And How to Avoid Working for People You Can’t Get Along

Ariel Lim

Jun 12, 2020·11 min read

Have you ever worked with a client (or worked for someone) who doesn’t value what you bring to the table?

Most of the time, these people give great lip service in trying to sell the work/company, but when you get on board, that’s when all hell breaks loose.

I did. Here’s my story.

Background

I got fired from my last corporate job. The BS reason my boss gave to me is that I “didn’t meet management’s targets.” But the real reason behind it, your guess is as good as mine.

Here are a few facts from those circumstances: The results I brought in during my 3 months there exceeded the results of the previous 3 people in that same role for the same metrics.

I can’t quite remember the exact numbers now, but when I did the math before, the KPIs were 4x than the combined results of the last 3 people who were in that role.

I stayed in the role for ~3 months. The last 3 people who were in that previous role had it cumulatively for around 1.5 years.

But I digress.

History Repeats Itself

A few years after, I found myself in a similar situation. This was already a few years since I became a full-time freelance marketing consultant.

I had a client who doesn’t seem to know how to look in the mirror.

Everything bad that happens is somehow always because of the people around my client, i.e. other consultants/contractors.

It was never my client’s fault.

• Shuts you down when you raise concerns.
• Answers a simple yes-no question with a 25-minute story, that by the end of it, you either don’t want to ask anymore or simply just forgot what the original question was all about.

At this point, you already know that this is a bad client.

There are lots of red flags already. But I’ve got bills to pay.

I persevered.

Red Flags to Watch Out For

If you’re in this situation, or plan to not get into something similar, create a dealbreaker list in advance. That way, you’ll know if you would want to continue working with that client or not. Here are a few of them:

#1 No Respect for Other People’s Time

This client wants you to stick to a budgeted number of hours (i.e. 10 hours), but wants you on team meetings every single day.

Each meeting lasts 5 hours. Yes, I keep track.

During each team meeting that happens over Skype, you share your screen as the client tells you what to do while everyone watches.

Imagine that scenario.

You’re on a screen-share call with 5 other people. Your desktop is open for everyone to see. The client asks you to open this file. Edit this sentence. Adjust the font. Etc.

What if you’re one of the other people on the call?

Is that something you need to “see” step-by-step? Is that something you’d enjoy being part of?

#2 Doesn’t Value You as a Person

During this meeting, the client just talks and talks and talks about everything EXCEPT the tasks that you need to do.

Only the person who’s sharing the screen gets to do any sort of work during this meeting.

After some time, maybe around 45 minutes, the conversation shifts to updates on this other project.

Since there were no discussions on who does what by when, you’d have to ask how to move things forward.

But, when you ask to clarify the tasks, the client says, “I don’t have the time to answer all your questions. You ask too many questions. Just do this and let’s get on another call tomorrow.”

#3 Waste of Everyone’s Time

One of the tasks was to create a high-ticket webinar presentation. It’s been 4 months and it’s still not done. For 2–3x a week, it goes like this.

Everyone gets on a Skype call, the client goes through slide 1, tells a 15-minute story, then goes back to slide 1 to decide on a title. Then instead of going to slide 2, skips over to slide 53 because something came to mind.

Then, during that 20-minute soliloquy, the client wants to look up something on Google, so the client instructs the person sharing the screen to Google “lorem ipsum.”

The client then proceeds to share more stories about this image. 85 minutes in the call, we go back to slide 2.

Take note that the client insists on everyone being on the call.

So that’s 5–6 people watching the screen.

Oh, and since I was in a different time zone, here’s how that looks like on my end. I wake up at 2 am each day because that’s the time the client works. I brew my coffee, wash my face, and try a little bit of moving around—just to wake myself up.

Then, you’d find out that a meeting that’s supposed to be at 2:30 am won’t take place until 7 am.

No advanced warnings.

Just the client’s whims.

This client doesn’t respect us (employees and contractors) and everything we bring to the table. This client doesn’t respect our time.

