Are You Quick to Ditch?
One of my favorite shows on television is called “Flipping Out,” and it’s about a California house flipper with obsessive-compulsive disorder named Jeff. He drives everyone nuts and is, let’s just say, extremely detail oriented.
In one of the episodes, his assistant talks about dealing with Jeff’s ups and downs. She says that sometimes you “take it.” Meaning, in any job there will be things you don’t like—and sometimes you have to just accept it. Sometimes, you take it. Not all the time, but sometimes.
I think about that saying a lot, because I see a lot of freelancers that don’t “take it” or take, well, anything. While there’s nothing wrong with ditching a client you don’t like, some freelancers bail the second they are told what to do or feel uncomfortable. That’s not such a bad thing if you really are not feeling it, but if you get into that mode, you’ll never develop client relationships.
I, on the other hand, probably take too much. I deal with sometimes rude emails and constant price haggling. In a few cases, I have stopped working with a client whom I feel is hugely toxic, but otherwise, I need to pay my bills and save money, and I feel that it’s okay to deal with a little crap every now and then.
After all, we’d do it if we were cooked up in a 9-to-5 job, so what is it that makes freelancers think they don’t have to put up with anything negative when self-employed? Being a freelancer doesn’t mean you don’t have bad days. It doesn’t mean you have the perfect job. It simply means you work on a project-by-project basis, for the most part.
When you’re working solo, you definitely have more choice in clients. Someone asks you to come down in price? Say no. They don’t like the design you created? Ditch em. Simple, right? Because you have “freelance freedom.”
But that attitude can backfire, and backfire big time. If you are too picky, you may wind up with no projects, twiddling your thumbs. People talk, and you could get a bad reputation for being difficult to deal with if you have the “itch to ditch”–and scratch it too often.
On the flip side, you don’t want your clients to treat you horribly. It takes balance to decide what you’ll put up with and what is a deal-breaker. Some people may dump a client if the tone of their voice is rude, while others will let the same issue come up repeatedly before they throw in the towel.
My point is, be careful when you think it’s time to bail. Can you set boundaries with the client, or confront him or her about their actions? Is it worth it to do so? These are all case-by-case situations that you have to decide as a freelancer. But I say, don’t be too choosy. Give things a shot if you think it’s worth it, whether that client can lead to bigger jobs or offers great pay. Those are vaible reasons to “take it” from time to time.
Yes, work with clients that pay well. Don’t let them nickel and dime you, so to say. Don’t deal with someone who is flat-out rude or criticizes you without the constructive element. But if a client tries to negotiate the price, consider hearing him or her out. They may not be trying to insult you, they may be working with a strict budget. And if they offer feedback, accept it. This is how you get better at what you do and build your reputation as a competent freelancer.
Again, it’s all a balancing act. But don’t let the fact that you can pick and choose clients keep you from building valuable relationships with customers. You may not get the best vibe at first, but sometimes, it’s just a rough patch.
An interesting topic to bring up, and an important one, however you have painted the picture as if there are only two options: “take it” or “run”, and you are encouraging freelancers to “take it” a bit more often. However you have missed a third and important option, which is “managing your clients expectations”
By managing your clients, and setting out expectations (how long updates take, prices, overtime/rush rate, when to submit by, estimated completion date, milestones) you create a framework for your clients to respect and work around. If you don’t explain any of this to them and simply “take it” or “run” when it doesn’t go right, both you and the client are loosing out.
Rule #1 clients don’t know how much work something is and how long things take. We have to tell them this from the beginning. For example: explain that revisions have to be submitted all at once (not in little tiny emails) , content has to be finalized and when submitted and by a certain date to keep the project on schedule, changes afterwards costs extra etc. etc.
Proper client management from the start is a lot of extra work, and it is not obvious what to tell a client and when, but it is crucial to keep clients from becoming a “run” or “take it” situation down the road
“Rule #1 clients don’t know how much work something is and how long things take. We have to tell them this from the beginning. For example: explain that revisions have to be submitted all at once (not in little tiny emails) , content has to be finalized and when submitted and by a certain date to keep the project on schedule, changes afterwards costs extra etc. etc.
