I talk a lot about working with your ideal clients. It’s critical to you happiness, work satisfaction, and overall impact.
But here’s the nuance: there’s no such thing as a perfect client.
Your clients aren’t perfect and neither are you. The projects never go exactly as planned, either.
The best thing you can do is bring your best self (and work performance) to the table every day.
Your ideal clients should be generally flexible and willing to work through challenges constructively. There should be a culture of collaboration, not blame.
They should respect you, your time, and your process. And you should respect them, their time, and their subject-matter expertise.
You should also trust one another.
But even still, your clients will never be perfect any more than you will be. The question is, what kind of imperfections are you willing to put up with?
To me, I’m willing to push through difficult periods or stressful situations as long as it doesn’t become a permanent state of being.
Website launches, strategy overhauls, navigating troubled financial times—these are but a few examples of things that create stress. They’re to be expected. It’s what you’re paid for.
But if you find yourself losing sleep, feeling terrible, or generally being treated like a subordinate for a prolonged period of time, it might be a sign you need to make a change. For your benefit and theirs.
No client is perfect, but some clients are more ideal than others. Some are even pretty great.
The good news is, you set the standards on who you work with.