How to Set Boundaries With Clients
As a service provider, it can feel like you’re at the beck and call of clients. After all, it’s our job to please, right? But just because you’re being paid for a service doesn’t mean you have to bend over backward to get the job done.
I’ve had first-hand experience ignoring the signs and booking “red flag” clients that featured frustration on both sides. In this blog, I hope you will learn from my mistakes and use the following tips to set healthy boundaries early and avoid overbearing clients.
First, what are the red flags that make a client a bad fit?
12 Red Flags Every Freelancer Should Know (And Avoid)
If your business is new or you’ve experienced slow seasons, you know how stressful it can be when inquiries don’t flow in. You may finally get a potential client who wants to book your services, but during the call, you have a bad feeling in your gut. You may disregard it and carry on because you need the money, but in the end, it’s not worth the pain you’ll put yourself through.
If you do decide to work with them, one of two things with happen:
You’ll develop tolerance and enable their behavior.
You’ll reach a breaking point and burn out.
Red flag clients aren’t only bad for business—they’re detrimental to your health as well. When in a toxic working relationship, you may experience increased levels of stress, insomnia, anxiety, low productivity, lack of interest or motivation to do your work, etc.
Red flags to look out for when a potential client initially reaches out
❌ They worked with someone in the past but it didn't work out; when asked to explain, they bad-mouth them.
❌ They don’t know what they want.
❌ They try to talk you out of your prices or bargain too much.
❌ They compare you to others.
❌ They refuse to sign a contract.
❌ They have a background in your field, saying they could handle the project themselves if they had the time.
Red flags that reveal themselves after booking a not-so-great client
❌ They have unrealistic expectations.
❌ They expect you to be available 24/7.
❌ They micromanage you.
❌ They never pay on time.
❌ They are unreasonably critical of your work.
❌ They don’t respect your professional boundaries.
Consider saving this list and referring to it after a discovery call with a potential client. If they wave any of these red flags during your conversation, you’ll know to kindly decline their request to work with you.
4 Tips for Setting Healthy Boundaries With Clients
Whichever type of client you land, boundaries need to be set and maintained—the second step being more difficult. Good clients can quickly become bad ones if you let them overstep. Once you budge, you create a crack in the foundation that will no doubt grow until everything crumbles.
I was discussing with a fellow designer recently the struggle of building a healthy relationship with clients. We both experienced clients we loved working with and others we couldn’t wait to off-board. Clients we loved respected and trusted us and valued our work. Red flag clients were disrespectful, micromanaged us, and felt their payments gave them the right to push us around.
When you own your own business, no one is going to advocate for you or look out for your best interest. Advocate for yourself by setting boundaries.
1. Write a thorough contract
Before you begin working with a client, have an airtight contract in place for them to sign. Contracts ensure you don’t get overworked, underpaid, and pushed over. Here are some important sections your contract should include to protect yourself from untrustworthy clients:
Outline selected services and deliverables.
Cost, fees, and payment schedule.
Communication.
Change of scope.
Relationship of the parties.
Copyright.
Feedback expectations.
Proofs, revisions, and approval.
Loss of work.
Cancellations or rescheduling.
Force majeure.
Termination.
Governing law.
Severability.
Amendments.
Dispute resolution.
Signatures of agreement.
If you don’t have a reliable contract in place, browse a list of contracts for various freelance professions at The Contract Shop to protect yourself. (All contracts are peer-reviewed and written by an attorney, so you know it’s legal.)
2. Set expectations early
From the get-go, your clients should know your working hours, the scope of the work, turnaround and response times, project timeline, communication expectations, etc. One way that I set expectations early is by sending a comprehensive Welcome Guide before the project kicks off. In this 20+ page PDF, I explain what clients should expect when working with me, define the details of our working relationship, and establish my boundaries.
If you don’t communicate this clearly at the beginning of the project, you have nothing to refer to when clients overstep. What’s just as important as setting expectations and boundaries is sticking to them. Next, let’s talk about maintaining boundaries instead of making exceptions or excusing unacceptable behavior from clients.
3. Don’t make exceptions
Let's say in your welcome guide or kick-off call you explain that your working hours are between 9am and 5pm. However, you continuously respond to a client’s late-night emails. When you engage clients outside of your normal business hours, you unintentionally train them to expect a response from you whenever they reach out—even though that's not the boundary you initially set.
Don’t make exceptions unless they're within reason. Sometimes, when you give an inch, they take a mile. If you're always bending over backward for people who voluntarily ignore your boundaries, you enable their lack of planning to become your priority.
You can work on the project outside of business hours as you see fit, but avoid interacting with the client. If you breach your own boundary, your client will see them as just guidelines.
4. Address boundary breaches ASAP
Some boundary breaches may be easier to address than others. For example, if the scope of work is clearly defined in your contract and the client asks for extra work, you can easily write an amendment including the additional services and cost. Similarly, you can address late payments by referring to the late penalty clause in your contract. Not all boundaries can be written in a contract though.
Whether the boundary was originally communicated or not, you need to address breaches immediately. Ideally, you’ll have communicated your boundaries early on so you can enforce them via your contract, welcome guide, or email. If not, set the boundary as soon as something happens to communicate your standards of conduct.
Don’t Be a Pushover; Be Professional
Setting boundaries with clients is one of the most important things you can do at the beginning of a project. And in the end, it will benefit both parties. It can be easy to get friendly and, therefore, casual with nice clients, but you never know how they may respond to potential conflicts. One standard I have in my business is keeping communication as professional as possible at all times.
There are times to go above and beyond but use your “wise mind” – as my therapist calls it – to discern when to do so. It’s your business, so be the boss but always keep it professional.
Takeaways
→ If you don't set boundaries and establish a clear process, you'll be working around the clock to hit a deliverable date and burn out before you bloom.
→ If you set and hold to your boundaries, you'll conserve your creative energy, which ultimately creates a better client experience and end result.
If you’re a potential client looking for a designer, read the blog: How to Choose a Branding Professional. Interested in learning more about entrepreneurship, branding, and web design? Subscribe to my newsletter below!
