I Stopped Going The Extra Mile For Clients. Here's Why...

Two years ago, I hit a point where I got fed up with going the extra mile for people who, quite frankly, didn't deserve it.

I did far too much for others in my personal life, in my last job, and with clients of my business. In regards to my clients, I always made sure that I over-delivered and provided them with the best experience possible. I spent over a decade of doing this with my current business, but no more.

The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back
There was a lot that happened two years ago that led me to hit this breaking point, but I'll go over one example with my business: it was actually the first client of my current business, a legal firm in a different state. I worked with this client on and off between 2013 and 2024. Back then, I used to meet my clients in person before working with them, which meant traveling to whichever state they lived in, sitting down and talking with them, and even doing my own work from within their offices for a day or so to understand more about what they do. I did this mainly for consultancy work, web design projects, and marketing campaigns; and all of my clients really liked this.

The law firm in particular really liked this, and I even went down there once more since I had worked with them for so long. I used to do web design and web maintenance for them as that is what I was paid to do a couple of times each month, although I often helped them out with their digital marketing efforts as well and spent time getting to know their employees.

So what happened with this one? Well at first, they would get the idea every year or so that they didn't really need to pay me and would drop me for a month before asking me to work on their site again. Sometimes, they'd just stop paying me and I'd just stop doing the work until they e-mailed me asking if I can work for them again and how they'd pay me in advance this time.

Later on, they would try to replace me with a new person who was cheaper and made extraordinary claims.

Now, they're a small business and they can do that, but it was the same thing every time: someone would come along, say they could do the work cheaper and better, they'd try them out, the person wouldn't follow through, and the law firm would end up back with me the next month and I would have to clean up the mess the attempted replacement made.

2024's Replacement
The final time this happened was in 2024, I got an e-mail from them about how they hired someone in-house again who said they can work on the website, so they needed all the credentials sent over once more.

The new person they were trying out was someone claiming to do SEO, web design, and some random thing like window cleaning (it's always these ones, I swear).

I sent over the credentials and told them that if they want to contact me again, they can e-mail me from the official inquiries e-mail that I admittedly never check these days. They thanked me and went on their way.

Aftermath
Do you want to guess what happened? Their website went down and has been down since mid-2024. Before it went down, I saw the new guy they hired managed to break the CSS on the website and completely ruined the design.

But it's not only that. Their Google MyBusiness listing and all of their reviews are gone as well. I heard from someone last year who used to work there that they're really struggling right now.

At one point, I would've made different excuses for them and said they were people and a small business that I should've done even more to help out. But I always felt I was treated as an easily replaceable cog in their machine, so I took this as a lesson to not feel bad for them and to no longer keep these ships from their destiny: let them sink and move on.

You’re more patient than I am. I would have let them go after the first time they replaced me lol.

I don't even know where to start with this... Very relatable, the moment they realize you're a hard worker they'll do everything to squeeze you out like a for a price as low as possible. So I eventually... Stopped being a hard worker. It is what it is. If they don't plan to pay, I party and don't work. If they pay too little, I work a little, lie that I work longer than I do (on remote I can just say I'm still working and go party instead). I'm a non-drinker but if someone doesn't pay enough I prefer to dance for a couple hours they didn't pay for rather than use my time to build someone's business. It's better to work on your own business in this time which is what I'm doing now, hopefully it'll work out since I need money, like... NOW . But it's still a lesser evil to earn the same (small) amount and be more rested rather that use up your life on some cheapskates. No way in hell I'd visit a client irl, even if they're from the same city, I declined every time. I know I lost a lot of clients this way because 1/3-half want freelancers to meet with them offline but hell no.

When I was restarting freelancing during COVID my first client was like this... She asked previous guy for search console access and he declined and said 'I'm in Paraguay/Uruguay*, I can't do this' (*don't remember now). So basically nobody could stand that bitch and her management was so shit that TWO freelancers left the continent! Not even the country, continent! He went to Latin America and I went to Asia. Lol, too bad that I don't have his contact info, I wonder how he's doing.

Thank you for sharing this, I think that many people struggle with this and it's not talked about enough... Everything is focused on making the client happy, but why would I want to make client happy if they don't pay enough? Sorry that it happened to you. You're obviously a talented and hard worker, which we can all see by how fantastic you made this forum... It's pampered af. Good that you're using your skills for your own project. I wish you had more traffic and better monetization .

You are being way to nice if someone does that to you even once, it's time to leave them to the mess

Be relax and enjoy and think, it's a part of life. You have learned so many things from them which helps to make your own business, own work in your way.
I am working in automation company as a data entry operator but the BOSS, omg when he come to the office he started barking like a dog.. he did nothing, that person is sitting.. why, what happen.. hey just chill why you are shouting.. you didn't get your work done.. what happen? but none of his business that his job to shout on employees.. I am one on those too as i don't know how to make a tender or bills for him.. when i learnt and started pick out spelling mistakes and so many things i have sort out.. when he says, just make a tender now as i have to post to it right away.. it's being already done by me before 3 days back.. i says sir it's already done, please check if there any corrections i'll do.. After 8 months i left that job because I need to work in any online company not offline and also salary is low and he never give any leave in any case and that time my mom got accident through a bike and she needs me all time. After 3 months he keep calling me come back i never got a person like you.. so patience, so humble and everything got perfect.. But that word stuck me that whatever your problems it's yours not mine.. and in 8 months i never take a single leave from work, even working on weekends too if required.

