How do you deal with high-demanding clients?

eleonorang

We all dream of finding the perfect client who will shower us with interesting work and loads of money!
But we should always be careful what we wish for: from a great amount of work comes great responsibility... and very little spare time.

As discussed with @aaronhemmers in a related thread, there are clients that push you to dedicate to their projects even more time than you planned, and while this is flattering, there are also downsides, like not having much time for yourself and feeling like one of those in-house workers who basically live at the office.

Has it ever happened to you and, if so, do you have tips to share about how to keep the work/private life balance steady in this scenario?

Dmitry

eleonorang I'm guessing the best approach would be to explain to them that your time costs money, so if they want something extra that is beyond the scopes of your original agreement you need to explain to them politely that it will cost extra.

That's why I think it's important to discuss work in as much detail as possible before it starts. Having a written contract would probably work best for clients like these.

Personally, I was lucky enough to avoid super-demanding clients as I know that I don't exactly thrive under pressure. I need some room, you know. ?

What about you, @eleonorang? Did you ever have clients like these? How did you cope?