10 reasons not to work for the client

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    How to understand that it is better not to work for certain clients? Why as time comes they are capable of stopping paying in the original volume or even ask the artist to work in debt, using “credibility”? Where to find the line, crossing which health and nerves become more important than money? I will share my experiences.

    So, here are 10 reasons why you should not work for a client:

    1. “He pays little or doesn't want to pay more” is one of the most common. When I've worked for several publishers, I was often told “we want a very high quality, detailed illustration, but we can pay you $100 only” or “we need a series of cool covers, but cheap”. At that time they were quite famous and their modest budget surprised me. It was not an inspiring idea to work a whole month on a single picture for $100, but clients didn't seem to care about artists who had to somehow live with that money. Another example gave me some individual clients who, over time, decided to save on their contractor. At first, they paid me well and I liked to work with them. They were polite and attentive. When the number of completed orders exceeded a few dozen, their tastes have changed. Using as an excuse “give me a discount, because I have a long time ordering from you” they started proposing me smaller amounts. At that moment I thought: “Why not? I could make a lower price for regular customers”. It was my mistake. They started to demand more for less money and my motivation hit rock bottom. Absolutely insolent clients began to lower the payments even more, saying that they could use other artists at any time. They believed that a freelancer is dependent on their money and they could manipulate him any way they wanted. Absolutely not.

    2. “The client makes you furious, annoys, disgusts you” – you can add here arrogance, discomfort when communicating with him and everything similar to that. He may pay you very much and timely but makes absolutely incredible requirements, forcing you to turn inside out up to the rejection of the personal life and deterioration of your health. Or he might be a troublemaker, to troll, and a control freak who endlessly distracts the artist sending him messages. I even met cases when the client could directly insult the artist by calling him an absolute loser, and his work calling shit. To work with a client like this requires incredible patience. I think that the phrase: “Money does not smell” is not applicable in this situation. Such clients are not only able mentally to defame a freelancer in the dirt, but to provoke him to vent accumulated anger at other people. There is only one way out: to refuse such work.

    3. “The client invokes suspicion and distrust” – be careful with these, it is very easy to run into fraud or scam. Study the profile of the person with whom you work. See the history if there are any. You should be alerted if the client is inadequate, inattentive, makes a huge number of mistakes in the text. If intuition makes you hesitate, then behave very carefully, especially in financial terms. Freelancers often become victims of cheaters.

    4. “He doesn't want to work under the contract” – the reason that is closely related to the preceding paragraph. However, it is worth to make an exception. They don’t use contracts at the Deviantart. The guarantee is full or partial prepayment. It depends on the rules of the freelancer. Although this method of operation is not recommended. A contract gives us at least some guarantee and protection against possible problems. However, there was a case when I was cheated by a company which was useless to sue. It just went bankrupt and even the court couldn't do anything. It simply had nothing to pay, although the work was carried out under the contract. The only thing consoled that I was not the only artist caught in this situation.

    5. “He doesn't know what he wants” – you have to literally pull out a technical assignment from the client. He can often change his mind and complicated work of a freelancer. Such a client may cause a lot of problems. You need to have patience and time to help him decide. Well, if the customer is comfortable to communicate with and his budget allows your services. Usually, I spend extra time to make a clear TA. Courtesy and communication of the artist side sometimes make wonders. If the customer is not able to make up two words, even when you help him to define it, it would be better if he comes back to you later. It's worth giving him time to think things over calmly.

