When and How To Fire a Freelance Client

This article has detailed advice about when and how to fire a freelance client:

• General rules for firing a freelance client
• Firing clients that pay too little
• Firing clients that aren’t professionally rewarding
• Firing clients that are more trouble than they’re worth
• Firing clients because you don’t have enough time for them
• Firing clients because they’re icky
• Scripts for firing clients

Two big-picture points before we get started:

First, “firing clients” probably makes this sound more antagonistic than it has to be.

Yes, clients can be frustrating. But the causes of a breakup aren’t always a conflict. In many cases, there is no cause for hard feelings. You just need to break up because you aren’t a good fit. It’s just business.

We’ll look at some of those “just business” reasons for firing a freelance client below.

Second, in most cases, we go through negotiations to try before you fire a client.

Sometime the best way to fire a client is to put them in the position of making a choice to let you go or maybe make changes that benefit you. The issue frustrating you, with some creative thinking, might be the pivot point to a better gig with more responsibility and better pay.

General rules for firing a freelance client

In all cases, act as if you believe in karma. Assume you’re going to cross paths with these people again. 

You may even want to work with with this client again under different circumstances. For example, if the problem is with your direct contact but not the company, the company may come back to you later when different people work there. There’s no upside to flaming the company.

Conversely, you have no complaints about the person you work with directly. But they are handcuffed by processes within their company that impact you and your ability to do good work for them. Remember that person will work at other companies in the future. They are potential future clients.

In short, when you you fire a freelance client you want everyone remembering you for your professionalism, not your blaze of glory.

1. Err on the side of generosity

Give the client more credit than they deserve for the work you’ve done together. Giving  credit doesn’t cost anything.

Give as much notice as you can.

Give them options.

Give them a plan to replace you.

2. Try to work out your contract

The most generous solution is working out the end of your current long-term contract. It’s also the cleanest. Just give plenty of notice that you won’t be renewing it.

You do have a freelance contract, right? A good one will give you some protection so you can be generous and work it out and also get out of it if you absolutely must.

For example, a good freelance contract will have terms for ending it early, such as 30 days notice.

And a good freelance contract will have terms for the client’s responsibility so you can invoice them for undelivered work if the reason it’s not delivered is that they are a bottleneck.

3. Resist the temptation to teach a lesson

Yes, other clients have ghosted you or fired you with no notice.

And it hurt.

And now maybe this current client does things that feel crummy. Maybe they expect you to be on call while never being responsive to you at all. That doesn’t feel like you’re being treated professionally.

But the client doesn’t understand why that behavior is disrespectful, and there’s no pay off in using your breakup to make them understand. 

The client is like a self-centered adolescent. It really doesn’t have the capacity to think beyond it’s own needs.

In this scenario, you are the grown up . . . but you are not the parent. It’s not your job (or even within your power) to teach them about consequences. Dropping a freelance client with no notice won’t teach the lesson you want.

4. Offer a transition plan

Lay out what you’re going to get done. But also set boundaries.

Make clear what you need from them in order to get that done. In other words make clear that, “You’ll get this from me by our end date, as long as you aren’t a bottleneck.”

Except don’t say it that way. More on more diplomatic scripts to use later.

5. Recommend a way to replace you

This depends on why you’re leaving, of course. You may not want to wish this client on another freelancer.

But if you’re leaving because it’s just not a good fit, it can make sense to introduce them to your suggested replacement.

For example, I sell editorial management, and sometimes it becomes clear that all the client really wants is “writing.” I gladly encourage the client to hire the same freelance writers I subcontract to.

Is a part of me also thinking, “Good luck making this work without an editor”?

Sure. But I try to remember #3 above. Let them learn their own lesson. Being snarky on the way out the door doesn’t help my freelance business.

6. Don’t bargain if you’re breaking up

If you’ve decided to break it off, don’t give the impression you’re open to negotiation.

The client might raise the possibility of more pay, a different scope of work, different responsibilities, improving the process, being more responsive or adjusting the timeline. If you’re open to staying under better circumstances. Fine. Negotiate.

But if  this relationship is over for you, don’t say something non-committal that strings the client along. There is more on negotiating vs. breaking up below.

7. Emphasize the positive

Don’t blame.

Say thank you.

Say you learned a lot that you appreciate the opportunity.

Say you’re proud of the work you’ve done together. 

None of that is as fun as telling clients how we really feel. But this is a business, so keep it classy.

Now let’s look at some reasons to fire a freelance client.