Proper client management from the start is a lot of extra work, and it is not obvious what to tell a client and when, but it is crucial to keep clients from becoming a “run” or “take it” situation down the road”
I like your response as much as I really liked the article. I tend to “take it” even when I practice Rule #1 because lots of clients of mine are small businesses or non-profits with people who don’t work with computers much and think they know what they want but really have to be gently lead to better options — negotiate constantly.
I haven’t had rude emails or such, but recently I “fired” my first client in years because she lied to me about the work and basically drove me crazy with her constant paranoia which turned out to be true — my entire job was compromized by Trojan viruses she had acquired from an angry prior contractor. I was the third to try and design her a site. I can take abuse, but I can’t take lies.
Client management works most of the time because it takes time to understand one another — work styles, requirements, and how to translate what they want into something that can be done. But there is a time to bail.
Kristen,
Great post, and you make some excellent points here. I think that in some cases this difficulty (or flat-out inability) in dealing with a “bitch (about) or ditch” type of client may stem from a freelancer having a previous in-house life where they were shielded from these type of client relations by their project/production managers. In others it may just be overall professional inexperience. There are, of course, a few that may behave this way out of arrogance, but I think that’s a different situation and a whole other post entirely.
Freelancers forget at times that part of their job (and let’s not kid ourselves. No matter how much love and passion we may have, on some level it’s still a job) involves sales and marketing. And effective salesmanship involves good listening, and ultimately trying to listen to what’s not being said (something that you touched on towards the end). Developing some of these listening skills a bit could go a long way in helping them manage or avoid some of the pitfalls that can lead to negative client impressions.
Again, thanks for an excellent post…
I always stay with clients to the end. Even if it’s just not worth it or it’s kind of toxic.
Actually, makes me “stronger” everytime – it’s kind of like I don’t want to loose in my own eyes, so I try to see the project to the end.
Love hearing everyone’s perspectives!
Good Stuff!
Working hourly can solve a lot of problems quick.
As for ditching clients, if they’re clueless now, why would I want to work for them in the future? Life’s too short to work for clueless clients.
I agree with Alavri, you should try to manage your clients. Clearly put in your quote or contract your terms and stick with them. I’ve had to turn a few potential clients down because they either didn’t have a budget or felt like they were going to be a lot of work – but I definitely try to work it out as much as possible.
I think its important to walk away sometimes. Not that its a good thing to lose clients, but I’ve found that every time I begin the conversation of ending the work relationship… it makes the client realize the severity of the situation.
I actually was working as a contractor for a company for a long time, and I was severely underpaid. As much as I wanted them to succeed (I had equity in their venture), I could no longer work below my standard rate. So I explained that I’d have to stop working for them, and after that conversation they basically decided to more than double my hourly rate, just to keep me on board. That was over a year ago, and they’ve continued to be some of favorite people to work with… and now I’m not doing it at back-breaking prices.
Additionally, some clients are bit demanding… reminding them that the relationship is a two way street (and that you can leave) generally gets them the message that things need to change.
So I’ve never actually lost a client by “firing them”, I’ve only improved relationships by bringing it to that point. 95% of my projects go really well, but when it doesn’t… be prepared to bail, even though it may not necessarily happen.
Keep in mind I’ve done plenty of projects that may have been bit more stressful than I imagined, and you should only walk away if its truly causing to much stress (or harm to your wallet).
I wish I could turn down work at my cubicle job sometimes. And it would be nice to be able to get rid of people that I don’t like working with. I guess that’s the price you pay for having a steady paycheck.
It’s definitely a balancing act. Turning down too many clients leaves you without steady work, while accepting a disruptive or extraordinarily difficult client can eat up too much time for not enough money.
Managing expectations is critical. And I’m not just talking about managing the expectations of the clients you want to keep. I think we all have a bit of an ethical duty to manage the expectations of the clients we may not end up ever working with again, because some freelancer will have to work with them someday. If you give in to every crazy demand, every rude email, accept every disparaging comment, that client has now come to expect that they can treat everyone that way. In all likelihood, a rude client got to be that way by being rude to someone else and still getting their way in the end. I think we have some responsibility as professionals to manage the expectations of even the dead-end clients so that they know why we won’t work with them again.
