For freelance editors and proofreaders, the decision to fire a client is never easy. This article looks at why you might be considering taking this ultimate step and how to feel confident about your decision.
There can be a deep sadness that comes from the idea of firing a client. We may have supported their publications for years, become friendly with their personnel (a topic I’ve written about here) and come to know their readers’ priorities by instinct. We might know their style guide intimately and the architecture of their texts may feel like an extension of us.
There can also be compelling practical reasons to entice us to stick with a client. Unreasonable behaviour might be countered by excellent pay or attractive opportunities to gain experience. As such, there is no universal threshold for firing a client: each editor’s decision will be different.
And yet, unmistakably, firing a client is sometimes the only realistic, healthy way forward.
Essentially, it’s time to fire a client when the work they’re offering isn’t what you want to be doing, or when what you’re getting out of the relationship isn’t matched by what you’re putting in. But it can be tricky to decide when one of those thresholds has been crossed.
In this article, I’m going to cover three main topics:
- Reasons you might want to fire a client
- Frameworks that can help you feel confident about your decision to fire a client
- A final check: how a scarcity mindset can keep you trapped in suboptimal client relationships
Reasons you might want to fire a client
Potential triggers to fire a client are as varied as clients themselves. Some arise suddenly – for example, the client introduces a new system that is incompatible with how you want to work. In contrast, some call to mind the proverbial boiling frog, where the working relationship or remuneration imperceptibly diminishes over time.
Equally, sometimes you, rather than the client, are the trigger. You might decide to move your business in a new direction (I’ve written about how to do this). Or you might realize that a client who paid well at the start of your editorial career can no longer offer the remuneration you’re getting from other clients – you’ve simply outgrown them.
Let’s look at some potential specific reasons.
Non-payment
This is the big, obvious one. You might want to make allowances for anchor clients who communicate proactively about delays. However, if a client constantly plays havoc with your planned cashflow or causes you to spend extra time chasing payments, then it’s a good reason to consider dropping them.
Drift of focus or frequency
Sometimes the work clients offer will gradually change. For example, they might transition to new types of publication or new topics. Or the volume of work might reduce below the level you feel is worthwhile or increase beyond what you’re comfortable handling. These changes aren’t good or bad per se – they are just natural creative and business evolutions on the client’s end.
In such cases, it’s a good idea to have a conversation with the client about the change, so you know whether it’s temporary or permanent. Armed with this knowledge, you can make the right decision about whether to continue the partnership.
Erosion (or cutting) of fees
There are some sectors of publishing that are notorious for setting their rates and then not updating them for years, potentially even a decade or more. They might even try to cut their fees.
The problem is that, over that time, inflation erodes the value of those fees. For example, let’s say a client offered you £12 per 1,000 words for copyediting in 2015. According to the Bank of England’s inflation calculator, in February 2026 that £12 needed to have risen to £16.80 (an increase of 40%) to buy you the same amount of stuff. And that doesn’t even take into account the increase in your experience and expertise over those years.
If a client refuses to raise their rates (or makes discussions of fees difficult or draining), it’s worth considering whether you’re getting enough out of the relationship. You might decide you prefer to pursue a client base where you get to set your own rates – or at least where there are more realistic (and respectful!) expectations.
On that note…
Unreasonable expectations
I’m a big believer in the idea that there are (almost!) no inherently unrealistic expectations. If a client communicates in advance that they want you to edit a document on a 1970s machine at 2am for 50p per hour, and you’re happy, then by all means go for it!
However, non-standard expectations that are not agreed in advance or that break your terms and conditions are clear reasons to think critically about the relationship. Examples include constant or late-notice schedule changes, poor communication, micromanagement, scope creep and unclear briefs.
Sometimes, in these circumstances, it’s essential to fire a client for your wellbeing or even mental health.
Outright bad treatment
Occasionally, clients can step beyond run-of-the-mill graceless business practices into actual bad treatment. An overt example is actual rudeness or demeaning behaviour. A more subtle example from the editorial world is a publisher using an editor as a scapegoat in a dispute with an author.
In such cases, you may decide it’s best to extricate yourself from the relationship as quickly as you can.
Ethical concerns
Ideally, we should do our due diligence and identify prior to a project whether the client’s values align with ours. However, sometimes businesses change or we ourselves shift our perspective on the world. In both cases, if we feel we’re contributing to publications that strongly jar with our values, we might want to consider respectfully walking away.
General aggravation
Remember: as a freelancer, you are not required to work with any client. If your heart sinks at the sight of their emails or you’re feeling strong mental resistance to starting their projects, take a moment to consider why.
Few freelancers’ work will be joyful from the start to the end of each day. However, it’s important to find a balance of delight and frustration that you find sustainable.
