Well, it took me a few weeks, but I think today I’m getting to the last of the topics posed when I asked for your burning questions last month.

Today’s topic comes from the lovely EmmaC, who asked:

I’d love to hear your thoughts on evaluating clients and negotiating with them - warning signs that you’re getting into a bad situation, negotiating with client expectations (ie, they think it should take 30 hours and you know it will take at least 50), when to negotiate and when to just turn a project down, etc.

This is something I think a lot of neophytes in particular are nervous about handling; isn’t the client always right? (The answer to that is NO, by the way.) There has to be a balance between sticking up for yourself and losing out to another freelancer who will agree to what you won’t. And figuring out where to strike that balance is tricky. I think the most important thing to remember is that you’re talking about a shifting target; how you approach any negotiation will depend on many factors, most of which vary from week to week and job to job.

Generally speaking, here’s what you need to consider when headed into any sort of client negotiation.

What is your time worth? I encourage all fellow freelancers to have a rate at which they bill out—i.e., a base hourly rate for their services. A lot of people balk at this, and I don’t understand why. It’s okay for that rate to be a range, but it’s important to know at what point work is no longer worth your time.

How much time will this job take? If you know the time commitment of the job at hand, it’s easy enough to calculate against your base rate and determine if it’s financially advantageous for you to agree. Now, this is where it can get sticky. Some clients want to pay a lump sum for an entire project, and as Emma suggested in her question, you can run into something where the time they think it will take and the time you think it will take doesn’t match up. We’ll get to that in a minute. But there’s also clients who want to pay $10 or $12 for a 500- or 1000-word blog post, and longtime readers know that this is one of my hot buttons. Clients underbid; it’s what they do. Your job as a freelancer is to know the actual time commitment and be able to make a case for a reasonable rate for the time involved.

What does taking this job mean in the context of your overall work load? My goal as a freelancer is to have enough work to make a total income my family can live on. Given the diversity of the projects I take on, it requires a bit of strategy to maximize the chances of that happening. If a client comes to me with a very time-intensive project of short duration, I am going to charge more than I would for someone with a not terribly time-intensive assignment of longer duration. Why? Because the first project requires me to work “overtime” and/or turn down other projects while I devote my time to it, but doesn’t give me any sort of long-term security. The second project gives me a bit of security moving forward, and if it doesn’t impede my ability to take on other projects as well, I can charge less.

What does taking this job mean in the context of your overall work portfolio? Yes, Virginia, I am probably going to charge a client who doesn’t make my resume look more impressive and/or open doors to other gigs slightly more than I charge the client whose business advances my goals and standing in my professional circle. You should, too. And the client with a long-term project who’s likely to bring me more business in the future? Well, that’s an investment I want to make; I’m likely to charge a bit less.

But remember the Rule of Cash Flow. Rich clients pay more than poorer clients. Period. That’s not to say we should all go out and bilk the wealthy, but remember that although you’re likely to cut a break to the client who makes you look good, if that client is a multi-million-dollar corporation, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be paying you fairly. Example: I’ve been paid well in the past to write for major women’s magazines. I’ve also turned down job offers from major women’s magazines—even though it would look great on my resume—because they wanted me to write for free. I know they have the money. They know they have the money. To me, in those particular cases, I chose to stand on principle. I might’ve made a different decision if I felt they genuinely couldn’t afford to pay me.

Now, on to some of the more nitty-gritty details.

When to negotiate. I am from the school of “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” I pretty much believe you can always negotiate. In fact, I can think of at least two instances off the top of my head when I received an offer that actually contained the words “terms are non-negotiable” and I attempted to negotiate, anyway. A contract is an agreement between two parties; my feeling is that one party making up all the rules is rarely a healthy arrangement. Now, you don’t want to be obnoxious or anything, but a polite, cordial raising of issues is (to me) always okay. In fact, if the reaction is unilateral refusal to even consider your concerns, well that tells you something really important right there, doesn’t it?

How to negotiate. I’m also from the school of “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” I’m a strong-willed, stubborn person with a pretty quick temper. But in client negotiations I’m personable, calm, and factual, because a job and maybe even my reputation are on the line. So I’m not roaring and complaining, I’m merely trying to position myself as a valuable expert with services the client needs, being reasonable. If I think they’ve underestimated the time involved, I will say that. If I think the rate is simply too low, I counter.

[Here's a quick note about rates: I know that many people love to negotiate high-low, which is to say that the client offers $10 and then you counter with $40 because you're really hoping to get $25. There are pros and cons to this approach, but I personally don't like to play games. If I feel the rate offered is too low, I counter with the lowest rate I'm willing to accept. And I make it clear that that's exactly what I'm doing. I find most reasonable people appreciate my forthrightness.]

Get it in writing. You should always have a contract, and you should always read that contract carefully. Most companies use a standard boilerplate for these things and you shouldn’t be afraid to ask for modifications. For example, most standard contracts will state that the client has the right to let you go without notice (or with 30 days notice) without penalty, but don’t afford you the same courtesy. It may be appropriate to ask for that right to be added. Many contracts put restrictions on other concurrent or even future work you do with similar clients; many contracts go for a whole-hog copyright grab of your content which may or may not be appropriate to the scope of the project. Read it all. Negotiate where indicated. I have walked away from jobs because the contracts were unreasonable, and I hated it, but I would’ve hated being held to a ridiculous contract even more.

What price for your soul? Negotiating jobs you like it always easier than negotiating ones you might not. I’m willing to do work I don’t enjoy if the price is right; I think most people feel the same way. And I’m willing to deal with difficult people if I must, but for the most part I like to avoid putting myself in a situation where I have to answer to someone I find unreasonable. Emma asked about “warning signs,” and I think the number one warning sign any freelancer should heed is a feeling of doom. Sound melodramatic? Yeah, I guess it does. If talking with a client at the outset is like listening to nails on a chalkboard or makes your stomach feel funny or results in twenty emails back and forth to settle some minutiae that should’ve taken ten seconds to square away, listen to your misgivings. These are signs of a relationship that may not be worth the ulcer it will cause. Continue to be cordial and professional, but there may come a point where you need to say, “I’m sorry. Thanks so much for the opportunity, but I’m going to have to pass.”

Freelancing has both pros and cons. One of the biggest advantages is that you don’t have to work for jerks anymore. Hooray! Have confidence in your abilities and your expectations, and chances are excellent you’ll be able to negotiate plenty of mutually beneficial work.