Quick story (just happened today actually): A guy I work with got an email from a client this morning basically chastising him about a logo design job he was working on. The client beat him up on price from the beginning, but he still accepted the project even at a greatly reduced rate. He submitted 6 designs, all of which I personally thought were excellent. Seriously, stuff that is on par with award-winning logos.
Then he gets this email from the client, something in the neighborhood of 1,000 words (no joke) ripping into him and his work in way that was just humiliating. They said things like “I am very disappointed in you,” and “You obviously do not know what you are doing.” And now they want to see a whole new batch of designs but want to cut the project fee in half. So basically they still want the logo, they want a new batch of completely new designs, but they want to pay less.
I can put up with a lot of criticism and complaining, as long as it’s professional in nature. But this crosses the line. I read the email and it was written without a shred of constructive feedback and strictly with the intention to belittle the designer. The designer in this case is going to try and make the client happy, but I’m not sure he is going to go about it the right way. His strategy to deal with this client is to basically fall on his sword, apologize profusely, and hope that he can convince them to allow him to finish the project at the original full price. If it were me, I’d politely explain to the client that I will only finish the project at the agreed-upon full price, and also mention that I would prefer they word their communications and critiques of the presented work in more professional manner. If they disagreed with the full price or my request for more professional communications, I’d have to end the project and bill the completed portion.
The point of the story is that everyone has their own limits of what they will and will not take from a client. I think it’s just important that everyone have some sort of reasonable limit. We can’t be willing to take anything. There always has to be a point where a client’s expectations of how they can treat a contractor need to be managed.
Mike I am really sorry to hear about your co-workers predicament. That is a hard place to be in. Your advice on what he should do I agree with 100% . These types of people don’t get any better, and there are likely other issues going on. Maybe they were treated poorly in the past and have a grudge with the world, but in the end it is not our problem. How they treat us is.
I would advise your friend to cancel the project if possible. I had a similar client last fall and all I can say is it never got better and they caused me a lot of unnecessary stress. They weren’t as obvious as this one either, but there were a few red flags I should have paid more attention to.
One or two bad clients can ruin it for the rest of them and make you really not enjoy your job, they overshadow the other great clients you have. I think it is good to keep your “radar” up for bad clients and remove them from your roster as soon as possible. It’s like weeding your garden, it helps the rest of the grass grow better. Everyone is happier including you.
Wow tough call. I had a “nightmare” client once actually for almost a 8 month contract that the day the contract ended, I fired him and never looked back. Best thing I did the amount of time, money, and stress was not worth any of it. You can definitely get a bad taste in your mouth that lasts a good while if you get a real sour client. As I always want to see things to the end, as cliche as it sounds sometimes it is really best to cut your losses.
Once the emails or phone calls get disrespectful thats when you have to kill the relationship for the sake of your sanity and the sake of your good clients. Some clients are ignorant and you can’t chastise them for that, it is our job to guide and teach. A client that is ignorant, abusive, disrespectful and unteachable… He’s/She’s gotta go.
I totally believe in managing clients, but if you wouldn’t allow someone to treat you like the way a client is treating you in your everyday life, you should not do it in your work life.
Like you said, balancing things are simply essential.
Wonderful read, thanks a lot for posting
Ever hear of a Kill Fee? Check out the Graphic Artist Guild PEG’s book.
Yeah it’s basically a cancellation fee if I recall. I normally add it into my contracts but as a cancellation fee not Kill fee. Sounds less horrible and angry.
I absolutely love that show
I agree with some of your points. In the world of graphic and web design, it is essential to realize that people convey messages, and as a freelance contractor we have to take the good with the bad.
The story MikeMcD shares with us makes me think of a question I did to myself years ago, and I still do to myself when facing a difficult customer:
[b]What’s the price for my peace of spirit?[/b]
Honestly, when you accept working with a difficult client, one that makes you feel like crap and leeches your energy and self-esteem, you’re not only selling your work, but also selling a piece of your mental health and your peace of spirit. [b]What’s the price for that?[/b]
Learn from my mistakes. Before accepting a toxic customer, consider if you really need it, because you’re selling much more than your work on this one.
Great read! It’s true that as a freelancer, part of your time is spent doing what you’re good at, and part of the time is spent doing business development. It can become a difficult cycle to balance, so you have to be careful to always make sure there is balance