Do you perform a background check?

Not all clients are created equal, and sometimes it's a good idea to do a quick risk assessment before commencing work.

If a new client calls up in a rush and you've never heard of them, what steps do you take before jumping straight into billable work?

Figure: LinkedIn is your friend

The quickest and simplest way of performing a background check is to use the LinkedIn search feature:

• Check their details match the correspondence
• Is their company listed?
• Are their Job Titles the same?
• Do they have mutual connections

Figure: Make sure you know who you're going into business with

For a more in-depth check or to see if their company is legitimate, do a Google search:

• Do they turn up in the results?
• Do they have a webpage?
• Does the webpage look legitimate (not just thrown together)?
• Is the "Contact Us" address and/or phone number the same as the one they provided?

With this information you can then rank them from "Not a Risk" all the way up to "Huge Risk" (the kind with neon flashing lights and all) and decide whether or not to go ahead with the business deal.