Social media manager refuses to keep working with client after they keep demanding changes to the content: ‘This would mean I work basically for free’

When you're a freelancer trying to build up your clientele, sometimes you don't really have a choice when it comes to the people you work with.

For social media managers, this manifests in different ways. A starting social media manager will agree to create content for any business owner willing to hire them, no matter what. Whether the client is someone who owns a plumbing business or a kid selling slimes, as long as they are willing to pay for the service, the social media job will be done.

The same can be said about the character of the clients as well. As long as someone is at the beginning of their freelancing career, there aren't a lot of clients they would refuse to work with. Even if the client is extra difficult or demanding, it would still take a lot to drop them, because building the portfolio and the name is sometimes more important than finding decent people to work with.

Only when a social media manager becomes more seasoned and builds a name for themselves can they pick and choose their clients. Once you have a steady income and a respectable career, you can decide what type of business matches your branding and whether or not you want to work for a client who comes across as entitled or demanding.

Since the freelancer below is just starting out, they don't have the luxury of dropping every client they don't get along with. However, this one client's demands have reached a point where they basically want the freelancer to work for free, and that is a line that even a starting social media manager is not willing to cross.

Initially, this social media manager started a collaboration with a client for one month, and the client paid in advance for the one month's worth of content.
However, the client had notes on every single piece of content the social media manager created, which resulted in a month's worth of notes and corrections, but no published posts whatsoever.
At the end of the month, the client demanded the freelancer finish the job and start posting, but at this point, the freelancer is no longer getting paid for their time, and they are not willing to keep working for a difficult client if they don't get anything in return.
Keep scrolling to read about the client's reaction.
via LinkedIn Sales Solutions

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AITA for refusing to work extra for free after a difficult client month?

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