What Happens When a Client Sees You as an Employee?

As an independent contractor, what happens if a client treats you like an employee? This question was asked of attendees at a recent Around the Horn session.

There were many great suggestions on how to handle this issue: 

• Stop giving free advice! Billing clients is one way of calling their attention to the fact that maybe their behavior is not appropriate. 

• Don’t give clients the actual solution — keep them interested. 

• Point them in the direction of the solution (if your business is not solution-oriented). 

• Have a contract. A contract states the terms of engagement and the client either signs it or you, as the business owner, don’t engage. Many creatives tend not to have contracts. 

• Have an agenda with goals for every meeting. Without an agenda, meetings tend to be directionless. 

• Write a tight spec so when clients ask you for extras, you can point out that their request is not in the original spec and then provide them an estimate of how much that extra work will cost. 

• Be candid, respectful and specific: define what’s billable (in the spec) and what isn’t (not in the spec). 

How have you handled the issue of a client treating you like an employee? Let us know! Visit Network!Network!

Dave Bresler
President of Network!Network!
Phone: 914-924-1297
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