Disclosing Part-Time Freelance Status to Clients
Posted on Apr 25, 2011 in Business Basics, Freelancing 101 | 20 comments
Many freelance writers are part-timers, or at least start out that way. Whether it’s a full-time day job, going to school or raising your kids, you have something else that takes precedence over your freelance work. Although it’s a situation that a lot of us work through, how we do it varies. Like whether we even tell our clients we’re part-timers at all.
The beauty of freelance work is that it can generally be done on your own time. It’s not always relevant to the client whether we’ll work full-time or part-time on it. As long as they get charged for the correct hours and the work gets done by the deadline, it often doesn’t matter. Really, it’s up to you and there are reasons to go either way.
Reasons to Disclose
- You want to be honest and transparent with your clients.
- You want your clients to understand why you aren’t available during normal business hours.
- You don’t feel like keeping up the facade.
- Your other commitment is relevant to the work and can actually help you get the job.
Reasons to Keep It To Yourself
- You fear that if your client knows you’re a part-timer, he won’t think you’re serious about the work.
- Your other commitment is irrelevant or may even hinder your freelance career.
- You plan to go full-time within just a few months and you’d rather just keep it to yourself since it’s a temporary thing.
- You think it makes you look more professional.
It’s a personal decision everyone has to make for themselves. When I was a part-timer, I didn’t tell anyone about it. I never out and out lied but I definitely didn’t disclose. And I did everything I could to keep it under wraps. I chose that route because I felt like it was a temporary situation and I also was worried I’d get passed over for work because of it.
In fact, I know at least one very large client I landed early on that told me years later that he had no idea I wasn’t a full-time freelancer and had he ever found out he would have fired me. When I asked him why, he said he just preferred to work with full-timers. I don’t know what my other clients thought because it never came up at all. I’d like to think my work got me the jobs but maybe they wouldn’t have even looked at my portfolio had they known my real situation.
It really is just what you decide is best for you and your freelance business. So if any of you part-timers are out there reading this, I’d love it if you would sound off in the comments about which way you do it and why.
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Great post! It’s an important issue, but one that I’ve never seen written about elsewhere. You have great points to consider here.
Personally I’m a part-time freelancer, but I don’t disclose. It just hasn’t come up yet, but I do agree with all your points above.
It’s interesting that that client wouldn’t have hired you if he had known you were part-time. I can see from their point of view why full-time would be preferable.
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Keri I was shocked, too. I mean, I know I didn’t lead with being a part-timer because I didn’t want people to put me in that box and dismiss me because of it. But I always assumed that if it really was a deal breaker for a client, they would bring it up during the initial consultation. So when he said that–years later mind you!–it thew me for a loop. I wouldn’t have thought he even cared but it was interesting to hear that.
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This is an interesting topic, but I think it’s a little muddy what full time actually means. If you’re freelance, full time doesn’t necessarily mean 40 hours a week, 9-5, M-F. It could mean 20 hours a week or it could mean 70 hours a week. Probably many of us hit each end of that extreme in a given year.
I guess to me FT freelance means this is my main work, this is what I do, this is my priority. I consider myself a FT freelancer even though I have
a.) a young child
b.) a part-time day job
If I pick my kid up at 3pm a 3+ days a week, then I’m making up for that time in the evenings or on the weekends. My kid is also old enough now that if a client calls when he’s home with me, I can ask him to entertain himself while I focus on my phone call. My part-time job is very part-time–only a few hours a week, and it’s pretty flexible, so my freelance work can and does take priority.
I don’t hide the fact that I have other commitments besides freelancing, but I don’t go out of my way to disclose it early on. If somebody wanted to check me out, they could find this information on my website or in my public Twitter stream. My long-term clients and the editors I work with most closely all know I have a family. It’s just like working in an office–you don’t talk about potential non-work distractions during the interview, but once you have a proven track record you can be open about the fact that you’re a well-rounded person and your commitments outside the office will be managed in such a way that your work doesn’t suffer.
That’s my approach, anyway.
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Claire, I agree with you that full-time doesn’t equate 40 hours a week. I think full-time means that the freelancing is takes precedence in your work life. But maybe I should have been clearer about when I included raising a family under prior commitments. Unlike the school and day job examples, I don’t think raising kids doesn’t make you automatically part-time. If having a family made a freelance business a part-time gig, wouldn’t almost everybody be one?
For example, I have a friend who freelances but has 4 kids under the age of 6. Freelancing isn’t her main source of income and if asked, she’d tell you her primary job is a stay at home mom. I’d consider her a part-timer because her freelance work takes a backseat to her main job and she does things like not work the entire summer this year because her oldest is out of school. But I also know someone who has just as many kids but freelancing is the only way she pays her mortgage so she doesn’t consider being a homemaker her main job. If you asked her what she did for a living, she’d tell you she ran a copywriting business. It’s the approach and priority of their writing that determines whether this is a side gig for them.
Some of my clients know me from my last office job so they’re aware that I’m raising two kids while I freelance. But I just don’t mention it to any of the others, unless they specifically ask (occasionally it will come in small talk around Christmas, for example).
If they ask, I’ll tell the truth (if I didn’t, you know one of the kids would start yelling the next time I was on the phone with that person!) but otherwise I don’t think it should matter. I get my work done on time, and my email-equipped cell phone allows me to be in contact most of the time in case there is a legitimate emergency.
