9 Boundaries You Should Set With New Clients

Burnout is real—and you know that if you’ve ever tried to wash your hands with a slice of pizza. 🍕

When it comes to running a creative business, or any kind of (omg, this is so much WORK) business, burnout doesn’t happen once a lifetime.

It happens once a decade.

Maybe it even happens once a year. Isn’t that why we’re all on Canva? To design revenge logos for some other alternate life we could *almost* see ourselves living?

(Nope, sure don’t own the domain www.funnyobituaries.com or anything. NOPE, NOT MEEEEE. *looks around room 😬😬😬😬😬😬😬*)

In case you don’t know this, my name is Ash Ambirge and I have a lot of problems.

Years and years and years ago, right around the dark age of dialing-up like peasants, I started a creative copywriting company that specialized in making the internet more fun to read. During that decade, I wrote a gorilla-ton of words for other people & companies, most of whom also had a lot of problems.

I’m mostly kidding about that?

But also, not kidding, because when you work for yourself you also work with humans, and apparently human interaction is not something they teach in school.

So, during that time I learned a lot about managing other people’s fickle-ass weirdness. Can that be a phrase? I mean, we all have our own fickle-ass weirdness we’re battling. For instance, I refuse to wash a coffee mug that has something floating in it. Even if it’s cheese. Even if I logically know it’s just cheese. That cheese has lost its dignity. It’s given up being cheese and is now just an existential crisis in dairy form.

Imagine what a treat I am as a client!

But in all seriousness, I learned real quick about the beauty—and necessity—of something I call “burnout bumpers.”

Cute name, right? But don’t be fooled: these things are ferocious little boundaries you gotta put in place in order to run a sane little biz (since remember, there are humans you gotta talk to).

So today, I wanted to tell you about 9 of my favorite, must-have burnout bumpers that will help you work with clients (healthily & happily!) without spontaneously combusting into a pile of stress confetti.

Your life is never going to be the same.

You might even start to like dogs.

And they will also make you more money. (Just because this is the internet and apparently I’m supposed to promise you that.)

Behold: Ash’s 9 Commandments for Working With Clients Without Murder or Spells

1. Ever have a client send regular enthusiastic emails with additional things they thought of (but you’re finding it hard to manage, both organizationally and from a time-management perspective?) Welcome their additions! BUT, here’s the trick that’ll solve this problem forever and make everyone happy: at the start of a project, give clients one single, glorious magic Google Doc 🌈 and ask them to put any & all of their fun new thoughts or ideas into it as they crop up during the week. Then, set a weekly or bi-weekly time to review their latest additions over the phone. This will keep you sane and give them a sacred space where they can brain dump to their heart’s content (and feel 100% cared for & seen).
   
2. Ever have a client excitedly keep adding on additional extras to the project because they love you and need you and keep thinking of more things—except none of that extra work was included in the initial price? 😬 (Cue fingernail biting. 🫰🏻) Your response forevermore shall be: “Sure! That will be billed at an additional rate of $X/hour, and I can have it to you by Friday. Reply ‘TACOS!!!’ if that sounds good.” (Simple, clean, confident, clear. And keeps the vibe light ‘n easy. Oh, and P.S. - getting their written agreement is important, so ask for the reply.)
   
3. Helpful note! It’s even better if you make it clear in your initial work agreement that any additions to the scope of the work will be billed at $X/hour. 💰 Then, whenever a new request comes in, there are no surprises or disagreements over what was included (or not). That clause would sound like this: “During the term of this agreement, upon your request and our concurrence, the scope of our engagement may be expanded to cover additional Services at which point a new Statement of Work will be issued to reflect that scope.”
   
   (Note: If you don’t have a client services agreement or the whole thing makes you rashy, see the bottom of this post!)
   
4. Ever have a client disagree about what was included in the price? Make sure your work agreements included an upfront, detailed description of the work to be performed. This is important and will save you tons of heartache over miscommunication later. For reference, it’s the difference between “Bi-weekly email marketing package” and “Includes two (2) 500-word emails per week, delivered one (1) week prior to publishing via Google Docs, on topics that have been pre-approved Client, due no later than the 30th of each month. Company will provide proposed topic list by the 15th of each month. Additional emails may be requested by Client at any time for special promotions, etc., and will be billed at a separate rate of $ X per email, to include up to 500 words.”
   
5. Ever have a client go MIA? That’s what this superhero clause in your work agreement is for: “Client shall respond within 7 business days to communications from Company regarding work performed under this Agreement.” Sounds nitpicky, but can be a really useful burnout bumper if your workload depends on keeping things moving (and thus timely client feedback is critical to your success).
   
6. Ever have a client not pay you on time—or ever? If you’re creating any type of creative work product for them—writing, editing, design, photography, etc.—make sure you have this clause in your agreement: “All deliverables provided by Company under this agreement shall be the intellectual property of Client, so long as Client pays all fees due under this agreement.” That means that you still own the rights to any intellectual property you’ve created, until all fees under the agreement are paid. ✅
   
7. Ever completely blow a deadline (and stress about it for days)? We’ve all been there. Do this to save your buns in the future: start tracking your time. You don’t have to share it with the client; this is for you. As much as you’ll want to rebel against it, track every minute you spend on client projects for a few months. You will be surprised how much more time things take you than you even thought! But, more importantly, you’ll start to get a realistic feel for how long things *do* take, so you can more accurately plan your project schedule…not to mention quote an appropriate rate that doesn’t leave you crying into a pond.
   
8. Ever have multiple decision makers, all throwing their (conflicting) thoughts at you? This happens a lot when you work with small teams. And, it can can become difficult when you have 50 emails flying at you, all with differing opinions. While it can be nice to feel like you are one of the gang, for the sake of the success of the project, it’s probably better if you establish from the beginning who your main point of contact will be. Let them know that you work best when communication is streamlined so nothing slips through the cracks—and to ensure you have a clear directive. If they’re having trouble coming to a consensus on something on their own, propose a group meeting where you can hash it all out together there (and don’t leave without a clear action plan forward).
   
9. Ever have a client who doesn’t seem to know what they want—and keeps changing course? Make a pre-project exercise—or even a pre-project course—that all clients go through as step one to clarify their thinking and shape the work you’ll be doing together. This can be really handy when you’re doing the kind of work that requires clients to have some type of strategy in mind—like what their target audience is, for example, or all the details of what they’re selling—before you can begin the work. This will help sooooooo much with project flow, and give your clients huge added value. (And also seriously help them!)
   
   

Sometimes, the best way to avoid biz burnout is by reflecting on the things that burn you out about your work—and then intentionally engineer your own ‘burnout bumpers’ right into the way you operate.

While it might feel like “too much” and “a little overboard” at first, you will quickly learn that clients take their cues entirely from you, and they’re actually happy to have someone in charge who knows what they’re doing and how to best organize it.

This is not you being an over-controlling weirdo: this is you being a professional who is confident in their approach and knows what works best.

So whatever it is you’re struggling with? Build a policy around what you prefer. This is your business, after all. And then simply communicate how it works. People love when you tell them how it works—and you’ll be surprised at how much easier your life will be.

So long as you don’t have to wash a coffee mug with cheese floating in it.

What others would you add?!?!

DO TELL.

Would love to hear from you in the comments!

xoxo,
Ash

P.S. If the whole “client contract” thing makes you rashy, or if you don’t have a proper one, or you don’t know what a Statement of Work is, you can buy my exact work agreement template from my shop over here > > > .