Your Freelance Onboarding Process

Not many freelance instructors talk about it…

But you need to have more than just a love for writing and a few samples to entice new freelance clients.

 

You need to have a freelance onboarding process in place.

An onboarding process is just the steps you take to bring aboard a new client to your business.

 

Although it sounds complicated, it doesn’t have to be.

It can be as simple as a few emails…

Or as complicated as a full-fledged proposal, contract, multiple phone conferences, and more.

 

It depends on you, your niche, your clients, and the complexity of the project.

 

But no matter what, you should have an onboarding system in place to:

• Keep you organized
• Make your business run more smoothly
• Allow your clients to trust you

 

Think about it: you hear back from a client who’s interested in working with you.

What you do next could mean the difference between a sweet gig and a thank u, next.

So, let’s just role play this for a second. You’re on the phone and your prospect expresses interest in content from you. They ask about your work and are thinking about moving forward.

Your reply?

• Why don’t you email me and tell me what you want me to do. Don’t nervously try to get off the phone and wait for them to tell you what they want. You tell them what you can do for them! They’re assuming you are the expert. If you leave the ball in their court, you risk losing them to disinterest or someone who’s more confident. They want you to take work off their hands, not make more work for themselves.
• I’m not sure. I think I can probably write a few blog posts a month, and I’ll have to throw some numbers together for you. If you’re confused what to do next, don’t even know your rates or availability, your prospect may lose confidence in you.
• Tell me more about your content needs and I’ll put together a proposal for you by this afternoon. After you accept the proposal, I’ll send over a contract and I require a 50% down payment. If you outline your process with them, they trust you know what you’re doing and will happily hand over the reins. You’re making the job easy on them!

See how much of a difference that last option makes? It makes you sound super professional, trustworthy, and serious.

It also helps you take on client calls with much more confidence and a much better sense of purpose.

 

{Ready to design your boss onboarding process today? Check out this freelance onboarding mini course}

 

Your freelance onboarding process also helps you stay on track, so you always know what comes next.

If you’re anything like me, then you appreciate a good ole organized process.

Checklists, strategies, and processes help you sleep better at night.

 

So make sure you have a strategy in place for your freelance onboarding process.

 

What does a freelance onboarding process actually look like?

Think about the steps you need to take to land a client, from the initial contact to the beginning of a project. Sit down and actually map them out. It might go something like this:

• Initial contact, reply within 24 hours
• Set up a phone consultation
• Write up a proposal
• Send/sign contract
• Invoice for deposit
• Send client questionnaire
• Begin project

This process is usually much less involved for blogging clients than for website copywriting clients, but you get the gist.

Once you have an idea of what your oboarding process will look like, then you need to sit down and create the actual checklist and all the documents that are required during the process.

Save a copy of the checklist on your computer and make a copy for each new client that you can check off as you go.

You should also have copies of the questions you like to ask during your phone consultations, a proposal form, an invoicing system, and a client questionnaire in place.

 

Now, before you go thinking all of this is too complicated and over-your-head:

• A proposal can be as simple as a Google document outlining the project details. Nothing fancy.
• You can find pre-made freelance contracts online on sites like Freelancer’s Union (although a lawyer is always best) and make adjustments for each client
• Paypal has a very simple invoicing system
• Client questionnaires include all the questions you need to know before starting a piece of content

Simple.

 

Having all the documents written out and in place makes your entire process go seamless.

And really, it makes you feel more competent. And seem more competent to clients.

 

My challenge for you today is to write out your onboarding process and gather all the necessary files in a folder on your computer.

 

If you’re ready to design a really boss onboarding process, I’ve got you! Check out my detailed onboarding mini course!

 

Then, come on back here and tell me in the comments how much better your onboarding process goes with all of this in place.