It may sound like the most common-sense, obvious thing in the world to you. if someone hires you, don’t vanish.
Yet it is shocking how commonplace it is. In fact, considering all freelancers of all sorts ever, probably above 30% do that on a not-uncommon basis to their clients.
So, just by being there, you’re already in the top 70% of all freelancers!
So why is it so endemic for freelancers to disappear? This is important to understand because only by understanding the causes can you give yourself the internal resolve and strength to make sure that you don’t do it.
First, because when you work with anyone, hard situations will come up. That’s inevitable, no matter what your level of work is. And sometimes a situation is so hard that many people would rather end the work than deal with the hard situation.
Secondly, there’s a variation of the first: the particular hard situation in which you mess up. It’s particularly hard to admit it when you’ve made a big mistake.
Here’s the challenge. When you’re in a tough situation—whether it is your fault or not—being able to look your boss or client in the eye and tell him the bad news is emotionally very, very difficult.
So much so that this one fact alone is often the difference between those who succeed and those who don’t—even at the same level of competence. It’s an emotional issue, not a competence issue.
Think about it from the boss’s point of view, as usual. Would you be willing to pay more money to someone who tells you bad news to your eye? Or someone who avoids the issue, or blames other people?
Importantly, this still isn’t just about dealing with a boss or client. It’s about maturing and growing up. Kids slug away from difficult moments. Adults don’t (and many people who are 55 years old aren’t yet adults.) To be a true professional you can’t just remember a bunch of tips and best practices I share with you here; you have to go through the long-term, emotional hard work of… growing up.
