Get your project off to a good start by establishing your ways of working with your client, and gathering questions that you need answered in order to get started.
Get your project off to a good start by establishing your ways of working with your client, and gathering questions that you need answered in order to get started.
It's no longer enough just to keep your head down and get on with your work. You're also now responsible for a little bit of client management, to ensure the project runs smoothly.
When you a start a project, it's important to quickly get to grips with how you'll be working together, their expectations and shared ways of working.
Some clients will have an onboarding process where they will share some information with you to help you get started. Many clients won't though, and it's beneficial to everyone to communicate upfront how you'll be working together.
Much of this will depend on what type of work you do, how you're being contracted and your own preferences.
Remember, this is a conversation, not a one-way street. You can set your own expectations, but balancing your preferences, the clients expectations and the realities of delivering the project is key.
Most clients won't have a kickoff or onboarding process - and most freelancers get very good at figuring things out for themselves. So developing your own checklist or process for the start of your projects is incredibly helpful, and reassuring for clients that you're leading on how to do the best work together.
1/ Does your client have an onboarding process? Ask your client for an onboarding or kickoff call, and if they don't have an existing process, this is your opportunity to bring yours. Prepare any questions you've got, and share your own preference for working together.
2/ Discuss and agree ways of working (including when/where) Discuss how, where and when you're going to be working together. Whilst some clients are happy to just let you deliver your work by a certain date, it's useful to agree how you'll be working together, if there are any key meetings you're going to hosting or joining, and when you'll be available for calls or feedback.
If you're working with clients in other timezones, it's important to understand how these might impact your working together.
3/ How are you going to communicate? It's useful to agree how you'll be communicating, and what tools you'll be using to store documents and information. Some clients require certain tools and platforms for security or compliance reasons, so it's important to agree on this upfront. You might also have your own preferences and can take the lead here.
This should also include when you communicate - for example, will you be responding to requests outside of your own working hours? Is there an expectation that you'll be available for calls or meetings at any time, or are you only working for this client for certain times?
5/ Understand who you're working with It's useful to understand who you're working with, and how others might be involved in the project. This might be a single person, or a team of people. It's useful to know who has ultimate decision making, and who you need to be working closely with.
6/ Regular catchups and checkins Establish any regular catchups and checkins you'll be having, and how you'll be communicating these. This might be a weekly meeting, a daily standup, a monthly review, or key meetings around key milestones or deliverables. Establishing these early on can really help.
It can also be useful to establish some mid-point or end of project checkins, to review the progress of the project, and to get feedback on the work you've delivered. These mid-point reviews can be a great opportunity to adjust the scope of work, or to agree on any changes to the project, and critical for longer-running engagements.
Jump into the freelancing.support community to discuss this stage, ask questions, share your experiences, and get support from other freelancers.
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