In this episode of The Podcast Trapper, I'm discussing how to avoid and deal with difficult clients.

As an entrepreneur and podcast producer, I've had my fair share of client missteps, but I've learned how to protect myself and spot red flags early on!

When I launched Adode Media, I encountered my fair share of tricky clients. It gave me useful stories for this episode - AKA, they provided cautionary tales for the rest of y’all.

Growing my own business has given me insight on what it looks like to launch, build, and scale a company. I’ve had to grow a lot as an individual, and not every problem was the client’s fault - I totally acknowledge that I frazzle easily. As a strategic and organized person, I have been working on my ability to handle stressors or derailed deadlines. I’m only human, and my business gives me so many opportunities to grow. However… sometimes it’s not me! In today’s episode, I have some great stories on what went wrong and how I could have prevented it. The more you know.

I'll be sharing tips on how to handle clients who are not willing to follow your processes and procedures and why it's important to put your foot down. I'll also be discussing the first red flag to look out for when meeting potential clients.

So, if you're an independent creator or entrepreneur, this episode is for you!

Let’s dive in…

Difficult Client Red Flags to Watch Out  For

Red Flag #1: They Won’t Pay You

Number one red flag - the client does not pay you, or starts off with a financial negotiation process. This is a hard stop!

This will be easy to avoid when the person is clearly broke or tries to nickel and dime you. They might say that they can’t pay you and suggest that the project will build your portfolio and give you exposure, etcetera. It’s one thing for someone to come to you with a set budget and ask you to scale your services to meet that budget. That’s normal, and you can work with that. They’re communicating up front that they want to pay you, this is how much they can pay, and they want to communicate with you on what deliverables can reasonably be expected for that amount of money.

But if they don’t trust your price or ask a million questions about how long the project is taking you, how many hours you’ll spend, or why it’s so “expensive,” please run away.

People who don’t see the value of your work now are unlikely to pay you consistently. They might find someone cheaper in the meantime, and they might even come back to you later with a new understanding of the value and quality of what you offer.

The other type of person that won’t pay you is the rich person who just…doesn’t want to. They brag about how much money they make, so it seems like a done deal! They sell courses about how to make six figures, they give financial advice left and right, they seem to love talking about money. Until it comes to your invoice. When it comes to these people, watch for what they do, not what they say. What are their patterns of behavior? Are they consistent and communicative? Are they respectful of your business and your boundaries?

We’ll get more into this in a moment but I’m telling you, these people can become really difficult to deal with. They might “forget” to pay your fee, not communicate effectively and act very entitled to your time and services. These people are often not very fun to work with, and I’d avoid them if I were you.

Red Flag #2: They’re Not Willing to Follow Your Processes and Procedures

Oh, have I been there. Especially in the beginning of my business, I made exceptions when it came to our processes and procedures here at Adode Media.

It’s just one client, right? What harm could it do to use their systems instead? Truth be told, it can create a ton of issues down the line. I’ll explain.

Here at Adode we have systems in place for everything. I am actually certified as a Project Manager and I had a corporate career before I Founded this company - I know how valuable it is to scale and automate processes in a business. I love when everything works like a well-oiled machine. It makes me so happy. We use a project management program called Airtable and I highly recommend it. Our projects are neatly organized and our documents and files are all in line where they’re supposed to be.

The thing is, sometimes we encounter a client who uses a different program. I love that for them, but we cannot use different programs for different clients. It gets messy very quickly. Often they have not fully put in the work to set everything up and little things slip through the cracks. It makes us look bad and we don’t like that.

Even if they’re supremely organized, it’s too much to ask of my team. I want my business to be as simple as possible. We deliver our best work when our client trusts us to create processes and procedures for their shows. Because we did the heavy lifting to set everything up, it works like a charm!

Whatever your business is, honor the procedures you’ve created and do not work with anyone who doesn’t. I do not care if they’re a high-paying client who wants to give you a million dollars as long as you do everything on their terms. Like I said before, it won’t do you any favors in the long run. It’s your business! Run it the way you want to, and ask that your clients respect that.

