We’ve talked a lot about boundaries. You know they’re important …
… but how are you with enforcing your boundaries?
It’s all too easy to let those boundaries slide.
And the message your sending when you set a boundary, but don’t enforce it, is that none of your boundaries mean anything.
Brutal, but true.
On this episode of the Build Your Copywriting Business podcast, Nicki and Kate are sharing their best tips—from both the copywriter and client perspective—on how you can more easily set and stick to your boundaries.
We all want our clients to like us and respect our work.
But respecting us as professionals requires us to enforce those boundaries—even though we’re not raised to advocate for ourselves and say, “No, that’s not okay.”
Doing that can make us uncomfortable. But it’s essential to your success—and your sanity.
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Looking for closed captioning or a transcript? Watch the episode on YouTube!
A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[02:45] You need to set boundaries with your client from the get-go. Your client should see you as part of their team. But this also means they may forget they’re not your only client and their project isn’t your only project. When you’re a freelance copywriter with multiple clients, boundaries are essential to make sure that you don’t overload yourself.
[03:20] You need to set boundaries with your clients in terms of deadlines and your availability. Yo work with your clients, you partner with them, but you do not belong to them.
[06:42] The second half of setting boundaries is the hard part: enforcing them. It’s all too easy to let your boundaries slide. The message that you’re sending when you set a boundary and then you don’t enforce the boundary is that none of your boundaries mean anything.
[10:07] Half the time, your clients probably don’t remember what you said to them. You have to remind them constantly. We come from a place of we want our clients to like us, we want them to respect our work. Respecting our work and respecting us as professionals comes with us enforcing those boundaries.
[13:05] You set that boundary for a reason. Your deadlines aren’t arbitrary deadlines. And if you genuinely do have the time to squeeze in a client project last minute, consider letting them know it’s an exception. You can say something like, “I would never normally do this, but I can make this work this one time.”
[13:43] You have to let clients know when you’re making an exception. Because anytime that you don’t enforce your boundaries, all it does is teach your client that your boundaries are nice suggestions. They’re not actually boundaries.
[15:00] As long as you’re communicating and you’ve said what you need to get the job done and when you need it by, you have every right then to say, “I needed your feedback by this time, so here’s when I’ll be able to tackle this next part of the project.”
[15:27] We’re not raised to advocate for ourselves and to say, “No, that’s not okay.” Or this is the line that I draw. When you don’t enforce these boundaries with your clients, it says that you don’t respect yourself very much. No one is going to give you a break. No one is coming to take care of you. You have to take care of you.
[17:10] When you’re just starting out, it feels extra important to deliver the best service possible to your clients, but part of gaining that experience and gaining that trust and confidence in yourself is by setting the foundation for having those boundaries from the get-go and not having to enforce them later.
[17:41] If you’ve been operating a certain kind of way with them and you’ve trained them to expect a certain level of service from you. No copywriting project is so dire that you need to burn out and build resentment towards your work and towards a client.
[20:50] Good people will not go over my boundaries. They will. Really good people will go over your boundaries or will try to push your boundaries. They don’t know that your other clients are also pushing those boundaries. That’s a good exercise in keeping those boundaries in place and enforcing those boundaries.
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
“We want our clients to like us. We want our clients to like our work. We want that, but we also have to take care of ourselves because—especially as a freelancer—no one is going to take care of you if you don’t take care of you.” – Nicki
“You collaborate with a client to decide when the work will begin and when the work will end. They don’t dictate anything to you because you’re not on staff. You are not beholden to their schedule. So setting boundaries is essential” Nicki
“The more that we can practice enforcing the boundaries, the easier and easier it’ll get for us when we realize there aren’t actually any bad consequences. And if there are, is that a client we actually want to work with? I wish there was an easy button for enforcing this and making it feel good to enforce boundaries. It’s not going to feel easy until you do it.” – Kate
“Sometimes it’s easier to think about how we would advocate for other people—friends, family—if we can’t advocate for ourselves in that same way.” – Nicki
“The more that you enforce boundaries, the better you learn to enforce boundaries, the more that you feel respect for yourself. It’s not easy, but absolutely something that you have to practice. It is good for your growth as a professional and as a person.” – Nicki
Mentioned in the Episode
Related Links
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About the Build Your Business Podcast
Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
Whether you want to land an on-staff job, freelance full-time and work from wherever you want, or make extra money with a side hustle, the best place to start learning is right here.
