That one Monday I had three clients ghost me in four hours

Last month I had a Monday that was brutal. I had three separate clients just stop responding. One was a logo job for a local food truck, $450 total. I had already sent them three rough drafts. Then a website copy job for a realtor in Rio Rancho, $600. They said they loved my samples on Friday. By Monday afternoon, radio silence. The third was a guy who owed me $200 for some product photos I took at his shop. I still haven't heard back from any of them. Has anyone else had a stretch like that where people just vanish?

4 comments

4 Comments

henry_anderson541mo ago

Started doing 50% deposits after that happened to me twice in one week. Made a simple form that says the deposit gets you on my schedule and the rest is due when I send finals. Weeded out the time wasters pretty fast and the serious clients never had a problem with it.

joseph_green131mo ago

Ngl, that "loved my samples on Friday" part hits hard. Did you ever try getting a deposit upfront on those bigger jobs or was it just full payment on delivery?

grantnelson1mo ago

Three ghost clients in one day made me start asking for half up front.

sandragrant18d ago

Got a tracking system after the first 3 ghosted? How do you handle it when they pay half then vanish on revision round three? I started doing that too but some clients treat the deposit like a cancellation fee and bail anyway.

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