"I love my current clients - this isn’t about them. But in the past, mainly when I was a freelance journalist, I have had to deal with a few clients that were very difficult:
- Asking for more work without paying more
- Paying very late
- Insisting on changes even when I had strongly recommended against them
- Being uncommunicative or hard to reach
- Epic delays in giving feedback
- Feedback that was difficult to implement or (sometimes) understand
- Insist on impossible deadlines, even while delaying their own part in the process until the last possible moment
- Getting me involved in their office politics
Usually, bad clients and bad projects involve a combination of these problems. They cause me a lot of stress.
In a couple of cases, I’ve walked away from clients or projects, even at the risk of a big cut in my income, because the profit : pain ratio was too bad. I made these decisions based on emotion - the pain side of the equation - and I only came up with the idea of this ratio the other day.
Certainly, I can tolerate a lot more stress and inconvenience when I’m being well paid. I’ve heard this described as an ‘arsehole premium’. Ultimately, though, even the best-paid projects become too much if they affect your personal life or threaten your professional integrity."
This piece of text taken from badlanguage.net, shows that being a freelancer has its drawbacks in that people can be an annoyance when it comes to maintaining a smooth workflow.
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