It’s the month of Halloween so we’re talkin’ all the scary stuff these next few weeks. Pull your big kid pants up and let’s hash it out.

Rebecca did everything right. She worked quickly and efficiently to turn around work to her client, Susan, within (often before!) the expected timeline. She anticipated Susan’s needs and even answered her frantic phone calls and text messages during her off hours. Susan was a new client – Rebecca’s first BIG client (and big money). So, naturally, Rebecca worked hard to maintain the relationship, going above and beyond for Susan daily. 

Susan grew accustomed to this kind of super-star treatment and began to think of herself as a guru (some might call her a diva ). She demanded tighter turnaround times and near mind reading capabilities of Rebecca. Once or twice, she’d pick up the phone and yell at Rebecca. Rebecca was baffled. “She never even TOLD me to do that and now she just EXPECTS me to know what she’s thinking?!” she cried to her boyfriend over her third glass of Malbec. “Well, love, what does your contract say?” he replied.

Rebecca’s heart sank. She had a contract with Susan, but she had copied it from a Google search and really had no idea what it meant. She ran her contract next door to her neighbor (who happened to be in his last year of law school). “Sorry, Rebecca,” he said, “this doesn’t give me much to work with. The terms aren’t clear and, while no one can really uphold ‘mind-reading’ as a service in court, the rest of how you work together isn’t clear. Where do you outline your expectations and how can she reference those? What leg did you give yourself to stand on to fight back?”

Wide awake with question after question scrolling thru her brain, Rebecca laid her head on her pillow that night and watched the clock tick by. The next morning, she wrote an email to Susan. She outlined the few contract terms she could, stated (lied) that the past few months had been wonderful, and then bowed out of the agreement (with her full one month notice as, actually, stated in the contract) letting Susan know that she simply wasn’t a good fit for Susan’s business needs. On that final day of work one looong month later, Rebecca happily signed off with Susan for the last time, refunded her money for the remainder of the agreement, and never made those same mistakes again.

So where did it go wrong for Rebecca? At the very beginning. There were warning signs all over the place when Susan contacted Rebecca but she was blinded by the stardust – that BIG client status and her need to bring in some major dough. Want to avoid Rebecca’s mistakes? Take notes kiddos:

1. Susan stated she had worked with a few other people who offered Rebecca’s same services, but “it never worked out”. Run and hide, friends. If “it never worked out”, perhaps it’s the client and not the service provider.
2. Listen . Susan’s initial conversation with Rebecca included phrases like “I’m not really sure how much work it will take, but I know I need someone on board who is ready to get it done.” and “I have no idea why it took the last girl so long to get things done. I ended up doing it faster than she ever could.” Badmouthing previous (and current) team members in any conversation and/or being vague about the project terms are HUGE red flags. Hint: they will badmouth you too and you’ll never be clear on what they want from you. Never.
3. Rebecca didn’t setup her expectations from the beginning. She hated phone calls from clients on the weekend and texts when she was having dinner with friends. But she never let Susan know that.Include your expectations of the relationship in your on-boarding paperwork. You own your business, your clients don’t own you.
4. Get a detailed contract. Written by a real life lawyer. Who knows and understands your business model. Shell out the dough to get it done. Period, end of story. (side note: the contract should benefit both you and your client – no need to get all Sally Selfish in those legal docs.)
5. Don’t cry to me, Argentina (errrr, Rebecca). When things aren’t going the way you would like, talk it out with your client. Like a grownup. Don’t cry to your boyfriend/best friend/teddy bear who can’t do anything to help you even though they love you a lot. Big kid pants time. Own it and talk about it with the perp.

Owning a business is awesome 99% of the time. 1% of the time it really sucks when you can’t just pass something off to someone else to handle. Reduce that 1% a little more by heeding the tale of Rebecca and only working with clients you absolutely adore. 100% of the time. The money they throw at you just isn’t worth your sanity – that shit’s priceless.

xo