Reason 1: Fire freelance clients that pay too little

There are two versions of this.

On the one hand, they pay too little for anyone who isn’t desperate. There’s no point in you staying, and you wouldn’t wish this client on anyone else.

On the other hand, some clients pay okay, but your client mix and experience have improved so that you can earn more elsewhere.They are being crowded out by better paying clients.

They pay too little for you in particular, but some other freelancers with different experience or a different niche might appreciate them.

How to fire a client that pays to little

Don’t.

If your frustration is really just about money and you are comfortable working with them otherwise, turn the tables.

It’s better for them to say no to your high rates than you saying no more to their low rates.

In the process of finding out what their limit is, you may find yourself getting more pay. Don’t throw away this opportunity to test the market’s tolerance for higher freelance rates.

Here’s the recipe for getting a client to fire you because of your high rates:

First, calculate a freelance rate 10-20 percent higher than your best paying client. Suppose you’ve been charging the problem client $50 per widget for years, and now you have a bunch of clients paying you $100 per widget.  

So the  lowest paying client has to go, right? That way you’ll have more time to go find the next high paying client. 

Instead, make up your mind you can continue working for this client at $110 or $120. That’s 10-20 percent higher than your best paying client.

Second, let this client now that you are raising rates in your next contract after the current concludes. Ball in their court.

Third, they respond yes or no.

In the end, the most likely thing is they say, “Thanks for letting us know. That’s more than we can afford.”

So you part ways. You have more time, and you’ve helped send a signal that could improve things for the next freelancer. 

But, sometimes the client will surprise you and agree to the new rate.

Wow. Okay.

You just raised your rates for this client quite a bit, and your overall average rate a little bit.

Often this happens through inertia. The client is busy and they just hear the part where you say “next contract” and thinks “I can worry about this later.” Then when time runs out, they’re too busy to find a replacement for you at the low rate.

At this point, you may still have problem with too little time for all your clients. 

Except now some other client is the low-paying laggard.

Fourth, you turn your attention to that client and start the recipe again from the top. I’m sorry I have to raise rates at the end of my current contract from $100 to $135.

Repeat until someone says no and your schedule has more time in it.

Read more about the process of raising your freelance rates here.

Lastly, help out the client that does balk by introducing them to a colleague who would appreciate the work at that rate.

Problem 2: Fire freelance clients when there just isn’t enough time

Sometimes, the client isn’t a problem for you. You just don’t have enough time and something has to give.

Of course, from a purely economic view, this is just a corollary to the low rates problem. At some amount of time, any rate is acceptable.

And at some hypothetical rate of pay, it makes economic sense to drop every other client, put your kids in boarding school, kennel the dog, send your spouse on a round-the-world cruise, hire a household staff and make time for this goose that lays golden eggs.

But we’re not purely economic beings. Most of us freelance because it gives us the flexibility to spend time with our family. In real life, client work creeps up until it dawns on us that we don’t actually have the time we thought we did.

If you’re emailing clients via a tiny phone keyboard during your kid’s soccer game, and you don’t want to, then it’s time to reset. One of these clients has to go.

How to fire freelance clients when you you don’t have enough time

Maybe don’t.

Same as above. Turn this situation into an auction among your clients. You have multiple lots to sell, and the lowest bid doesn’t get one.

For example, you may have five clients and want to drop down to four. You’re going to raise rates until one client drops out. 

You select the client most likely to go and announce a new much higher rate.

If they accept it, you move on to the next client with an even higher rate and so on until one of them fires you.

Voila! You have more time and more money.

In practice, the first client may balk at the first notice of higher rates. But, don’t ask, don’t get.

Use this transition moment as an opportunity to test your market value while getting to your goal of fewer clients and more time.

Reason 3: Fire clients that aren’t rewarding to you professionally

The premise of Nation1099 is that freelancing is a career that should advance over time. You should develop new skills and take on new responsibilities that have a higher value and therefore pay better.

Your colleagues on Planet W2 climb career ladders from associate to manager to director to VP.

Sometimes that means those salaried workers outgrow and break up with an employer. If employees didn’t outgrow employers, I’d still be working the french fry machine.

People in jobs try to get better jobs.

On Planet W2, that’s the natural course of things.

It should be for gig work, also. You freelance career should have a ladder, just on an independent contractor basis. You should outgrow the professional responsibilities a client hired you for.

Which means you will outgrow clients. The general mix of freelance gigs should gradually improve.

