🔥 Campfire 19: How to deal with difficult clients?
Clients always come in different shapes and sizes. Sometimes you get to work with difficult clients who are unresponsive when you reach out.
Clients always come in different shapes and sizes. Sometimes you get to work with difficult clients who are unresponsive when you reach out. Some are always unhappy with your work (no matter how many iterations you went through). Others are simply taking advantage of you and not paying until satisfied.
But there’s also a positive point of view on difficult clients. When you reframe the problem and start seeing it from a different perspective, you’ll realize that that kind of client can help you build emotional resilience.
Thankfully, throughout my experience, I’ve had enough of difficult clients, so it’s easier now to identify ones even before the project begins. Aside from that, it can be beneficial to you to work with some of the problematic clients so that they can help you grow in the area you didn’t know about.
It’s effortless to put the client on top of the mountain and put yourself underneath that mountain. But it doesn’t have to be like this, even if you’re just starting as a freelancer.
Once in my career, I got involved in a project to deliver a landing page design for a construction company. They had a large work package and promised “more work after we successfully complete this piece.” Timelines were tight, so I delivered designs with a prototype over a few days.
Gladly, I asked for a deposit upfront, but as soon as the designs were delivered and I asked for final payment — surprise! To this day, I still haven’t been paid, and the company itself has gone AWOL.
This was my first experience with something like this. Still, it was a terrific learning experience that helped me mold areas of my work, such as my limits, what I should and would insist on, and what I determine is acceptable for me as a freelancer.
Many freelancers just starting their careers can make a mistake like this simply because of a lack of confidence. Holding your own in the face of difficulties can strengthen you in the long run. You must learn not to let others take advantage of you.
This week's discovery
"Pessimists sound smart. Optimists make money." — Nat Friedman
Apps and websites
Magnet →
Magnet keeps your workspace organized. It's a must-have tool for writing and designing. It helps to declutter your screen by snapping windows into organized tiles. The best thing about it is that it has outstanding keyboard shortcuts support so that you don't need to switch to using your mouse/trackpad.
Rows →
Rows is a brand new way to look at spreadsheets. It allows you to connect and analyze data, build forms and dashboards, and automate and share them. With Rows you can add endless integrations to fill the spreadsheets and manipulate the data.
Untitled UI Icons →
Untitled UI Icons is the ultimate icon library for Figma. It's a clean, consistent, and neutral icon library crafted specifically for modern UI design. Made for Figma, in Figma. You can download 168 icons with a free version.
Tweet of the week
To make work that people love, love your work
— Andrew Kirby (@IAmAndrewKirby) June 2, 2022
Attitude in your work is everything. When you love what you do and talk about it with passion, others will notice this and share your feelings.
