How to Set Healthy Boundaries with Your Clients
I don’t know what to do, I don’t want to lose this client but the relationship can’t continue on like this…
Have you ever had this thought or experience before? I know I sure have. Whether you’re a graphic designer, a social media manager, or something else, it’s vital for service providers of all kinds to implement healthy boundaries between themselves and their clients, not only for the service provider’s protection, but also for the sake of the preservation of the client relationship.
Boundaries aren’t a negative thing. When implemented the right way, they’re actually designed to help preserve and maintain the longevity of a relationship. Whether it’s a friend, a family member, a co worker, or in this case, a client, boundaries aren’t designed to divide, they’re designed to protect. Boundaries help eliminate pent up resentment and frustration that can easily happen when one party feels that professional lines have been crossed repeatedly. This happens to so many designers, by the time they’re on version 15 of their design and they stopped getting paid after version 5, it’s safe to say there might just be some frustration and even hurt feelings, thus souring the relationship. Boundaries, when set clearly and promptly, can ensure all parties feel heard, respected and protected.
So how do you avoid feeling like you’re being underpaid and undervalued? How do you avoid clients contacting you at all hours of the night? How do you avoid a client crossing the line? Communication.
I’ve been in the business for 4 years now and I’ve learned a LOT the hard way about how to set boundaries with clients. I LOVE my clients but I have had some in the past where boundaries weren’t set properly in the beginning, and it ultimately made it feel almost impossible to continue on with the relationship. Which to me, is really sad, because it doesn’t have to be that way!
Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes you might have clients that come to you with completely unrealistic expectations that just aren’t willing to change or respect the boundaries you’re fighting so hard to put in place to protect your client relationships. When that happens it’s totally okay to put an end to the client relationship, in fact there are plenty of scenarios in which it’s more than okay to terminate a client contract. It’s a topic for another time, but I always include a clause in all of my contracts which states that I have the freedom to terminate a client contract under a certain set of circumstances, which I then list out. It gives me the freedom and protection to get out of a bad situation if I need to. Have questions about what to put in client contracts? Let me know in the comments! Bottom line is, you need to feel confident to assert your boundaries and take charge of your client relationships, which includes the ones you keep, and the ones you part ways with.
Hear me when I say this though, it is 100% possible to cultivate a positive, respectful and enjoyable relationship with clients. Working with other people is hard, right? But it’s not impossible. Below are some practical steps you can take to ensure that you’re no longer rolling your eyes reading client emails and instead feeling excited to do the work you agreed to carry out so that you can reduce client conflict and complete your work efficiently and enjoyably!
Set expectations right from the start
It’s so important for graphic designers (and service providers of all kinds) to find their voice when it comes to communicating with clients (current and prospective). It’s your job to communicate with your client what they can expect from you and what you expect from them. Can they expect prompt and concise communication from you? Can they expect a 24-48 hour response time from you? Consider what your service level agreement will be with your client and then put it in writing. It protects both of you, it keeps you accountable for providing what you said you would, but also sets the precedent right away that (for example) you won’t necessarily be able to respond to every single one of their emails within the hour that they’re sent.
On the flip side, you need to let your client know what you expect from them. Do you expect that they only contact you during a certain time of day? Do you expect that they contact you through email only or through a client portal or client management platform? Outline those expectations in your contract or in a client welcome packet, find a place to put this in writing and hold your client to these standards.
Be clear about when you’re available
Ever notice how establishments have business hours? Whether you’re dining out at a restaurant, stopping for a cup of coffee, or wandering the shelves of a bookstore, all of these establishments have one thing in common: business hours! And why shouldn’t you do the same? Just because you might be self employed or a solopreneur doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also have clear times that you are and aren’t available. Don’t want to communicate with clients on the weekends? Great! Don’t set the precedent that you will. This doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes receive emails from clients on weekends, I do, but I won’t typically be responding to them on a Saturday afternoon. There’s even been times where I’ve received a Sunday email and I’ve written up a response, but I scheduled it to go out the following Monday at 8am. I do often catch up on emails on Sundays, but you better believe I’m scheduling those responses to go out the next day. And that’s simply because I don’t want to set the precedent that I’m doing business on a Sunday, just like chick fil a baby, WE’RE CLOSED! :)
Utilize the right communication method
Consider where you’re comfortable with your clients contacting you, not just when. One thing I have learned the hard way is that it’s not always the best idea for me to give my phone number out to clients or to initiate any sort of texting communication with them. Once you initiate it, it’s hard to come back from that. You’ve initiated that it’s an acceptable form of communication and it’s easy to make habits, but difficult to break them.
