My foolproof method for knowing when to ditch a freelance client

As freelancers, we are so laser-focused on getting new clients, it's easy to forget that there are some clients we should kick to the curb

Boy, bye! Photo by Ioana Cristiana on Unsplash

The first time I ended a freelance contract, I felt a heady mix of nausea and fear. Adrenaline coursed through me as I hit send on an email explaining that I was giving them my one-month notice.

It had taken me three months to work up the courage to send that email.

Three months of waking up in the middle of the night wondering why I was letting go my most lucrative, least taxing freelance gig so far. But the truth is, I was utterly miserable.

The gig was writing science news stories for the website of a huge international organisation. But there was no editor for this particular project, so me and the other two writers would edit each other’s writing the best we could, but it was obviously not ideal. There was no editorial planning and no-one to run ideas past, so sometimes we’d all publish stuff on the same topic. I’d worked for some of the biggest science publications in the UK, and this way of working felt beyond awful. I wasn’t being challenged, and it didn’t align with my values in terms of producing good-quality work. So, heart in my mouth, I quit.

It was the best decision I ever made and I soon replaced the income, which made me realise that I needed to be much more intentional with who I worked with, and more courageous in ending business relationships that didn’t work.

Here’s how you can decide when to cut the cord.

1. When their values are seriously out of alignment with your own

It’s understandable that the way a big organisation conducts business may not always be entirely in step with the way you move through the world, but when there is a serious disconnect, you need to move on. The thing that often makes us most miserable is when we’re totally out of sync with our environment. Whether that’s a bad romantic relationship, a city we hate, or a workplace that doesn’t uphold at least some of our values. And it doesn’t matter if other freelancers aren’t as troubled as we are.

For me, with that first client I left, it was a serious lack of any editorial standard that was making me want to run for the hills. One of the other writers was, and still is, a good friend, and he stayed. I didn’t judge him for it, I just knew I couldn’t stay. Another time I left a client, it was because they were making scientific claims in news stories that weren’t true. I was never ok with that, and so had to leave. In both these situations, I first tried to change things for the better, but, unable to enact any major change as a freelancer, I took myself out of the situation.