How to Gracefully Quit a Client before they Quit You
Vulnerability SZN over here at MKW Creative Co. Throwing in the towel, sending the white flag, or squealing “uncle” are all ways to Q U I T a project that is just a poor fit for your biz. In this blog, I am outlining how to identify when a project is going south, how to approach quitting the project with your client, and how to end things gracefully so you, the freelancer, come out unscathed.
It’s the situation you dread the most… You get excited about a project, feel like it’s a great fit, and slowly the whole cookie starts to crumble. Eventually, you’re left with a big ol’ mess of crumbs and it’s time to decide if you’re going to spend the time trying to mash pieces together to put the cookie back together again, or decide if it’s time to wipe the plate clean and move on.
Writing this blog today because this just happened to me.
With 5 years of brand design under my belt, I’ve got a pretty good feeling when I talk to a prospective client whether or not we will work well together. However, sometimes there are projects that start optimistically, and end up not working out.
In this blog, I am outlining how to identify when a project is going south, how to approach quitting the project with your client, and how to end things gracefully so you, the freelancer, come out unscathed.
Identify Red Flags
This can be easier said than done, but nonetheless is an important part of the process. I have a running list of red flags (that change often) that I keep close to the vest when speaking with a potential new client. My new project process goes a little like this…
If I get contacted for a new project via email or social media, I will direct them to my contact form. In my contact form, I have some pretty specific questions about the business/business owner regarding their brand. These questions include: mission statement, vision statement, ideal client avatar. If these three fields are left blank then it is a note to me that this person may not be completely dialed in on their business.
After I receive the contact form, I respond back to said client and send them a link to book a video call (via Calendly + Google Calendar). This is another quick test — how are they with technology. My ideal client knows their way around Google Drive, so making sure they know how to login, get set up on, and SHOW UP for a video chat is a major test.
During the video call, I also try and get a sense for what they know about branding. I ALWAYS give them the chance to talk first, and crosscheck their answers against these red flag Qs:
🚩 Do they struggle to talk confidently and consistently about their business idea?
🚩Do they say their ideal client is ‘everyone’?
🚩Can they accurately describe the aesthetic they’re after?
🚩Do they have a realistic budget and timeline?
Know when things are Getting Rocky
Say one slips through the cracks… Now you’re in the thick of it, so how can you tell when things are starting to get rocky? Here are the warning signs that you may not be the best fit:
🚩 Feedback is slow - when I notice that a client takes a long time to respond to an outstanding message this is usually a sign that they aren’t sure what they want, or are unclear on their business mission or goals
🚩 Feedback is contradictory - On this project specifically, we worked together on a brand design questionnaire where we came up with brand adjectives. When the first draft feedback came back, I was a little shocked to hear that the client was looking for something completely different than what she outlined in the questionnaire. This is a great time to have the questionnaire to circle back to.
🚩 You’re backsliding - if you’ve already locked in steps 1, 2 and 3 of your process and the client wants to go back to 1 when you should be on 4, you’ve got a problem
⚠️ BIG WARNING: Micromanagement
I notice that clients who micromanage do so because they don’t trust my expert opinion. Famous micromanagement statements are:
“Can you just try______?”
“Can I just see what it looks like if you ______”
“I saw this online, can you copy that?” (uhhh no way jose)
It is my goal to present the BEST POSSIBLE solutions to my clients at every point in the process because I am a professional. Someone who wants to do your job for you doesn’t trust your expert opinion.
The Graceful Exit
If you get the sense that a project should be over, give yourself the opportunity to quit that client before they quit you. I know personally that I tie up a lot of my self-worth in my work (my love language is words of affirmation, through and through). Being in a creative field on the one hand can be so exciting and rewarding, and on the other can be totally crushing when things don’t work out. When you sense that a project is NOT going to work out, here’s how you can make a graceful exit.
✔️ Point out the friction - identify where the pain points are and offer a solution to talk things out
✔️ Remind them of the terms of your contract, why those terms exist, and why they hired you in the first place - sometimes a gentle nudge to why you started the project is a good reminder
✔️ Give them the out - explain what it looks like to quit the process at the current stopping point and what you can do make the ending easy on them. Will you issue a refund? Provide them with files? Connect them with another professional? Do what is right here, without selling your soul, and your conscience will thank you for it.
✔️Sign off Politely - end things positively! Try your hardest to bite your tongue, and keep emotions out of it.
Brush yourself off, get back in the saddle
Best thing to do when you’re down and out on a project is to channel your energy back into what you ARE good at. For me, that was taking the time to write this blog for all of you. Channeling the feelings of less-than-ness into creativity helps you to get back on the horse and ride off into the sunset.
Just a reminder that no matter where you are in your business, there are STILL projects that don’t go according to plan. Learn the lessons that you can, reconnect with the clients and projects that you DID succeed at/with, and then move on. Now, it’s your turn:
🤔When things don’t go according to plan, how do you get back in the groove?
🤔What can you learn about projects that don’t end up the way you wanted?
🤔 How can you ensure your client stays happy even when you’ve stopped a project?
