Five Etiquette Commandments for Contractors

It soon will be Independence Day, and the epitome of the independent worker is the contractor -- he who has forged out on his own to essentially work for himself.

But just because you don’t technically work for another person doesn’t mean you’re immune from business etiquette. Based on my dealings with contractors and freelancers (and having worked as the latter myself in another life), here are five commandments to memorize:

1. Thou Shalt Not Be Overly Pushy: You need to drum up business, but you don’t want to annoy those who can give it to you. Consider all requests for work and dealings with clients through their perspective: Are you being a nag? Wasting their time? Do you need a lot of hand-holding? On a similar note, be someone you’d like to work with. Please and thank you go a long way.

2. Thou Shalt Underpromise and Overdeliver: You’ve heard it before, but it’s doubly true when you’re working for yourself. Competition is stiff, and if you overpromise and underdeliver, you’ll lose out to those who can wow the client. Best to minimize superlatives -- until after you’ve delivered. This is triply true on your first assignment, when you’re trying to make that all-important first impression.

3. Thou Shalt Get to Know Thy Client’s Business and Be Proactive in Thy Approach: Your clients are busy, and it’s always appreciated when someone else is generating potential ideas. It’s ultimately better for your bottom line, too.

4. Thou Shalt Be Flexible with Thy Time: If you become the person your client can rely on when he needs something done quickly and correctly, guaranteed you will make a nice income from that client. Conversely, don’t take on work if you can’t do it.

5. Thou Shalt Stay in Touch: Don’t disappear once you’ve delivered the goods. Maybe I have a question on your work. Perhaps I’m on deadline and need a quick answer. Maybe you misunderstood what you were supposed to do -- or maybe I did. Keep the lines of communication open -- before and after you’ve completed your work.

Check out our look at the current state of free agency. And for more on the contract life, there’s Monster Contract & Temporary.

Happy Fourth of July!

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