post #16 - How long do you wait for a potential client?

Happy Friday and Happy Halloween 🎃

This week has been long. A potential client reached out to me last week about an on-going freelance job. She's in her 80's, doesn't have a cell phone, and her landline doesn't have voicemail or even an answering machine, so email is her preferred communication mode. She's been unable to really articulate what kind of help she's looking for (she initially reached out to me about bookkeeping) so I've been trying to set up an in-person meeting with her.

She's been quick to reply to all emails (within a few hours) until I tried to pin down a day and time to meet, then it took her 2 days to reply (which started with "just finding this" - no excuse, no apology), and she didn't give any days/times she was open (well, that's not true, she said she was available "today" - the day she sent the email 🙄), so I replied with a specific day and time I could meet and asked if that worked for her, and if it didn't to please give me specific days and times, because as a freelancer my calendar can change quickly. I'm on day 3 of waiting...

I'm trying to be understanding, but I'm thinking if it's this hard to come up with a time for an initial meeting to see if I can even help her, how difficult is she going to be to work for/with if I accept the job?

I know people are thinking "lots of red flags, run" and I see them but I can't help but think that she REALLY needs help, and maybe she's been burned before so she's starting to hesitate. I don't like writing off potential clients before I even meet with them, so I'm still holding out a little hope that she'll reply.

Freelancers, have you ever waited for a potential client that you had a feeling was going to be a good job but was throwing up some red flags initially?

#freelancer #FreelanceWork #FreelanceLife #WorkFromHome #RemoteWork

#JobHuntingChronicles

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