photo credit: adjustafresh

The work of a freelancer is a fine balance between creativity and efficiency. Those two things don’t always go together easily but profitable freelancers find a way. Unfortunately, when it comes to some projects with some clients, that can be more difficult. I often find that is the case during periods of collaboration.

I’ve found that I purposely minimize my collaboration so that I only collaborate with a small percentage of clients. It’s not that I hate collaboration. On the contrary, I really like it! But I find that when it comes to collaboration, you end up taking so much more time… and freelancers make money for their time (plus their talent, of course, but there’s still the limitation of time).

I can’t count the number of times in which I’ve gone back and forth on projects with clients in a collaborative fashion only to have some of the following occur:

• The clients lose interest in the project because they discover that having someone else’s ideas mixed with their own isn’t as good as they thought it would be.
• File naming creates havoc and leads to “forks” (each collaborator working on different versions of the same work).
• There is a blurring of the line between billable and non-billable work. Is that “touching base” phone call billable? You might not agree on whether or not it is. And if you’re paid just for a final deliverable, consider the likely possibility that you’ll work far more on a collaborative project than on a solo project.

Now, I’m not against collaboration and I think there are plenty of ways that it can be workable. However, it can be costly if you are not careful. To help create a successful collaboration and minimize the cost, consider the following tips:

• Use collaborative tools like MindMeister (http://mindmeister.com), GoogleDocs (http://docs.google.com), and ImaginationCubed (http://www.imaginationcubed.com/) to help you collaborate at the same time in one single place.
• Create milestones and due dates to help keep the project on track.
• Establish in writing what the parameters are of your work. What is billable. What isn’t. How much time do you expect to work on each? How frequently should you check in? Is a weekly call necessary or a biweekly call?
• Set aside specific times to be intentionally non-collaborative. For example, collaborate for a brief period of time then take turns working on the document on your own.
• Outline contingencies for project outcomes. Obviously a successful completion is the one you’re working towards, but you should have contingencies for other potential outcomes.

Collaboration is enjoyable when colleagues work together in win-win environment with mutual success as the end goal. If that defines your potential collaboration, proceed with some of the tips above and enjoy the process.