How to feel confident about your decision to fire a client
When you’re considering firing a client, the stakes can feel high. You might have plenty of work elsewhere, but what if that dries up? Early on in my career, I worked with an academic publisher whose rates I outgrew. But it took me years to feel comfortable removing myself from the client’s mailing list of work offers.
Here are two models that can help you think through your decision and then feel confident it’s the right one for you.
The Bubble Method of client curation
A model I’ve been using for years is what I’m now calling the Bubble Method of client curation. It gives you a tidy graphic showing the value of your clients to your business in terms of overall income (bubble size), hourly rate (vertical bubble position), and your subjective rating of the relationship quality and how much you enjoy the work (horizontal bubble position).
Each client is represented by a bubble. The bigger a client’s bubble and the closer it is to the top right of your chart, the more valuable that client is to your business.
The image below provides an example based on made-up data for a hypothetical editing business. I could spend all day analysing this chart! But let’s look at a couple of observations as an example.
We can immediately see that Client C provides a lot of work (large bubble), but its hourly rate (vertical position) is on the lower end and the enjoyment rating (horizontal position) is in the fourth rank out of four. In contrast, Client F’s work has a very high hourly rate and is a delight (as the bubble appears top right), but it’s low in volume (small bubble). It might be logical for this editor to try to increase the amount of work they do for Client F and reduce the amount of work they do for Client C.
You can find more detail on my Bubble Method of client curation in my original post.
Using the Bubble Method, you can compare and rank your clients. This may give you a firmer basis for any decisions about which ones to keep and which ones to consider leaving behind.
The 3 Ps model
The 3 Ps model was created by independent journalist Katherine Reynolds Lewis. I first heard about it on Melanie Padgett Powers’ Deliberate Freelancer podcast.
The model says that any project we take on should deliver at least one – and ideally all three – of pay, portfolio and passion:
- Pay is about getting paid what we feel we’re worth
- Portfolio is about getting useful and relevant experience
- Passion is about doing work we enjoy and that furthers causes we believe in
In my experience, it’s realistic to aim for all your clients to have at least two of the Ps. For example, a project might pay poorly but offer you valuable experience on a topic you’re interested in. Or you might decide a high-paying project that looks good for your portfolio is worth it, even if it bores you to tears.
If a client has only one of the Ps, it’s a warning sign that they might not have the best alignment with your priorities. If you can’t negotiate the relationship so that an extra P is added, you might not want to stick with the client long term.
And, of course, if a client has zero Ps and no prospect of gaining any, then they are likely to be a prime candidate for firing.
The trap of the scarcity mindset
I’d like to end by addressing the fallacy that it’s only stable, established freelance editors who can consider firing clients. Much like the fallacy that freelance editors shouldn’t expect to earn a decent living, this idea can become a self-defeating trap.
There’s only a short hop from ‘freelance editors can’t expect to earn a decent amount and have respectful clients’ to ‘freelance editors don’t earn a decent amount and should be glad to keep whatever clients they can get’. Instead of adopting this kind of scarcity mindset, we should be thinking about all the opportunities we lose by keeping a bad client (such as opportunities to find better clients, spend more time with family and friends, or avoid aggravations to our physical and mental health).
When we perpetuate race-to-the-bottom myths, we denigrate ourselves and our profession. Starting out as an editor can be hard, and we should all give ourselves grace – I’m not trying to claim that we can always put principles and responsibility to the profession ahead of cold realities.
So, by all means, do your utmost to make a difficult client relationship work if it’s giving you something (money, experience) that you need.
However, also do look out for the point where a lifeline becomes a noose.
How to fire a client
So, once you’ve made the decision to fire a client, how should you do it? Make sure you’re subscribed to The Edit Better Letter and stay tuned over the coming months for perspectives on how to calmly and respectfully part ways with a client.
Great advice, Hazel. I especially like the part about dropping the scarcity-of-work outlook.
Thanks so much, Katharine. The scarcity-of-work outlook can be very hard to think ourselves out of, but doing so can be freeing.
Really appreciate this post, especially the 3 Ps model. Achieving all 3 Ps is fantastic, but I’m finding it increasingly elusive. I needed a reminder that 2 Ps is a worthy goal.
I’m happy the post was helpful reinforcement, Carina! Indeed, clients that offer all three Ps can be rare. I reckon it’s a solid foundation to have mostly two-P clients, with a minority of three-P clients that we nurture and treasure to the best of our ability.
All the points in this post are so helpful for better organizing those conversations we each have in our heads on this topic. I also find the 3 Ps a good model and have found the last few years that having mostly two-P clients is actually a huge accomplishment (and stroke of luck) in today’s market.
Absolutely, Deborah. It’s easy to go round in circles in our heads. When I start doing that, I always remind myself of these two frameworks and the decision-making immediately feels simpler! Thank you also for the reminder to applaud ourselves for finding and keeping two-P clients.