As a freelancer, effective communication with clients is not just a skill—it’s a cornerstone of your business success. The way you communicate can make or break your relationships with clients, influence the quality of your projects, and ultimately, impact your earnings. Setting clear expectations from the outset is crucial. Yet many freelancers, especially those just starting out, often stumble over the same common communication pitfalls. I’ve been there too, and I know how easy it is to make these mistakes when you’re eager to please or land that next gig.

In this article, I’ll walk you through six phrases you should never say to a client, new or returning. These are phrases that can unintentionally undermine your professionalism, devalue your services, or set you up for problems down the road. I’ll offer some alternative approaches that maintain your professionalism, protect your time, and help you set boundaries without burning bridges.

So whether you’re new to freelancing or looking to sharpen your client communication skills, avoiding these six phrases will help you build stronger, more successful client relationships. So let’s go over what these common mistakes are, why they can hurt your business, and how to handle these situations like a pro.

1. I trust you, I don’t need a deposit

One of the first things a freelancer should never say to a new or existing client is ‘I trust you, there’s no need for a deposit’. I’ve made this mistake a few times and suffered because of it. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve worked with someone or how much you trust them. If you’re starting a new project for a client, you should absolutely ask for a reasonable deposit before any work takes place. Why? Well, there’s a few reasons…

One of the most crucial things a freelancer should never tell a client—whether new or familiar—is “I trust you, there’s no need for a deposit.” I’ve fallen into this trap a few times and paid the price for it. No matter how long you’ve worked with someone or how much trust you have in them, it’s essential to request a reasonable deposit before starting any new project.

As freelancers, our income can be unpredictable, and starting a new project often comes with upfront costs. A deposit helps stabilize your cash flow, ensuring that you have the necessary funds to cover these initial expenses. It’s a small safeguard that can make a big difference in managing the financial ebbs and flows that come with freelancing.

Moreover, requiring a deposit mitigates the risk of last-minute cancellations or late payments. Clients’ financial situations can change unexpectedly—just because they have the funds now doesn’t guarantee they’ll have them when your project is complete. They might enter a new budgeting period or face their own cash flow issues, which could lead to delayed payments or, worse, no payment at all. And then there’s the risk of shifting priorities. Imagine being halfway through a project only to have the client cancel because something else has suddenly taken precedence. A deposit makes them think twice before pulling the plug, as they’ve already committed financially.

Finally, a deposit offers some protection against non-payment. It’s all too common in freelancing to deliver your best work, only to be ghosted when it’s time to get paid. While it’s disheartening, having asked for a deposit means you won’t walk away empty-handed. Even if the final payment never materializes, at least you’ve received some compensation for your time and effort. It might not be everything you were owed, but it’s better than nothing.

2. I’d be happy to charge by the hour instead

There are times when charging by the hour makes sense. I often charge by the hour for consulting work or generally anything that requires me to be mostly interacting with people. But there are other times when charging by the hour just doesn’t make sense. It’s up to you to decide when it makes sense to charge by the hour and when it doesn’t. If you’ve decided it’s best to set a fixed fee for a project, you should stick to this. Something a freelancer should never say is ‘Sure, I’ll charge by the hour’ when you’ve already set a fixed fee.

So why shouldn’t you change your mind and charge by the hour? When working as a freelancer, you’re not just charging your clients for your time. You’re charging for your skillset, knowledge, and experience. You’re probably pretty good at what you do and can usually work efficiently. Charging a fixed fee rewards this – rewarding efficiency over time spent. Charging by the hour, on the other hand, doesn’t offer any reward for working quickly, it’s the opposite. The faster and more efficient you work, the less you’re rewarded. Sticking to a fixed fee shifts the focus from time worked to value added.

The benefits of charging a fixed fee also extend to your clients. They almost always want the project done quickly. Charging by the hour is a great way to incentivise someone to take their time and not work as efficiently as they could. Because again, why would you? Why would you get a job done in 5 hours when you could take your time and do it in 10?

The bottom line is, that by charging hourly, you’re punishing yourself. And potentially, unintentionally removing motivation to work quickly. Hurting you and your client.

3. Would you mind if I subcontract?

Want to know something else a freelancer should never say? It’s actually a question… ‘Would you mind if I subcontract’. The first issue I have here is that you’re not an employee. You don’t need to ask your clients permission to run your business as you see fit. If sub-contracting is part of your business model (and at some point, it absolutely should be), you don’t need to ask permission to do it. There’s no need to involve your clients in how you run your business.

