How to set boundaries with your clients as a designer

When working with my clients on mapping out their workflows, a topic that comes up often is that of setting boundaries. They often try to do everything they can to deliver the best possible designs for their clients.

So when their clients ask for yet another revision (outside of what was contracted) for the main logo, decide halfway through the project they are not happy with the fonts that were picked or change their mind about what needs to be on their website just days before the handover they say yes sure, put everything aside and get back to work.

Should we help our clients when there is a real emergency? Sure (Just don’t forget to make sure the emergency is really an emergency first before dropping everything).

But dropping everything, including time with friends and family or working most of your evenings or even weekends to work on client projects should not be the norm.

You might be able to keep this going for a while, but running your design studio this way is not sustainable in the long run.

So if you’re in the same situation and keep wondering how you set these boundaries and where you include these boundaries…keep reading.

Because in this blog, we’ll get into:

• Why it is so important to set boundaries in your business
• Which boundaries can you set with your design clients
• Examples of boundaries setting

Why is setting boundaries so important in business?

When you’re working from home it can feel almost impossible to keep business and personal life separate. Because at any given time kids, partners or pets can barge in and demand your attention.

And it is just all too easy to grab your laptop when you’re sitting on the couch and check on something quickly. Before you know it you have checked emails, searched for some fonts, scrolled through Facebook and now it’s time to go to bed. And another evening has gone by without you taking a break from your business.

As I mentioned before, you might be able to keep this going for a while, but running your design studio this way is not sustainable in the long run. Your business will start to feel all-consuming, your energy is always low and you don’t feel motivated to get work done. All elements that can lead to/are a part of burnout.

Remember, that while you might love to run your business and would even do your work for free because you love to design brands and websites, your business should be there to serve you. To support you to live your life comfortably.

And the best way to do that is by serving your clients well. Not by saying yes to every request because you are afraid to upset your clients, afraid that they won’t come back or refer you or, that you’re burning a bridge you might need in the future.

But by making sure you have enough time and energy to serve them. And if you can look at it this way, your time and energy are your most valuable asset as a business owner. So it is up to you to protect it by setting boundaries between your business and personal life as well as towards your clients.

Which boundaries can you set with your design clients

I want to show you a couple of ways that you can set boundaries with your design clients during your onboarding processs. But before you go and implement all of these, ask yourself first which boundaries feel right for you.

Boundaries will look different for everyone and are very personal. Therefore, to set boundaries that make sense for you, first write down what matters to you when it comes to how you spend your time, how you interact with clients and how much time you want to have for your family. And then go through the below examples and determine which ones can help you achieve the boundaries that you are looking for.

Now, let’s look at which boundaries you can set with your design clients.

Business hours for your design studio

You don’t have to be available for our clients 24/7 and you should not feel guilty when you’re spending time with your family or taking the time to relax. So when you clearly communicate what your business hours are you can set expectations around when your clients will and won’t hear from you.

How can you set and manage this boundary?

• Email Signature in both your Gmail and CRM system like Dubsado
• Business hours setting in Dubsado will make sure emails that are part of your workflows will only be sent during these office hours. And you can do the same when you sent emails from your Gmail account that are outside of your office hours.
• Out of Office; You can set the out of office to send a message after business hours.

How you will communicate during the design project

Have you ever received IG DM’s, Facebook Messenger replies or text messages from clients with questions? Then it’s definitely time to put some boundaries around that. Because it’s one thing to let clients know when you’ll communicate with them, it’s something else to let them know how to communicate with them.

In addition to this, it would be good to let them know in which timeframe they can expect a response from you.

You can say something like; During your project, we’ll be communicating via email and you can always expect a response from us within one to two business days. Next to that, we’ll use Zoom for our meetings as outlined in the timeline that was shared with you in your proposal and contract.

You can also use other tools like Slack or Voxer to communicate with clients, it just depends on what works well for you and your clients. But unless you need to physically meet up with your clients and be able to reach you if they’re late or can’t find the location, I would suggest not giving your phone number. This just makes it too easy for them to start messaging you and expecting instant replies.

How can you set and manage this boundary?

