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Anxious clients who expect too much
Posted by on January 17, 2026 at 12:40 pmHow do you guys deal with clients who are very anxious and expect results from day 1?
I am trying to start freelancing and this one girl from my town was looking for help and I agreed to it(I work for almost nothing, it’s for the experience)
She has a budget of 5$ a day, doesn’t have a website, only has a FB page and that because I asked her to create it. I started running ads 2 days ago and the link takes people to a google form, which I assume causes friction, therefore 0 submissions made sense. I then changed the ad to messaging ads, cleaned up the creative a bit more after A/B testing(there was too mic on it cause she kept asking to add morw and more).
One second she thanks me and another one she starts questioning why there are no submissions and why we are not taking them to the form and why did I change the creative.
I obviously tried to explain it to her but considering the fact it’s been 3 days I already imagine what’s awaiting a week later. Results take time especially with a budget of 5$ a day.
What do I do? I am scared of not delivering results and her blaming me. What do you recommend in such cases?
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1 Reply
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Pointless to run ads with a $5 daily budget. Just tell her the budget is too small and move on.
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Small clients often expect you to build their business. They think that all they need is a few ads to be successful despite having had no other success.
I don’t really blame them, there’s all these gurus, coaches, podcasts, courses and more that portray that. However, that’s what you’ll be dealing with if you take on these very small and very fresh companies. -
$5 aint going to move the needle. She’s better off focussing on unpaid marketing activity like posting on local FB groups or doing organic social.
Explain that. It’ll save you grief.
As for anxious clients with a suitable budget, you need to educate them. On everything from CRO, to UX to the maths of their business if you think they’re eventually going to be a good client.
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Managing client expectations should be the first point in every kick off meeting. Everything else is bad for your reputation and also a kind of dishonesty towards your clients.
And yes, this will lead to some clients deciding to not work with you.
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You need to temper her expectations and if she can’t understand that $5 daily in Meta is certainly not enough, you need to move on ASAP.
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Please stop stringing this woman along and wasting her hard earned money. Go get a job and some experience.
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Pick up on that in the early stages of talking to the client and don’t take them on.
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Many such cases
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This is one of those learning lessons as you start running your own business.
There exists a wide range of client “quality”. This one is on the very low end.
You also have to learn to be a consultant first. The very first conversation should’ve been you explaining to her that ads isn’t the right move.
Totally get why you didn’t – we’ve all been there.
But a big learning lesson (at least for me) is that I’m supposed to tell clients how things work, not the other way around.
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…this sounds stressful especially when you are just starting out. The core issue is misaligned expectations, not your skill. With tiny budgets and no funnel, results are unpredictable, and that needs to be clearly framed upfront. It is okay to slow things down, reset expectations, and define what success looks like over a longer window. If the pressure stays high despite clear communication, it is also okay to walk away early rather than carry blame you cannot control.
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Don’t take on project with less than. $20/day spend. It takes a while for ad Platforms to understand your customer.
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