Beyond the Rhetoric

You’re probably familiar with the old adage that you should never burn any bridges. It’s understandable that you want to move forward with your life and it may be easy to forget or neglect some of the connections that you made along the way. Just because you are moving on with your life, however, does not mean that you should destroy the path that you have blazed along the way.

Far too many people leave their jobs under less than favorable conditions, cussing at their overbearing supervisors or yelling at management over a relatively minor disagreement. Even if you are in the right, you need to rise above the conflict and ensure that your relationships can end amicably. It’s very well possible that you will encounter these same people again a little further down the road and you don’t want old animosities to become future roadblocks. This is especially true for freelance writers and other home-based entrepreneurs.

The Highly Interactive Freelancer

When you have a conventional job with a single employer, you are largely interacting with just one company. This is not the case for the freelancer. We are necessarily interacting with multiple companies at the same time and this creates far more opportunities to burn bridges and torch relationships. Do not allow these opportunities to come to fruition.

If a partnership happens to go awry for any given reason, it’s very well possible that your freelance client could share his negative experience with his colleagues. Word can spread quickly, your reputation can (rightly or wrongly) get remarkably tarnished, and you could find yourself in quite the dire situation. A small “hiccup” with one client could manifest itself into a massive wildfire. Don’t burn that bridge. Douse the flames and put it out before it has an opportunity to spread.

Building Relationships, Not Destroying Them

There are a myriad of reasons why you may no longer work with a particular client. Perhaps the agreement was only for a single project. Perhaps the client has run out of funds and needs to cut expenses. Maybe the client has created a full-time position and someone has been hired to replace your services. Whatever the case, you want to make sure that the relationship with the client remains amicable. Further still, you want to keep that relationship as open and available as possible, even if it is seemingly drawing to a close.

Your existing client base is the single best source of freelance jobs, both directly and in terms of referrals. Because of the recession, I ended a partnership with a client a couple of months ago. We both agreed that it was unfortunate but necessary. We said that when the financial situation improves, we could start working together again.

In like manner, you may be approached by a potential customer for a project you cannot do. It makes sense to refer this customer to a colleague that can handle the project, but at the same time, you should remind this potential customer of what services you offer. This way, should such a project arise in the future, this potential client could become an active client for you.

People Living in Glass Houses…

Sometimes, it’s just best to swallow your tongue. You may encounter heated disagreements with your clients, but you need to approach these situations as diplomatically as possible. Although your conversations may not be completely public, you need to exercise proper etiquette to secure your future as a freelancer. Don’t add unnecessary fuel to the fire. Don’t burn that bridge, because it could be your only route to something wholly different and entirely exciting.

Tags: business, customer service, networking

Filed under Freelance Writing.