How to spot a red flag client from a thousand paces
Sooner or later in your biz journey, someone is going to offer you money... and that money you should not take.
Shouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
Seems counterintuitive for a business to reject a sale, but when it happens to you, you'll remember my warning.
Back when I was first starting out, a client of mine very kindly shared on Twitter how happy they were with my services, which resulted in a few leads messaging me via DM asking to work with me too. (Today's bonus tip: do great work and the work shall be its own advertising.)
One of the leads was a young guy from French Canadia who, on the surface, seemed nice enough.
Below is a cautionary tale... a rough approximation of the back and forth we had, plus the red flags for you to watch out for, my loyal subscriber:
He messaged me saying he was interested in my copywriting talent and asking what my pricing looked like.
Red flag number one: immediately asking about pricing. Not the work, but how much it will cost.
I replied, appreciating the interest, and said the price would depend on the scope and scale of the work. I asked what he had in mind.
He needed me to write a landing page on ClickFunnels about monetising Instagram and to write all his newsletters and emails for the project.
After some back-and-forth, I understood the project to be a landing page, a welcome email sequence for new subscribers, and an email newsletter he would send 4x per week. I asked him to confirm.
He said, "yeah, something around that," and again said he was curious about how much I charged.
Red flag number two: vague scope of work, pricing question again.
I said I would need to know a bit more info to give an accurate price, including the length of the landing page copy, how many emails he would want the welcome sequence to be, and how many words per newsletter. Still, I quoted him a price range for each part of the package, said I was unsure of his project budget, and was happy to negotiate to reach an agreement that worked for him.
He thanked me, said he would contact me in a few days, and said he was very interested, promising to let me know with more info "for sure". We swapped contact details and switched from the DMs to text and email.
A few days later, he got in touch. Not to follow up on the project details, but to ask if I knew anyone who could buy his Instagram account.
Red flag number three: I should have pulled the plug here, but my biz was still a babe, and I needed clients.
I told him it wasn't my area of expertise.
He then said he would send me a Loom video later with all the details on what he wanted me to do, and that he was thinking about starting this tomorrow. Later came, and he "didn't have time to finish everything he wanted to give me" and said he would send it later.
Red flag number four: later, later, later. Delays, delays, delays.
When later FINALLY came, he shared a Google Doc ebook about Instagram monetisation he'd quite clearly hastily written.
Now hold on a dog-garn minute... didn't he just ask me the other day if I knew anyone who could buy his Instagram account?
Red flag number five: what even is the business at this point?
He said the first job would be just to make sure everything in the ebook was good, and to improve it if needed.
At this point, I was checked out, despite being new and hungry for client work.
I reminded him of the original scope of work we discussed, and said the ebook fell outside of that scope. I asked whether he would like to add this work on an hourly basis or if he would like me to provide a projected quote for one ebook edit or one ebook rewrite. I said I was happy to help with this additional work and asked how he would like to move forward.
He then sent a screenshot of his "proposed pricing":
Landing page: $60
Four to five email welcome sequence: $80
Eight newsletters: $120
Rephrase ebook: $20
Rephrase case study: $20
Red flag number... who even cares anymore? You're done, kid.
He asked what I thought.
I said I didn't think he would find any serious copywriter who charged $15 per newsletter.
I requoted my original rates, said that if he'd like to work together, I'd be happy to help, and said I completely understood if my rates were outside his price range.
To his credit, he apologised and thanked me for my time. I wished him all the best with his business.
(I'm happy to report that it looks like he's now doing very well for himself, which goes to show sometimes a red flag client is just bad timing, they haven't got their shyt together yet, etc.)
No bridges burned, but also no nightmare, ever-expanding, dirt-rate project taken on where someone's entire business hinges on your copy.
It seems cruel, but you never want to be a life raft in this game. It leaves you open to bad reviews, chargebacks, and all manner of nasty shyt when inevitably, someone's half an idea for a business that hasn't made any money yet fails... and they apportion 100% of the blame to you and your copy, rather than the fact that they barely have a clue yet, let alone a bizznizz.
Like the way younger Jimbob operates when it comes to liaising with even red flag clients? You're in luck, as if you liked me then, you'll love me now.
If you'd like to work together in 2026 to turn your copy and emails into the faithful, tireless engine of your business?
Send me an email with the phrase 'PRIVATE CLIENT', and I'll be in touch.
James Perkins
P.S. The above offer is for established list owners. If that's not you, you can still benefit - simply put me in touch with a list owner I end up working with, and I'll pay you for your efforts.
