The Good Days Academy Podcast
This podcast is packed with actionable strategies, expert tips, and personal stories that will help you skip the guesswork and grow your VA business faster. You’ll also hear how I juggle the challenges of a 9-5 while creating a sustainable business I love. Ready to turn your passion into profit and live a life of freedom? This podcast is for you.
The Good Days Academy Podcast
S1 Ep 8: Seven red flags from clients you should NEVER ignore
Not all clients are dream clients—some are walking red flags 😬 In this episode, we’re breaking down the 7 biggest client red flags that every virtual assistant, freelancer, and service provider should watch out for!
👀 Are you dealing with...
✱ Clients who NEVER pay on time?
✱ Scope creep that turns one task into twenty?
✱ Late-night “urgent” messages?
If so, bestie, it might be time to run 🏃♀️💨
🎧 Listen now and don’t forget to subscribe for more VA biz tips!
💬 Let’s chat! Have you dealt with a red-flag client before? DM me on Instagram spill the tea! 🍵👀
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Welcome to the Good Days Academy podcast. I'm Maria, a virtual assistant, project manager and social media manager, here to help you launch and scale that VA business you've been dreaming to have. If you're ready for expert advice on virtual assistant services, marketing, productivity and work-life balance, you are in the right place. Let's create brighter days together, one episode at a time. Hola, hola, amigas. Welcome back to the Good Days Academy podcast.
Speaker 0:Today, we're going to talk about something that is going to save you a lot of time and headaches, and maybe even some tears. Okay, maybe this is turning a little dramatic, but no, I'm being serious. We are going to be talking about red flags. I want to discuss with you seven red flags that you should never ignore when working with a client. Empecemos Red flag number one late payment habits. I do have something to say about this, and I think it all depends of your client as well, and I feel like this is something that, at some point, is going to happen to you, and this is something that had happened to me, but it happened with clients that I already knew very well, and I knew that if they didn't pay me on time, it was because something happened that just truly didn't allow them to be on time with their payments, didn't allow them to be on time with their payments. Also, something very important about them is that they never it was the first time that they were late with a payment. So that's very important, like if this is something they just keep doing and doing. It's like, okay, mayor, red flag.
Speaker 0:One thing that I really appreciate about that that actually made it like a green flag, I would say was that they let me know immediately when I sent the invoice. They let me know, like something came up and I'm not going to be able to pay you, but I can pay you by this time. And then there was a time when the client wasn't able to pay me by the time that they said that they were going to pay me, but they were constantly communicating with me. So that gave me a lot of calmness in this whole thing, because, as freelancers, I feel like the major thing that makes us feel so scared about being business owners is this precisely right. Like what if they don't pay me on time and I'm not going to be able to pay my bills, and you know all that. But that's why we have to make sure that we have a plan. So, yeah, if this is something that they do at the very first payment, that the very first invoice that you send them, girl, that's a red flag. If they're doing it the first time, when they're so excited about starting this new project with a new VA or social media manager, I don't think it's going to be any different in the upcoming invoices, you know. So this is something for you to consider. And now, if this happens the first time, please address it Immediately, be like, okay.
Speaker 0:First of all, the first thing you need to keep in mind is you have to put it on your contract somewhere how many days are you going to give them to pay an invoice? And if you have any type of system that allows you to send reminders so me, for example, I use Bloom and I basically send everything through that platform and I'll put the link in the show notes, because you can send contracts, you can send invoices, you can set up client portals and you can have all the information of your clients and your projects in one place, and they can also see that. So it's just wonderful, very professional as well. So, for when I send my invoices, I had an automation that sends them a reminder after the three days that I send the invoice and you can set it up however you want. But yeah, you know, just keep that in mind. If it happens the first time and that you're not hearing anything and you're sending a reminder and they're not saying anything, I don't know. It's time to have a tough conversation with them and flag that problem, because that's something that's not going to work.
Speaker 0:Red flag number two constantly changing that scope. You know those type of clients that are like can you just add this one thing and then it becomes 20 things? Nope, absolutely not. So you have to set a very clear boundary. You have to make sure that you outline your scope so detailed in the contract that they're. It's just you're not going to give them any room for can you just do this little thingy here and it's going to happen? Okay, it's going to happen that, for example, you say I give one chance for you to let me know what to change in the content calendar and then I'll do it, and then you do it.
Speaker 0:They give you feedback, you do it, and then they want something else change. That's okay. And also, it depends on the feedback. It's different if they are like can we just like mention this instead of this. Can we change this post to this date instead of this day? Or even like can we change a little bit the real cover for this? That's different than if they are like okay, can you redo the whole content calendar Because I honestly didn't like it. And if that's the case, then you have to have a conversation with them and be like okay, why is it that you don't like it? Because if it's pretty much the whole content calendar, something's missing. Maybe they didn't provide you with the right information for you to create content. Maybe you didn't understand what they were looking for. You need to talk to them in a deeper level, because it's not normal for that to happen.
Speaker 0:Red flag number three lack of respect for your time. This one is very important and you have to set boundaries right away. So if you have a client who is giving you late calls, cancels last minute or message you at odd hours, that's just not an option. Honestly, it's just not an option. And if that's happening, don't answer the calls. If they cancel last minute, be very, very clear about it and be like okay, you cancel last minute. I had this time set up for you. I completely understand if something came up, but I would really appreciate it next time you let me know at least five, ten minutes before so I can plan accordingly. And now you know I am only able to meet with you this day and same. If they're sending you messages at odd hours, just don't respond, because you have to make sure that in your contract, in your onboarding process and in your client platform as well, you put the date that they can reach out to you. If they're not reaching out to you within those hours that you said as available, you don't available. You don't have to respond to them.
