Red-Flag Clients - 5 Potential Warning Signs

An actual sign, to illustrate my point. Red-flag clients can make you feel like a shadow of yourself, singed in their fire. Senior portrait client, business branding client, whoever the client is: See the signs and heed them, before you get embroiled in their firestorm.

It’s late summer in the Normalized Wildfire chapter of climate change in the Pacific Northwest. Flakes of ash on my car have become almost as common in summer as snow in winter.

In weatherspeak, red-flag days signal periods of extremely high fire risk. A sprinkler resided on my roof until the rains returned this morning, positioned perfectly to protect my home should a red-flag day become a fire day in my neighborhood. One man saved his house that way when his Los Angeles neighborhood burned down last year; I watched his interview on local TV news. That sprinkler is my insurance against fire.

A recent portrait client experience reminds me that just as there are red-flag weather days, there are red-flag clients – not bad people, per se, just as summer sun and tomato-ripening heat aren’t bad elements on their own.

No, these are clients who, at least at the moment, are living their lives in such a way that they are ticking time bombs, poised to set proverbial fire to your business relationship – and potentially to your business itself. In professional business development circles, we photographers talk a lot about ideal clients, but maybe not enough about red-flag clients.

Dear reader, I know you need the money, I need the money, we all need the money – but not from the red-flag client. Oh, no. What they pay you will not be worth what they exact from you in time, stress, and, potentially, money. They are going to flare up, it’s only a matter of time, and they’re going to burn anyone in their vicinity. You can’t stop that. But you can avoid being the one caught in their flames.

Here are five clues that have led to red-flag portrait clients for me. Some were small brush fires. One was a wildfire. Learn the signs, and let avoiding them become your insurance, your proverbial sprinkler protecting the perimeter of your business:

Disrespect of your time.

They reschedule multiple times, for reasons besides sudden illness. Sudden bout of Covid? Valid. Part of your session is scheduled to take place outside, and the air is scientifically unsafe to breathe from wildfire smoke? Also valid. No, healing from Botox injections doesn’t count as “illness.”

Repeatedly confusing and/or misremembering your shoot date, to the point that you’re expecting it? Big red flag.

You might see a hardworking single mama rescheduling multiple times as valid. She’s hardworking. She’s a single mama. Aaand you’ve been warned. If she’s not maintaining proper boundaries in her own life, she’s likely not going to maintain them for you.

Remember, your time is valuable, as is your assistant’s time. If you both have day jobs, even more so.

Your ideal client will value your time.

Disrespect directed at themselves or the loved one they are hiring you to photograph.

This is different from mild self-effacement. I’m talking about people who actively put themselves or their loved ones down, or repeatedly railroad their loved ones’ agency, with commitment. All the patience in the world won’t redirect someone determined to treat their people (or themselves) this way – but it will get you soundly thrown under the bus they’re used to throwing said usual suspects under if you intervene, which you’ll need to do in order to do the good work of photographing them.

Our work can buoy clients actively seeking to loving themselves more deeply. But you can’t force that on someone fighting internal battles they haven’t yet unraveled enough to see clearly. Not sure why such a one would seek us out when that’s where they’re at, but gently send them on their way and wish them well.

A focus on control.

One particular line in my contract, line 16C, is near and dear to me:

16. Photographer reserves the right to discontinue service during the session

without prior notice for any reason, including but not limited to:

c. Interference from a customer, associate of the customer, or other guest

to a degree that it prevents Photographer from performing her duties in a safe,

artistic manner.

Your client hired you because they respect your work. Respect, like love, is a verb. Listen carefully to them when you meet for coffee before you sign the contract (please, dear reader, meet for coffee before you sign the contract). If they seem controlling then, picture how it may be to create on the fly with someone telling you where to go, what to do, and how to do it. It’s extra fun when you’re photographing their loved one, who repeatedly shrinks like a wilting flower at this treatment (“Say ‘Football!’ SMILE!”). Besides, I can tell you from experience, the chances are good that even if you follow all their directions, they still won’t be happy.

I know, it’s heartbreaking to see a client’s loved one treated like this. You can’t fix it for them. If you’ve gotten this far and you’re stuck in the shoot, just do the best you can to work with your subject and make photographs that show their beauty, hope your images become a positive signpost for them, and let it go.

