A freelancer’s path is by nature often riddled with objectives, some of which can be extremely unpredictable and hit you at the worst possible time. You may be feeling very pleased with yourself one day and consider yourself on top of things only to be confronted by a thorny problem the next day. One of the most frequent things that you will need to deal with as a freelancer is managing your reputation.
Indeed, your reputation as a freelancer is arguably your most important and also most cherished factor. Jobs will flowin as long as you have a good reputation since the latter is basically your headline. Your reputation is the single factor that makes or breaks your career as a freelancer. Lose it because you did not know how to manage it, and you will find yourself struggling to earn even the most basic project.
Reputation management as a freelancer often seems arduous and something that you do not have full control of but this is one of the biggest misconceptions in the industry. The only things you actually need to successfully manage your freelancer reputation are the ability to see a situation from the point of your buyer and good communication skills. As long as you have these and stick to the following tips, you will eventually find dealing with reputation management situations quite straightforward.
It is undeniable that you will have to deal with criticism and unhappy buyers in the freelancing industry. You may have spent hours to ensure that the project is absolutely perfect only to find the buyer complain and threaten to not pay you and thus hurt your reputation. In such cases, your natural reaction may be to snarl back at your client, which will no doubt lead to an argument where nobody actually comes out a winner.
However, keep in mind that you have more to lose as the freelancer. Your work may go unpaid and more importantly, that buyer may severely damage your reputation. As such, the best way to handle this is to try and put yourself in your client’s shoes. Doing so will allow you to see why the buyer is complaining and will enable you to come up with strong arguments to defend your case. However, simply knowing what to say is not enough. You must also be diplomatic and know how to convey your arguments across in such a way that the client will not get more irritated.
Your first step should thus to calm down your client if he is irate and to reassure him about the project. As long as you stay calm and actually listen to him, he will no doubt calm down too and start paying attention to what you are saying. Showing him that you understand him often proves your professionalism. Ultimately, although you may have to do some further work on the project, your reputation will however be safe.
Moreover, in many cases, the fact that you dealt with such situations so swiftly leaves a great impression on your client. In fact, your reputation could even grow as clients will often recommend you to their acquaintances based on your behavior first before even considering your abilities.
Authored by Ashvin Sawmynaden
Ashvin Sawmynaden writes about various topics including freelancing and web marketing. He is also the webmaster of the new Surete Aeroportuaire website which is offering a quality Formation CQP ASA service in Reunion Island.
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