When reading “10 Things I Hate About Clients! “, I couldn’t help but nod in agreement as I progressed. I could relate to every item on the list. I believe no self respecting freelancer can say (without lying) that they *never* came across any of those situations. So, what makes us put up with that?
I am quite sure we are all not masochists just suffering through every client we have. So, there must be a reason why you put up with such lousy behaviour. Let’s take a look at the most frequent causes.
Money
I think it is quite safe to say that this is the most common reason for us all. If we did not need the money, we would probably fire some of our clients. Who hasn’t ever thought about just telling that awful client to just go find someone else to push around? Usually, this is just daydreaming, not something you actually do.
Pride
Even if we don’t need the money, freelancers tend to be quite stubborn to admit defeat. I am certainly not going to put my arms down just because I got a tough cookie out of the jar. Before tossing it aside, I will most definitely do my utter best to try to finish what I started. There is no better feeling than finally delivering work to a client that has been more difficult than average.
Prestige
Over the years, I have taken some jobs, even against my better judgement, because I thought they would look good on my portfolio. Most often than not, I ended up regretting such decisions. It is quite common for freelancers to just accept any oddball behaviour just because it is a high-profile client.
No matter how many reasons I can think of, each of you will find this list incomplete. We each have our own set of motivations and reasons. For me, it all boils down to one big reason. The reason that makes it all worthwhile:
Having clients allows me to make a living doing what I love
Say whatever you want about clients and their attitudes, but, at the end of the day, if it weren’t for these very same clients, we’d be stuck working a 9 to 5 job, probably for a boss we would hate even more that we hate certain clients.
Finally
Do you love your clients? What is your opinion regarding this post? Comment below, we would love to hear from you.
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February 22nd, 2010 at 6:09 pm
An excellent post Oli. You have excellently summarised the reasons why we all stick with clients despite everything they do. Nice write-up!
February 22nd, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Thanks !! Let’s see why other freelancers love their clients !
February 23rd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
After over 10 years as a graphic designer, I still learn something new with every client, adding to my overall experience.
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:26 pm
I am seriously considering dropping a client right now for not paying me. A true ass to work with, and no respect. Money is never a deciding factor when choosing which clients to work for.
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:40 pm
Just wanted to let you know that your page is not showing up properly on the BlackBerry Browser. Anyway, I?m now on the RSS feed on my laptop, so it shows!
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:29 pm
I love Clients showing respect. Got many of them. If I see that Customer is a kind of person who “does not like to show respect” I just do not work with him. And there’s one thing I totaly love. It’s a sentence: “great work Andrzej” :)
February 27th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I love them because they appreciate hard and quality work. And big majority of them do that.
March 1st, 2010 at 5:26 am
Great post. I love those types of posts about client issues — I guess it’s a great way to vent and discuss problems with other freelancers. Bad clients can cause a lot of anger, but good clients that are decent to work with I take pride in. Great points here, couldn’t agree more, and I love my (nice) clients!
April 1st, 2010 at 6:08 am
Hi, I’ve never seen a post before about love for clients. This is really interesting. To answer your question, what I love about my clients is the learning experience which you can’t simply buy on E-bay. So far, I’ve had good working relationships that turned freelance clients into great acquaintances ( and even good friends ).