How to Be Hired Again! And Again!
Getting a new client is a lot of work! You have to find them. Show them your work. Convince them you can do their work. Figure out the scope. Agree on a price. And then you finally get the project! So why do we finish it and immediately go looking for another stranger? A client who already hired you is SO MUCH MORE than one project. They could hire you again. They could hire you every month. They could refer you. They could introduce you to other founders. The work could get featured somewhere. Their entire industry could become your next niche.
Don't go back to zero! But first, you have to be someone they actually want to hire again.
①. The Non-Negotiables
Neil Gaiman gave a commencement speech where he talked about how freelancers basically need three things:
Deliver on time.
Do good work.
Be easy to get along with.
And you don't even necessarily need all three, but let's just be all three lol.
Alright, that sounds great in concept, but what does doing “good work, being easy to get along with and deliver on time” actually mean in practice? When you’re starting out you have the intentions of doing good work, but not sure if you really are. Below are a few my non-negotiables based on 20 years of agency and freelancing experience.
Keep the Momentum Going
Meeting your deadlines is the BARE MINIMUM. The real challenge is actually keeping the entire project stay on schedule.
Tried and True Tips:
If something is due Wednesday, don't send it at 11:58pm Wednesday. Send it Wednesday morning. Even better? Tuesday. Take any moment to delight and suprise your client.
Every time you send something for review, tell them exactly when you need their feedback. Instead of: “Here are the designs! Let me know what you think!” Try: Here are the designs! Take a look and send me your feedback by Thursday so I can keep us on track for our Monday delivery. You’ll be surprised how many freelancers don’t do this and wonder where the client’s feedback is.
Send reminders! Don't wait until after they owe you feedback. Send a reminder the day before. Your client has 900 other things going on and sometimes they just need a lil nudge.
Some students asked if this is annoying to clients. If you feel annoying, just ask the client! “Hey, just wanted to check-in. Let me know if these reminders are helpful for you.” I had a client who was notoriously late for feedback all the time and we would remind him sometimes 2 or 3x before the deadlines so his feedback was so consequential for us to meet his deadline. I texted him asking if it was getting annoying and he said, “No! I need it. Please, it helps prioritize me and pushes you to the top of my inbox.”
Visually Communicate
Clients might not recognize “good work”. They cannot see what's happening inside your brain. This is especially true with Squarespace clients because they are new to the whole process. They’ve probably never hired a designer and are unfamiliar with how everything works.
This is why I looooove Loom.
Instead of just sending a link, send a quick Loom. Walk them through:
Here's what I did.
Here's why I did it.
Here's what I want you to look at.
Here's what I need from you.
Here's what happens next.
These can be 5 to 15 minute videos. They don’t need to be edited. Think of it like an async meeting. Sometimes two minutes of context prevents an entire round of confusing feedback.
I had a client tell me that she loved my process and I was like, “Which part?” She said the loom video was super helpful because it allowed her to sit with the design and rewatch it as many times as she needed to.
Respond Quickly
YES. But "respond quickly" doesn't mean "do whatever they asked immediately." It means acknowledge them. For example: “Got it! I'm heads down on another deadline today, but I'll take a look tomorrow morning.” DONE.
They know:
You saw it.
It's on your radar.
You told them when you'll get to it.
So what's "quickly"? During working hours, I personally wouldn't want to leave a client hanging all day if I can help it. I typically will respond as soon as I see an email so they just know. These little moments really make a client feel seen and is sometimes worth responding on the off-time, especially in the beginning.
But if a client emails you at 10pm and you consistently respond at 10:03pm... Guess what you've just taught them? Puno responds at 10pm.
You can be responsive without accidentally becoming available 24/7.
Be Pro-actively Helpful, not just a Help Desk
There's a BIG difference between: "I did what you asked." and "I'm helping you get this thing done."
There are a lot of times where a freelancer will ONLY do what is on the scope of work for fear of going over budget or being burnt out, but if you can scope it right, that’s just more revenue for you!
As a website designer, you have access to their entire business and you know more than most people where they have problems. So even if there is a problem that is outside of your scope, talk about it with them and offer solutions. My clients always see me as a pro-active problem solver, not just someone that they give problems to.
