Why Setting Boundaries with Clients is Essential for Success

Why Setting Boundaries with Clients is Essential for SuccessWhy Setting Boundaries with Clients is Essential for Success

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Hella Fast

max

• Jun 30

Today, for the first time, we blocked a client.

From day one, we stayed professional and respectful. The website was approved at every milestone. We even gave a discount because the client's budget was limited.

Every requested revision was completed.

Our policy includes one month of maintenance after delivery to fix any issues. Three months later, the client came back with new requests, and we still completed them for free. Today, months later, they returned again asking for more changes. We quoted less than half of our normal hourly rate simply because they were a returning client.

The response we received was enough.

Looking back, the client had been rude throughout the entire project. We kept telling ourselves it was probably just a language barrier. It wasn't.

Here's what we learned:

Never let a client speak to you with disrespect.

The cost of working with the wrong client is far higher than the money they pay you. It drains your energy, your confidence, and your love for the work.

At the time, we were new to the platform where this project came from. We accepted it because we wanted the experience and the completed order on our profile.

Six months later, one message reminded me that some projects simply aren't worth taking.

Not every client deserves access to your time.

Sometimes the most professional thing you can do is say no — or, if necessary, block them and move on.

Have you ever had to fire a client? Or did you keep trying to make it work longer than you should have?

Samuel O

pro

• Jul 1

Professionalism always 💯

Victor Adebayo

• Jun 30

You just have to keep being professional

Victor Adewole

pro

• Jul 1

Keep being professional

Franco Caputo

pro

• Jul 1

Thanks for sharing this. A lot of folks don't want to share situations that involve friction with clients but I think it's very important so we can help others know what to do in circumstances like these.

Ayodele Eunice Monice

• Jul 2

Thanks for sharing this experience. Boundaries are just as important as great work.

Chris Nijhof

max

• 2h

Onboarding flow we're working on for a client ✨

Product Design appdesign Figma

Umar Tanveer

• 2h

Perfect and Cute :)

Kaleab Eshetu

max

• 3h

don’t just ask for feedback.

be specific.

say what you know. say what you don’t know. say what you think is working. say what you think is not. say what you’re optimizing for.

make it easy for people to actually help you. 👇🏾

Kaleab Eshetu

max

• 3h

1/ instead of:

“thoughts on this dashboard?”

try:

“i’m trying to make the revenue trend easier to scan. does the chart hierarchy make sense, or is the table pulling too much attention?”

Ashish Sharma

• 9h

While everyone is working hard to win projects or deliver them, I walked away from one worth $8,000.

Not because the budget was too small.

Not because the client was difficult.

But because I knew we weren't solving the right problem.

The client came to us asking for an AI-powered solution. It sounded exciting, and we could have built exactly what they requested.

But after a few conversations, it became clear that AI wasn't the answer.

What they really needed was a simpler workflow, better automation, and a cleaner user experience. Building an expensive AI solution would have added cost, complexity, and maintenance without creating meaningful business value.

It would have been easy to say "yes," send the proposal, and start development.

Instead, we chose honesty over revenue.

As software partners, our responsibility isn't just to write code—it's to help clients make better technology decisions, even when that means turning down work.

I'd rather lose a project than deliver a solution that I know isn't the right one.

Sometimes, the most valuable thing you can build is trust.:

ai website app