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Have any fellow freelancers encountered this rare client type out in the wild?
🐯Typical Markings:
- Ignores your design process and avoids giving an upfront brief for fear of being “locked in” 🔒
- Wants to see how a design looks in every possible configuration (BRB, just visiting all alternate realities 🛸)
- Frequently backtracks on their own ideas… while subtly implying the scrapped concept wasn’t theirs 🤨
- Approves work… until the actual deadline arrives. Then suddenly decides it’s time for a full-blown design rethink 🙈
The Dichotomy:
Their manic "see-if-it-sticks” workflow sends you on a creative rollercoaster. Yet they’re also the clients who spend more because they want the freedom to change direction at a moment's notice (while paying hourly).
What should we officially name this species?
And how do we handle them?
Why is this so accurate it hurts lol. I’ve learned that this type of client thrives when you set firm limits on rounds, timelines, and deliverables.
What’s your go-to boundary that actually works with them?
Ahhh I'm sorry to hear I'm not the only one 😂
I think this territory often comes with the super creative / visual learner types and neurodivergent brains.
In this instance, I find text based briefs switch them off and they don't properly engage.
This leads to the "can I see it...
I must live near their natural habitat cause I know them too well. How about calling them the brief-shifters?
"Brief-shifters" - love this name for the new species 😂
It seems this variety of client is more widely prevalent than first thought...
They will require further research to better understand their ways and develop new strategies to cope.
Any top tips for working with this client type from your experience?
From my experience, boundaries are the biggest survival tool. Clear expectations up front, limited option rounds, and transparency about what’s included (and what isn’t) usually keep things manageable. And if they’re truly committed to exploring every alternate timeline.. that’s...
This is accurate lol but ultimately the fault is our own if a client does this to us. And I say this having been there myself. In your prosposals you need to protect yourself from scope creep and added discovery phases. If you had clauses in your proposal indicating things like...
Thanks for your weigh-in and suggestions Mario - all very good points!
It's nice to know this isn't an isolated incident - it makes it even more worth-while to develop ways to handle this client type more smoothly in the future.
100% agree that the fault is our own if this...
"And how do we handle them?" - we don't 😅
I think you can spot them relatively easily during the discovery process, so I usually just turn them down - if you mistakenly start working with one of them I would just give a refund or close the partnership.
Peace of mind is priceless eheh
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