The steps on a career ladder for freelancers are generally from creating materials for the client to strategic work that includes managing projects, planning and advising. The further up those steps you go, the more “consultant” is a more appropriate term than “freelancer.”

Sometimes you are ready to make a move up that career ladder, but a client is holding you back. You are ready for the next step in your professional development. You are capable of strategic planning or project management. Maybe you even have a number of clients for which you do that now.

But this particular client still has you grinding out entry-level work.

There don’t need to be hard feelings here. You are just ready for more rewarding professional challenges than this client can offer you.

A variation on this is less about going up a ladder than it is about getting more focused. Maybe you are transitioning from “I’ll take anything that comes” freelance photographer to specializing in wedding photography. You’re burned out on the corporate work your agency client has been sending you and you want a more rewarding freelance niche.

It’s the same issue, though. Your professional career has needs this client isn’t right for.

How to fire a client that isn’t rewarding to you professionally

Maybe don’t. Again, you can put the ball in their court and give them a chance to respond.

In this case, explain to the client that you are refocusing your freelance business. Going forward your work will be limited to the aspects of it you do want to emphasize (and that your rates will be re-set accordingly).

Maybe you are climbing the career ladder from freelance photography to freelance art director. Or from freelance software developer to product development consultant. Or from blog writer to content strategist.

In most cases, the client won’t have a use for that scope of services from you. You wish each other luck and move on. 

But sometimes they’ll surprise you. The response might be something like, “This is confidential, but I’m getting a promotion next week and someone needs to do the work I’m doing now. A six-month consulting contract might be just the thing.”

Suddenly, you’re giving yourself a promotion to more advance work with better pay.

No exaggeration, this exact thing happened to me last week. I was fed up with a client and was on the verge of giving my parting ways speech during a check-in call.

But first they let me know the reason this project was faltering because transitions at their office were underway. These opened up more opportunity for me. Suddenly we were talking about an expanded contract with more responsibility.

By the way, if you are pushing the more entry-level work out of your client mix, I also recommend offering to find subcontractors.

Reason 4: Fire freelance clients that are more trouble than they are worth

In theory, this could just be the other variable in the low pay equation. If the client paid twice is much, would they be worth the trouble? Ten times as much?

From a purely economic perspective, there should be an amount of money that makes any client worth the trouble.

But sometimes you just know. The client is a time suck and always will be. 

This can happen even in the absence of a personality conflict. They could be lovely people who really value your contribution. But even clients that you get along great with can be bad for business.

Some clients, for example, need a lot of planning meetings and hand holding and still make a decision that gets your part of the project going.

You end up giving a lot of free consultation that you didn’t price into the contract and never getting a chance to do the work you are supposed to get paid for.

Another version of the client that is more trouble than they’re worth is the “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario. 

Your lead contact approves your draft, but they just want to check with one person. And that becomes a couple more people.

Eventually, your drafts all have comments from dozens of strangers. Even if every comment was reasonable and helpful, the process isn’t.

The problem with too many cooks isn’t your ego about your work. Maybe the soup does need more salt.

The problem is your lead contact’s inability to set boundaries about who contributes what kind of input at what stage. If they want a committee to produce the work, they should assign a committee to produce it. They don’t need you for that.

How to fire a client that is more trouble than they’re worth

Maybe don’t. There is a two-part alternative to consider trying first.

First, you could adjust your pricing model. I don’t like hourly rates and strongly advise project-based pricing.

But you can’t invoice for what you can’t deliver. So in this case, maybe go back to hourly rates.

Explain to the client why — because they’re a giant pain in the ass and you need to charge them for the time dealing with their bull.

Just kidding. Say you want to convert this project to hourly rate pricing because it sounds like they value your planning and advising contributions. But that takes considerable time that you need to start charging for. 

You can give them an estimate of how much this hourly consultation work will add up to. And you can agree to report the hours frequently so they don’t go over budget and can reconsider after a month or two.

And then keep a record for every phone call and every response to their time-sucking emails.

Second, you could give serious thought to what their underlying problem is, how you could solve it and what you could charge for that.

If they want to produce their work by committee, maybe you should manage the committee. Maybe they need someone to tear down their process and rebuild it. Promote yourself to a consulting or advisory role.

For example, you could pitch them on stepping back from being their freelance designer for about six months and instead being on a six-month project to re-envision the design director role. You outline deliverables like job descriptions, process manuals and a training session for internal stakeholders on how and when to give effective input.

