I came across a list from wakeuplater.com the other day that covered the 10 "No's" fro freelancers. If only I had read this while I was trying early on in my career.

These "No's" will definitely not only save you time, money, and ultimately make you more productive as a freelancer.

Here's my experiences with some of these "No's":

Can you show me a mock-up to help us choose a designer/developer?
Can you give us a discount rate?
I have a great idea. Do you want to...?
Do you have an IM account?
Can I just pay the whole amount when it's done?
Is there any way you could get this done tonight or this weekend?

My experiences with some of these "No's" after the jump

Can you show me a mock-up to help us choose a designer/developer?
When I first got into designing, I was real eager to impress my clients, and would offer to create mock ups thinking they would help me a contract with the client. Bottom line, don't do unpaid work thinking that you it will help you land job. If you were a mechanic, would you give out free engine overhauls hoping it would turn into repeat business? That's a bit of an extremem example, but it's definitely a practice I learned to not do. The best case scenario (though rare) is that you get a job with a client who knows that you'll work for free when necessary. The worst case scenario is that they don't pay you, and still use your stuff, knowing you don't have the legal resources to do anything about it. Most likely though, you’ll just waste time.

Can you give us a discount rate?
There are A LOT of potential clients out there that don't see graphic artists being worth the money we charge. We should not let these type of people be our clients. I've had multiple stories from friends who took on lots of work during college. A majority of it, at discounted rates, thinking that they could make more money, by taking on more jobs. Let me tell you that it's not worth it. Ever. Remember, you may be doing this company a favor, but on the flip side, you're hurting your own future, and your family's. I've worked out a pricing structure for my work that lets potential clients know up front what my rates are. If they're willing to work with me, cool. We go on with the job. It's simple math really -- if doubling your rate loses half your client work, then you're still making as much in half the time. If you do excellent work, get paid for it – there will always be comparable "firms" charging double what you are.

I have a great idea. Do you want to...?
Not much different from the first point of the free mock ups, but could be a much larger time waster if you agree to it. I'm just being blunt, but if you say yes, you are working for free again. I don't know about you, but I am not working out of the goodness of my heart. Working for free may be ok with you, but for, this is something I would only consider for family and friends. If your clients serious, they'd hire and pay you to work on this "idea"

Do you have an IM account?
Guilty for giving out my IM account in the past. I've only done this, if I'm working on a project of a larger scale, but generally no. I don't want to be the "on-call" guy for the company on my free time. Do you?

Can I just pay the whole amount when it's done?
50% deposit before I start working on anything. I need to have the confidence that my client will ultimately pay me after the project is done. Again tying into some of the other points, we are not doing this work for charity. We all depend on this income for families, bills, etc. More often than not, those that do not pay upfront, will be more likely to not want to pay you after you've invested a lot of time into a project. By asking for a deposit, you are just weeding out those that are not that serious.

Is there any way you could get this done tonight or this weekend?
I like to work with my clients on an acceptable deadline. If the deadline is too aggressive, I have passed on certain jobs. Once they know that you helped them out one time, they will expect it in the future. For me, I love to design at night. It's quiet in the house, and I can focus on the task at hand. I know a lot of freelancers that charge night/weekend hours as well, so that might be a possible route to take. I only reason I bring this up is because you're working as a freelancer why? Because you like the flexibility!

This is not a definitive list that you must follow. Merely my own experiences of some great points from the original 10 "No's" list. When in doubt, just pull an Obama, "Aw Hell Naw!"
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