Small Business Blog

This is the fourth article in our series about working with freelancers.

Sometimes, things just don’t work out the way you expect. Even if you interview a dozen freelance candidates, check references, and pour over work samples, you can still end up with a professional who isn’t compatible with you or with the project objectives. You should, of course, be taking steps to protect yourself from these situations: test out freelancers on smaller projects first, and obtain the contractual right to pay the freelancer for work completed and part ways, even if the contract is not 100% complete. These steps are important, because you really don’t know an individual’s working habits until after the project begins.

At that point, you can and should start watching for these freelancer red flags:

1. Your freelancer doesn’t listen/follow directions. This is a major problem if you are paying the freelancer on an hourly basis. Say you hire someone to create a graphic illustration of a fireman wearing red, standing next to a dog. You get the first draft of the file and the fireman is wearing yellow and standing next to a cat. Trust me, this happens. In this scenario, you owe your freelancer for the time it took him to create an image you didn’t ask for, plus you’ll have to pay him extra to create the image you originally requested.
2. Your freelancer doesn’t return messages. Unresponsiveness is always a bad sign. Often, it means the freelancer isn’t proceeding with the work at the agreed-upon pace.
3. Your freelancer doesn’t provide you with evidence of work in process. You should request evidence of the work completed periodically, and prior to releasing any progress payments.
4. Your freelancer misses deadlines. A conscientious freelancer doesn’t miss deadlines, period.
5. Your freelancer complains. Inexperienced freelancers often don’t understand the level of professionalism and compromise that’s involved in freelance work. This can lead them to complain about the time necessary to complete the project, the progress of the project, or the nature of your suggested revisions to the project. If the complaining is mild, you can try ignoring it to see the project through to completion. If the complaining becomes constant, to the point of tainting the working relationship, you may have to exercise your right to cancel the contract.
6. Your freelancer argues constantly. I know freelancers everywhere are going to disagree with me on this one, because freelancers argue for a reason: to help you benefit from their specific area of expertise. You actually want your freelancer to argue on occasion: remember that you hired him because he has expertise that you don’t have. If your way of doing things seems short-sighted, your freelancer should tell you that. However, some freelancers (and I’ve experienced this) will argue for argument’s sake. Worse, they’ll argue based on an incorrect assumption about your business or about the project objectives. This delays completion and causes untold frustration.

If you see one of these warning signs, have an open talk with your freelancer about your concerns. Hopefully the issue is just a misunderstanding and can  be easily remedied. In extreme cases, the two of you may have to agree upon an amicable divorce. If your project is half-finished, make sure you pay the freelancer in return for delivery of the work in process. Then, take that work and hand it over to another freelancer for completion.