October is a spooky season and the way I celebrate is by going through all of the different nightmare situations you can find yourself in business…These are all based on real experiences with clients, collaborators, and colleagues. These are not only valid during spooky season, but throughout the entire year. I will be going through 6 different archetypes so you know what you are dealing with and how to recognize them when you see them.

Why I’m Bringing You The Stories of Nightmare Clients

The truth is that these archetypes are very common but you wouldn’t know this because a lot of content creators don’t share the BTS. They are quick to share their wins and testimonials because this is part of their marketing strategies but they don’t share the failures and struggles…BUT they share with me (a lawyer) the behind the scenes of what’s really going on. They may have 200k followers, millions of dollars in revenue, and are promoting themselves as this spiritual thought leader, but I see their shadow side because they are triggered. And the business owner may have come face to face with some of these archetypes (or they are the archetype themselves). 

Whether they are a client or someone who unloads on me, they confide in me. Yes, I have to keep the information confidential, but I alter the names to share these experiences with you. Over the past 10 years in law, I’ve had people come to me and tell me all of their wins, horror stories, the business decisions that they had made…some good and some bad.

These types of stories have made me more self-aware and have allowed me to grow in my skill set. A lot of people in the online business won’t share this because they feel embarrassed, it’s taboo, or they don’t want to get in legal trouble. I want to make these conversations less taboo because for people who identify as female entrepreneurs or Gen Z entrepreneurs this is not the type of stuff that we usually have conversations about. People in online business tend to shy away from the words:

– Negotiation

– Boundaries

– Making deals 

But people in traditional professions DON’T shy away from them so I want to make these things more acceptable to talk about. I want you to have the knowledge and experience to avoid these issues yourself with this business savvy skillset. 

When you are a business owner you are learning these lessons through your own experiences:

That type of person screwed me over >> that’s a f*ck no in the future

That type of person was amazing to work with >> i’m replicating those results in the future

Yes, you have this moral and intuitive compass as a business owner. But as a lawyer I have my own experience AND have an average of 300 cases a year of people confiding in me, telling me the worst and best things that have ever happened to them. So I am sharing this information so you get a taste of what it’s like to have all of this information when you go into a new venture and make:

– Business decisions

– Risk assessments

– Cost benefit analysis

If any of these are foreign to you, you need to listen to this episode! Performing each of these should be a big part of any decision that you make. There’s not an unlimited tap of energy, money, and time because we do live in a confined human experience. That’s not to say you can’t replenish but make sure you aren’t leaping and then letting the net appear…make smart business decisions and avoid these clients!

Spooky types of nightmare clients:

1. Energy Vampires (most common) >> Clients, potential clients, and/or collaborators that suck you dry and make you wish that you set clearer boundaries. They tend to ask for things that are outside of your scope of contract or agreement like:

• Extra revisions
• Communicating with you outside of the channels that you prefer
  
  

This could be because you didn’t set clear boundaries or it could be despite clear boundaries. It could be with a contract, with a contract BUT without a clear summary of your boundaries, or without a contract. They are the most exhausting; they make you want to quit. Things cease to be an even energy exchange and they tend to gaslight you if you approach them. They make you question your sanity and question your boundaries…

2. Ghosts >> These are clients or potential clients who disappear after they sign a contract or “promise” to pay (if you don’t have a contract then there is no promise that they will pay!). They could also be people who you are talking with in the DM’s that seem very interested but then they all of a sudden stop answering. They might block you or stop paying… even though you sacrificed a paying client instead. Ghosts suck because of OPPORTUNITY COSTS! They are costing you money when they ghost you…. Because by YOU putting your time and energy into pursuing the opportunity to work with them, you are forgoing the opportunity to work with people that DO want to work with you. 

>> So say this person paid the $500 deposit and then they ghosted you…you just wasted all of that time following up with them. And another client might have paid you the 15k and worked with you on time but you wasted your energy on the ghost .. You followed up with her for 3 weeks >> now you need a new client to fill the spot >> AND you wasted the month of income. You need to start looking at opportunity costs as an actual number value that affects your bottom line. It affects your time, energy, and bottom line. Business is business and you need to start looking through the lens of a business owner. This does not mean to throw your intuition aside or be a total bitch, but it DOES mean:

– Have an understanding of the impact & bottom line of your business

– Make better business decisions

– Assess risks 

– Do a cost benefit analysis

– Really consider opportunity costs when you say yes to something

When you say yes to something you inherently say no to something else even if you don’t know what that opportunity is yet. So opportunity cost is a major side of business (despite what online business says regarding “unlimited resources”). 

3. Goblins >> They are like ghosts but turn aggressive. They demand refunds or lie to their bank or credit card company and claim it’s fraud. They make you fight to get the money. But like ghosts they promise to pay, they may have signed a contract, they may have started working with you, and at some point they will turn aggressive. They are a mix of energy vampires and ghosts.

4. Bad Luck Copycats >> People who copy your every move or replicate your content and pass it off as their own. They could be internet randoms or clients and they gaslight you when you approach them. There is something called “tall poppy syndrome”. It’s the opposite of imposter syndrome. People see the tallest poppy in the field and ask themselves “what did they do to become that successful?” This is why success is a double edged sword. When you get to the place you really want to be and you are the tallest poppy in the field of poppies, everyone is going to look at you. So they are going to try to replicate what you do….and you can’t take it personally. You have to understand that you will always be a step in front of them because they are copying YOU. Yes it’s still annoying and infringes on intellectual property rights. It can drain your resources or your team’s resources….but it’s inevitable if you become successful.

5. Werewolves >> People who seem like ideal clients based off of their content or when you are initially talking to them but then they totally change their behavior out of the blue. They start to be abusive, rude or toxic. In every experience I have had dealing with a werewolf, they were someone who presents themselves as a spiritual business owner. I am not saying that spiritual business owners are all toxic, flighty or abusive. I am saying this because we often make the connections in our head “they use light pink and the eye imagery in their content, they must be really cool!” But who they are at their core (even if they talk about consciousness), might not be who they are when they get pissed off. 

A lot of people who don’t know how to handle their stress come to me. And yes, they may be very popular on Instagram. This is why you need to get to know them and feel them out during the contract signing process (helps you to filter out bad vibes). Once you see how someone talks to you via email trying to negotiate and sign a contract, then you will oftentimes know how they are. I saved myself so much stress this way. I always make the mistake of assuming that someone is not an asshole because they are popular, well liked, or spiritual and then I’m sadly mistaken when dealing with these werewolves….

6. Witches >> Enough said. Kind of like goblins, kind of like werewolves. There’s nothing that you might be able to put your finger on but you’ll know them when you see them….

There are the 6 archetypes to avoid in every area of business and keep your eyes peeled because I will have more stories on them coming soon! Make sure to always use a contract to help filter out these archetypes the best you can. Click here for the Scale Your Biz Bundle and use code 11/11 at checkout to get the bundle for it’s lowest price ever $777! Or if you don’t need the entire bundle you can get 50% off any contract until 11/13 with code: NINA 

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