This will happen the more experience you get as a freelancer. Your clients will start to spill out your name to other potential clients, and you’ll achieve the word-of-mouth effect.
To effectively decline a freelance project, you’ll have to be polite and address why you won’t be taking the project without going into too much detail. And then help them move on to another solution either via resources or another freelancer.
This is the most straightforward way to decline a freelance project, but you might wonder why you would ever decline a freelance project. Let’s dive into it before I elaborate on the methods.
Why Would You Even Decline A Freelance Project?
In the beginning, starting as a freelancer, you’ll say yes to anything that has just remotely something to do with your expertise to get jobs and create revenue.
But as you grow as a freelancer, you work with more and more clients and get known in the industry. This also means more and more clients will recommend you word-of-mouth, which is the best type of recommendation you can get.
This means you’ll be fully booked and have to say no to some projects. When you reach this stage, you can choose between the most exciting projects, and it’s a super interesting place to be in your freelance career.
Pro tip: If there is a project you want to do, but don’t have time, then don’t decline it. Tell the client you want to do it, but you won’t be able to start for another 4 weeks because you’re finishing another project. The client will understand and will wait because they want to work with you.
When you start to decline projects, it’s important you reply to everyone. You still want to maintain your reputation in the industry and be kind to everyone.
While declining, it’s vital to help the client move on to another solution so they don’t get stuck with your decline. Let’s explore the 4 ways you can help a client while declining.
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1. Recommend Other Freelancers
The first method is to recommend other freelancers who can execute the project, whom you believe 100% in.
You see, when you recommend another freelancer for a project, you’re vouching for that freelancer for the client. The client will take your word for it.
So if the client gets a bad experience with your recommendation, this will fall back on you. So only recommend a freelancer when you’re 100% they can execute the project to near perfection.
An example of an email could be something like:
Hi [Client's name],
Thank you so much for reaching out regarding [project].
I truly appreciate you taking the time to write to me. (Unfortunately, I'm fully booked for the next few months.)/(Unfortunately, that project falls outside of my expertise).
However, I won't leave you empty-handed. I can recommend you to reach out to [Freelancer], [person] is more than capable of executing [project].
I wish you a wonderful day.
Regards,
[Your name]
I don’t often use this method, only when I’m 100% sure. Otherwise, the following method of declining a freelance project is another solution.
2. Recommend Ways They Can Solve It Themselves
I often receive emails or project proposals where the project is so simple I’m sure the client can solve it themselves.
However, you need to be careful as well. Just because you know they can solve it themselves with some guides doesn’t ensure they actually want to. Maybe they want to spend their time on something else.
I usually give them a step-by-step guide on how to solve the issue, but I also let them know if they don’t want to do it, I’ll recommend a freelancer to them. So this is a bit of an elaboration of the first method.
An email for this method could look something like this:
Hi [Client's name],
Thank you so much for reaching out regarding [project].
I truly appreciate you taking the time to write to me. Unfortunately, I'm fully booked for the next few months.
However, I won't leave you empty-handed. This is a fairly easy task to solve, here is a step by step to how you do it yourself.
1. [Step description]
2. [Step description]
3. [Step description]
If you rather want an expert to solve the issue, I can recommend [freelancer].
I wish you a wonderful day.
Regards,
[Your name]
3. Recommend Resources That Can Help Them On The Way
Now if the project is a bit more complex, and you can’t just write a step-by-step solution because it takes too much time or it’s just too complex, you can also recommend some resources.
This can simply link to some articles that can help them on the way or a video tutorial on how to solve the project. Again remember to keep it open, and don’t assume everyone wants to solve the project themselves.
An email recommending resources could look something like this:
Hi [Client's name],
Thank you so much for reaching out regarding [project].
I truly appreciate you taking the time to write to me. Unfortunately, I'm fully booked for the next few months.
However, I won't leave you empty-handed. I have some resources on how you can execute the project.
[Link to resource]
[Link to resource]
[Link to resource]
If you rather want an expert to solve the issue, I can recommend [freelancer].
I wish you a wonderful day.
Regards,
[Your name]
4. Ask AI For Help
This is the last resource if you feel the 3 previous methods are unsuitable for your situation.
You can ask ChatGPT to write you a polite decline to a freelance project and tune it how you want.
An example of a prompt could be: Write me an email which declines a project of creating a marketing plan for the company Startlancer.
The more specific you are, the better. The result of the prompt came out like this:
Dear [Client Name],
I hope this email finds you well. I appreciate the opportunity you gave me to submit a proposal for creating a marketing plan for your company, Startlancer. After careful consideration and evaluation of my current workload, I regret to inform you that I won't be able to take on this project at this time.
As much as I would like to work with your company, I have to be honest with you and say that I have other projects that require my full attention at the moment. While I am confident that I could deliver a marketing plan that meets your needs and objectives, I don't want to compromise the quality of my work by spreading myself too thin.
I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and I hope you understand my decision. If you have any other projects in the future, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I would be more than happy to discuss how I can help you achieve your goals.
Thank you for considering me for this project and I wish you and your company all the best.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
It’s a decent output, but it’s a bit long for my taste so I would cut it down, but now you know you have the option.
Save Time By Crafting Email Templates
If you want to save time on declining projects, you can make email templates.
Doing this ensures all your answers are in your own language, and you can easily pick whatever template you wish for the situation.
I like to use TypeDesk, and they even have an integration to ChatGPT as well for faster crafting of templates. You can also watch how to use Typedesk here.
In simple terms, the way it works is that you make a template and add a variable every time you want to mention the project or the client’s name, and then you can make some different ones and have some templates to choose between.
You can also add examples from methods 1 and 2 to Typedesk.
Conclusion
It’s important always to try and help the people asking you for a project proposal. Stay kind and thankful that they contacted you even though you won’t be taking the project.
Use any of the 4 methods, whatever suits you best. Often it depends on the project on which method to use. If you know a freelancer who is just suitable for the project, go with method 1. If it’s an easy project, go with method 2. If you don’t know anyone but have some resources you can recommend, go with method 3.
And if you’re entirely blank for solutions, go ask ChatGPT for help. Just proofread the response you get. It needs to sound like you.
Personally, I like to use 2 and 3. When you recommend a freelancer, you’re also sticking your neck out for that freelancer, so you’ll have to be absolutely confident they can flawlessly execute the project.
FAQ
How do you politely decline a project in an email?
First of all, thank them for reaching out to you to ask for a proposal. And be specific, mention their project as well.
Next, give a brief explanation as to why you won’t be taking the project.
And then, close up the email politely, and try to help them find an alternative.
How do I reject a client on freelancer.com?
You don’t need to give specifics on why you’re rejecting. Just briefly thank them for reaching out to you on Freelancer.com, explain why you won’t be taking the project and then try and help them with alternative resources or freelancers who might be the right for the project.