Red Flags for Freelance Writers: 12 Unmistakeable Signs of a Bad Client

Does your blood pressure rise every time you get an email notification? Have those feel good, new-project butterflies morphed into a heavy, sinking feeling at the bottom of your stomach? Is a client demanding more of you? More time, more revisions, and more of your mental space? Is a subtle feeling of dread beginning to follow you around like your own personal raincloud? 

Looks like you’ve landed yourself a nightmare client.

Good clients are like gold dust. They’re a pleasure to work with, they pay on time, and they respect you and the work you do. In contrast, bad clients bring you a heavy dose of stress, anxiety, and self-doubt. Bad clients are never worth it. No matter how much money they're offering.

How did you get yourself into this mess and how can you avoid the same mistake in future? 

The one ‘good’ thing about bad clients is that they have pretty consistent ‘tells’ - or red-flag behaviours. Here are the 12 early warning signs to look out for as a freelance writer.

1. Weekend – What Weekend? The Guy Who Expects You to Be On-Call 24/7

One of the biggest red flags for a bad client is someone who doesn’t respect your time. You know the one, the client who sends you multiple emails outside of your work hours and gets seriously irate when you don’t reply within a five-minute window.  

This behaviour is a sign of insecurity and the need to micro-manage – stubborn characteristics that become entrenched over decades and won’t budge with a 5-minute conversation about boundaries. 

Rob Bogosian, co-author of Breaking Corporate Silence, beautifully highlights the connection between micromanaging and the need for power and control,  “They tend to see the world as a place that needs lots of structure to avoid chaos. When the boss takes the solution to the finish line, their adrenal system dumps feel-good chemicals into the body. The micromanager scores the winning solution and is rewarded physiologically, so why stop? They are most likely addicted to control. Of course, the micromanager is unlikely to admit their addiction.”

This brings us to our second red flag…

2. The Problem Client Who Ignores Boundaries 

Toxic people resent and express anger towards healthy boundaries. In contrast, great clients are reflective and respectful of your needs and wishes – they can balance them with their own.

A boundary violation may look like a client ignoring your request to use email instead of IM and spamming you with 4,000 IM messages on the daily. In contrast, maybe your kind of bad client is a lover of the scope creep and regularly piles on more work than you’ve contractually agreed to.

The best way to test people - in work, in friendship, and in love - is to see how they react to your boundaries. Are they accommodating and understanding? Or do they become aggressive, resentful, or guilt provoking?

Dr John Townsend and Dr Henry Cloud illuminate the toxicity behind an angry response to boundaries, “People who get angry at others for setting boundaries have a character problem. Self-centered, they think the world exists for them and their comfort. They see others as extensions of themselves.”

3. The Problem Client Who Always Makes You Feel Doomy After You Speak to Them 

In the modern world ‘logic’ and rational thinking are held up as the gold standard for savvy decision making. Emotions are often sneered at as ‘lesser’ functions of our intellect.

In both 20th century psychology and economics, the homes of decision making theory - the study of the mechanisms behind our choices, emotions were largely left out of the equation. Now? Many psychological scientists see emotions as the driving force of most meaningful decisions in life.

People are inherently emotional. Emotions are instinctive. They are a form of processing information. Emotional processing has enabled us to survive – from outsmarting sabre-tooth tigers to mastering not getting run off the highway at rush hour. Emotions are connected to the unconscious – signalling knowledge we are yet to intellectualise on the surface level. 

As such, when it comes to our relationships, feelings are a huge source of information. 

Say you feel guilty or angry after an exchange with a client. On the surface, you may rationalize your feelings away, “They are being polite – I’m the one being sensitive,” or, “I’m sure they didn’t mean it like that.”

If you begin to notice that you always feel bad after a conversation, chances are you are dealing with a nightmare client. 

Anyone who makes you feel consistently bad, even if you can’t figure out why, is likely not a good person to work with. 

Contrast this consistent negative emotional tone to feeling occasionally disappointed - or some other minor, normal emotional reaction in response to constructive criticism. 

4. The Problem Client Who Talks Down to You

Any rudeness or disrespect in your interactions is a glaring red flag. Often a sign a client enjoys the power rush of their position, while feeling as though they have little personal power – despite feeling entitled to it… 

These clients don’t trust others, potentially because they often find their harsh exterior turns people against them and they therefore feel like they have to coerce and manipulate others to get them to fall in line. 

For different clients, this can play out differently.

One common example is the client who dictates instead of asks, “I want X number of revisions, on X platform, by X date.”

Another example is the teeth-grinding overuse of question marks or exclamation marks in every line of an email. “I need to call you today!!!!” or, “Can you do X?!”. We all like to sprinkle our emails with exclamation points every now and then, but every single line suggests a lack of respect. 

5. The Problem Client Who Muses, “You’re not like all my ex-freelancers, you’re special…” 

“I’ve been through so many other writers and they couldn’t perfect my brand voice – but I think you’re going to be someone truly amazing to work with.”

