Missed a Deadline?
What should you do if you miss a deadline set forth by one of your freelance writing clients? The first thing you should do is avoid this at all costs. You never want to miss a deadline even if it means staying up all night to complete a project. That being said, every freelance writer runs into this situation sooner or later. For one reason or the next you will miss a deadline. What will you do about this?
If you know that you are going to miss a deadline you should get in touch with the client as soon as possible. Explain what is going on, and ask them if you can have an extension. You may be surprised how understanding many people are if you have a good reason for missing a deadline. But remember, the longer you wait to break this to the client the worse things are going to get. You want to give them enough time to make for other arrangements, if need be.
On the other hand, you may miss a deadline and realize on the due date that this happened. What are you to do in this situation? Your only option, if you can’t get the work done, is to come clean with the client. Tell them you are not going to be finished, and apologize for missing the deadline. Is this going to be good enough? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It all depends on your relationship and the situation that your client is in.
You never want to miss a deadline. Keeping this in mind will allow you to avoid awkward situations in which you have to break bad news to clients. But if you do miss a deadline, give your client as much notice as possible and be sure to explain yourself. This may not make things any better, but smoothing the situation over is important if you find yourself in this position.
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