One of the most crucial attitudes I acquired when I started freelancing a decade ago was learning to advocate for my needs so I am treated and compensated better.
This is not an easy thing to do because the freelancer-client relationship always involves some power struggle. Assertiveness also goes more naturally with some people compared to others. I was not very assertive growing up, since I was introverted and disobedience was punished at home. But you need to learn more of it as a freelancer because you are less protected by law compared to an employee, so you are more prone to abuse.
Like all things related to freelancing, learning to use assertiveness goes with experience. It doesn’t always have to be a big thing. You can start small. When I was trading time and expertise with short 500-word blog posts with strangers from the internet, I always asked to be paid first before I started the work. Assertiveness here was expressed by simply respectfully declining those who didn’t want to pay me beforehand. When I started editing long theses, I asked for half the payment before I started and the rest before I handed the final draft. Sometimes, assertiveness can be expressed by a short courteous email following up an unpaid invoice from a client.
There were times when I didn’t need to use that much assertiveness. This was when I was working with a very kind African American boss from an editing agency in the States where I worked remotely for a while. Based on my experience, foreign clients are more aware and mindful of workers rights, so they pay on time and they compensate better.
Sometimes, I needed to gather every tiny drop of my assertiveness not only to advocate for my needs but also to protect myself from the emotional and mental hurt that comes with this line of work. Like when I was being coerced by a large well-known school to finish a job I already abandoned for months because they were no longer paying me. I even received a demand letter but I stood my ground until they let the thing go.
The longer I stay freelance the clearer it becomes that this DIY life really isn’t for the weak of heart, and a freelancer who couldn’t speak up to a client who is obviously maltreating them should look at the mirror and ask themself honestly whether they’ve chosen the right line of work. Not standing up for better pay and fair working terms, especially when you are not protected by the same rights and benefits that employees enjoy, hurts not only your reputation as a freelancer but also your profession and all other freelancers like you.
Sad to say, but in the Philippines, I hear that exploitative behavior happens even among freelancers themselves who hire other freelancers. These big freelancers who even claim to fight for the interests of smaller freelancers would sometimes hold PAID events or launch PAID programs by getting UNPAID volunteers to do some of the big work if not most of it. This is exploitation. If you are making money from an event or a program, pay EVERYONE who helped, especially if their role was crucial in launching your thing. Not doing so hurts your reputation and the reputation of these volunteers.
I’ve translated assertiveness into other areas of my life and it isn’t always easy. It isn’t easy because there is always fear of conflict. But one thing I’ve also learned from learning to be more assertive is that these conflicts often don’t kill me and that I am surrounded by A LOT of people who still have my interest at heart. What’s the worst that could happen? And so that, somehow, takes some of the weight off and I get better with every client I have to confront.