There are some exceptions to this and that are a couple of clients that I do communicate with over text, but it’s dependent on the type of relationship I have with them as well as the level of trust. I am fairly strict about what exceptions I allow to this simply because having people I work with contact me by phone, whether it’s to text me or call me can honestly cause a lot of stress. I may love my clients dearly but that doesn’t mean I want them to have that type of direct access to me, simply because it’s harder to maintain boundaries that way and besides, all the details get lost in endless text threads, and that doesn’t help me or my clients. I prefer to only communicate with clients through email and (for my retainer clients) our personalized client portal. It keeps things organized and then when I’m out on a dinner date with my husband, I’m not getting texts from clients and feeling stressed and overwhelmed when I should be enjoying our evening together! It’s easier for me to unplug from email when I need to than it is for me to unplug from text messages. Mainly the only people that text me regularly are my husband, my family and close friends, I prefer to keep it that way :)
Ultimately, you have to decide for yourself what you are and aren’t comfortable with as a business owner. You have to determine what will be the most helpful way for you to communicate with clients in a way that’s organized but allows you to keep your boundaries in place so you can have space from your work when you need it.
Specify how many rounds of edits you’re willing to include in your work.
I’ve seen this all too often with newbie designers and seasoned professionals alike, I’ve seen it in my own journey too! You have a client commission you for some custom work for their business, you give them a flat rate for the whole project, and then you wind up doing 12 different edits, saving out 12 different files, and you’ve spent hours more on the project than what you initially expected you would. You find that once the project is all said and done, you’re making twice as much less per hour on this commission than what you initially planned. Friend, if you aren’t telling your clients how many rounds of edits you allow before they ever sign on the dotted line, you’re doing it wrong. The editing process can be the worst part of the project. Your client is indecisive, and you’re left wondering when you’ll finally come up with something that pleases them, all the while feeling stressed and under valued because you’re doing work that you’re no longer getting paid for. It’s like working overtime but without the overtime pay. No thanks.
This is another lesson I learned the hard way. For custom projects, I specify in every contract that clients will have the option to make up to three rounds of edits for each design piece, but any edits past that will be accounted for as an additional fee in their invoice, billed at an hourly rate of my choosing (it’s up to you to decide what that hourly rate will need to be for your own business). This protects me from doing hours upon hours of work and not getting paid what the project should truly be worth.
Another way I’ve found that helps to ensure I’m getting paid for all my efforts is to have retainer clients. When they’re on retainer, they’re paying me the same amount every month for a certain number of hours that they can choose to use however they’d like. When hours for the month are exceeded, they’re billed an additional fee for however many hours we went overtime during the month. In a retainer, they can make as many edits they want, but there’s a little more incentive for them to wrap it up within a few rounds because who wants to spend all of their retainer hours on edits for one project? I’ve also found that this method ensures I’m getting paid for every second of being on the clock. Whether it’s sending emails, doing a client phone call, or something else, I’m tracking my time for all of it, thus getting paid for all of it.
Learn to be okay with saying “No”.
Say it with me now, “NO!” The word no is not impolite. It doesn’t mean your client is going to stop work with you just because you can’t make ALL their dreams come true. Stop being afraid to say no! If you want to have a respectful, honest working relationship with your clients, you need that word in your vocabulary. The reality is that all of us will at some point be asked to do something that’s either outside our scope of ability, outside of what we’re being compensated for, and even just something we’re not ethically okay with doing. The sooner you learn that it’s okay to say no to a client, the better off you’ll be, I promise!
Ask for trust.
You know when people say trust isn’t something that’s given, it’s earned? In this situation, I disagree. Of course trust develops naturally over time, but I do ask my clients to give me their trust up front, whether we’ve known each other for two years or two weeks, in order for me to give them a quality finished product, I need them to give me their full trust up front. That doesn’t mean they need to trust me with their bank account password, but I do need them to trust me to always give them my best recommendation. I need them to know and believe me when I tell them that I would never give them something that I don’t believe looks good. I need them to trust my creative expertise and design choices, because let’s face it, they hired me to be the expert! So while my ultimate goal is to always give them exactly what they want, sometimes what a client wants isn’t what they really NEED. And it would be a disservice for me to not point my client in the direction of what they truly need. All I ask in this process is that my client trusts me enough to let me lead them in areas that they need to be led!
Setting boundaries doesn’t mean you’re difficult to work with or that you don’t have any flexibility with your clients. It doesn’t mean you’re strict or rigid. It just means that you have a certain way you run your business, and your clients will need to be respectful of that! You wouldn’t walk into a restaurant and walk right into the employees only bathroom to use it for yourself. You wouldn’t ask for the check and then hop behind the bar to ring up your own ticket. Why? Because, well, boundaries! And your boundaries are no different. They are to be respected AND expected. Clients should EXPECT that you will have guidelines in place to protect the client relationship and reduce conflict. In fact, their experience will be better for it, not just yours!
Until next time friends! xoxo
