Turning Down Freelance Work
Should you ever turn down freelance work? Yes. Absolutely.
I know that sounds like crazy talk, especially if you’re in a dry spell and you really need the money. But real professionals turn down work for all sorts of reasons.
I just read a great article over at Best Practices that suggests 6 Reasons to Turn Freelance Work Down. Number one (personality clash), number three (project outside expertise), and number five (can’t meet deadline) are all reasons I’ve turned down projects.
I’ve also turned down work because I believe the client is dishonest or acting in an unethical way. It’s never easy, especially when there’s a wad of cash hanging out there for you to grab. But in the long run, you’re better off turning down work from time to time.
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4 Responses to “Turning Down Freelance Work”
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Dean, another point I didn’t even touch on in the article is the opportunity cost. If you take on a two-week project that isn’t a good fit for you, that’s two weeks that you could have spent marketing yourself for the types of projects that you do want.
That’s true. It’s even true for projects that are a good fit. This gets in to issues of scheduling and which projects to take on and which to turn down, when things get busy.
I find it’s usually easy to take on small projects because they can fit into the schedule easily. But larger projects have to be scheduled carefully. I recently turned down a very large project because it would have take so much of my time for so long, I simply wouldn’t have been able to service my current clients.
Of course, this is a nice problem to have, all things considered.
Consider subcontractors. I’ve worked as both a subcontractor and a contractor who hires subs. If you work with the right people, it can be win-win. I can discuss this with you in more detail if you e-mail me. Maybe there’s a fit for the two of us, maybe not.
Phil: Good point and that’s a subject for a future post. I have subs for doing various things.
But there are still times when you should walk away from work. If there’s a personality clash, for example, that’s not going to change if you sub the work out.