As a freelancer, I’m sure that it’s your desire to serve your clients to the best of your ability and keep them so happy that they come back to you for more work . (If that’s not your desire then you might want to rethink what you do).

For the most part, people come to you with normal requests and you do them.

If you’re a freelance graphic designer, people come to you looking for graphic design.

If you’re a freelance writer, people come to you looking for content.

Makes sense.

But sometimes, they include other things in their request that you might not normally do.

Maybe, as a graphic designer, they want to you to code their site so it looks as good as your graphic designs.

Or maybe, as a freelance writer, they want you to create a brand management campaign because they figure you’re as skilled in communicating a short, pithy brand as you are creating long, flowing prose.

Unless you’re a multitalented, virtuoso Renaissance man (or woman), you can’t do it all. (You probably knew that already but your mom might be shocked to learn it). And, although you probably want to serve your clients with a smile and help them out however you can, you shouldn’t take on that additional project. It won’t be profitable for you (because it will take you longer to do that “non-core” work than you think it will) and it won’t make your customer happy (because you won’t be able to deliver to the degree of success that you think you can).

Your customer has a need but you shouldn’t fill it for them. Instead, here’s what to do:

  • Start by telling them that you prefer to only add value where you know you can add value, and assure them that you aren’t able to help them in this situation. Make sure to point it out in their terms – that they won’t benefit by getting you to do the project for them.
  • Stick to your guns! I’ve had customers try (sometimes successfully and sometimes unsuccessfully) to convince me that I am the right person for the job. The one time I relented and did the job was a big disaster: I lost the customer and a ton of money as a result.
  • Recommend a general solution. I like to recommend a solution to their problem. Sometimes I don’t have a specific answer but I can recommend a general answer. Just the other day I told a prospective client that the website-specific work she needed me to do was probably better handled by user experience specialist. I don’t think she was happy about the answer but I know she wouldn’t be happy if I did do the work. It’s a lesser of two evils situation. You might want to direct them to a resource that can help them. For example, I will often say something like: “You might want to post your project on Guru.com or Elance.com and review proposals from several professionals.”
  • Cautiously recommend a specific solution. If you know someone who can provide the service, offer to make an introduction and graciously email both with a nice, introductory email. I say “cautiously” because you’ll want to make sure that they do the quality of work and provide the level of service you need them to.
  • Build relationships. If you get the same questions over and over, build relationships with some other freelancers in that category. For example, I get a lot of website building work so I know a few skilled website builders that I happily recommend.

If you are a great freelancer (and I’m sure that you are), you will be offered projects that are outside of the scope of what you do. And if you love your clients (and I’m sure that you do) you’ll be tempted to take on that work. But that’s the last thing you want to do!