For example, with Jungmaven, we knew Earth Day was coming up and thought it would be so cool to have a campaign around it. We gave them a budget for us to ideate and pitch it and they went for it. With Dedcool, we were brought on to build out a portion of their website and as we were in it, thought they could use a whole redesign. We ended up sending them a very quick comp of what it could look like and won that work.
One of your biggest superpowers as a freelancer is that you're resourceful. You will google, troubleshoot, watch a 37-minute YouTube video, try 20 different ideas, figure out why the stupid plugin isn't working. This is why clients will continue to ask you for help or tell their friends about you because you actually help them. Take all the opportunities you can to show them that you’re helpful and they’ll keep coming back.
② Get Good at the Unpredictable
(aka before the 💩 hits the fan)
Something is going to go wrong. Sorry, but it’s true! When I first started, I thought it was about looking for red flags and then avoiding whoever fit the bill. There are some people that are clearly not the right fit, but for most clients, you’ll never be able to predict:
The client is going to disappear.
The assets are late.
A plugin will randomly stop working.
You get sick.
The client suddenly remembers one "tiny thing" they forgot to tell you about.
The launch date moves.
You don't have to predict what will go wrong. You need to get good at what happens when it does.
Don't Let "The Process" Get in the Way of the Project
I believe in scope, rounds, boundaries, but I also think staying too strict to your process can sometimes cost you. Let's say you're in the beginning of a website design and you’re not 100% sure if you should move forward with a specific design. Maybe you have 5 ideas, but your scope of work said only two ideas. You could (1) just pick two ideas and show them that or (2) you could text them and ask which one are they feeling OR just show all of your ideas in Figma.
I recently listened to a talk from Brent David Freaney of Special Offer who designed Charli XCX's iconic Brat album cover. He talked about how he loves bringing his clients into his Figma pages. For some more opinionated / creative clients, I really think this is the move. If you bring them more into the process, the buy-in at rounds are so much easier.
Also, what about that extra 20 min fix that they asked you to do? The skill is learning the difference between being helpful and letting someone take advantage of you.
The key here is to:
Keep track of all of your time and know when you are going over. This will help you emotionally tell the difference between a small fix and small, very annoying fix.
Add margin into your scope of work. We talk about margins in the Freelancing section of the course, but this will allow you the flexibility if you know its not truly eating into your margins.
Don’t secretly resent your client. Tell them if you’re doing it on the house. They’re not keeping tabs, so just let them know kindly if this is out of scope, but you’re doing it.
Give Yourself Wiggle Room
If you think something will take ten hours, don't build a timeline where everything has to happen PERFECTLY for you to deliver on time. Because it might not.
Feedback takes longer.
Something breaks.
You make a mistake.
Life happens.
Build a little room into your schedule for the stuff you can't predict. And the if you finish early, that’s a cherry on top!
How to Miss a Deadline BEFORE You Miss It
You're going to miss a deadline eventually. Missing a deadline isn't necessarily what makes you unreliable. Surprising someone with a missed deadline does.
Let's say something is due Friday. On Tuesday, you're starting to realize... Oh no, this is taking longer than I thought. Tuesday is when you say something, NOT Friday at 4:52pm. Don't just drop a problem in their lap either. Bring them a plan:
“I'm realizing I'm going to need another day to get the mobile designs where I want them. Rather than rush them for Thursday, can I send desktop Thursday as planned and mobile Friday morning?”
Tell them:
What's happening.
What it affects.
What you're proposing instead.
The earlier you communicate bad news, the more options everyone has.
③ Turn ONE client into More Revenue
Okay! You finished the website. They love it. Everyone is happy. Now what? This is where I found the most opportunity.
Do They Actually Know Everything You Can Do?
Someone hires you to build a Squarespace website. What do they know about you?
Puno = Squarespace person.
They might have NO IDEA that you can also help them with:
Branding
Email
Social
Photography
Video
Landing pages
Digital products
Whatever else you do
Don't make your client figure out how else they can hire you.
Do you have a Capabilities Deck?
It doesn't have to be some fancy 47-page agency presentation.
Show:
What you do.
What you've done.
Who you've worked with.
Other ways you can help.
And update it constantly. We try to update projects 1-3 months after a project completed.
What's Their Next Problem?
Marketing. Everyone has a marketing problem.
Could you help with:
Email newsletters?
Social media?
Blog posts?
SEO?
Landing pages?