Ultimately, your client’s only concern is that the job gets done, and gets done right. So if you can achieve the same results, the same timeframe, and the same quality by subcontracting, you should do it. Your client usually won’t care. There are occasionally exceptions to this. For example, if your client has explicitly requested you do the work yourself, and you agreed to it. I would advise you to avoid this situation though. If you use a contract (and why wouldn’t you?), make sure you have a clause in there that makes it clear you may subcontract. Even if you don’t plan to subcontract, you should keep your options open.

4. That’s lower than my usual rate, but I can come down to your budget

Don’t short-change yourself. Once you’ve set a price for a project, don’t be tempted to reduce your rates to match a client’s budget. It’s really easy to fall into this trap. But by lowering your rates, you’re devaluing yourself, your services, and your industry. If you believe a project is worth a certain amount, you should stick to it. Regardless of how much you want to work with the client. Lowering your rates is also rarely a one-off. If you do it once for a client, they often expect the same the next time they want to work with you. Sticking to your rates shows that you believe in the value of your service, and why would you want to do anything that suggests otherwise?

But okay, sometimes there are clients that you really want to work with. I get it. I’ve been there. The first thing I do in this situation is reiterate the value I’m going to be giving. Don’t focus on what you are charging, instead focus on what you are bringing to the table and the measurable results you can achieve. If that’s not enough to convince your client you’re worth what you’re asking, then sure, consider lowering your rate to match their budget. But you need to adjust the scope of the project too. Be explicit about what you can do for their budget, but most importantly, highlight what you can’t you do and what they’ll be missing out on (again, focus on measurable value) if they can’t meet what you’re asking.

5. Sorry, I’m fully booked at the moment

Another thing a freelancer should never say is ‘I’m too busy to work with you’. If you’re even tempted to say that or any variation of that, you’ve missed a trick. If you find yourself in this position, there are a few things you can do which means you don’t have to turn down the work.

First, consider finding someone to subcontract to. Ideally, you’d already have a list of trusted freelancers in your industry that you can call on for support. But if you don’t have this, now would be a really good time to find them. Depending on the task, you could try websites like People Per Hour or Upwork. You’ll be looking for someone quickly. So you might struggle to vet their work and get an idea of their quality. But that’s the cost of leaving it so late. This is still a very viable option though to help with the project. Even if you end up spending most of the fee you charge on a subcontractor, you’ve still avoided turning work down (and maybe found someone you can work with in the future).

Secondly, you could look at what you’ve got currently got on, how you manage your time, and what’s coming up. You might not be able to take the project on now, but maybe you could schedule it for things are a little quieter. The key here is setting clear expectations with your client. Let them know the situation and when you can get started. Reach out to anyone you’re currently working with and check on their priorities… maybe you could delay an existing project to take this one on? It’s not ideal, but sometimes clients aren’t in any rush and moving a deadline can give you extra capacity.

Ultimately the bottom line is, there is always a way to not have to say no… you just have to find it. If you’re looking for a way to better manage and visualise your project management, you should check out my free project management Notion template.

6. Is there anything else you need help with?

The final thing a freelancer should never say… ‘Is there anything else you need help with?’. Being completely blunt about it, there’s always something. And it’s on you to find it and figure out a way to keep working together. For me in the SEO world, this comes quite easily. I tell my clients from the very beginning that SEO is a long game. There are always new things we can do, more content to create, more keywords to research. If you’re doing something else, it could be a bit tricky though. Say you’ve designed and built someone a new website. It launched without a hitch and everything is going great. What more can you do? Well, you could consider aftercare packages. Support with future updates. Building new features that weren’t in the existing scope.

The key to figuring out how you can keep working with someone after the initial project is figuring out what continuous or additional value you can add. I’d really recommend spending some time figuring this stuff out specifically for your industry. You’ll generate a list of potential upsells you can offer your clients, leading to more work, potential passive income and a higher retention rate.

Wrapping up the things a freelancer should never say

If you take this advice, you’ll be in a much stronger position to protect your income and offer the best possible service to your freelance clients. So to summarise, here are the 6 things a freelancer should never say…

  1. I trust you, I don’t need a deposit – always ask for a deposit!
  2. I’d be happy to charge by the hour instead – there are times when charging by the hour makes sense, but if it doesn’t for your project, don’t budge.
  3. Would you mind if I subcontract – It’s not on your clients to decide how you run your business. All they care about is that the job gets done.
  4. That’s lower than my usual rate, but I can come down to your budget – if your client doesn’t want to pay your rates, don’t budge without adjusting the scope. Make it clear the value you’re adding and what they’ll miss out on with a lower budget.
  5. Sorry, I’m full booked at the moment – there’s always a way to take on new work. You just need to find it!
  6. Is there anything else you need help with – it’s on you to find a reason to continue working together. Put some energy into figuring this out before the project ends.