I just walked away from a job offer. The CEO of the company tried to change the parameters of the job, offering me freelance instead of part time employment. It was the last in a long list of red flags for the position. It wasn’t easy, but I did stand my ground against nonsense.

When I told a friend about the experience, he said, “You’re a lot braver than I am with that stuff. I wouldn’t have stood up against that. You’re really strong.”

I never thought of it like that. I felt good that he thought I was strong, but why did he think it was so remarkable that I said, “no thanks,” to a bad deal?

Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been working for a long time, you know there are people out there who are just plain not nice. You know what I mean. People who cheat, lie, manipulate, and steal from you. There are people who refuse to listen to reason, who are chronically late, or indecisive, or any number of other things that can really put a hamper on your working relationship.

All of these people can be simply categorized under the title of “bad customer.” In the service industry, these are the kind of people who think bullying inexperienced teenagers in order to get free rewards is acceptable behavior. It’s hard to escape them in that situation. However, in the creative industries, including digital marketing, there are ways to protect yourself from nonsense.

You need a contract

Whenever you make an agreement with someone, make sure you get it in writing. No matter how well you know the person, how well recommended they came, or how small the project you do for them is going to be, a clear outline of what is expected of each party is a must.

A contract protects you. Your client has a written list of what you are going to provide, when it will arrive,  what it will cost, and what will cause the agreement to come to an end. They also know what expectations they have to meet, and when.

Beyond a list of responsibilities, a contract provides other protections and benefits. It’s a legal document. If the terms of the contract aren’t met, you have legal recourse. A contract binds the parties to their duties, ensures you get paid, and gives you the framework for ending the relationship if things deteriorate between the parties.

If you feel a contract is too formal, consider a letter of agreement. This also provides a framework for the relationship, outlining the duties of each party as well as when and how things are due.

If you’re stuck for how to write a contract or a letter of agreement, there are plenty of examples and templates available online. Rocket Lawyer has a tool that can help you create one of your own without any hassle. It prompts you for information and formulates a full document for you.

You need to get paid

It is far too easy to believe that you will be paid fairly upon delivery of your work to your client. Sadly, there are too many people who will take advantage of your trust in them and walk off without giving you proper compensation.

You don’t work for free. The entire concept of “exposure as payment” is horrendous and insulting. Exposure does not pay your bills. Make sure your client knows up front that this will be a monetary transaction. (There are exceptions to this, such as giving a free sample of your work to land a big client (which I’ve never tried) or building up your portfolio (which I have), but this is the rule of thumb you should keep in mind during normal situations.)

You Need to Get What You’re Worth

Now that we’ve established that you’re getting paid for your work, make sure it’s fair. Please do not to underprice yourself.

Offering underpriced work will your brand. If “you get what you pay for” is true, a very low price for your work gives the impression that you aren’t capable of producing high-quality results. Pricing yourself properly will not only drive away people looking to take advantage of your inexperience, it makes you appear more confident and more capable of delivering what you are promising.

No matter how new you are to the field, do not fall into the trap of undercutting your value to entice customers and clients. The number of people who severely underprice themselves in order to entice customers is astounding. A quick search on social media sites like Tumblr for commission work reveals hundreds of posts advertising work for only a few dollars. This doesn’t just hurt the person taking the commissions. It creates the false illusion to customers that they should not have to pay a fair rate to the people they hire.

If you wouldn’t work in a fast food restaurant for less than minimum wage, why would you do specialized creative work for less?

If you’re not sure how much to charge, there are a lot of different strategies you can use to figure it out. Most freelance work is charged by project, rather than by hours, but you can still factor in an hourly rate to help you determine your rates. For example, I know I won’t work a service industry job for less than $13/hour (and I really don’t think it should be that low). If I know it takes me two days of work to create a website for a client, that’s roughly 16 hours. That comes to $208. From there, you can realistically adjust things to your liking. Make sure you compare it to other people in your industry as well, to ensure you’re not wildly above or below the standard.

If an hourly rate is how you want to go, you can implement tools like Cash Clock to show exactly how much you are earning and charge your clients for the work you do.

Once you’re comfortable with your work and have established a relationship with a customer, you can consider the benefits of creating a loyalty discount or some other means of keeping your prices down. But don’t do this for everyone who comes along, and don’t lower your prices just because someone complains or tries to convince you that you should accept less.

Ask for what you’re worth. This is not a negotiation. If they don’t like your prices, they can get crummy work off Fiverr.

You Need Respect

I keep going back to the service industry as an example, partly because I work in it for my day job, and partly because working with clients means you are a part of it, albeit not in the traditional sense. You know those signs that say, “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone”? That’s a warning to people who are going to cause trouble that they can and will be removed.

No matter what is going on, you and your client should be able to enjoy a professional and polite interaction. If that isn’t possible, please remember that you also have the right to refuse service. Set up parameters of what you will and will not do early on, and stick to your guns if they try to make you change this.

You can fire a bad client, just as they can fire you. There is no project so important that you should tolerate being treated as less than a human being. Other opportunities will come. Stand up for yourself and confidently say, “No,” to bad behavior.

Screaming, bullying, manipulation, lying, gaslighting, threats, ignoring you; the list of things I have seen and heard people complain about in their clients is a mile long. I used to allow it to happen to me, and it was never worth the stress and heartache I went through. I downplayed my skills, telling myself I needed the experience and it would get better if I stuck it out. I did learn things, but a lot of what I learned was that I should not allow that to happen to me ever again. It was stressful, to the point of being unhealthy, and the benefits definitely did not outweigh the downsides.

The client needs your skills. You put in time and effort to learn how to do things that other people can’t. Your talents and time are worth someone investing in your, and your being a human being accords you certain rights, including respect from fellow humans. Demand your rights, and politely but firmly decline to work with anyone who will not grant them to you.

This post only scratches the surface of the matter, and I am sure I’ll be revisiting this topic in the future. There’s no reason you should have to deal with badly behaved people who try to devalue you. There will always be good clients and bad, but at least try to protect yourself from the nonsense that some will try to pull. Get things in writing, stand your ground, and be prepared to walk away if things are not tolerable.