Tips for Becoming a Successful Freelance Engineer
The key to becoming successful in this field is to have happy clients. Successfully resolving their problems is the main reason why they have hired you, and if you can find satisfactory solutions, your clients will likely recommend you to others.
Meeting with your engineering clientsOften, the work that they hire you for will turn out to be different from the work they need. This problem is the most challenging part of being an engineering consultant, but also, perhaps, the most enjoyable. Don’t be afraid to handle projects that develop alongside what you were initially hired for, and if they mention other difficulties that you can resolve, speak up. You might get more work to help pay your bills, and your client will be thrilled that you were able to help them with more issues than the initial one they hired you to handle.
The happier the clients you have, the more job opportunities will develop for you. Stay flexible, and you will be able to pick and choose on what jobs you want to work.
More generally, there are other strategies that you can utilize to improve your odds of getting hired. Here are a few additional factors to keep in mind:
Your Attitude Matters
No one wants to work with a bad-tempered or rude employee. While we mentioned earlier, you do need to have an opinion and to be confident in that opinion, that doesn’t mean you can be unprofessional or rude when discussing it. It merely means that you can state a clear direction the company, defend your position well, and help your client see how it is beneficial for them.
Maintaining an air of professionalism will help your clients to both love and recommend you. That means calling when you say you are going to call, responding to their correspondence promptly, and getting your projects completed on time or ahead of schedule. If you have a poor or indifferent attitude, it will show in your work and in the manner your client has toward you.
Set Your Own Rules and Stick to Them
Being your boss means you won’t have someone looking over your shoulder and pressuring you to complete the work. It’s important to maintain a professional attitude with yourself, even if there is no one around to see you in your pajamas. It also means not overworking yourself, causing burn out.
One of the biggest mistakes that freelancers make is not setting boundaries between their home and work life. Especially if you are working from home, the lines can blend. Friends and family don’t help much, thinking that since you are in your home, it is all right to show up for a visit or ask you out for the day. If you are working with project deadlines, you need to be working.
The rules for being a freelance engineerAt the same time, clients can just as quickly forget that there are times you are unavailable when there is no office door locked to signal that. Set the hours you will be working beforehand. Stick with whatever those are. After hours, do not accept new jobs, work on projects, answer the phone, or respond to emails. It’s tempting to be there whenever your client demands, but after your 5th weekend in a row of non-stop work you may end up dreaming of that 9-5 job again.
Let your clients know in advance what your hours are. When you are not in business, turn the phone off and walk away from your computer. This point is especially important in the beginning, even when you don’t have a lot of customers. If you habitually work outside of your scheduled hours or give into client demands, when you have dozens of clients to juggle with the same expectations, you will find yourself hard-pressed to keep up.
Remember that the reason why you work is to have a life, not the other way around. If all you ever do is work, you will quickly become burnt out.
Create a Contract with Your Clients
It’s helpful to get everything your clients want you to do in writing. This approach helps the client to understand what they are getting and helps you to understand what the client wants. If the client wants additional work, you can renegotiate the contract with additional compensation, instead of the client expecting it to be added to the workload for free (or expecting it to be included and being surprised when they realize it is not a part of your agreement.)
A contract is a beneficial approach to help you balance your needs and the needs of your client. With a proper contract, everyone is happy.