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If you’ve worked for yourself, you’ve no doubt encountered a bad client. Every small business owner has a story from the trenches – someone who nickel and dimed a project, used profanity during business calls, threw tantrums about deadlines – ask around, and you’ll hear about client encounters that will make the hair on your arms stand up.
While the <a href="https://www.uat.freshenv.com/press/data-research/usemploymentreport" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">majority of people</a> who work for themselves say they wouldn’t change it for the world, bad clients can certainly put a damper on the day.
To learn more about bad clients and how to spot them as early as possible, FreshBooks surveyed 400 small business owners and asked about the worst clients they’ve encountered.
Here’s what we discovered:
<strong>First Signs</strong>
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<strong>Bad Behavior</strong>
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<strong>Calling It Quits</strong>
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Ready to cut ties with a client from hell? For advice on how to deal with a bad client without burning bridges, check out these articles and more from the FreshBooks blog.
<a href="https://www.uat.freshenv.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-demanding-and-unrealistic-clients" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Everything You Need to Know About Managing Bad Clients</a>
<a href="https://www.uat.freshenv.com/blog/how-to-fire-a-client" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">How to Fire a Client: Why, When, and How to Do It Professionally</a>
<a href="https://www.uat.freshenv.com/blog/client-doesnt-pay" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ghosted: What to Do When a Client Doesn’t Pay Up</a>
<a href="https://www.uat.freshenv.com/blog/better-clients" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">5 Steps to Getting Better Clients</a>
To learn more about FreshBooks research, get in touch: <a href="mailto:research@freshbooks.com">research@freshbooks.com</a>
<strong>About FreshBooks</strong>
FreshBooks is changing the way business owners manage their books. Its owner-first accounting platform, loved by businesses in over 160 countries, takes an easy-to-use approach to managing finances, billing, payroll, payments, and client engagement. Known for its 10x Stevie award-winning customer support, FreshBooks serves customers of all sizes from offices in Canada, Croatia, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands, and US. FreshBooks has been recognized as a Top 10 employer by Great Places to Work for seven of the last eight years.
<strong>Survey Methodology</strong>
To learn more about the difficult client experiences small business owners face, FreshBooks fielded an online survey of 400 U.S.-based self-employed people and small business owners across various industries, between late September into early October, 2022. The study’s margin of error is +/- 5% at 95% confidence.
