Contract Worker - Freelancing Experiences

5 Ways to Stay Sane While Doing Revisions

by Rico on July 14th, 2007

Revisions are a fact of life for freelancers, because it’s extremely rare for a client to be totally satisfied with a first draft. This is especially true for freelancers working for a particular client the first time. Before the contract worker can know what kind of output the client usually wants, he’ll have to receive feedback. And the client can only provide this after receiving a few drafts.

But it can be a very trying experience if you find yourself doing revisions over and over again. It may not be your fault, but once you enter into an agreement with a client, you’re committed to seeing it through. Creating new output is very time-consuming, and there’s always the tension involved with not being able to mark a project as done. So here are five ways to minimize the number of revisions you have to do, and stay sane:

1. Work only with clients who know what they want. Nothing’s worse than working for someone who’s uncertain of what he wants from you. First, he’s expecting this kind of output, then suddenly changes his mind and expects that kind. Such uncertainty means more revisions, and is honestly a waste of your time.
2. Write down your client’s instructions. Whenever changes are required, write them down for later referral. Having to ask your client to repeat his instructions wastes time at best, and leaves an unprofessional impression at worst.
3. Do all the requested changes in every revision. Before turning over the latest revision, make sure you’ve fulfilled all of the required changes. Leaving some things unresolved is a form of procrastination, because it will ensures more revisions where you have to do what you left out anyway. And you may also irritate the client in the process.
4. State the maximum number of revisions in your contract. As long as you play it honest (see above), setting a maximum number of revisions in your contract will give your client an incentive to be certain of what he wants, and to give you clear instructions.
5. Dig down and know that it’ll eventually end. As a last resort, you’ll just have to grit your teeth and push yourself until you finally come up with a revision that satisfies your client’s requirements, whatever they may be.

Granted, its the client that will ultimately determine how many revisions a project will require. But there’s nothing wrong with helping yourself, is there? How else can we cut down the number of revisions we need to do, fellow freelancers?

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POSTED IN: Great Advice, Useful Info, Ways to Work Faster