The email I wrote was scathing.<\/p>\n
Of course it would be. I was pissed off, and I channeled all of that anger into a spiteful, angry, yet eloquent email about how this was absolutely unacceptable, and if the client wanted to continue working with me then they would pay on time.<\/p>\n
By the time I finished writing it, my pulse was racing and I could feel my heart pounding in my chest; that\u2019s usually not the best indicator you should push \u201csend\u201d on an email.<\/p>\n
And despite how much I really wanted my client to know all of these angry, frustrated, pent-up emotions I had been feeling, that all came to a head when they were unable, yet again, to deliver a timely payment.<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t hit send. Something told me I should sleep on it. So I carefully saved the email into my drafts, stepped away from my computer for the day, and took about 900 deep breaths.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t mean I calmed down right away. It didn\u2019t mean I stopped thinking about it. It was pretty much the only thing I could focus on for the rest of the day. But as the day wore on, and I slept on what I was about to say to my client, I realized I was about to do more harm than good.<\/p>\n
Being a freelancer or entrepreneur can mean you are wearing many hats: doing many jobs that you have little skill in, but have to do simply because the job must be done.<\/p>\n
And when you receive pushback on that job, or you are struggling to complete a task you don\u2019t enjoy, it\u2019s easy to get really frustrated, upset, or just pissed off.<\/p>\n
It can be easy to throw that in the face of the client \u2014 which never makes good business sense.<\/p>\n
We all have limits of what we are willing to accept from our clients. And it can feel like we are beholden to them since they are the ones paying us to do the thing we (hopefully) love.<\/p>\n
But even in the most challenging interactions with clients, even in those moments when you\u2019d rather just cut and run and not deal anymore, there are opportunities for growth, tact, and possibly a new way to communicate what you need to run your business effectively.<\/p>\n
That scathing email I wrote? I ended up sending a much edited version the next day. It was more concise. It didn\u2019t include any harsh words. It basically said I was sorry they were having issues rendering payment, and I\u2019d be happy to continue working on the project once payment was received.<\/p>\n
The client responded almost right away, payment came through, and the project continued.\u00a0Sometimes, the thing clients respond to most is not anger or threats, but the reality that work is about to stop completely unless bills are paid.\u00a0It is amazing what an economy of well-chosen, respectful words can do for a business relationship.<\/p>\n
That whole experience was tremendously valuable when the following year, I had a similar issue with another client who was not paying me in a timely fashion. I took a breath, wrote an email, saved it to drafts, and went to bed.\u00a0The next day, before I could even consider my email, the issue had been rectified and payment had been issued.<\/p>\n
Sometimes all you need is a little time before you hit send.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The email I wrote was scathing. Of course it would be. I was pissed off, and I channeled all of that anger into a spiteful, angry, yet eloquent email about how this was absolutely unacceptable, and if the client wanted to continue working with me then they would pay on time. By the time I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1162,"featured_media":11439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n