Frustrated But Caffeinated

[WinstonSmith]

I've been wondering something over the past few weeks, friends, and if anyone has the spoons to share, I'd love some perspective.

For context, I freelance in media. A whole big web of waiting, wishing, and maybes.

Sometimes, I'm fortunate enough to receive an email requesting an interview or to be introduced to people looking to hire for a project.

Lately, it's come with more frustration than usual, which I hate, because I want to work! Frankly, it is hard to do because the person I end up having a chat/interview with doesn't have the following: scope of work, budget, workload/timeline expectations, structure, etc. - More times than I can count, it's turned into a free consultation on project management and organizing deliverables. These always start out as scheduled interviews for the work they envision...but, the person hiring has no idea what they want which is confusing as heck.

On one hand, I get it - a business doesn't build itself, and a lot of the time it doesn't build itself with only one mind or set of eyes, but I feel like that should be established beforehand.

I feel like I am being harsh, but, I've always thought that those things are figured out before hiring or interviewing potential candidates.

Anyone out there run into this issue? Am I harsh in "expecting" preparedness?

Is it common for people to seek out talent first and define the role later? Or is it better practice to figure the scope and budget before interviewing contractors?

I've run into this several times recently, and I'm trying to figure out whether this is a "Winston doesn't know how to business" issue or if people are feeling the urgency to develop their ideas as they go out of uncertainty if their vision will be a success or not?

 

[t2van]

Are you cold emailing or outreach to get clients?

Sounds like a qualifying issues

You want to get things like

Time line and urgency
Set clear pricing thresholds
Probe the budget

You want these questions answered and your information shared on pricing thresholds before you even start a chat.

You might loose prospects because you share pricing but then they can't afford you to start with..

I'll be honest if I got a quiet week I'll respond to an outreach email and book a chat because these type of people or agencies don't understand the above and I'll take advantage of it to guage ideas..

 

[SilverClouds]

Sounds like a qualifying issues

You want to get things like

Time line and urgency
Set clear pricing thresholds
Probe the budget

You want these questions answered and your information shared on pricing thresholds before you even start a chat.

You might loose prospects because you share pricing but then they can't afford you to start with..

Yeah, people sometimes stop responding when I send the price. Ooops, on to the next one.

I'll be honest if I got a quiet week I'll respond to an outreach email and book a chat because these type of people or agencies don't understand the above and I'll take advantage of it to guage ideas..

Yeppp they do that, that's why I have paid audits and I suggest that to every freelancer/'agency' that feels like they're used for free audits way too often. Just start charging eh. I've managed to charge 600-3000 for this per client, just stop giving it away for free lol. The ones that want free audit will just go away once they see they're not getting it, good riddance. On a sales call you're only supposed to listen to them (preferably they should talk more than you) and show them pricing, that's all. Full strategy is just too much, that should be paid. Scope should be vague, not custom. 'I want to work' is a bad goal, focus on being paid. Plenty of people will give you free 'work', is that what you want?

 

[t2van]

Yeppp they do that, that's why I have paid audits and I suggest that to every freelancer/'agency' that feels like they're used for free audits way too often. Just start charging eh. I've managed to charge 600-3000 for this per client, just stop giving it away for free lol. The ones that want free audit will just go away once they see they're not getting it, good riddance. On a sales call you're only supposed to listen to them (preferably they should talk more than you) and show them pricing, that's all. Full strategy is just too much, that should be paid. Scope should be vague, not custom. 'I want to work' is a bad goal, focus on being paid. Plenty of people will give you free 'work', is that what you want?

It's not just audits.

Some will give you full blown strategies and discuss a full plan and steps before a second call or even discussing price.

Not to mention finding out what your capabilities are before going overboard.

I think lots send out probably 1000s they are just desperate to get the work and go above and beyond..

Its not the answer sadly.

I've had two offer to work for free and then you pay them on results asking anything from 30% to the more recent wanting 15% on new sales only.

But they wanted access to emails first as that's where they said they can have the most impact.. sounded a bit too good to be true to me so I assumed it was a database grab..