My personal, opinionated, biased collection of red flags that you might see from prospective clients, customers, vendors, or just other people in general. If you see/hear these, proceed with caution or bail entirely.
Prospective Clients
“No Budget”
The most obvious (and most frequent) red flag I run into when meeting a prospective client is variations on the classic: I have no (or very little) budget.
There are infinite folks out there who will hop on an introductory call and tell you about their brilliant new idea. For hours. Dreaming is fun, and validation is delicious, especially from smart/successful people.
When you take a call/meeting, make sure that you hear your guests out: don’t talk dollars right away. Not only does that make you look desperate, it slightly sours the convo as it makes it seem like you don’t care about the project and are just...fishing for gigs. If you’re taking intro calls, take the calls.
You should care about the projects you work on, and you should give prospective clients the gift of letting them show-and-tell for a bit. It’s for your benefit: you’ll be able to make a better estimate of an initial investment, and you can show your knowledge/experience with a relevant response.
Note: I also just like to talk shop, so this part isn't that difficult. Be human.
But don’t blab forever. When you’re about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way through a call, you want to get down to business, so it’s time to talk about money and time.
Don’t ask ‘what’s your budget for this’ or any other cute phrasing of that, like “what are you willing to commit to invest in the next steps for this venture,” etc.
When you ask open-ended questions like that, nobody is going to say “Oh, infinite dollars, whatever it takes!” Even people with money aren’t trying to throw it all at you. Let them try you out so you can prove you’re worth investing in.
Instead, be direct. Say something like: “I have the space to give you a (half/full) day at (my half/full day rate) to get the ball rolling with a proof of concept. I think we can get to (X outcome) with that time, which should give you an idea of what I can do and help you see your next steps more clearly: even if those next steps are scrapping the project or taking my work elsewhere.”
Flag time. If you hear one of these in response, start wrapping the call and prepare for your next one. Most leads, especially when you’re just starting out (and if they just ‘fell into your lap’ or booked the intro call via a public form) are going to say this stuff.
‘This is entirely self-funded right now, so...’
terms like: ‘shoestring’ or ‘spending freeze’
‘We’re a non-profit, so...’
‘Let me think about it and get back to you’
‘I’ll definitely keep you in mind’
...or any variation of those.
These aren’t bad people. They’re not (all) cheapskates. But if they’re hesitating at committing less than a few hundred dollars to something, they’re not worth your time, simply because there are plenty of other people that will not hesitate.
Offer to stay in touch, see if they want to join your mailing list to get notified of the things you’re working on.