So, for my sanity’s sake.

I fired my client.

How to Fire Your Client and Stop Working for People Who Doesn’t Respect You

Firing your client is never easy, especially if you really need money.

But if you want to avoid these kinds of clients, be prepared to do the more work upfront.

Here’s what I learned over the years and something I am currently doing so I avoid getting in this situation again.

1. Have 6 Months of Cash in Your Bank

This isn’t usually discussed in the consulting/freelancing world, but it’s of grave importance.

If you want to avoid getting clients who aren’t the right fit for you but are willing to pay you something, you better have some sort of backup plan.

In this case, it’s this 6-month’s worth of cash.

Yes, cash.

Not the extra space in your credit cards. Not that loan your bank keeps offering you. Cash.

Begin by listing down your essentials. These are the bills that need to be paid monthly. Not your nice-to-haves. Not your lifestyle needs.

These are the fixed expenses that you can’t get out of in the short-run.

1. Phone, internet, utilities
2. Food or grocery budget
3. Rent

Then think of ways to cut back on some expenses.

For example, instead of buying a Starbucks drink every morning, you can just buy a bag of beans and brew your coffee yourself. For the price of 3 venti-sized Frappuccinos, you can get yourself a whole bag that can last you a week or two.

Once you have this list, multiply that by six.

Don’t forget to account for annual expenses. For example, in my case, that’s my web hosting and domain name registrations.

That’s your target to have in your bank account as cash.

Not credit. Cash.

That way, when times get rough, you can just dip into this while searching for the right client, instead of compromising.

2. Invest in Yourself

One thing I recently applied to my life is that anything that involves my health or continuing education, I just go for it.

I don’t go crazy here. But it’s really very strategic if you think about it.

If you’re a programmer, the more you learn about programming, the trends or new techniques or approaches, etc., the better your services will be. If you’re a consultant like me, I stay on top of trends and do in-depth training on certain software or tools. If you’re a graphic designer, maybe there are new tools right now that can help you put out designs faster.

When it comes to health, you don’t have sick leaves. When you’re sick and don’t work, you don’t get paid. So, what do you do?

Exercise. Drink vitamins. Eat healthily.

Don’t skimp out on this because you’ll suffer in the long-run.

I’ve always had a back problem. And in the last 2 years, it has moved up my neck/shoulders. I invested in memory pillows and computer stands and back support. I’m now saving up for a better bed that can help me get a proper night’s sleep.

All these are investments in myself because if I am not healthy, if I don’t get a good night’s rest, if I don’t wake up feeling refreshed, my work suffers.

And so does my income.

3. List Down Your Client Deal-Breakers

Here comes the fun part.

If you’ve been consulting/freelancing for a while, you’ve certainly had your share of great clients and bad clients.

For this purpose, list down what you hated about your worst clients. They go into your deal-breaker lists. That way, when you speak with a potential client and it triggers a couple of these items in your list, you know you have to be extra vigilant.

Of course, that doesn’t mean if they do those things in your deal-breakers you shouldn’t take them as a client.

In most cases, yes, you shouldn’t.

Start thinking about what makes you hated working with them.

1. Do they always pay late?
2. Do they haggle your price?
3. Do they implement your recommendations?
4. Do they respect your time?
5. Do they come to meetings prepared?

Once you have this list, you use it as a reference when you speak with a potential client. Then, depending on some other subjective factors, you can decide if you want to pursue this or not.

One thing to remember: when you talk about doing business with a potential client, you are by no means obliged to take them on.

Even after sending in your proposal. Even after they said they’ll pay you.

It’s like a job interview. As an applicant, you still have the final say whether or not you want to work at that company. Don’t think that if you go to the interview, you have no choice but to work there. Remember, you need to get a job offer first. And even if you do, you can decide not to accept it.

Last February, before the world came to a stop, I applied this principle. Even after spending time getting to know a potential client’s business, researching and crafting a proposal, the potential client went on and triggered a bunch of things on my deal breakers list.