• Proposal and/or Contract
• Welcome email and/or guide

The scope and timeline of the design project.

You probably don’t need me to give you examples of clients expecting work outside of the contracted scope.

One of the best ways to set boundaries is by clearly defining the scope of work. This means you will need to have a solid consultation call where you’re discussing the scope of work so that you can include this (together with a timeline) in your proposal and contract.

But don’t stop there. Also, have a section in your contract about:

• What happens when requests are made outside of the scope? You can outline the process such as that requests outside of the scope with be custom quoted or completed based on your hourly rate.
• What happens with the project (postponed or cancelled) when the client is not providing feedback within x number of days (what the number of days is for a client to provide feedback should also be in your contract)
• What happens if a project is postponed? Will the project be started back up as soon as feedback is received or pushed back to the first available slot? Will there be a reinstatement fee?
• And as this is a 2-way street; What the client can expect in terms of turn round time for revisions?

And it’s always good to have an email template written before the first time this happens so you can respond based on the terms you have in your contract instead of on the emotions that you might be feeling at the moment.

How can you set and manage this boundary?

• Talk about the scope of work and timelines in your consultation call
• Add the scope of work and timelines to your proposal and contract
• Remind them about the scope of work and timelines in your welcome email and/or welcome guide
• Send regular progress emails or add a progress section when you’re asking for feedback. In this section, you need to clearly communicate what the next steps in the process (according to the agreed timeline) will be, what this means you will be doing and what you’re expecting from your client at this stage in the project.

Payment terms for your design projects.

Having to contact clients because they have not paid is nerve-wracking. So just like you want to discuss the project scope in the consultation call, I think it’s important to talk about the payment terms. Again, this can be nerve-wracking, but the better you are able to set expectations from the get-go, the more likely clients are to stick to your boundaries.

How can you set and manage this boundary?

• Talk about the payment schedule in your consultation call
• Add payment schedule to your proposals and contracts
• When sending your contract and proposals add a ‘your next steps’ section that outlines when they need to make their first payment (is this at the time of signing the contract or a week before the project start date) and if you will send them reminders of the 2nd and 3rd payment.
• Add payment terms to your contract and what happens if they don’t pay.

Have email templates related to:

• Your payment is due today,
• Your payment is 3 days past due, what the next steps are and the consequences if they have not paid by x date
• Your payment is 7 days past due with stronger language about what the next steps are and the consequences if they have not paid by x date

Other ways that you can set boundaries for your design projects.

• Have a ‘Are we a great fit’ section on your website and a thorough qualifying process in place. Not everyone will be your ideal client and works well with how you like to work. Therefore knowing your processes and being able to communicate these upfront on your website or during a consultation will deter clients who don’t see themselves in this. Because it’s often the not-right-fit clients or the ones with really low budgets that try to cross the most boundaries.
• Working according to an ideal week where you have dedicated time blocks where you work on client work, where you take meetings and still have time for work-on-the-business tasks allows you to put boundaries around how much time you spend on client work.

A final note about setting boundaries

With almost all of the boundaries I have mentioned in this article, you’ll see that I suggest including this in your contracts. But most of the clients I work with don’t have a contract or a limited version that does not mention things like timelines, deadlines, response times etc. And one of the main reasons I hear from my clients why don’t have a contract in place is that they never needed one.

I see having a contract as having insurance. Yes, it’s an expense for something that you might never need, but you’re really happy to have it in place when you do need it. How else are you going to uphold your clients to your boundaries?

Do you always have to enforce your contract when a client does cross a boundary? Some say you do. But I think that it can be up to your discretion if you want to uphold it. Situations are never black and white and you might want to be a bit more lenient if the relationship with the client has been great up until that point or if, for example, you still need to get paid. But at least you know, that if you do need to be strict you have your contract to fall back on.

Will it be easy to say no to a client? No 😉

But it will become easier over time.

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT

There you have it, 4 main ways you can start to set boundaries for your design projects and why it is so important to set these boundaries.

Because the truth is, when we feel our clients are crossing our boundaries, it is often because we have let them. But now you know what you can do about it.