Seasonal updates?
Photography?
Video?
Maybe they don't need another giant project. Maybe they need a little bit of help every month.
Which brings us to...
Exercise:
Find the $500/month Problem
Pick a REAL client you've worked with. If you haven't had a client yet, pick a business you know really well.
Step 1:
What Do They Need?
Brain dump EVERYTHING.
What do they have to do every week?
Every month?
Every quarter?
Every time they launch something?
What do they hate doing?
What are they bad at?
What always gets delayed?
What did you notice was messy while you were working with them?
What do they need to market their business?
What are they already paying someone else to do?
Step 2:
What Happens Over and Over Again?
We're looking for the recurring stuff.
Maybe it's:
Updating the website.
Sending two newsletters every month.
Creating landing pages.
Updating their portfolio.
Adding new products.
Making social graphics.
Publishing blog posts.
Looking at analytics.
Whatever.
Step 3:
What Could YOU Own?
Put every opportunity into one of three buckets:
I can do this.
I could learn this.
I could find and manage someone who can do this.
Maybe your client needs email marketing and you have no interest in becoming an email marketer. All good! You don't personally have to make every single thing to be the person who gets it done. Throw that gig in our Discord #gig-alerts channel and build your agency.
Step 4: Find the $500-$1,000/Month Problem
What's useful enough that they would happily pay you:
$500/month = $6,000/year
$1,000/month = $12,000/year
Suddenly your $5,000 website client could be a $17,000 client.
④ Turn ONE client into More Clients
Maybe they don't have another $500/month problem. That's okay! That one client can still lead to the next one. And the next one. And the next one. My first year as a Squarespace freelancer all of my clients were strangers, but by the 2nd year, 50% of my clients were referrals. Not everyone was a referral, but enough to bring in 50% of my revenue that year.
Level 1: Show the Work
You finished the project, within 1-3 months:
Add it to your portfolio.
Add the client to your Capabilities Deck.
Post it on LinkedIn.
Post it on Instagram.
Tag the founder.
Tag the brand.
Tell your old clients what you've been working on.
Maybe this is finally the reason you start a little newsletter!
Submit your website to design inspiration sites.
Submit it for awards. And if you get featured? POST ABOUT IT AGAIN!
You would not believe how many referrals we've gotten because someone just happened to see an Instagram post at the exact moment they needed an agency. That's sometimes all marketing is. Being visible when somebody happens to need you.
If you feel like you don’t have time to do this, that’s a great problem to have. Sub-contract and find someone to update it for you. At ilovecreatives Studio, we always put this part on the backlog because we were “too busy” but promise, you’ll never have time to update it and that’s the goal, right?
Level 2: Follow the People
I love looking up clients on LinkedIn. It’s a great way to see who they are connected to.
If they're a creative director, they probably know other creative directors.
If they're a founder, they know other founders.
If they're a therapist, they probably know other therapists.
You're looking for patterns. Who else has the problem I just solved? One project can introduce you to an entire little network of people.
Level 3: Build the Room
This was the final piece of the pie for me: ilovecreatives. ilovecreatives constantly puts us in front of creative people and companies who need creative people. I don't have to introduce myself from scratch every single time.
I built the room.
And you don't have to build an entire company to do this!
Example: We just built a website for a new therapist. Cool. We could finish that project and start cold emailing other therapists.
OR...
What if we made a directory of therapists?
What if we interviewed therapists?
What if we made a roundup of therapists doing interesting work?
What if we created some resource therapists actually wanted to be part of?
Now instead of reaching out saying: Hi! We make websites. Do you need a website?
We can say: We're putting together this thing for therapists and we'd love to feature you.
TOTALLY different conversation.
What's one of the biggest problems almost every client has? Marketing. They want more people to know they exist too! So what could you build that helps market them while also putting you in front of the exact people you want to work with? That's essentially what ilovecreatives did for us.
You don't always have to figure out how to get into the room. Sometimes you can build the room.
One client isn't just One project.
That client can become:
Another project.
A retainer.
A referral.
A portfolio piece.
A social post.
A feature.
An introduction.
An entire new group of clients.
You already did one of the hardest parts. They hired you. Now you need to do great work, make the process easy, and get good at the unpredictable shit. Then make it really easy for them, and everyone around them, to hire you again and again and again!