Be A Problem Solver

It’s been almost 3 years since I started learning on my own, and one of the classes that I particularly enjoy is my freelancing class. This is where I build my confidence and apply what I’ve learned in “the field” so to speak. I found that this class is important to have in my personal college curriculum because it allows me to have hands-on experience of working with the professionals in my field. Over the years I’ve joined various projects from, lay-outing, graphic design, editing, shooting and more. It’s in doing this that I’ve gotten the opportunity to work with different clients and was able to note down how to work and deal with them.

Although there was one instance where I was given an opportunity to create Youtube shorts for a client, but the rate they offered me was below my usual rate. I was faced with choosing to just say yes or deciding to explain to my client why my rates were higher than what they were asking for. It was only after this incident where I learned that explaining to your client your worth isn’t the way to go. It was the help of Chris Do, an Emmy award-winning designer, director, CEO and Chief Strategist of Blind and the founder of The Futur, that made me see the importance of charging what your client is willing to pay, instead of charging what you think you are worth.

Chris Do shares that your client conversations are not job interviews. So when talking to them, we need to focus on their business problems rather than talking more about ourselves. We need to see things from their point of view. We shouldn’t shove our portfolio in their face so to speak. The key idea is to make them realize why they need you. So don’t over-explain; make them feel understood. And only then, will they understand your worth. If they see no business value in you, they won’t see why you are worth that price. We must hear them out and give solutions to their problems. Looking at it this way, made dealing with clients simple.

Another thing I learned was using what Chris calls the “Anchor Bias”. The Anchor Bias is when you tell the client your biggest rate first. This number becomes an anchor in their heads and allows them to see how much you are usually paid for these projects. As you continue to listen and hear out the problem, summarize what they told you at the end and then, offer your solution with a number a little lower than the anchor price. This allows your client to feel that you’ve been listening and you are willing to help make their problem go away at this price.

This process is not easy at first and there will be clients who might not be able to afford your services but Chris tells us to look at it this way, if the client says it’s too much and they can’t afford you, you’re saving yourself time and energy to help your client with their problem, that usually cost you this much to solve. The portion of the conversation when money is involved is tricky, sometimes all we can think about as freelancers is to finish the project so we can get paid right away, I’m guilty of this thought too. But I’ve learned that when you look at projects with the eyes of a problem solver, and see if putting in your time and effort into solving that problem is worth it, then it makes our decisions much simpler.