I have learned so many things from there, got a good company except BOSS. So keep yourself good things, and bad part is a part of life. Enjoy.

This kind of thing happens far more often than people like to admit, and I’ve been in a very similar situation.

I once worked as a software engineer at a startup where I spent about three months before I finally walked away. The environment was toxic, and the CEO expected everyone to be available 24/7. That experience forced a realization on me: working for others should only ever be temporary or reserved for emergencies.

One day, I opened Notion to check the tasks for the day. I just stopped and stared at the board. I was watching employees argue over adding more tasks, more deadlines, more pressure. That’s when it hit me these people were spending their entire lives building someone else’s empire for a tiny salary. Meanwhile, the owner was making multiple millions a year.

There were five of us: one frontend developer, two backend developers, a designer, and a manager. All of us grinding nonstop while the value flowed upward.

From that moment on, I promised myself I would never work for someone else again. I started building things on my own. Today, I make a very good living, mostly passively, working solo and I’m no longer selling my time, energy, or self-worth to anyone.

I also learned something critical about business: real success comes from creating a clear barrier between you and your clients. You’re not their friend, and you’re not there to be liked. The relationship should be professional, bounded, and based on value. A client doesn’t need to love you—but they should respect what you do and understand that replacing you isn’t easy. The moment you blur that line, you become disposable.

Some ships are meant to sink. The lesson is knowing when to stop trying to keep them afloat and start building your own vessel.

I had a very similar experience with a client I’ve been working with since 2022.

They’re good customers in terms of revenue and volume, and from the start we agreed on a payment cycle of every 2–3 months. Sometimes it could go up to 4 months and im talking about 15-20k payments due.
On our side, we went far beyond what was required: top-notch 24/7 support, a dedicated phone number just for them, lots of work done for free, and discounts on almost every invoice. Basically the same as Z described.

I also made the mistake of fcuking the line between client and friend. I invited them to dinners and launches and genuinely tried to treat them like partners rather than customers.

To be fair, they did refer other clients to us, so it wasn’t one-sided.


Then one month (back in September) we were under some financial pressure, and I had to send three reminders for an overdue payment. That’s when things shifted. One of the partners showed up at my office annoyed lol
To make matters worse, that same day our product was having an issue due to server maintenance, something that happens maybe once a year.

His attitude was basically: “We pay you a ton of money and this isn’t even working. There are people offering the same service for much cheaper.”

Instead of apologizing excessively or bending over backwards like I would have in the past, I offered a refund (around 3k) and told him he was free to work with someone else if he wasn’t happy with our service. I also suggested him a competitor that works on same building as us lol....

That wasn’t the response he expected at all.


He paid the outstanding balance and left. A week later, he came back and apologized. Since then, I’ve stopped discounting entirely and adjusted pricing to reflect the real value of the work. No special treatment, no favors. Im also overcharging some times cuz they really pissed me off.


The lesson for me was clear: the more you overextend and try to “be nice,” the more some clients take it for granted.
Professional boundaries are not optional, they are necessary.

People never respect that what is given for free. If a person hasn't had to trade for, or earn, something, they do not place any value on it. I know I am terrible for this, I always want to please people but it is not doing me or them any favours.

The more you do for people, or give to them, the more they feel entitled to that thing. If you provide something for free and they try to charge you will end up with pissed off people, rather than people that were appreciative of being given the thing for free before.

It's fairly simple psychology but it flies in the face of what you would think.

I’ve had a similar situation with a client this year and I declined his offer when he reached out again, even with better pay : D

This was a business I helped from the very beginning when they launched last year. We worked closely together to keep things running and I often put in lotta extra hours because we were short staffed at times

I didn’t really have to do that, but it felt like the right thing to do since I was one of the very first people hired

Eventually, they brought in a new hire, who I helped train. I already knew I was being paid more than him because the owner explicitly told me not to discuss payment with the new guy. After a few weeks, once he had settled in and fully understood the operations, the owner decided to drop me because he felt the new hire could handle the role now.

I just moved on because that's how I approach client work, especially when freelancing : D
The moment you sign with a client, you have to accept that things can end at any time. I’ve always had that mindset.

To wrap it up, the new guy eventually turned out to be less reliable than I was and the business started having issues. The owner already reached out to me on two different occasions this year, offering higher pay than before to come back.

I declined because I already knew it wasn’t worth investing in anymore and thankfully I had other things going on at that period. So it wasn’t like I was compelled to take the work out of a tight situation or anything like that.

I understood the kind of person he was and that was enough for me

Had a very similar thing a few years ago. Worked out pretty nicely at the end but could've just as easily ended up otherwise: