The Reason You are Resenting Your Clients
By Levina Kusumadjaja
Do you wake up regretting that you said “yes” to this one client? Do you dread working with them so much? Have you ever felt a knot in your stomach every time you see your client’s name pop up in your inbox? Have you ever wished you never agreed to the project in the first place and wished you could be done with it right now?
And maybe it hasn’t always been that way. It started off great and it felt like a wonderful opportunity, but then they started to message you off hours all the time. Then they became hard to reach but always expecting you to respond to revision requests right away. Then they started to get upset when you ask them clarifying questions. Then they also started to emphasize how limited their budget was and kept asking for favors... and so on, and so on.
What happened? What felt like a great blessing at first has turned into a nightmare. This is a place that so many creatives find themselves in. What you’re feeling here can be summed up in one word: resentment. You are now resenting your client and categorizing them as “bad clients”. They are the people who are not a good fit with you, people that you don’t want to work with again in the future. And that’s a valid conclusion, but what if the blame wasn’t entirely on them?
Too often we put the blame all on our clients when perhaps the bad fit was partly our fault too.
Here’s a classic example: feeling so much anxiety because you don’t know whether the work you submit will fit what they want. However, before starting the project, you settled with them saying, “Just have fun with it,” and “Whatever you think will look good”. And then after submitting your logo options the client says, “That’s totally not what we want,” but you also didn’t ask them what they wanted because you were scared. At the end of the meeting, you are left feeling more anxious and more frustrated than ever because now you are stuck to figure out what they want on your own.
If you want this feeling of resentment to go away and for things to change, then you will have to change too. If you want to stop resenting our clients and actually work with clients that you love, that change has to start with yourself first.
Mostly “bad clients” are not evil people who are purposely trying to make our lives miserable. The people categorized as “bad clients” are those that don’t have a good fit with our process, our thinking, and our principles. However, you still choose to work with them anyway for many reasons—such as needing the money, feeling too scared to say no, or thinking you are not good enough for better projects. They can also be “good clients” that turn out to be “bad clients” because you don’t set clear boundaries to our processes and systems. While there are people out there who want to take advantage of creatives, most clients just don’t understand the value of what you do. That’s why you are overworking and undercharging.
You end up resenting the way they treat you, forgetting that they treat you that way because you allow them to in the first place. You have to remember that you have a part to play if you want them to value you for what you are worth.
If you get tired of feeling purposeless and being overworked and underpaid for the work you do, then you also need to change the way you do things so that you can provide more valuable work. You can’t expect to outgrow the kinds of clients you are working with now without first making a change in yourself. New clients require a new you, and this “new you” can mean a new mindset, a new process, a new skillset, a new community, and even a new way of seeing yourself.
“Every time you reach a new level, the level requires a new you.” - Zuni
Cheers!
Levina
Get the Brand Strategy 101 FREE Mini Course
Tired of being an order-taker? Start getting paid to think. Subscribe now to receive helpful content, plus instant access to this free video course. 6 days. 6 videos. 10 minutes a day.
About the author:
Levina is a writer based in Indonesia. Because of Melinda Livsey, she recognized the power of brand strategy for every creative. She is sharing about her learnings as she goes to help creatives have fun in their growth and journey of building brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn and say hi!