Creative professionals, especially at the start of their career, tend to take any work that is thrown at them. Eventually, as your skill grows, so does your confidence, and you begin to see that certain clients are not right for you.

(This article focuses on clients, but applies to bosses and any working relationship you may find yourself in.)

Your clientele heavily affects your day-to-day life, so it’s important that you are discerning when you agree to work with someone new. A good thing to remember: it’s often a collaboration, not just an exchange—this is why your relationship matters.

In the past year I’ve started asking myself the following questions to determine whether or not a project is the right fit for me.

Do They Really Understand Your Role/Value?

The earliest red flag is someone who asks for unfair discounts, or free work. The truth is, clients who are reluctant to pay are often the ones who end up being difficult to work with. They don’t understand the value in your expertise and that comes across in all interactions, beyond just payment.

This is the type of client that will strong-arm you into putting a “back” button on every page of your website, or printing grammatical errors on a billboard. Your skills, experience, training, and everything else that affects your pricing; none of it is worth much to this type of client.

If you know creatives at your level of experience and skill earn within a certain bracket, you will find clients who value you enough to give you that amount. And if a client values you, they are more likely to see you as an expert and professional, and will happily—even thankfully—allow you to do your job well.

Do You Believe In Their Product?

It’s not enough to have a client that believes in you, you also need to believe in your client. You are partly responsible for any project you work on: It becomes your project too. It’s never “just” a paycheck.
If you know a project is a bad idea—whether it conflicts with your beliefs or you would just never buy what you are selling—consider that maybe you don’t have to put your name on it.

I understand that in times of need, making a poster for something that bores you might be necessary. We all need to eat after all. Just remember that once you’ve taken on something, you can’t separate yourself from it. It becomes a reflection of you and what you stand for.