Essential Skills for Freelance Developers

by Kyle Prinsloo       Last updated Sep. 14, 2016

Freelancing is like trying to make a fried egg...

Sometimes it comes out perfect, while other times it comes out more like a scrambled egg.

This article will cover some essential skills for freelance developers to help you make the PERFECT egg.

(an excerpt from Web Development & Beyond)

Here are 6 skills you should master:

Be a Good Communicator

It’s crucial that you know how to speak appropriately to clients and to other sub-contractors. You need to ensure that there are no “grey” areas in your communication as this could lead to time wasted in the future due to “oh, I thought you meant that.”

On a practical note, when you send emails, make sure you send the next steps thereafter. So for example, when you send your proposal email to a prospective client, don’t give the quote and say, "Looking forward to hearing from you.”
Explain at the end what the next steps will be.

Add: “Once I receive your confirmation email and sign-off for the project, we can setup a Skype meeting for ‘x’ time to discuss the process of updating and progress of the project, etc.”

By doing this, it gives the client an idea of what to expect next and it shows you are professional and you know what you are doing.

Understand Exactly What the Client Wants to Achieve

In order to understand what the client wants to achieve, you need to ask the RIGHT questions.

Most businesses want two things: more customers and more sales – the rest (leads, phone calls, traffic, more conversions, etc.) all point to more customers and more sales.

You are responsible for creating a solution which achieves the client’s goals and objectives. Imagine creating a website and business solution for $10k and the client doesn’t generate income from it.

Yes, maybe the client’s service or product sucks, but a lot of the reason for failure will point to you because you were responsible for taking on this goal to generate more sales and you failed – let’s not ‘sugar coat’ it.

I have not faced this scenario myself (and hopfeully I don't in the future), but I can imagine how it must be like. Just make sure this is not you. This is added incentive for you to work hard and smart and dedicate everything you have to every project that you take on.

Be Black and White – Not Grey (or purple)

You should always be clear about what you can provide, what the client can expect from and after the project, your terms and the process of how you work.

Update the Client

The worst thing that can happen is when a client says, “Hey [your name], what’s happening with the site, I haven’t heard any feedback on it this week?”

If you don’t update a client, you are not doing your job properly – simple.

Depending on the project size, you need to be updating the client AT LEAST every week or so. When I say “update” I don’t only mean, “I finished this feature and it works,” I am also referring to: “I have had some issues with implementing this feature, but I am working on a solution and I will update you the moment it works.”

Do you know how many freelancers wait for the client to follow up and then give them an update on the issue? Many… Please make sure you don’t do this if it applies to you.

If your hosting provider had issues with their servers and you send a support request to [whoever your hosting provider is] and you don’t hear back from their customer care department you will be upset.

But if they sent you an email saying, “Hey [your name], we are experiencing some issues with our servers and we are working on it. We will update you as soon as possible once we’ve fixed the problem.” You will then know what’s happening and know that they are working on it.

Which option would you prefer? It’s a similar principle with how you update your client.

Another reason why you need to update your client regularly is to minimise revisions as the project nears completion.

Know What They Are Doing

It’s important that you are good at what you do.

Would you listen to a 35-year-old business coach who has just finished his MBA with distinction or would you listen to a 35-year-old business coach who dropped out of high school with no certifications but has experience in running 4 highly successful businesses and has sold 1 for a profit?

When you offer a solution, it needs to be backed up by your expertise.

So for example, I mention to some clients that I can help generate traffic to their site through SEO and AdWords because I have experience in managing very big accounts and I have achieved success with it.

The same goes for creating a website. You need to know how a visitor thinks at every single step of the sales funnel and what questions they will ask themselves. You need to know WHY using a specific colour theme is important and what it implies to the visitor.

You need to know what aspect of a website works well in converting and why.

It’s EASY to make a website, but where you should come in is saying, “I can make a website and offer a business solution that WORKS and achieves the goals you’d like to achieve.”

Another reason why it is important to know what you are doing is a scenario when a client says, “We’d like to remove the video from our sales page.”

You should be in a position to know that by adding a well-designed, brief video to a sales page could potentially increase conversions by up to 80% (see source).

So you should then present the client with some stats and data and just mention that you don’t think it’s a wise decision to make and you’d advise keeping it there or improving it - another reason why we should always be learning.

You should not get hired to ‘do work’, you should get hired to solve a problem.

Not only that, but you should be proactive in recommending solutions which can potentially yield high returns.

You Need to Have a 'Split-Personality'

One of the most important skills as a freelancer is to not think like a freelancer.

You need to have a ‘split-personality’ when looking at every project that you create.

What do I mean by this strange statement?

You need to think like a site visitor and as the business owner.

This is important. As the site visitor, you need to be thinking: What is going through my mind at every stage I am on this website? Am I getting the answers I came here for? Is the site fulfilling what I wanted?

As the ‘owner’ of the website, you need to be thinking: Is my website answering the questions and doubts my site visitor is thinking at this moment? What can I do to answer their questions? What can I do on my website to convince them to perform the action I’d like them to take?

So for example, if I am a site visitor on the checkout page, I will be thinking: Is this website secure enough for me to put my credit card details in? What will happen after I make the payment? What will happen if I’d like a refund? How do I know if I selected the right product option? etc.

If you don’t think like that when you create a website, you aren’t thinking correctly.

I’ve worked on checkout pages for large ecommerce sites and just by tweaking a few words and mentioning ’14-day money back guarantee’ and adding a live chat software with an automatic popup trigger after 60 seconds, increased conversions by a large number and significantly increased sales.

If you think like a freelancer and not like the site visitor and business owner, I’d encourage you to start thinking differently.

Added tip: think creatively and create a business card something like this one below:

I hope you found some value in these points and you are now ready to make the perfect fried egg. If you'd like to expand on this a lot more, download my FREE 60+ page eBook and start the journey of taking your career to the next level!