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That’s a good point, Julie. It’s less complicated that way.
Virginia’s absolutely right. There’s no single definition of full-time in freelancing. I consider myself a full-time writer because I earn a good full-time income doing what I do. But I choose a work-life balance that includes only working 4 days per week. It comes to 28 working hours total when you cut out lunch hours. And only a portion of that goes to actual clients as opposed to my own publishing and Web development projects.
I also choose to work unusual hours — 5am to noon. So if clients in this time zone start work around 9am, to them I’m only available 3 hours per day, 4 days per week as far as immediate contact goes.
I note my working days and hours on my website, and it’s never caused a problem with landing new clients. The odd hours actually help, because it makes me more attractive to international clients who appreciate the earlier availability (and I’ve found there’s more money in that client base for Web writing projects — in my experience at least). So I consider myself a full-timer. Clients seeing my hours might consider me a part-timer. And when I went from 5 days per week to 4, not only was there no decline because of the shorter hours, but I was making even more because I learned to use my working hours more productively. So even if you’re not trying to earn a full-time living with part-time hours, being a part-timer (even publicly) doesn’t have to hurt you.
Sure, it might cost you a client here and there. But if you’re building your visibility and marketing your services effectively there are plenty more where they came from, and ones that will respect you no matter what hours you choose to work.
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Yeah, but I don’t think your situation is the same as a part-timer. All of your projects are a part of your entire business model, so you technically make your own schedule. There’s a level of control there that isn’t present for part-timers. When I was a part-timer, my schedule and availability was determined by another job that took precedence over my freelance work. If it was choice between one or the other, my full-time job won because that’s how I paid the bills.
In the end, they aren’t different at all. It all boils down to the availability issue.
It doesn’t matter if a lack of availability is because you have another job or because I say “here’s my availability.” What you do outside of your freelance writing time is none of any client’s business, and beyond mentioning the limited hours I’d say it’s silly at best to discuss the reasons with any client or prospect.
You make your own schedule too. You could choose to work early evenings when you get home from a day job. You could choose to sleep then and work through the middle of the night. You could get up really early and work before heading out to that day job. It doesn’t matter. You still control that. You still have limited availability. And clients can either deal with it (as the vast majority will) or they can go elsewhere and you find clients who are a better fit.
Yes, I can describe myself as a freelance writer when someone asks what I do. But so can a part-timer, and they’re not lying. And frankly I can’t imagine why anyone would describe themselves differently when they’re talking to a prospect anyway. I could just as easily say I’m a Web developer, blogger and author who just happens to take freelance gigs on the side (true since my business is a combination). But it would be foolish for me to do that when talking to someone who wants to hire me for that freelance work.
Your priority may have been the full-time job, but that didn’t make your part-time freelance work any less important. Nor does the fact that my freelance work is not my priority — I’m hoping to move away from it within the next 2-3 years in favor of further independent publishing (not even something I try to keep a secret from clients).
And even right now it’s not my priority on a day-to-day basis. My life is. That’s why my work-life balance was important enough for me to say 4 days was all I was willing to commit to work. There are no exceptions where I’ll work that 5th day for a client, they know that, and they respect that. If you don’t have that respect (no matter what is actually causing the limitations to your freelance schedule), I’d say it’s time to look for new clients.
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I have from the get go been 100% transparent with clients and potential clients, revealing that although I consider myself a Writer first, I have a day job.
There have been a handful of bids I sent out where I did reel it in. Only reason I did this is because the leads were to big prospects with work that might have turned in to a regular “all the time” gig.
So Dann, do you bring it up or do you only talk about it if the client brings up. Like I said, I was someone who did what I could to hide but I was honest if asked. I’m just wondering what other people’s experience was like.
I have been bringing it up for the most part. In the last few queries I have sent out, I realized I did not bring it up. I think I am going to continue in this direction. Right now I tend to be sending out bids on small stuff or things like Social Media Management. I want to show potential clients my eagerness and drive and leave any indication of the day job out. Im keeping day job stuff off my Social Media outlets completely now. Drive myself nuts if I were to go on about it.
You and several commenters have given me lots to think about, and I appreciate it.
I’ve had clients ask, “Do you do this full-time?”
If a client asks, the best policy is to be honest, but As long as you’re delivering quality wor, on-time, I doubt that most clients really care.
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That’s interesting, Miranda. I’ve never had anyone ask me straight up whether I did it full-time. I think I would have disclosed then because it’s a direct question.
I don’t even know that the amount of hours one works is relevant, to be honest. When I was freelancing I didn’t even bring it up unless I was asked, and I was rarely asked. My clients wanted to know if I could do the job, they didn’t want to know when I was doing it.
With that said, there are clients who like their freelancers to be available during business hours, which is understandable. However, if you can send emails or make phone calls from your cell phone during your lunch hour or break time, you can also communicate with your clients at the best times for them.
It’s like being a work at home mom. It’s really no one’s business and there’s no reason to mention it.
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That’s kinda the way I look at it. As long as the deadlines are met and the job is done, there shouldn’t be any problems.
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I always disclose, because sometimes a client wants to know why I’m not immediately returning his call at 3:00 on a weekday. This way he knows in advance, and I don’t have to concoct a story. If he needs someone to be available anytime during business hours and not just on my lunch and breaks, then he needs another writer. And I’m OK with that.
That makes sense Emily. Now do you disclose immediately or do you wait until the client asks?