🤔As a creative, what are your tips for checking your ego at the door?
Sound off in the comments or participate in the discussion over in my facebook group, Kiss my Aesthetic!
7 Books that Changed my Small Biz (for the better)
Being a small biz owner is no joke, and statistically, the majority of Small Businesses will fail within the first 5 years. As I approach my own five year mark (full of failures, lessons, big oopses, by the way) I wanted to take the time to share the business books I have read that really changed not only the way I thought about my small business, but changed the way I thought about myself as a business owner. Here’s a breakdown of my top faves!
Being a small biz owner is no joke, and statistically, the majority of Small Businesses will fail within the first 5 years. As I approach my own five year mark (full of failures, lessons, big oopses, by the way) I wanted to take the time to share the business books I have read that really changed not only the way I thought about my small business, but changed the way I thought about myself as a business owner. Here’s a breakdown of my top faves!
Might as well start off with what might be the obvious choice here. These two books by Jen Sincero are great because you can literally read them in an afternoon. Jen’s writing style is friendly, approachable, and sometimes a nice kick in the …ass regarding treating yourself and your money with the respect they deserve. I love that she encourages ‘abundance’ mindset over ‘depravity’ mindset in not just financial facets of our lives, but in happiness, too. I think that these books helped me to consider how what I tell myself paves the path for what materializes.
3. The Power of Habit: Why we do What we Do in Life and Business
I love this book by Charles Duhigg because it looks into the science of our habits and how habits become so ingrained that we forget that we are doing them. He breaks down in great detail about how our ‘keystone habits’ can trigger larger life changes so that we can change the habits that we feel stuck in.
The habits I am looking to break are my ‘unproductive’ habits… mindlessly scrolling instagram, falling into Pinterest rabbit holes, or spending too too long looking at a project without getting up, moving around, taking a break, and giving my brains and eyeballs a break. I like having this book on habits nearby to remind me that these ‘habits’ are all programmable in our own brains, and that we have the power to do something different about them.
This book is an absolute classic. I love the old-timey sounding punctuation that Napoleon Hill uses throughout that makes it feel like a very enthusiastic college lecture.
My biggest takeaway from this one is the anecdote he tells in the beginning about his son who was born without the ability to heal. Instead of taking pity on his son, or treating his affliction like he was less than everyone else, Hill instead raised his son with the idea that he was more special than everyone else. Hill says he '“wished his son to hear, so he did” which is part confidence, part manifestation, and part stopping at nothing to find solutions… All of which are super powerful lessons in mindset and business. I think this book is a great read for anyone who needs a little oomph in their goal setting, financially and otherwise.
5. Contagious: Why Things Catch On
The internet says there is no one else more well versed in why things go viral than Jonah Berger. When I read this book (back in 2015 by now, but literally picking it up again to re-read tonight) I remember enjoying how Berger explains exclusivity, social currency and social proof. For example, he talks about how airlines game-ified the points system, making their different membership levels into status symbols (I totally fall for bougie ‘insiders-only’ stuff like this and you probably do too).
Berger’s book made be think about how I can create these moments in the brands that I create for my clients. How can we add that extra level of detail, that extra hint or sprinkle that only the BEST of the BEST of that brand’s clients know about and appreciate? Like Disney’s hidden Mickey phenomenon… ideas that spread through word of mouth have much longer and stronger business legs in the long run.
6. Big Magic
Elizabeth Gilbert is a great read if you’re down for a little kooky woo-woo in your life. I for sure dabble in woo-woo-ness so this book was another quick and easy read for me.
Although a lot of her book felt a little predictable, the one that stuck with me is her explanation of how ideas exist in the universe in search of a host, and that it is possible to sit on an idea for too long, and that that idea might just move on to the next host (which explains the phenomenon of seeing the infomercial for the exact invention you wanted to create, but never did). I like this theory because it encourages us to act on our ideas as they come to us, to brainstorm on them, flesh them out, then decide if they are meant to be, or meant to move on. I have ideas like this anywhere between 5-20x a day. I get so many ideas that I will write them in the steam on the shower doors, only committing them to paper or laptop if I am still thinking about them by the time I get out of the shower. I love that Glibert brings the idea, of ideas, and illustrates them as being energetic bodies instead of random synapse firings.
7. The Art of Thinking Clearly
This last one came recommended by a good friend of mine who I think is particularly intelligent. :) The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli is not so much a business book as it is a life book. The best part about this one is that each little story is only a few pages, and leaves you with a good idea of why our brains work the way that they do, and what our inherent biases are towards others, towards our situation, towards ourselves, and towards the world as a whole.
The small anecdotes make this a great travel or beach read, because you can easily share the stories like “Why You Shouldn’t be Friends with Supermodels” and “Why you see Shapes in Clouds.” There are soooo many good nuggets in here that make you think “yeah, well duh” in a way that you wouldn’t have been able to put into words yourself, which I think is why I like it so much.
Which ones am I missing? Let me know in the comments, shoot me a DM or send a carrier pigeon!
