This is on my mind right now. Here are my Top Five Pointers:

1. You let your clients know what’s possible and what’s not possible. And you do it as early as possible from the outset and before any work has started.

2. You always remain polite. Always. You can also be calm and chilled out no matter the situation. 😃

3. You respect client boundaries and you’re always professional. This means no calling after-hours, unless you’re given express permission to do so. It also means no potentially offensive jokes on-set. 

Two rather obvious examples, but you’ll be surprised how often I hear stories about those or something very similar. 

4. You abide by deadlines and meeting times. This is common sense and clearly Business & Life 101, but I’d be remiss not to throw it in here.

5. You leave someone better for having met you. Wouldn’t it be something if you could improve the world (or at least you’re personal sphere of influence) just by being an awesome human being during every interaction you have?

💥Get things down in writing as early as possible.💥

This is  huge for your business and your sanity.

I’ve lost track of the amount of times I could look on a project that facing issues and notice that I didn’t quite iron the details out well enough in advance.

Putting together a rock solid and detailed Brief will pay dividends over and over again.

Get everything about the project down on paper. This should be a combination of any meetings you’ve had with the client, as well as your thoughts and ideas that have been okayed by the client.

That’s the key here: you must get everything okayed and signed off by the client. 💵

It sounds obvious (and it is!), but you’ll be surprised how much I made these kind of mistakes when I was first starting out.

I’d go blindly into long-term deals and big contracts with clients without properly getting all the project details ironed out and agreed on before I started the work.

💥This has to be detailed and it has to be before you start the work.💥

What are your experiences working with clients? Let me know in the comments below. 🙌