Toxic clients are like fast food: easy to get, tempting and addictive. You know they're bad for you, yet you keep ending up at their door.
Their aim is to get you in cheap and squeeze everything they can out of you. They want you to guarantee the imaginary goals they've made up in their heads. Their successes are theirs alone; their failures are down to your shortcomings.
They make plenty of optimistic promises about a vague future and get under your skin with “you'll earn a lot from us down the line”. They ask for discounts. You do your best on a tight budget and try not to add costs, but the moment they're under pressure, they don't hesitate to make you feel worthless.
They pull you onto the treadmill. You go round and round in endless work, constantly telling yourself “once I earn enough, I'll find better clients”, but nothing changes.
I have bad news for you: as long as you work for clients like these, you will never earn enough and you will never find better clients. Because while they keep you fed, they quietly consume you from the inside.
Take a step and start putting an end to these toxic relationships. It isn't easy, but believe me, staying on this treadmill is far worse.
How do you spot a bargain-hunting client?
Even if you're starving, don't work with a bargain hunter. If you must, work cheaply for a good client, but stay away from the bargain hunter.
Bargain hunters are very demanding. They cost you more in time and energy than you earn from them. Before saying what they want, they ask “how much would you do it for?” They'll knock a 100-lira job down to 90 and chase your 10 liras as if that were profit.
While happily eating your margin, they think nothing of piling far more work on you than you agreed. They don't hesitate to throw your smallest mistake or delay in your face. And in good faith, you say yes to little jobs outside the agreed scope. Over time these become part of your job description, and before you know it, your hands are tied.
They are vague about what the project is meant to achieve, yet surprisingly clear about endless arbitrary revisions: “make it a touch bigger, use a livelier font, add some motion, it didn't wow us, let's try it another way.” With their shoestring budget, they put a big brand's work, made with a multi-billion advertising campaign, in front of you and say “we want this effect.” Of course, they're very smart and always right.
The right client for a profitable business
The time to smile and close the door on these smart, always-right folks has long since come. If you want a profitable business, you should try to add a few clients who can pay high fees to your portfolio. Don't be scared of the fee you ask for. Say “I charge this, and in return I treat them like royalty and solve their problems”, and work accordingly. Because they repay it many times over.
Let them pay you gladly. And you focus and do whatever it takes: add someone to your team if needed, buy images from the best stock library if needed, pay 100 dollars for the plugin that does the job. Pay it so your work shines and you shake off the cheapness the bargain hunter stuck on you. Stop saving on trifles.
Don't worry; you're not ripping off this visionary client or asking for a fee you don't deserve. Because you'll do whatever it takes to make them happy. After all, didn't they pay the fee you asked for? And weren't they convinced that your best work would solve their problems in return? Don't let up. The only thing you should give up is the bargain hunters, and leave those to your competitors.
Remember: Just as being able to work with alternative providers is the client's power, being able to thank a client you don't want and part ways is your greatest power.
The post that inspired this article (and much of which I translated directly): Chris Do, “Stop working for cheap”.