In fact, I want to tell a little story about boundaries. I lost our first client here at Adode Media, and I take responsibility for that. It was a great lesson but it was so disappointing.

I didn’t set very strong boundaries with this client. They got used to having me to dote on them personally at all hours! They were allowed to text me, call me, or email me whenever and I would respond right away. Then our business exploded and we had to scale. It was so exciting, but it taught me something important.

I hired a team, and this client began to have to work with my team members. If they had a question, they would ask their coordinator. If they didn’t book a service up front, it was booked by somebody else and we couldn’t make allowances. They were annoyed and they left.

When you create your systems, imagine that they will be used not by one client or even five clients, but by ten or twenty or a hundred clients. Build it right the first time, and require that your clients work with the processes you’re setting up. Set boundaries up front and build procedures that will work long-term.

Red Flag #3: They are Consistently Late

Beware of flaky clients. Seriously.

When we began booking shows to record here at Adode Media, we learned this lesson quickly. Sure, lateness happens. We’re all doing our best. But when you’re booking several shows to record back-to-back, you cannot afford to lose time and money because if one show is late, every show is late.

Let’s say that you are currently launching your business. Your very first clients show up late and you say things like “no worries” and “no big deal.” You are setting expectations that lateness is no big deal to you and that they don’t need to worry about this boundary. I really don’t recommend this.

Imagine yourself fully booked. Don’t start your business desperate for bookings. Imagine that you have back-to-back meetings, recordings, sessions, whatever. Is it suddenly a big deal that everybody is late and didn’t show up ready to get down to business? Probably!

People who are constantly late are probably not great at time management, and people who struggle with this are unlikely to be great clients. They might forget to pay you, forget to prepare, or be frustrating communicators.

Please learn from our mistakes and don’t make this one yourself.

How to Protect Yourself and Your Business

Make it Official with Paperwork

We sort of covered this, but steer clear of clients who won’t sign anything. You are a real entrepreneur with a business; Everything needs to be legal, official and above-board.

It’s your responsibility to protect yourself. Have them sign client intake forms so that they acknowledge and agree to the processes and procedures you have in place.

There are plenty of free or inexpensive templates for client intake forms online and in Canva. Have them sign your agreements and double check everything. Forms and checklists are going to become your saving grace.

Here at Adode Media we have an intake form that includes the details of doing business with us. They agree that they will pay for equipment if they break it, that they aren’t entitled to services if they don’t book them on time, that they must pay an overtime fee if they go past their time slot, and what our processes are like when they work with us. These expectations might seem rigid, but they set everybody up to succeed and work well together. We don’t need any surprises!

Have Everything on the Record

Not only should your client sign an intake for; I also recommend that you record their onboarding/intake call. Keep this recording in their file for later, just in case.

I have personally been protected by this. I had a client who refused to pay me! They said that they did not agree to pay us because they did not sign their forms. However, during their intake call recording, they agreed to pay us and we were already investing time into working with them. Lawyers were involved and thankfully, we had the receipts. Keep the recordings, because you never know when you might need them.

Keep it Legal with Terms and Agreements

The last measure of protection I suggest is the legal terms and agreements on your website. You might be thinking, Ona, I’ve never read those! Does anybody?!

Well, yes. Some people do. And when you need them, you’ll wish you had them. Again, there are plenty of templates for these online. I have also been protected by the terms and agreements on our website, so don’t forget them.

Keep these current. Make sure to update them periodically. Have them in place so that you can breathe easier, knowing that you have your company’s best interests at heart.

You’re the Boss.

The last thing I’ll say here is this: You are the boss! You’re in charge, and you get to fire people if you need or want to.

If somebody is making you feel like you work for them and them only, you can fire them. If they’re disrespecting you, let them go.

And if you sense red flags up front, don’t get into business with them. You became an entrepreneur so that you could choose who to do business with; You don’t need to create the same problems you had before! I always say, I did not leave corporate America just to recreate the same conditions I worked in, at my own company. No thank you.

I hope this helps you manage difficult clients (or avoid them altogether, forever). That’s all for today’s episode!

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