Every writer knows what it’s like to work with frustrating clients. These are the ones who make you pull your hair out while crossing your fingers that you’ll still get paid.
However, every job represents an opportunity to learn, and bad clients are no exception to this rule. In fact, they’re a prime example.
Don’t believe it? Keep reading to check out four skills you can learn from your worst clients.
Every freelancer knows the pain of clients who don’t know what they really want. Some of them expect you to be a mind-reader and provide the exact fresh content they dream about without them actually knowing WHAT they want.
Needless to say, this is one of the most frustrating experiences a writer can have. However, these situations can help you master the skill of decoding what clients expect – even when they don’t consciously know what they expect.
For instance, a request to change “tone” means a client wants more of what they got from a previous writer; and a request for additional material is usually a compliment masking their desire to get more copy for less money.
Take these lessons to heart as you go forward. Learning their unspoken demands can help you with your very best clients while helping you avoid getting more of the very worst.
Many writers suffer from a very specific problem: we’re just too nice! It’s the kind of quality that pays off with your family, your friends, and even in traditional corporate environments. However, it’s a dangerous quality for freelancers to have.
This is because bad clients will seek to exploit you. They’ll try to demand endless revisions, get extra work, and otherwise take advantage of your kindness. Take this as an opportunity to start saying “no.”
It works out pretty well because nice writers have trouble saying no to the people they like. Get your practice saying it to clients you don’t like, and this will keep you from being exploited in the future.
There’s a kind of paradox for freelance writers when it comes to pricing. On one hand, professionals constantly encourage other professionals to raise their prices and to charge what they are truly worth. On the other hand, so many starving writers are willing to work for so little that freelancers worry about pricing themselves out of business.
However, bad clients are a perfect opportunity to start raising your prices. When a client wants extra work, send them a new invoice. When clients want an endless array of revisions, charge them extra for your time.
As with saying “no,” getting practice raising your prices for the worst clients will help you in the long-term as you find better and better clients.
It’s a little on the nose, but the final lesson that bad clients offer to freelance writers is how to avoid bad clients. If you pay close attention to the worst experiences you’ve had with clients, you’ll be able to recognize these signs in the future.
And even if you don’t want to avoid them entirely, knowing that a client is likely to be trouble lets you price your services accordingly. It’s a great bottom line for any freelance writer: don’t just put up with someone when you can get PAID to put up with someone!
