How to Set Boundaries for Your Freelance Business
Imagine you’re a graphic designer and you’re cozied up on you couch at 9:32 p.m., in the middle of a Stranger Things nailbiter, when your phone lights up. It’s a text from a client: “Hey, quick question. I know it’s late, but… what’s the best font for my website?”
Now, as any designer, I’m sure you love fonts. Just not when you’re in the middle of your chill time.
So, you may be tempted to reply, “Comic Sans”— and no one would blame you.
Whether you provide content, design, strategy, or something else, you’re likely to run into clients who may have unreasonable expectations.
They may habitually call you late in the evening with an urgent request (true story). Or maybe expect you to drop everything and jump on a call to go through revisions without any notice (ditto).
The best way to prevent these scenarios is to manage client expectations. This is where boundaries come in.
Boundaries are not just about setting expectations for your clients — you’re also creating standards for yourself. They help you understand your dealbreakers, filter out projects that are not a great fit, and motivate you to keep going when work is a slog.
Here are examples of boundaries you can think about:
Work hours
There are office hours, and then there are “office hours.”
The former is your set schedule for showing up to work, even if you don’t have any deadlines. You need office hours to create the structure that’s very easy to lose when you’re left to your own devices (that is, freelancing).
But just because you work regular business hours doesn’t mean you want to, say, answer client emails immediately or have kick-off meetings first thing in the morning.
Educate your clients from the start about the way you work. This could include anything from having standard turnarounds for drafts and revisions, to specifying availability for meetings.
Personally, I block off Mondays as well as Friday afternoons in my calendar, which syncs to Calendly. I give clients a Calendly link that has 30-minute and 1-hour blocks and tell them to feel free to use those any time they want to schedule a call. The availability for these two meeting types in Calendly is not the same as my availability for kick-off calls, interviews, etc.
Project timelines
Speaking of turnarounds. One of the most things that derail projects is delayed client feedback. Without specified service-level agreements, revisions could take months.
You can’t control variables like the need for review by the client’s legal team, or review by a third party (like a customer in a case study). But for milestones that are under your and your direct contact’s control, create a deliverables schedule and make sure the client agrees to it.
To avoid any surprises, I list estimated turnaround times (on both our ends) in my proposals, then bring them forth into the statement of work. At the kickoff, I ask clients if any adjustments are needed for their team.
This step allows you to not only set expectations for both you and the clients, but also move projects along at a reasonable pace. Plus, you don’t have to scramble to make up for lost time when client miss their deadlines.
Project scope
Scope can be a touchy topic for freelancers because everyone works differently. Some offer unlimited revisions while others allow clients to come back after six months to request changes.
As my son would say, “I’m not about that life, but you do you.” There’s no right or wrong, only what’s right or wrong for you. Figure out where you want to draw the line in the sand, and then do it.
Sure, we need to stay flexible and compromise, when possible, to keep customers happy. After all, we’re trying to build long-term relationships. But reinforcing the boundaries — in a professional way — will ensure those relationships are healthy and fulfilling, not a drag on you and your mental health.
Like all good rules, boundaries are not meant to be so rigid that you’re compromising your quality of work and client relationships. They’re intended to provide you some guardrails and establish the way you work. But before you compromise, understand your reasons — and the tradeoffs.