Speaker 0:Red flag number four poor communication skills. So, basically, if you have a client who is very disorganized, vague to give you instructions or hard to get a hold of and this is a little crazy because I feel like some clients and I'm not going to say that all of them, it's just some of them they want to get a VA because basically they don't want to do any work, or they think that when they hire a VA, they're hiring a CEO for the company, which it will be amazing. If you're getting paid to be a CEO girl like, go for it. And if you want to, of course. But if that's not the case. If you have a package for, let's say, just admin tasks, the client just wants to make sure that their inbox is always clean and nothing is being missed, or anything like that, you don't need to be doing anything else.
Speaker 0:And if they're vague with instructions and then you do something and that's not what they wanted you to do, you need to be clear, which is why as well, every time that you have meetings with your clients, you have to make sure that you're taking notes. Now we have ai, which is wonderful, so you don't actually have to take notes. You can just record the call and then you're going to have a full summary you know, the meeting notes of the meeting that you just had, which is wonderful, because you're going to have action items and notes and all the details that you discussed. So when these things happen, a misunderstanding happen you're going to have the receipts, okay, and you're going to be like oh, excuse me, but you didn't explain this to me here. I have the proof. So please protect yourself, and that's a major red flag to me. To be honest, being disorganized like it's okay because I feel like it's okay at a certain point, okay, but it's understandable is what I want to say Because if they're hiring a VA is because there is chaos in their life, so that's exactly why you're here. But, yeah, if this is something that's starting to happening or happens to you, it's a major red flag and you need to address it. You need to talk to your client and you need to come up with a plan If you want to continue working with them. Just give them some options as to what type of things you and your client could do to improve their communication.
Speaker 0:Red flag number five, and this one is kind of like the opposite of number four, because this one is overly controlling behavior. So these are the micromanagers, or the ones who wants to approve every single detail, trust issues, match, yep. So this is a little frustrating and also this is something that had happened to me at some point as well. Not right now, not with any of my clients. I love them all.
Speaker 0:I think that at the beginning of our relationship with the client, this is very normal, because both of the client and the VA are just like starting that process of trusting each other other. So I'm very patient and flexible when I just start with a client, like for honestly, for the like, first one to two months. This could be normal, but if this is a behavior that continues and that, instead of like getting better, gets worse, something's happening and you need to talk to your client, because it's either you're not setting the boundaries or something's happening if they're not trusting you. So it's not like they have to forget about everything that's happening with their business and you will be the one taking the decisions, but at some point it will happen that you have to have enough flexibility and freedom to be able to take some decisions, some day-to-day decisions to do things. For example, for when I have social media clients, it's going to get to a point where you're going to get to understand and to know so well their brand that you're creating content for them is just going to become so easy, in the sense that you understand it so much, so well, that you can just come up with content like this. I'm not saying that it's going to take you only five minutes to create something. I'm just saying that it's going to get easier for you to come up with a content plan right, or to write a caption, or to write a blog or whatever it is, because you understand their brand so well. So at some point it's going to happen that they're going to feel so comfortable with whatever you create that they feel like they don't need to give you approvals anymore, and that's something that has happened to me as well. But even when you reach that point, it is very important that you continue sending them the content plan, not because you don't trust yourself or they don't trust you, but because we're only humans and we can make mistakes, right? Maybe there is a spelling error, maybe you know whatever it is. They can flag it, they can see it, they can flag it, they can let you know. So it's all a balance. As we always say not too crazy controlling and not too crazy vague and like I don't care attitude kind of thing.
Speaker 0:Red flag number six and this is a good one, this is, this is the type of red flags that, if it happens immediately I'll be like no, thank you, and it's the can't afford you clients. But let me explain something first. I'm not saying that I've never had a client who probably was like oh, I'm sorry, girl, I can't afford you right now, because that's completely normal. But they wouldn't be asking to give them a discount or just like to lower my rates at all. They will just let me know like, hey, I'm sorry I can't afford you right now, but for when I can I'll reach out to you, and that's wonderful. And actually, when that happens to me, I'm like, hey, what's the budget? And let's see if I can put something together that works for you Because, okay, I love communication. So, yeah, anyone who box at paying your rates or ask for discounts every step of the way absolutely not that's a major red flag. So just make sure you value your work and know when to say no.
Speaker 0:And red flag number seven unrealistic expectations. So those clients that are expecting 24-7 availability or insane turnaround times, girl, no, no, no, no, no, no Again, and I'll repeat this every time that I can you have to make sure that your systems are in place. You have to make sure that in every single document that you create and you share with them, it's clear when you're going to deliver things for them and when you need them to deliver something to you, because that's also very important. I feel like some clients want their VAs or the social media managers to work super fast, but when the VA or the social media manager needs something from them, they're so late and yet they expect you to deliver things at the same date that they asked for. So, yeah, that's something that I always, always make sure I flag and I put somewhere. So, when you have project management type of tools in those things, depending on how the communication is with your client, just make sure that you set that very clear. Hey, client, you need to provide me with this by this date so that I'm able to finish this thing by this date. And that's everything.
Speaker 0:Amiga, this is the seven client red flags you should never ignore. As a virtual assistant, your time and energy are valuable and the clients you work with should respect that. So when you spot any of these red flags, you will protect your business and your mental health and you will build stronger relationship with your dream clients, which is so important. I'll see you in the next episode. Ciao, thanks for listening to the Good Days Academy podcast. If today's episode gave you the tools you need to grow your virtual assistant business, subscribe, leave a review and share with others. If you need more resources, visit my Etsy shop for templates and tools and follow me on Instagram at gooddays underscore VA for daily tips on entrepreneurship, marketing and virtual assistants.