Comments on: Freelance Writing Clients I Hate

By: CopyStratic

CopyStratic — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:00:10 +0000

OMGosh, Clint. Mom/Best Friend is an absolute home-run. Keep those backyard barbecues, pool parties and get-togethers where they belong and OUT of the office (where they don’t).

Daniel Bartel

By: BlueFur.com » Blog Archive » In the Sphere: Subs, Clients, and Taylor Swift

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:02:51 +0000

[...] quite the amusing piece on his experience as an entrepreneur. Can you identify with some of these freelance clients he hates? Have you had the talker, the first-timer, the dinosaur, or the [...]

By: Judah

Judah — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:16:42 +0000

I wrote for a bunch of El Mysterios last year. They turned out to be creative directors of a whole bunch of big ad agencies that got stumped and couldn’t crack the brief. :)

And I’ll add my vote to the never writing for friends. Especially friends from church. Oh no. My family knows better than to waste my time making me write their stuff for peanuts when I could be writing for other people and making more though. (Except for my mother, that is. That woman thinks nothing of making me write her little ads and brochures. BY HAND. )

By: Matthew Stibbe (Bad Language blog)

Matthew Stibbe (Bad Language blog) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:24:39 +0000

I couldn’t agree more about not working with friends and family. It’s a recipe for disaster.

Another type of bad client is the one who falls in love with the latest buzzword and wants you to ‘monetize’ or ‘do social media’ or ‘tweet’ or ‘add videos to my website’ or whatever it is that they just read about in the evening paper without understanding the first thing about it.

By: Anne Wayman

Anne Wayman — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:25:16 +0000

Oh yes, Clint, I know each and everyone of them. And some clients on the left coast think a f2f will improve things… touchy feely types? Well, no, but they seem to want to see me for some darn reason.

And I dodge writing for family and friends too, now.

By: Allena

Allena — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:49:33 +0000

hilarious! I would add not to work for friends either. Especially if you live in a low cost of living area. What strikes local people as expensive is fair game to my clients in other areas. So why bother with friends or locals? Take that, Michigan. (sorry, tangent)

By: Jake P

Jake P — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:30:07 +0000

Good stuff, Clint. For me, the worst is when you encounter the devil-spawned Dinosaur-Talker: i.e., the client who insists on meeting in person AND endlessly blah blah blahing once you get there.

By: Jennifer Mattern

Jennifer Mattern — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:25:12 +0000

So, Clint my boy, where exactly do I fall into that list? :P

@Dan — Oh yeah… you can be a talker. lol But you’re not that bad. I’ve had a few clients like that — you wouldn’t believe the kind of personal and family details I know about them (not by my choice). Ugh. You come across more as a combination of eager and personable — not a bad thing, so I wouldn’t worry too much.

By: LaToya Irby

LaToya Irby — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:05:04 +0000

haha! Love it! The talker is the worst! I had a client like that. I ended up quitting her.

El Mysterio is a close second. You never know what you’re doing right and you’re always afraid that they’re going to either fire you or just never email you again.

By: Dan Smith

Dan Smith — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:07:27 +0000

Hah, I love this post, Clint!

I’ve come across all of these types of clients, with the exception of ‘The Dinosaur’.

The ‘El Mysterio’ types are the ones that give me the creeps. You never know how well-received your work is but you know if you make a mistake. Oh, you know.

There have a lot of similarities to a Godfather, actually…

My only worry is that I think I sometimes fall into the realms of ‘The Talker’ myself!!