Approached by a Freelance Client? Here's 5 Topics to Discuss Before Starting a Project
Successful freelance projects are determined by 5 ingredients: scope, budget, timeline, communication, and paperwork.
Illustration by Ivy Chen
If you’re a designer, artist, or working in a creative role, chances are that you’ve experienced a creative project that didn’t go well.
Whether the project left everyone feeling frustrated or it flopped altogether, we learn early on in our creative careers that creative projects are difficult to manage. This becomes even more true when you add other people into the mix, like clients or collaborators. But when you’re trying to make it as a freelancer, you often don’t have the luxury of learning these things the hard way; we need successful projects in order to build a portfolio and win more projects. So how can we start that virtuous cycle?
For the past few years, I’ve worked as a freelancer with all types of clients on all types of creative projects. There have been bigger projects, like marketing campaigns or website redesigns, and smaller projects, like printed banners and t-shirt graphics. But despite all the differences between these projects and clients, I’ve learned that successful projects always boil down to five specific ingredients: scope, budget, timeline, communication, and paperwork. The best part is that all of these can — and should — be tackled at the start of the project.
In this article, we’ll cover what each of those means and how to discuss them with your freelance client before the project officially begins. By doing so, you’ll set up the rest of the project for success. Let’s get into it! 👇
Topic #1: Scope
❓ What it means
When we mention “scope” or “scope of work,” we’re referring to 1) what kind of work and 2) how much work is involved in the project.
For example, if the client wants a series of animations for their website, the scope could be defined as all of the stages involved in that: identifying the creative direction, creating the illustrations, and creating the animations. Or if a client wants a one-page website designed, the scope would involve speaking with stakeholders, creating the low-fidelity and high-fidelity designs, writing the code for the website, and ensuring that the designs are implemented accurately.
In both of these examples, the scope would also include any feedback sessions to check in with the client and review work progress.
Usually, the scope of work should be clearly defined in a creative brief. We’ll go into more detail about creative briefs in future articles.
⚠ Why it’s important to discuss
You and your client will likely have entirely different ideas of what work is needed to complete the project. To avoid confusion about expectations and deliverables, both parties should come to an agreement about what work is involved prior to starting the project.
💬 How to bring it up
Ask questions like “Do you have a written creative brief outlining the project?” or “Do you have any brand guidelines with existing colors, fonts, etc. that you can send over?” Again, all of this information should be outlined in the creative brief, so ask any questions about that if you haven’t received one.
Topic #2: Budget
❓ What it means
As you can infer, the budget has to do with the amount of money that the client has allocated for the project. It’s usually how much they can compensate you for your work.
But sometimes it’s not always so clear-cut. Maybe they have a larger budget that they can pull from to fund this creative project, so they need to know how much you’d like to charge in order to carve out the appropriate amount. Maybe they need to ask for funding and then get it approved. Understanding these nuances will help you navigate the budget discussion in a sensitive way.
⚠ Why it’s important to discuss
Asking about the budget will reveal important insights for you as a freelancer. You’ll understand how much and when you’re getting paid for the work, which also helps you decide if the project is worth taking on.
But by looking at it one level deeper, you can also determine if there are any discrepancies between the budget and scope of work. For example, a big project with a small budget could be a red flag — a sign to avoid taking on the project.
💬 How to bring it up
Budget is best discussed early in the process, but you can use your own discretion when finding a good opportunity to bring it up. I’ll usually raise the question after I have a good idea about how much work is involved.
There are different routes you can take in asking about the budget. In the best-case scenario, the client is upfront with you in the brief or their initial outreach about how much they can offer. This could be described as an hourly rate or a total project fee. If this isn’t mentioned, you can ask if they have a budget in mind for the project.
If they aren’t sure, or if they don’t want to say, you can offer to provide them with a project estimate: a price or range of prices that seems appropriate given the scope of work. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s always a good idea to avoid giving the project estimate on the spot, before you’ve had time to think through the project details and crunch the numbers.
In a future article, we’ll cover more details about pricing for your services.
Topic #3: Timeline
❓ What it means
The timeline describes the range of time in which the client wants all the creative work completed. It could be as broad as “we need everything finished in two months,” to something more specific, like “we’re expecting two weeks for the concept stage, two weeks for the low-fidelity, and three weeks for the high-fidelity and handoff.”
Usually, the timeline will be covered in the discussion about scope.
⚠ Why it’s important to discuss
In order for you to take on a project, the timeline should be reasonable and fit with your existing schedule. So those are both points that you should consider when discussing the project’s timeline.
But the timeline should also make sense with the scope and budget. For example, if the client is asking for a project to be finished in two weeks, and you’ve determined that the scope of work is significant, the budget should seem proportionate. Or, maybe there’s wiggle room for you to charge a rush fee, since you’ll have to offload other projects or juggle your current workload to accommodate the project.
💬 How to bring it up
Depending on what’s already been covered in your discussion about scope, you can ask questions like: “What’s the timeline for this project?”, “When are you hoping to get this project started?”, and “By when do we want everything wrapped up?”
Topic #4: Communication
❓ What it means
Let’s say you and the client have discussed the project’s basics, including the scope, budget, and timeline. You have an idea of how much work is involved and when it needs to be done. You feel good about the compensation you’ll be receiving, and you’ve agreed on when that will be sent over.
At this point, you can start to discuss how you and the client can work together effectively. One of the most important pieces of that is communication. Typically, this will involve understanding how the client prefers to communicate and who will be involved in the communication. This can also include discussing how they should provide you with feedback (covered in this article).
⚠ Why it’s important to discuss
By the nature of freelancing, your communication with the client will have a few obstacles. You’ll be outside of their immediate team, which means you’ll have to be more proactive with your communication.
And chances are that you’ll also be working remotely, relying on digital communication like video calls and email to maintain contact with the client. This adds more challenges in communicating clearly.
For all of these reasons, it’ll make the process much easier if you learn about the client’s communication preferences, so you can accommodate them.
💬 How to bring it up
Communicating about communication can be phrased in a few simple ways, like “How do you prefer to communicate: email, meetings, or something else?” or “Is there anyone else on your side who will be involved in the feedback process? If so, who?”
Topic #5: Paperwork
❓ What it means
After discussing all of the topics mentioned above, you’ll want to get everything — the scope, budget, timeline, and communication practices — in writing. This usually takes the form of a contract, work agreement, or other paperwork.
⚠ Why it’s important to discuss
Clients handle freelance relationships in different ways: there’s a myriad of employment statuses or legal relationships. You might only need to fill out a contract, or there might be a series of documents you need to return to the client’s human resources department. So it’ll be helpful for your own understanding to ask about how the client will proceed with the paperwork.
But it’s also important to get all the details in a written format so that both parties can refer back to it. That way, if things go wrong in the project or if there’s confusion about the expectations, the paperwork serves as the source of truth.
💬 How to bring it up
If the project seems like a good fit for both parties and if there’s mutual interest in moving forward, it’s a good time to ask about the paperwork. For example, you could ask, “Will you send over a contract, or should I?” and “Is there any other paperwork I should expect to receive?”
Each of these topics might seem like a lot of ground to cover with the client, especially if they want to start the project soon. But the good news is that most of these should be covered within the creative brief. If they aren’t, they can be quickly discussed via email or in an initial 20-30 minute meeting, before work starts.
By doing so, you’ll lay the groundwork for a successful partnership between you and the client — and avoid any unwanted surprises later in the process. Good luck! 🔥
What other subjects have you found helpful to discuss with freelance clients early in the process? What other questions do you have? Leave a comment down below!
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