How to Deal With Different Types of Feedback as a Freelancer
It’s very rare that I receive feedback that’s negative or meant to hurt me, however, every time I send off a project and see that little notification saying I have a message or email waiting, I always have to prepare myself to read it. Sometimes I will even wait hours to look and then open it to see that the client was only looking for clarification on a small thing. Or, once in a while, my fears will become a reality and someone will just rip me a new one.
Just as it is with comments on social media, sometimes people think that the safety of their computer screens or the fact that they can’t see me means that they can be as harsh, critical, and hateful as they want. Somehow I’m not human or respected enough to be spoken to professionally or with kindness and even the smallest mistakes made in a document will be treated like I just destroyed their priceless antique china.
One major tip even if the feedback you’re getting is constructive and meant well: When you’re reading feedback, try to be in your workspace. If you’re at your office or at your desk then you’re more likely to be objective when reading feedback instead of taking it too personally. There’s no reason why you need to open feedback at midnight while you’re getting ready for bed. Wait until the next morning when you’ve had your coffee and are ready to read it with an open mind.
Over my many years of writing freelance, I still haven’t grown hard to this type of feedback. However, I have come up with strategies for dealing with different types of feedback (I’ve seen them all) that have given me the ability to make it through each one with minimal scarring.
The Troll.
I call these guys the “trolls” because I swear they’re looking for literally ANYTHING wrong in the project I’ve given them because they enjoy giving negative feedback.
Types of lines I will receive include: “Did you even proofread!?”, “You call yourself a writer?” or my favourite “I [or insert any animal or inanimate object] could have written this better than you.”
This is the feedback I’ve received for missing one word in a sentence or not having my headers as “Heading 2”. I mean, sometimes, I didn’t honestly understand what they wanted, etc., and might need to rewrite something, but regardless of my professionalism and openness to change things, they still are just brutal and evil when they communicate with you. You start to wonder if this is how they treat their own employees.
How I deal with this feedback:
I don’t. I will make the adjustments and send it back and move on. Sometimes the client will order again and I will heave a huge sigh and just not let it get to me. Eventually, if I’m really that bad of a writer, they’ll move on to someone else. I used to defend myself and try to figure out what I did to make them so angry, but I eventually realized that they do it to make themselves feel superior in the situation and would do the same thing reading a Stephen King novel. Still hurts though. If the feedback is so bad that it’s borderline harassment, which has happened, I will either tell them that the revisions are done and the order is now completed or I will lock the document and send them their money back. It’s honestly not worth the treatment.
The Constant Knit-Picker
The guys generally mean well, however, they often have a lot of edits. Sometimes you make the edits and they send it back with more edits. It can be a long process.
How I deal with this feedback: If it only happens once or twice, make the edits and send it back. If it begins to get too out of hand, on future projects you can add into your brief that one revision will be included in the cost and each new one will be an added cost. Chances are in these situations that they will get all their edits into one and be done from there. Remember to use these edits as a learning experience so you can understand the client’s style and tone for future projects.
The Dependant
This feedback is when a client sends back an article that has absolutely no feedback other than a comment saying “erase this sentence” or something similar. Usually, it’s something they could have done themselves and saved themselves the wait of having me come back to the revision, erase that one sentence, and send it back.
How I deal with this feedback: Other than telling them to just do it themselves, I make the edits and send it back and just be kind about it. Sometimes I will add a comment like “Thanks so much for your thoughtful feedback. I have erased your sentence as requested.” Just so they know it was very minimal on my end.
The Rewriter
If a client is a great writer themselves (or think they are), they may be hiring me solely because they don’t have the time to do it or can’t think of how to get started. Their feedback is usually sent back with paragraphs completely rewritten (sometimes poorly). Often there’s none of my writing left and it’s all a mess of edits. Sometimes it’s negative, but most of them aren’t even aware that they literally just wrote the article themselves.
How I deal with this feedback: If I am not being credited with the writing, then I will accept all the suggestions, reread it for grammar and spelling as well as editing mistakes, and send it back. If the client turns negative and starts telling me my writing is horrible, etc., then I move them into Troll status.
The Best Friend
These are the clients I just want to keep around forever. They are nice, approachable, and communicative. Even if there are errors or I didn’t understand a concept, they reach out and give me some great feedback and then kindly ask for something changed. They are professional and just amazing and I want to give them a hug.
How I deal with this feedback: Be just as kind back! You want to keep these clients around long term. Be gracious and make your edits and send them back as prompt as possible.
The Ghost
These clients don’t give you feedback at all, but when you search up their website a couple of days later, they’ve completely rewritten the article.
How I deal with this feedback: I mean, it would have been great to have been able to finish and fix up the article myself, I don’t really sweat it. If that’s what they want to do - it’s completely fine. If the article has your name on it and they completely rewrote it and it’s now full of errors, then reach out and kindly ask if you can fix it up for them to make it more representable of your name.