In the end, I didn’t pursue the relationship.

I followed the same advice I shared above.

• I saved up enough money for the next few month’s expenses.
• This potential client ticked off a bunch on my deal-breaker list (like haggling price/asking for a discount, wanting a detailed breakdown of where time would go, etc.)

I was only able to refuse to work with this client and give-in to his demands because I wasn’t desperate.

Which brings us to the next step…

4. Follow-Through Your Plan

If you’ve done your deal-breaker list, you can proceed with listing traits of your best clients.

But the hardest is sticking with this plan.

If you followed my first recommendation, then you shouldn’t have to worry about this. The problem is that most consultants/freelancers live in cycles.

Good times and bad times—aka the freelancing vicious cycle.

The main reason why this happens is they don’t have a strategy in place to keep their funnel filled with opportunities (point number 5 below).

And it’s probably the biggest reason why consultants/freelancers (me included) take on clients even if we know that they’ll turn out to be a problematic client.

They triggered every item in your deal-breaker list, yet you still take them because they are willing to pay and you needed the money.

My recommendation is to put up with it until you get to save up for your 6 months cash. But you’re free to take a leap and drop your client. Just make sure you are prepared for the repercussions.

For the next 15 months after firing that bad client, I tried my best to save up and build my emergency cash reserves. That’s how I was able to refuse to take on a potentially bad client.

Looking back, I can say that it was not easy. But it’s worth it.

5. Keep Your Top-Of-Funnel Filled

As consultants/freelancers, we often don’t take time to step back and look at how our industry work.

In the beginning, we don’t have any money.

So, this forces us to reach out, network, and do some “business development.”

Once we get a client and cash starts coming in, we shift focus to the current projects. We spend all our time working on the project. After it finishes, we go back to having no money, so we start prospecting again.

If you really want to get out of this vicious cycle, you don’t stop prospecting. Allot time to do it every week. Or an even better solution is you automate this stuff for you.

Depending on your industry, this differs. But I suggest listing down your activities on how you get prospects and leads, then think of ways to automate that.

For example, in my case, I mainly do inbound marketing. I write articles on my website and distribute them on specific channels where my audience are—this includes Medium and Linkedin.

On my site, I have multiple lead capture forms all over my site. I don’t just offer newsletter subscriptions. These are ineffective lead generation tactics. A proven way to generate more leads is to create marketing offers or lead magnets.

Once in, I have a tagging system to segment them. This helps me learn more about them, and more importantly, be able to tailor my messaging to them. Then, they get enrolled in lead nurturing sequences. That way, I don’t think about “selling” to them manually. Everything is done automatically.

I then improve and update the sequences after every quarter. This makes sure I only use relevant content in my emails.

6. Deliver Results, Get out Quick

Sometimes, even after all the screening, you still end up with a bad client.

What do you do in this case?

Get the smallest possible win or positive outcome then get out quick.

As much as I’d like to say this is what I did, it’s not exactly what happened with the client I was talking about. Because the client disappeared for a few months, that was my way out. After continuous followups for more than a month, there were no replies and/or decisions on proceeding with the next step.

But for another client I had, this was exactly what I did.

The project was about researching and writing content in the agriculture industry. The deal-breaker was the client keeps disappearing, most likely due to the work he does. I can’t blame him for that. But in my case, it meant no stable income, and there won’t be any results to showcase. That means I can’t include this as a case study on my website.

What I did was completed the initial research, did a proper turnover, then mention I was working on other projects (which I am) and I cannot spend any more time with this.

What about you?

Do you have a client (or a boss) that you’d like to fire or get out of? Have you fired a client before?

Or has anything like this happened to you before?

I’d love to know.

Want to learn more about how you can use digital marketing to grow your business? Then you might enjoy being part of my email list.

This post was originally published on ariel-lim.com and has been edited for Medium.