Ghosting freelancers: I want to take a few minutes to talk about this.
Trust me, having worked as a freelancer for more years than I’d care to admit; ghosting is the second most annoying thing I have to deal with (non-paying clients are at the top).
It’s well known that freelance work tends to be feast or famine, and there’s not much we can do about that. However, there is something you can help with.
Stop ghosting freelancers
Nothing is better than receiving a direct enquiry for our services or meeting someone who wants to chat about a future collaboration while out networking.
We take time to chat with you, answer all your questions, and provide samples of our work. We offer advice on your content strategy and show you how to increase engagement with your audience.
We do everything we can before you issue us a brief and get the project started.
Then…silence.
We leave it for a week to avoid being annoying – our email is ignored.
We try again a week later, and you respond, apologising for not getting back to us. However, things have changed since we last spoke. You reassure us that you’ll arrange a call next week to kick everything off. Yay! We’re back on course.
Except next week comes and goes. Still no go-ahead. This time we pick up the phone and call. It goes to voice mail so we leave a message. Twenty-four hours goes by without a word.
Freelancers can be a dogged breed. We keep trying to get in touch, but you’re well and truly ghosting us.
We get it. Sometimes plans change, budgets get cut, or you decide to do stuff in-house. But please, please let us know.
There’s nothing worse than being left hanging.
Really? Do companies really ghost freelancers?
You’d be amazed, and the worst thing is that corporates are often the worst offenders for ghosting freelancers.
In fact, I’ve just experienced a spooky period with a corporate I have previously worked with. This time, it was for a different section that’s not based in the UK. My previous contact recommended me for their upcoming content project.
We chatted, got on well, discussed what the project would look like and discussed my retainer. It was all tickety-boo until it came to getting started. That’s when the ghosting started. Eventually, they got in touch again and moved forward a little further. But that was about three months ago, and I’ve heard nothing since.
I understand that the project we discussed is insignificant compared to what they do, but if priorities have changed or the project has been pulled, please tell me.
I am pretty sure this particular frustration doesn’t just affect freelancers.
So, if you talk to a small business or freelancer about a potential project, be honest with them if it gets pulled; don’t leave them hanging and hoping.
Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter.