Navigating the delicate balance of knowing when and why to say no to “opportunity”
Freelancers Union recently ran a story about saying no while leaving the door open for future work with a potential client (click to read that story).
Saying “No” to a gig is a tricky proposition as a freelancer. It is one that, admittedly, gets easier as you become more established, but it never really becomes easy easy. I’ve heard some of the biggest names in the biz speak at various trade shows, events, etc. and many have told cautionary tales of the “the one that got away” client or the “I had it then I lost it” client due to being unavailable. Therefore learning the Art of the No is an important skill for your career. The conventional thinking is that if you tell a client “No” you can just kiss that client goodbye. Well, in my experience that’s a not entirely the case. Yes if a client contacts you and you are not available, obviously they are going to move on. However, I have found there are things you can do to up the likelihood that they will call you again for future projects. As always, when reading this, bear in mind that I have made every mistake under the sun and I’ve learned many of these things the hard way. So I’m not writing to admonish, I’m writing to spare you some of the pain I’ve endured. LOL.
In the Kate Hamill/Freelancers Union original piece, her suggestions were to:
– Express Regret
– Create Demand
– Keep the Line Open
I agree with those, and I have a couple of my own to add on…
1) Express Regret
Make it clear that you appreciate that this person/client contacted you about the job and you’re sorry you cannot work with them on the project, even if the project was in some way wack sounding. Let me repeat: Even. If. The. Project. Was. Wack. Do not convey that feeling in your email/phone response. Save the venting for your friends, Facebook/Twitter (provided the potential client won’t be able to see it), etc. Why? People in the creative industries change jobs/companies all the time. As Sigourney Weaver said in the film “Working Girl”, “Today’s Jr. Pr*k is tomorrow’s Senior Partner”. If you dissed them when they were Producing a shoot for “Little Company X”, your name is not going to be first in line now that they are Art Directing for TBWA\Chiat\Day. A little humility and gratitude when responding to people never hurts.
2) Create Demand
If you do have to say No to a job, make it clear that you are doing so because you are already booked and working. This creates the appearance of demand, yes, but also there’s really no other excuse. Say anything else and the potential client may take it personally. Once again for the folks in the back: Even if the reality is you’d rather stay home and watch marathon re-runs of “The Nanny” than take their “wack little job”, you do not want that to come across in your reply. Also, these people are not close friends, so now is not the time to go into a soliloquy about your upcoming surgery or whatever. Save any drama for your mamma. Whatever the real reason may be, the reason you cannot take their booking is because you are already booked, or at least On Hold, for their date.
2b ) Do Not Try to Juggle
On the flipside: Being in demand is great and it can be a source of great frustration when you get contacted for one job when you are booked for something else HOWEVER juggling rarely works and you may end up losing everything if you do. If you already said yes to a job and “something better” comes along, it is unprofessional and lacking in courtesy to try to get out of the first job in order to do the second. If you want clients to be loyal to you, you’ll have to be loyal to them in return. Exceptions of course if you were scheduled to do a free test and a paid job comes along, etc. And yes there are times when it can work and can be appropriate to do more than one job in a day: say a headshot shoot in the morning, and a private client event makeup in the evening. Those types of double bookings are completely fine and normal. What I am talking about and what does NOT work is to be booked to shoot an editorial that’s maybe paying $250 for the day and then try to ditch them when you get called for a Lookbook that is paying $500 for the day. That’s unprofesh and no bueno.
3) Keep the Line Open
As I mentioned in my previous piece – Rate Negotiation (click to read) – you always want to respond to inquiries in an open-ended manner.
“Thanks so much for contacting me. This sounds like a great project but unfortunately I am booked during that time. I hope your project goes well and I will stay in contact in case the opportunity to work together arises in the future…”
Sounds way better than:
“Hello, thanks for emailing. I am booked during those dates. Best of luck with your project.”
Even though they are both upbeat, one sounds like “I want to work with you” and one kinda sounds like “Whatevs”.
Again, you never really know what you are saying No to; the small shoot producer became the major Art Director, A photographer who only called you for free tests one day might land an editorial and completely blow up and be shooting the new Levi’s campaign the next day, the c-level actress just landed a recurring role on a hit TV show. You never know, so stay friendly and stay in contact. Do Not Burn Bridges is never more true than in this industry, because please believe if you diss people they will talk.
4 ) Try Not To Say No To Regulars
If someone has already demonstrated a level of loyalty in a notoriously NOT loyal industry such as ours, do not take that relationship for granted. Put those clients FIRST. Serenade them, send them flowers and chocolates, bring them breakfast in bed, do whatever you have to do.* I’ve had two different times where I had schedule conflicts (see 2b), and BOTH times cost me with good clients. Both clients still do call me but not as much as they used to before I had to tell them I was booked with someone else. Real Talk: In hindsight, in one of the two instances for sure, I wish I hadn’t said “No”.
5 ) Send In Backup
When you cannot do a job, do not leave the person who contacted you hanging. I always offer to refer them to other artists if I cannot do the job. If it is one of my regular clients, I like to refer them to one of my artist friends who I know will fill in on the gig, do a great job, but NOT try to gank my client (again – important to maintain that Makeup Family). If it was a new client, I refer them to someone in my extended trusted artists circle and just hope paying it forward comes back to me in some way. Either way, I know I acted professionally and was of service to my client/potential client. People truly appreciate those kinds of gestures and your professionalism will eventually be rewarded.
6 ) Weigh the Pros and Cons
This one goes out to newbie freelance artists in particular: When you are first starting out – and I mean the first several years of your career, not the first few days/weeks/months – you have to earn your spot in the rotation and earn your playing time. Yes that is a sports reference, the NBA season is about to start (hooray!). But what I mean is just because you say you are worth paying for, it doesn’t mean you actually are, you have to prove it. I know a lot of schools and online message boards, etc., are fond of saying never take free jobs and this and that but the reality is that you need to develop a portfolio and/or a resume, meet people, and generally establish yourself as a professional in a market FULL of professionals. A lot of very established artists will still take free jobs IF it is an opportunity that might in some way elevate a career. There are certain people and/or types of projects where if I got the call right now as I was writing this article I would stop what I was doing and run out the door (I’d make sure I was showered/dressed first). I could go on but instead I suggest you read one of my Makeup to Go Classic Articles: The Art of the Freebie.
Remember: as a freelancer you are never assured your next gig, so every booking is a blessing. In my experience if you stay humble, stay courteous, and stay grinding opportunities will always circle back around again.
*I would not actually recommend doing any of those things, except maybe sending chocolate. π
Image: Β© Faithiecannoise | Dreamstime.com – Doubts: Choice Between Yes Or No Photo
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