If they say they don’t need all this, then you politely give notice that you won’t have time to keep working with them. Their current process isn’t a good fit for you. (i.e. They are more trouble than they are worth.)

Reason 5: Fire freelance clients that aren’t responsive

Sometimes we have those clients that love our work and eagerly want it . . . when you hear from them.

But hearing from them is rare. They contract you for an ambitious multi-piece project. And then when you are underway, dozens of messages from you about your drafts go unanswered.

You’re thinking all kinds of crazy things.

The client is on the lamb.

They client is a front for the mob.

You’re in the matrix and the client only exists in your implanted memories.

Or maybe they hate your drafts and just can’t be bothered to tell you.

You’re on the verge of telling this client where to stuff it, when all of a sudden you get a manic email asking if you can get on the phone right away: Love these drafts. We need the moon. We ought to colonize Venus while we’re at it. I’m going to get us some more budget. Send me more.

That feels good. You get to work. And then you don’t hear from them again for two months.

In a case like this, you are dealing with a business idea rather than a real business. Your freelance client needs your help, but they don’t have the bandwidth to use your services.

As long as they’re paying your invoices, you could just coast, but it’s so professionally frustrating.

How to fire a client that isn’t responsive

Again, maybe don’t.

Before you fire this client, you could make an ambitious pitch to be the solution they need to a larger problem. This could be an opportunity to promote yourself to the next stage of your freelance career.

Let’s say this is a blog writing gig, for example. You could talk straight to this client and say, “I see that you’re impossibly busy. I don’t think I’m talking out of turn to say you’re a bottleneck on this project. Which is understandable. You’re trying to build your business. So I have a proposal for you.”

Then you tell them they should hire you as their content director, which can be done on an independent contractor basis. You’ll have control of a budget, and you’ll have authority to make decisions yourself. Then you use the budget to hire whatever editors and writing help you need to move the project along.

The key is to have authority to make decisions. Cut out the person who is the bottleneck. And make them pay for you more for taking on the responsibility. 

If that doesn’t work then you tell the client you’re going to have to bow out until they’re staffed up better to manage this project. The stop and start thing you have going on doesn’t work for you.

Reason 6: Fire freelance clients that don’t respect your work

We talked about low pay. And we talked about clients that are limiting your ability to move up the career ladder.

But there’s a more insidious kind of problem  client that is just treating you like the hired help in a way that doesn’t feel respectful. They may pay fine. And the kind of work you are supposed to be doing for them may be what you want to do.

But somehow every interaction devolves into a preoccupation with work that is far below your skill level. They agree on a process and on the best way to use your your time and skills. And then in the next email they say, “Could you just mop up this spill real quick?”

Or they approve the work you submit, but when it goes public it has been butchered.

You’re thinking, if they wanted changes, why don’t they give you a chance to make them? That’s what you’re there for.

Then when you try to talk that through, they don’t get why that’s frustrating for you.

From a short-term perspective, the logical thing to do is to stick with this freelance client as long as they’re paying you invoices. If they want to overpay you for scut work, take the money and chill out.

But from a long-term perspective, this relationship is going nowhere and it can wear you out.

I actually fired my very best client recently. It’s a brand I’m proud to be associated with. They are a great calling card with other clients. The pay is okayish. I’ve had them as a client for years. They have let me go because of budget reasons but come back to me later.

So they value you me in a sense, because I solve problems for them.

But over time we’ve drifted into a relationship where I wasn’t solving the problems I’m capable of solving. I was becoming less involved in the strategic direction rather than more. I was treated more and more like an on-call proofreader rather than a project manager with a sophisticated editorial process.

I’m not blaming the client. They’re just focusing on what they need to focus on.

But it didn’t feel good. I was frustrated all the time. I was taking offense at little things. “Why wasn’t I included.” Ego-trip stuff.

And I had worked to resolve these problems, having a number of “re-set” calls with the client.

But we were in what felt like a one-way relationship to me. It felt like they were taking me for granted and didn’t respect my work. This wasn’t a toxic relationship so much as a loveless one.

Maybe they’d see it differently. But I decided I needed to get out of it.

It seemed like a big step. But I’ve been a freelancer long enough to know there are other fish in the sea. With experience, the prospect of hustling for new clients isn’t so scary.

This is just a form of career transition. People have them.

And this is less risky than what our friends from Planet W2 go through when they leave a job. Even the biggest client is still only a portion of our income, so some income is still there as a buffer.

