Here are some basic freelance business tips to help keep your creative projects on track, on budget and to keep you in your clients good-books! Improving your business workflow  with these simple best-practice techniques that will help keep you focused on the creative parts of your job – which we all know is the fun stuff!

Handy business tips to help you be a better creative freelancer…

1. Get everything down on paper at the start – use this free film production template.

2. Practice not promising the earth – under promise to over deliver.

3. Confirm all phone calls with an email afterwards: Actions, dates, clarity of intentions.

4. Always say thank you.

5. If you don’t know – phone a friend. Especially when quoting for a job and that detail is outside of your core knowledge.

6. Promote friends accomplishments and network on their behalf.

7. Build a reputation for delivering results, adding value and being fun to work with.

8. Write the email. Save a draft. Wait 5 minutes. Read, amend and send.

9. Be careful setting expectations when using other peoples work as references and suggestions of possible approaches. Do they resemble the clients budget?

10. Work hard but relax more. Setting a healthy work/life balance also requites ACTIVE resting – purposefully taking the time out to stop.

11. Investing in this project here and now is the safest investment in the next project.

12. Don’t badger clients who say ‘no’ or ‘not yet’, wait patiently until you’ve got an interesting reason to get back in touch. Go slow, but don’t give up.