Side note: If you’re a journalistic photographer like me, and your mission is to capture real moments for your clients, make sure that is what they actually want. I once photographed a beautiful exchange between extended family members during a family portrait - that the client wanted me to “fix” with a Photoshop head-swap because her daughter and nephew were sharing a smile instead of looking at the camera. Not a satisfying endeavor for this photographer (spoiler alert: I didn‘t do it).

Covertly or overtly slamming third parties unrelated to your contract or photoshoot.

If you know a little too much about someone’s ex, don’t think someday soon some stranger near your client won’t know a little too much about you. The lesson here, of course, is that people show you how they will treat you in how they treat the people already in their life.

People tell you who they are. Listen.

Disrespect - or outright abuse - directed at you.

Okay, so you thought you could navigate the warning signs, but now you’re knee-deep in the middle of a photoshoot careening south, madly managing and redirecting, smiling and soothing, firing the shutter in the hopes you’re capturing enough to honor your contract (have faith, dear reader: You’ve come this far, and your heart is in the right place, supported by your hard work. You’ve got this.)

In spite of it all, wildfire happens. Resist pouring your water bottle on your client. Water doesn’t work on stove fires or emotional client fires. Stay calm, stay collected, and speak peace, even if you’re shaking inside (and out). Resolve to go home and finish the edit in one night if you can.

Now then, if you simply adhering to your contract makes things devolve sufficiently for your client to start calling you names and making threats like they’re bullying you on the kindergarten playground, you might understandably think everyone involved knows your business association is over once your contract is fulfilled, right? Not necessarily so! Believe it or not, I’ve had a client insult my professionalism, my character, my chronic illness, my photography itself, and I’m sure there’s more, and threaten me, only to turn around and ask for PRINTS without even a hint of an apology, let alone the authentic repentance their behavior warranted. Run, dear reader, if someone treats you this way, and then asks you to open yourself up to MORE of all of the above, especially if you have honored your contract. We’re not in this business, or this life, to take abuse. So don’t.

Transparency: Surviving capitalism can be very, very hard. I know this oh so well, and that’s a big part of the reason I court marginalized communities in my business. I have privilege – and I also get much of the struggle. Not all of it by any means, but a good bit. I‘ve shown many an unlovely moment to my loved ones in my battles to cope in this society, more times than I want to remember, and I can never say sorry enough to them. I get that people at their wits end do wits-end-y things. As for me, some(many)times I just didn’t know HOW – or have the resources I needed – to do better. But when I could do better, I did better.

My life is a work in progress, a daily practice in kaizen*. Grace is warranted when kaizen is in practice.

Some red-flag clients light little brush fires that are easily put out. Give grace and exit your business association gracefully: Lesson learned, crisis averted, move on.

To a red-flag client in 0% containment, acre-gobbling wildfire, you’re just dried brush. Honor your contract to the letter and get the hell out of there. If you don’t have a line 16C in your contract, add one today.

Level Up Your Fire Insurance

When wildfire happens, a cadre of seasoned professionals to turn to for support is more insurance for you. They can help you avoid sleepless nights and anything else a red-flag situation throws your way. If you’re not already part of a professional photographers’ association, join one. I’ve found ASMP Oregon to be treasure trove of solid knowledge, legal and otherwise, and strong support. They (we) have monthly events for photographers at all stages of their game, membership for varied income levels, and free membership for students. The ability to late-night email a trusted professional friend after this particular wildfire was gold to me. I could do that thanks to ASMP Oregon. Check them out.

Wildfire Can be a New Beginning

If a red-flag client wildfire happens to you, don’t despair. Take it as a cleansing, an opportunity to assess and regrow.

Looking back, I can see too many times when I sacrificed my mission for an immediate paycheck, experience, or exposure. I’m long past those days, but some old habits persist. We’re all going to have to be more vigilant to guard against getting caught up in the actual and proverbial wildfires that will come where our society is headed. This wildfire reminds me to grow stronger and more resilient, and stay true to my vision and my direction.

May it be so for you.

*Kaizen – A Japanese term for continuous improvement. Good philosophy for running a business, and a life.

Charity Feb lives and writes on The Herbalist’s Homestead, a progressive little hobby farm rebelliously tucked into the southwest hills of Camas, Washington, USA. She photographs portraits in her home studio and environs under the business name Portraits of Connection by Charity Feb.

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