While revisions are an inevitable part of the creative process, endless revisions might bring you more harm then benefits. As a freelancer, your work relies on the trust of different clients, who will often ask for changes after seeing your finished piece. When you’re working on multiple projects at the same time, it can be easy to get caught up in the endless cycle of revisions. While it’s tempting to just keep going, there are some good reasons why you should stop with endless revisions. Here are some examples of when endless revisions are a bad idea. You're Not Communicating With Your Client When you’re in the middle of a project, it’s easy to forget to communicate with your client. It’s even possible that your client has forgotten to communicate with you, as projects can get busy. If you’re caught up in endless revisions, it’s easy to miss an important email or phone call. Clients, who have put their trust in you, deserve to know what’s going on. If you’re revising endlessly, you’re not communicating with your client. You're Over-Revising When you’re revising your work endlessly, each revision adds more and more time to the project. It’s easy to start revising more than is necessary, trying to get everything perfect. Instead of learning from your mistakes, you’re trying to make everything perfect. - This leads to major revisions, which may not make the client happy. Instead of focusing on the client’s demands, you’re trying to satisfy your own demands. - Each revision eats up more time, which means you’re taking on fewer projects. You can’t be in two places at once, so you’re missing out on work. You're Changing Too Much If you’re revising your work endlessly, there’s a good chance you’re making changes too much. As you revise, you might notice that the client’s requirements have changed. You might think it’s necessary to make changes to the piece, but you should be listening to your client. - Each change creates a new version of the piece, which means more work. You can’t change something if you don’t know it’s wrong. - Each change means you have to create an updated version of your graphic design revision policy. Tracking all the changes and contract revisions can be time-consuming. Personally I hate revisions as much as you probably do, so I do all my best to guide the customer into the design revision process prior to sign a contract and I do write clearly in my contract terms and conditions how much to charge for design revisions. It is part of our job as freelancers to politely letting client know that extra work costs more, when client comes back with changes. If you want an idea of how to charge for revisions, or even, how to tell client you need to charge more, have a look at this free template available for download. You Have Too Much Going On When you have multiple projects going at the same time, it’s easy to be caught up in the endless cycle of revisions. It’s important to be realistic about the amount of work you can handle, but it’s also important to stay focused. - If you’re revising your work endlessly, you might be taking on too many projects and ignoring your own personal development. You’re not going to get better at your craft just because you’re revising your work. - You also run the risk of over-committing to projects. Once again, remember the rule as you can’t be in two places at once, so you’re definitely missing out on work. You Have a Closed-Minded Client Clients often ask for changes after seeing your work, but that doesn’t mean you have to make them. Creative projects often require negotiation and compromise, especially when your client has specific requirements. If you’re revising your work, you’re going to end up making your client happy with the final piece. - If you’re revising your work endlessly, you’re not going to be able to negotiate. You’re going to be so caught up in the revision process that you won’t have time to negotiate a fair contract. Summing up Freelancing is all about being creative, but it’s important to weigh up what your clients want against what’s best for your business. If a client keeps asking for changes after seeing your work, it’s time to bring in an expert. The client might not be listening to you, or they might have unrealistic expectations. If you’re revising your work endlessly, you should cut the revisions. It’s an easy way to waste time, while missing out on work.