How to fire a client that doesn’t respect your work

Now we’re getting to cases where there isn’t really an alternative to try first. You’re just going to follow the rules above. Keep it respectful. Keep your frustration to yourself.

Just tell them that you will be too busy going forward and that you won’t be able to help them after a certain time. Try to give as much notice as possible. Provide a definite plan for how you will close out the outstanding deliverables and help them transition.

But give a definite end date. This isn’t the long goodbye.

Reason 7: Fire freelance clients that are just icky

Usually you sniff these out before you agree to work with them. But sometimes less experienced freelancers will sign up for any gig that comes along, and they end up with something icky.

Maybe the client’s business is unethical. Or they want you to do things that are unethical. Or you start to suspect the whole business is some kind of scam.

A more common case is that the client is not smart enough to run a scam. Instead they’re working under a delusion that they will be the next  unicorn, and they convinced you to buy into.

How to fire an icky client 

Icky is tricky. They might be litigious. They are probably bullies. They will certainly be hyper-sensitive to anyone calling them on their bull.

The safest thing is to treat it like every client. Keep it professional, work out your current arrangement and don’t renew.

But if you are caught up doing icky work yourself in the meantime, you probably don’t want to work out your current arrangement.

In that case, you need to find a way to divert, convert or postpone.

Turn in work you can live with, even if it’s not exactly what the client expected. Put them in the position of complaining about it if they want.

For example, if they want you to rip off someone else’s work, turn in original work instead. If they say, “No, I want you to use that swoop in our logo,” you just nod thoughtfully and turn in another draft without the swoop. Make the client fire you.

Trying to improve the relationship with a freelance client before ending it

As I said above, if you’re breaking up, don’t be ambiguous about it. It’s not professional to put people through the process of trying to  improve the relationship if you’re not actually open to that.

For example, don’t solicit or entertain counteroffers if you aren’t going to consider them. Sometimes when a person gives notice that they are leaving a job or contract, the employer or client will say, “What if we can do better on the pay?” Suddenly, maybe you’re interested.

That’s fine if you actually would consider staying under different terms. Threatening to leave as a negotiating ploy isn’t necessarily wrong.

But giving the impression that you’re negotiating when you’re firm on your plan to leave is unprofessional. You may afraid of disappointing the client and so are more comfortable giving the bad news in stages. The client says, “Maybe I can get you more money,” and you say, “Mmm, okay maybe” when you don’t really mean it.

Your contact has to go propose this “raise” to their colleagues or bosses. Don’t make them go through that if it’s a charade on your end.

There are cases though, where your position is more like “I’m going to put the ball is in their court, and if they don’t want to hit it back, I’m leaving; if they do hit it back, I’ll give it serious thought, but I’ll still strongly inclined to leave.”

We looked at a couple of cases like that above. In some cases, you can raise your rates dramatically — but not unreasonably — so the client is in the position of letting you go.

But, if they decide to meet that price, you need to be prepared to accept it. You can’t suggest it’s all about price when it’s really about something else.

Scripts for firing your freelance client

 

• I’ve taken on a different mix of clients and won’t have time on my schedule to continue this work with you.

 

•  I am transitioning my business to emphasize project management more than direct design services. Many of my clients value the X, Y and Z work I do, and I have decided to focus on finding new opportunities like that. As a result, I won’t have time to continue doing A, B and C for you. 

 

• The more we work on this, the more it appears you need help with X, Y and Z activities, and I’m really not the best person for that. My business is designed to deliver services more around A, B and C.

 

• Because of personal reasons, I won’t be able to continue on this project after March 15.

 

• I’m going to wrap up by May 30, and I would like to finish X, Y and Z for you by then. To do that I’ll need approvals for A, B and C by March 15. Can we schedule a call to go over the status on those? And if you have any other priorities for before May 30, we can discuss that then.

 

• I don’t want to leave you in the lurch. I have an idea about some colleagues who might be able to help you. Would you like me to introduce you to them?

 

• I’m disappointed to have to end this project. I’m really proud of the work we’ve done.

 

There are other possible scripts that explain more. For example you could say you’re doing this because “I notice some problems in how we work together, and I think someone else could be a better fit.” That may encourage the client to do some self reflection.

Except they won’t, as we discussed above. And even if they did, it doesn’t benefit you.

So there’s really no upside to spelling out your complaints and frustrations. There’s no point in blaming. 

Bottom line: Don’t over-explain when you fire a freelance client.  Your feelings are your business.

Just tell the client you’re busy, tell them the last date you’ll be working, tell them the transition plan and move on.