Don’t Be That Guy: Why Bailing on Clients is Low Class

I’ve been hearing a good bit lately from current and propspective clients who say something like, “Our previous designer went MIA” or “The previous developer stopped answering our emails.”

Each time, I literally cringe. If you’re a freelancer of any sort, leaving a client hanging mid-project without any communication is never okay. You’re in client services…the business of serving clients. To bail like that means you’ve failed miserably.

I understand that clients can sometimes be extremely demanding, but whenever I’ve had a bad experience with a client, it’s usually because they didn’t have a good understanding of the process. In which case, that’s my fault as the “expert.”

It’s your job to be a communicator. If the project is starting to hit the fan, then you need to talk about it. Dropping off the map and acting like your client never existed is low class. Don’t be that guy.