This is the dating equivalent of, “All of my ex partners were terrible people/’crazy’/mysteriously disappeared without a trace, but you - you’re different.”

No, you’re not different. And the issue wasn’t with past freelancers, it was with the client’s unrealistic expectations.

6. The Clueless Problem Client 

This is the client that comes to you with no game plan, no research, no strategy, and no creative brief. They have no idea of what they want. They just ‘think’ you might be the solution.

“We’ve been thinking that a copywriter could really help our business…”

“What exactly does a copywriter do, again?”

7. The Problem Client Who Gives You the Creeps 

This client gives you a sickly feeling in your stomach. They have inappropriate boundaries; they want your number, they call you pet names, they compliment your looks, they suggest whisky after hours. Nope, nope, nope.

8. The Problem Client Who Brags 

Genuinely successful and contented people don’t feel a need to brag. Bragging suggests someone who is trying to put you on the backfoot by wowing you with their ‘incredibleness’. 

According to Live Science, bragging also highlights an empathy gap - with the bragger assuming the listener will feel inspired and in awe of their greatness – rather than irritated. Dealing with a bragger? This suggests someone who struggles to see and respect you as a separate person - but rather sees you as an extension of themselves and a sponge - ready to soak up all of their emotional needs - despite the professional nature of your relationship.

9. The Problem Client Who Doesn't Share Conversations 

In client calls and meetings, it’s a good thing to get clients talking - you want to know more about them and their business. But good clients also ask questions - they are interested in you and your expertise. They are interested in your feedback. They want to strategise with you, not at you. Clients who dominate your every conversation are a walking red flag.

Think of it like a bad first date, where your date is hogging the conversation. There is no more reliable surface quality indicating deep self-absorption than people who dominate a conversation - without asking any questions.

This is the biggest red flag for abusive behaviour that cuts through the charm so characteristic of abusive or toxic people on first meeting. 

I measure this by asking myself, “How many questions has this person asked me?” or, “Concretely, here’s what I can say this person knows about me or my business...” 

11. The Problem Client Who is Charming as Hell 

Wait, charm is a good thing – right? 

We adore charm – who doesn’t love compliments, confidence, and someone who is fun to be around? 

It takes a lot of energy for someone to maintain the sparkling exterior of consistent charm. To what end are they using it? Why do they unconsciously feel the need to invest in dazzling you?

People who move through the world harming and using others must package that in an appealing exterior shell - or you wouldn’t stick around.

‘Superficial’ charm is also characteristic of the narcissist and the sociopath and ranks highly on Robert D. Hare's Hare Psychopathy Checklist.

Charm is a warning sign, no matter how much we hold it up as a great quality to have. It’s not. It’s a glaring red flag. 

12. The Problem Client Who is Shifty About Money or Contracts

Any client who gets jumpy about your contracts or rates is not the client for you. 

Rate and contract negotiations are a regular part of doing business – a good client doesn’t get defensive about either. 

In addition, contracts are a must for protecting both parties. A client who doesn’t want to work with a contract is indicative of a client who is looking to wiggle out of paying you for your services.  

Even Your Finest Rational Capabilities Can’t Prevent You Teaming-Up with a Nightmare Client: Here’s What You Should Trust Instead

When weighing up any prospective client in front of you, there’s one thing you should trust above all else: 

Your gut. 

Once viewed as suspiciously ‘airy-fairy’, the gut is actually an enormous source of wisdom – and has since earned the title of the ‘second brain’.

The gut is connected to unconscious processing, which happens far faster than with the conscious mind - in which you say, “Ah, this person is doing X negative behavior.” Malcom Gladwell dubs this super-speedy unconscious process "thin slicing" - it's how you can tell someone is subtly flirting with you or why you cross the street to avoid someone late at night.

If you have no other information, going with your gut is enough.

Learn the Signs of a Bad Freelance Writing Client

If you’re consistently being taken advantage of, maybe take a day or two to sit down and etch out the answer to these questions: 

1.   What exactly about this client left you reeling?

2.     What were the potential warning signs you missed that were indicative of poor character?

3. What are some positive green flags to look out for in your next prospect call? Warmth, an interest in your expertise, and treating you as an equal in conversation are some good things to note.

Many toxic people are adept at ‘covering’ their most sinister traits and it can take time to become skilled at learning how to spot a toxic client before you sign a contract. 

With repeat experience, you’ll begin to instantaneously notice when a client is exhibiting questionable traits – ensuring that you keep yourself and your business safe from their toxic influence. 

Arm Yourself Against Nightmare Freelance Writing Clients 

Nightmare freelance writing clients can totally undermine your confidence and energy, but they happen to the best of us.

Luckily, you don’t have to get stuck in the doomy fog of another toxic client, you can learn to catch their give-away 'tells' – no matter how sweet, charismatic, or impressive they may seem on the surface. 

Above all? Trust your gut and don’t try to reason away any bad feeling you may have about working with someone.