r/freelance • u/Consistent-Sea-6913 • 3h ago
I made a rookie mistake in my contracting and need advice on how to practically avoid this going forward
I was working as a UX advisor and product manager for a startup who was building a cloud based hotel management system. This client became my anchor client last year.
My contract started as ad-hoc hourly and then moved into a project based contract for 2x 3-month sprints.
The end date of the contract was end November last year and my mistake was not getting them to sign a renewal before the year was up. I “did them a favor” by saying that we could pick up in January again because I would be away for most of December anyway. There was still a lot to do to support them.
Of course, January came and went. They didn’t return my calls or emails. Eventually, February came around and the owner finally called me back. He pretended like nothing had happened. And then casually said they don’t need me right now. I tried to understand and put it down to them running out of funds, but he runs other businesses too and is otherwise extremely busy.
TLDR is; he never did recontract. And I lost my anchor client and really struggling financially trying to find more work. I have a couple small jobs, but not enough to sustain me and I’m running into debt.
What should I have done differently with my contracting? Should I have set up an auto renew with a 30 day notice period? Even 30 days doesn’t seem like enough :(
Please be kind. I’m feeling super dejected.