you avoid the most common freelance pitfalls…

• Do I have an SOP? 
• Am I explaining how I work? 
• Am I doing housekeeping? 
• Am I addressing concerns? 

Am I explaining how I work?

I keep a page for this on my website but also include it in my onboarding packet. 

This document includes the days I work, holiday policies, how to contact me, turnaround times for different types of work, contract details (like severance terms), and even what I do in emergency situations like natural disasters. 

I keep the tone positive, so I don’t sound defensive. I try to frame things as helpful to the freelancer-client relationship vs. overt boundary setting (even though it is). 

It’s better to let clients see this up front and set expectations early than it is for them to accidentally find out 3 months down the road that you don’t work on Wednesdays…so do your future self a favor, and put together a short document outlining the what it looks like to work with you.

If you need some help figuring out how to explain your work boundaries and need to talk it out, stop by the Academy Facebook group and let us know.

Megan