This article has been revised from a previous rendition on boxfortdiaries.com

We, as professionals, should take into account when to cut our losses. I know, our parents told us to work through it and persevere, but to be honest there are some times when you just know that the ship is sinking.

As a full-time freelancer one of the judgment calls that I have to make on a daily basis is whether a new client is an asset or liability. An asset based client is someone that pays their bills on time, depends on me for my professional opinion, and respects me as a service professional. A liability client is someone that has a hard time paying, gives me my professional opinion, and uses me for their educated mouse-hand in the design process. There are several ways in which keeping the cancer of a liability client around can severely hamper your freelance business.

The first deals with time. Your time as a freelancer is your bread and butter, its what people pay you for! Whether you’re giving a consultation, preparing files, or designing collateral your time is how you make your money. Liability clients always demand far more time than they are paying you for. Constant emails, phone calls, and office visits can slowly chew away your time and will eventually start to put a dent in your income. Secondly, they rarely respect you or your professional opinion. I have had numerous cases of ‘design by proxy’ when a client would tell me exactly what they want done, whether it was good or not. Design by ‘imaginative’ clients are rarely any good and do nothing to bolster your portfolio. Don’t be afraid to state your opinion and stand by it, if they don’t like it, you can always fire them.

Lastly, and this is by far the most important of the reasons, is that they always seem to have a hard time paying. They haggle through invoices, bicker about results, and never want to pay full price. These clients typically come to you out of desperation, ‘I need more business’ is typically a line you should watch out for. Another great one I’ve heard ‘As soon as your work starts bringing me in more money, I’ll pay you…’ or something to that effect.

Here are some ways you can deal with the liability client. First if you don’t work with some kind of contract, you should start. If you waive a legal form in your face and they balk at signing time they’re probably a liability client. Having a legally binding contract that entitles you to your payment once the work has been complete is a great way of getting your payday. I know it sounds rough and mean, but we’re in this business to make a living, we’re not a charity group.

What do you do if the client starts taking up too much time? Its your business, charge them for it! Tell them if they exceed the minimum time per month in administrative duties, they will be charged extra. Its your time and your life, you should get paid when and how you want.

My favorite is when a client cannot or refuses to pay. The best way to ensure a paycheck from a liability client is not to give them anything until the bill is paid. Your contract should clearly indicate that collateral should only be handed over once the final invoice has been paid. This gives you the legal right to withhold services until the client has come through with their part of the deal. For instance, I have turned off email addresses and taken down websites when clients have delayed payment for months at a time. Taking away email addresses and putting up a ‘didn’t pay their bill page’ instead of their normal website is a very good way to get a business owner’s attention.

These options may seem harsh or even cruel, but as I said earlier, we’re in this to get paid to do something we like to do. You’re the business owner, if you don’t want to extend the olive branch, you don’t have to.

Don’t be afraid to cut the tether when the situation starts to turn sour. Freelancing is a business and you’re the expert. The word of the day is ‘liability’ and you shouldn’t feel bad firing a client when the situation grows wildly out of control or becomes a time pit.

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