    6. “It takes a long time for him to answer or he may disappear for an indefinite time” – it wouldn’t seem a problem if the work was entirely paid in advance. But if it was not? What to do? Just a year ago I had such a case. I had a client with the game design for mobile platforms. He needed an artist who would make the design for the whole game, including icons. He wanted to take one person and pay him $1780 per month. It would seem that the offer was very tempting. The project was a fantasy card-game. It required drawing about 4000 images. The deadline was tough, but even more confusing was the poorly drafted TA with examples of very expensive illustrations and the longtime of waiting for the answer from the client, which could take weeks. Since I constantly had to make the coordination and approval of materials with the client, and also somehow to meet the deadline, I had to give up the project. The most compelling reason was this: in the case of failure, the artist would be responsible. The second reason was high requirements to the illustrations. Some were impossible to draw in a few days. They demanded much more time. The third was the insufficient amount of payment. I didn’t feel like working 7 days a week, 10-16 hours a day, while the client could easily go on vacation. Calculate all possible risks in advance; do not settle under the pressure of enthusiasm, if you aren't sure about something. If you see that there is a probability of missing a deadline due to the customer, negotiating this point. In an extreme case, discard it.

    7. “He asks you to work in debt” – this situation is something similar to the first paragraph. Sometimes someone unfamiliar may come to you and ask you to do something and then pay. It's good if he really pays. Bad if this doesn't happen. Always take an advance payment. Don't make exceptions. Even if this is your old favorite client, consider the risks.

    8. “He demands the impossible in a short time” – and sometimes he asks to do a project that was supposed to be ready “yesterday”. A common phenomenon. I think, sometimes this is due to the poor organization of the client. Some may require you to perform a tremendous amount in a few days. Do not try to jump above a head. Don't promise the impossible. The failure of the job is bad for your reputation among clients. Take on the work that you can master.

    9. “The language barrier” – without foreign language skills, your work with clients from other countries can cause a series of problems. Misunderstanding is one of them. Online translators are not good enough to trust them with the whole thing. At least a basic understanding of the text is required. Alternatively, if you know English, then you will not have problems on the international stage. If you are limited to your native language, it's better to find someone from the compatriots. If English is your native, then you have many doors open.

    10. “He orders crazy, immoral, forbidden things” – in my experience, there were a few clients work with whom badly influenced my image. Then they forced me to think seriously, and at the same time to study the psychology of such people. Let's just say the Internet, especially Deviantart is littered with art on the most unpleasant topics and extreme fetishes involving violence and severe disabilities. On this background the individual, professional resources seem to be an island of freedom for the eyes. The worst thing is that there is a huge demand for such work. I was even lucky to talk to freelancers who draw it for money. Some make about $2000 a month on someone’s strange, sick imagination. Usually, the clients are private persons, i.e. ordinary people. You will never get in the games and movie industry if you work on clients that order you absolutely disgusting or illegal things. Many have a tendency to expose your work in their profile and give a link to you. This may seriously spoil your reputation in the future if you suddenly change direction and want to become a serious professional. You will have to do a total rebranding. It's better to abandon such clients immediately.

[RU version]

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Contents \ Оглавление:
Сложные клиенты \ Difficult Clients [EN, RU]
Почему я не работаю с Русскими Клиентами \ Why I'm not working with Russian Clients [RU, EN]
Как стать популярным \ How to become a popular [RU, EN soon]
Заработок денег. Много. Очень много. \ Earn Money. Much. Very-much. [RU, EN soon]
Читерите! Коды и Трюки \ Cheats and Tricks [RU, EN soon]
10 причин не работать на клиента \ 10 reasons not to work for client [RU, EN]
Миром правят "лайки" \ The world is ruled by "likes" [RU, EN soon]
Сколько стоит труд художника? Как устанавливать цены? \ How much costs artist's work? How to set prices? [RU, EN]
Лекарство от зависти \ The cure for envy [RU, EN soon]
Почему так важно изучать основы? \ Why it is so important to learn the basics?  [RU, EN soon]
“Желаю вам всего плохого” © - Часть I \ ''I wish you all the bad''(c) - Part I [RU, EN soon]
Адский фриланс \ ''Infernal freelancing'' [RU, EN soon]

 


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superalaobsesion's avatar

"My nephew/friend/etc can do it for half. You should too."

I heard that one a LOT when I presented my prices for websites back in the day.