Dealing with "icky" clients
Explicit content warning
01/28/21 • 20 min
This week Frankie Tortora and Steve Folland have a chat in response to a question from Detective Mel Horn, AKA Anonymous. They say:
“How do you cope with "Client Ick"? Like that physical cringe you experience when you see someone you snogged at a staff party years ago but this time, it’s because your client is calling you and you secretly hate them.
Clients are good. Clients pay the bills. I should love that I have this client. Times are hard and I shouldn’t be ungrateful — after all I worked hard to get them in the first place.
But the honeymoon period of this client has died a death. My dilemma is that despite being a nice (but very insecure) person, as a client they are a royal pain in the bum. Which is fine when you are being paid for the service but right now we are in limbo between projects, so I’m officially off the books.
It’s a culmination of lots of little things that have started to grate on me. But after months of working with them and recently having some issues with bill payments, I now see their name appear on my phone or receive an email and I want to hit the gin (before responding in a professional manner, obviously!).
I hate that they annoy me (I need them!) and hate that they suck my time even when I’m not charging for it (look at me writing to you about them right now!)
Should I just accept that our relationship is tainted, move on and hope that a better client comes along? Is this the end?? Or am I just being a dick, battered after a year of sodding covid draining all my patience and humility."
What would your advice be? Let us know your thoughts using #DIFTKpodcast on Twitter and Instagram, and join in the conversation via the DIFTK Community on Facebook.
•••
This episode is supported by Agorapulse.
Managing social media has never been easier. Schedule your content, get reports, and engage followers with one simple tool. Try Agorapulse FREE for 1 full month.
Go to www.agorapulse.com/diftk
•••
Frankie Tortora's website
Steve Folland's website
Steve's podcast - Being Freelance
Doing It For The Kids website
DIFTK Facebook Community
DIFTK Instagram
DIFTK Twitter
This week Frankie Tortora and Steve Folland have a chat in response to a question from Detective Mel Horn, AKA Anonymous. They say:
“How do you cope with "Client Ick"? Like that physical cringe you experience when you see someone you snogged at a staff party years ago but this time, it’s because your client is calling you and you secretly hate them.
Clients are good. Clients pay the bills. I should love that I have this client. Times are hard and I shouldn’t be ungrateful — after all I worked hard to get them in the first place.
But the honeymoon period of this client has died a death. My dilemma is that despite being a nice (but very insecure) person, as a client they are a royal pain in the bum. Which is fine when you are being paid for the service but right now we are in limbo between projects, so I’m officially off the books.
It’s a culmination of lots of little things that have started to grate on me. But after months of working with them and recently having some issues with bill payments, I now see their name appear on my phone or receive an email and I want to hit the gin (before responding in a professional manner, obviously!).
I hate that they annoy me (I need them!) and hate that they suck my time even when I’m not charging for it (look at me writing to you about them right now!)
Should I just accept that our relationship is tainted, move on and hope that a better client comes along? Is this the end?? Or am I just being a dick, battered after a year of sodding covid draining all my patience and humility."
What would your advice be? Let us know your thoughts using #DIFTKpodcast on Twitter and Instagram, and join in the conversation via the DIFTK Community on Facebook.
•••
This episode is supported by Agorapulse.
Managing social media has never been easier. Schedule your content, get reports, and engage followers with one simple tool. Try Agorapulse FREE for 1 full month.
Go to www.agorapulse.com/diftk
•••
Frankie Tortora's website
Steve Folland's website
Steve's podcast - Being Freelance
Doing It For The Kids website
DIFTK Facebook Community
DIFTK Instagram
DIFTK Twitter
Previous Episode
Bye Bye 2020
This week Frankie Tortora and Steve Folland have a chat in response to a question from Ginger Nuts Cracklefriend, AKA Anonymous. They say:
"As we come to the end of this shit show of a year, what do you want to take into 2021 and what would you leave behind? I remember the episode where Steve sat in his car and you never answered a question but had mutual therapy and I wondered how the rest of the year went for you both. Thanks!"
What would your advice be? Let us know your thoughts using #DIFTKpodcast on Twitter and Instagram, and join in the conversation via the DIFTK Community on Facebook.
•••
This episode is supported by Agorapulse.
Managing social media has never been easier. Schedule your content, get reports, and engage followers with one simple tool. Try Agorapulse FREE for 1 full month.
Go to www.agorapulse.com/diftk
•••
Frankie Tortora's website
Steve Folland's website
Steve's podcast - Being Freelance
Doing It For The Kids website
DIFTK Facebook Community
DIFTK Instagram
DIFTK Twitter
Next Episode
Deciding how much work you can take on
This week Frankie Tortora and Steve Folland have a chat in response to a question from designer and web developer Laura Ockenden. She says:
“As a newbie full-timer, I'm struggling a bit with planning in work and knowing how much I can take on and when.
I've got a few jobs on now but often find myself procrastinating under the guise of waiting for clients to get back to me — should I be looking for more work? Should I book in clients for next month? How long will a job take? How long is a piece of string?!
I've been quite lucky that things have sort of just fallen into place recently but it feels like I need to start giving this whole idea some brain-space now it's the thing that actually pays my mortgage!"
What would your advice be? Let us know your thoughts using #DIFTKpodcast on Twitter and Instagram, and join in the conversation via the DIFTK Community on Facebook.
•••
This episode is supported by Agorapulse.
Managing social media has never been easier. Schedule your content, get reports, and engage followers with one simple tool. Try Agorapulse FREE for 1 full month.
Go to www.agorapulse.com/diftk
•••
Lauren Ockenden's website
Frankie Tortora's website
Steve Folland's website
Steve's podcast - Being Freelance
Doing It For The Kids website
DIFTK Facebook Community
DIFTK Instagram
DIFTK Twitter
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/doing-it-for-the-kids-177762/dealing-with-icky-clients-14947152"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to dealing with "icky" clients on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy