3 Types of Difficult Clients & the Lawyer-Approved Fix for Each
Dealing with a difficult client and wondering how to even begin to combat them? I’ll tell you exactly how to deal with each of the 3 types of difficult clients you might be dealing with + how to avoid (most of) them in the future!
You might be going through it right now with a difficult client and feel completely hopeless. You don’t even know where to begin. You might not even want to completely end the relationship or burn your bridges.
As a business lawyer running my own practice, I’ve pretty much dealt with all types of difficult clients. They’ve tried to ghost me before making their final payment, they’ve tested my limits and crossed boundaries, and grown men have been total mean girls (way worse than the high school girls).
But I’ve learned (through both my own and my clients’ experiences) how to deal with each of these types of business clients.
In this blog post, I’m sharing exactly how to handle each of the 3 types of difficult clients, so you don’t have to go through the same (amount of) pain I or some of my clients went through before they met me.
This blog post is all about the 3 types of difficult clients + how to combat each one most effectively.
The 3 Types of Difficult Clients & Best Fixes
Before we talk about how to handle the 3 types of business clients ruining our lives…
Before we get into the 3 types of difficult clients, I feel like it’s my duty to tell you this first.
You’ll probably read this and start identifying one of your clients with at least one difficult client example. You might immediately feel your blood boiling a bit and think about how they totally wronged you.
And I’m sure they’ve totally done you wrong. But I want to remind you that those things are not necessarily a reflection of who they really are. I know I’ve done and said things in life that I’d like to think aren’t a reflection of me, and I own my mistakes. Maybe they need some time to own theirs.
What I’ve learned in my early years in mergers and acquisitions (when I was still working in big law as a commercial & corporate lawyer) are these 3 crucial skills in business:
Don’t take things personally. No matter how close you may get with certain business clients, it’s still business. It’s a cliché, but it’s true and easy to lose sight of in the heat of the moment.
Learn how to compartmentalize. To survive in business, you need to separate your personal emotions from your business clients. Otherwise, they’ll take up so much of your mental real estate.
Empathize with your clients. Try to put yourself in their shoes, even if their shoe size doesn’t totally fit. Try to understand where they’re coming from. That doesn’t mean you let them walk all over you or get emotionally involved (skill #2). It means trying to see what their real pain is underneath their actions, and figuring out what the right solution might be for both of you.
The most prominent lawyers and business people I know, personally, are incredibly good at all of these thing and make a sh*t ton of money because of these skills.
It’s okay if you haven’t fully mastered these skills (I haven’t either). But if you’re at least cognizant of these skills and try to apply them IRL, I assure you, you’ll get really far in both your business and personal life.
Now, let’s get into the 5 client archetypes + how to deal with clients in business.
Okay, so now we have my public announcement out of the way; let’s get into the 5 types of difficult clients.
When you boil them all down (not literally, even though you might want to), you can categorize them into 5 different client archetypes:
Energy Vampires 🧛. They’re the clients who try to suck out every ounce of your energy. They’re the ones who, even though you’ve already gone above and beyond, will try to suck even more out of you. They’re the ones who will find every way to cross your boundaries and ask more than you bargained for. They’ll sometimes turn into Blind Bats 🦇, pretending they’ve never read your terms and don’t understand your boundaries. They can sometimes even turn into Witches when they don’t get what they want.
Ghosts 👻. They’re the ones we all know. The ones who disappear when it’s time to sign a contract. Or they’ll be gone when it’s time to pay their second installment. Or they’ll disappear halfway through your coaching program and suddenly pop up 4 months later, asking you to either make up the 5 remaining coaching sessions they missed or give a refund.
Witches 🧙♀️. They’re the true b*tches in business. They might demand a turnaround within 24 hours after not responding to you for like 2 months. Or they’ll try to bully you into doing things you don’t want to do. They’ll try to ruin your reputation on social media if they don’t get what they want. Or, they’ll copy your product or services and resell them as their own.
Let’s get into each difficult client example & talk about the solutions.
1. The Energy Vampires 🧛 & how to deal with them
Let’s start with my favorite one of all types of difficult clients: the Energy Vampires.
Why is it my favorite? Because I consider these monsters to be secret blessings. “Wait, what?” Yes, they’re the ones that will push you to grow, not just as a business person, but as a person.
Dealing with energy vampires will teach you to set boundaries and protect your energy, which will help you grow (monetarily and mentally).
So, here are the solutions to tackle these energy vampires:
First and foremost, include a clear scope section in your contract or T&Cs with a crystal-clear list of what’s included in your service + a full list of what is not. Make sure you define each service within your included list very precisely with measurable boundaries.
Second, make sure your contract or T&Cs includes 2 options for if the energy vampire asks you for something beyond your scope (like an extra coaching session, for example):
If you want to provide that extra service, you’re entitled to charge an additional fee (upfront) for any additional services.
If you do not want to provide that extra service, you are entitled to say ‘no.’ I know, technically you’re not required to provide a service that’s not within your scope. But having that explicitly stated in your contract makes a world of difference.
Third, communicate these rules at every contact point with your client before they purchase your service. So, depending on your systems, make sure this is stated in the Q&A section on your sales page or checkout page, in your application form, and/or in your client intake session.
Fourth, actually enforce those boundaries. Even if you printed your rules in BOLD at the top of your sales page, energy vampires will still turn into Blind Bats 🦇 and pretend they didn’t know. So when they do test your boundaries, enforce your 2 options: either say “sure, that will be X dollars” or “I currently don’t have the capacity to provide this extra service.” It sounds a lot simpler than it is IRL, I know, but this is where you need to become stronger and grow.
These are the basics. I’ll get way more granular with more specific examples in my next blog post dedicated to Energy Vampires 🧛. So, you’ll have the exact tools you need to combat them.
Meanwhile, make sure you have the right legal kit (with contract templates, sales page terms, etc.) with a complete framework for your scope (not just a fill-in-the-blank spot for you to describe your services and do all the work).
👉 Check out my 1:1 Coaching Legal Kit and my other contract templates with these boundaries and protections.
2. The Ghosts 👻 & how to deal with them
The next one of the types of difficult clients that is pretty easy to combat is the Ghost 👻.
Did a client just conveniently disappear when it came time to sign your contract or pay for your services?
Here’s what you need to do to avoid getting burned (again):
First, have an easy contracting system in place. I mean, I do have a traditional contract for e-signature in my 1:1 Coaching Legal Kit, but it’s 2026; we don’t need to send contracts for e-signature anymore. Ghosts get spooked when you send them a 12-page contract telling them you’re not liable for anything. If you do want to use the traditional method, send it via DocuSign, not a PDF they have to print, sign, and scan back. That’ll spook them even more. Instead, use one of these 2 methods:
Use a simple checkout page in which your contract is incorporated, so they just click to agree to your terms (make sure your sales page or checkout page includes the most important things they need to know, so they can’t claim they never knew about your rules, as I said in section 2). That’s a way more frictionless process.
If you need to vet clients first, send them an application form for them to fill out their information, and include your terms and conditions in the form with a checkbox.
Second, always require upfront payment unless it’s a client you’ve worked with for years and you know they’re good for it. That doesn’t mean you have to charge the full payment upfront. You can charge in installments, but make sure each installment is paid before the services that installment covers. So, make sure you don’t deliver the portion of the services before it’s paid. If it’s a monthly recurring service, make sure they pay those monthly fees upfront before the start of each month. That way, if they ghost you, you never lose more than what you delivered.
Third, make sure your contract or T&Cs include a solid no-rollover policy so that they can’t return 4 months after ghosting you and demand you make up for the weekly coaching sessions they missed (even if they did already pay for them).
Fourth, have a strict refund policy in place that makes it explicitly clear that if they haven’t used your services (on time), they’re not entitled to a refund. You reserved that time for them and forwent other opportunities because of it. You deserve that money (but put it in writing).
These are the basics. I’ll get way more granular with more specific examples in my upcoming blog post dedicated to Ghosts 👻. You’ll have proper payment terms, a no-roll-over policy, and a refund policy in place!
👉 Check out my 1:1 Coaching Legal Kit. It includes the traditional contract template, plus T&Cs for checkout pages and application forms!
3. The Witches 🧙♀️ & how to deal with them
Let’s move on to the worst of the 3 types of difficult clients: the Witches 🧙♀️.
Witches can cast all kinds of spells, but here are a few remedies for your apothecary to combat them:
Some witches are really hard to get a response from. Weeks can go by before they finally do their homework and give you the answers you need to finally finish the project. But then they finally give you those answers and demand you deliver your end of the bargain within 24 hours. Suddenly, it becomes urgent to them. Often without a real reason. That’s why you need to set timeframes for when you deliver your services or deliverable, starting only after you have received everything you need from them. But also a timeframe for when they need to deliver theirstuff, so you’re not stuck in an endless project. If they don’t deliver, (1) you get to move forward without their input, or (2) they forfeit the service and don’t receive a refund. Those are the remedies that a proper contract should offer you.
Some types of difficult clients will get mad and try to destroy your reputation online. One bad Google review can destroy your reputation. And it’s incredibly hard to get Google to take down an unfounded review. Witches know that. That’s why they’ll sometimes bully you with that threat hanging over you. However, if you have the right contract in place (with a proper anti-disparagement clause) and you build evidence that they didn’t meet their obligations under your contract (which is why you need to confirm all communications by email), Google will actually side with you. That goes for other platforms, too, like Facebook.
Another thing a witch might do is copy your digital product, maybe change the name or color, and resell it as their own on Etsy. That is exactly why you need strong T&Cs for digital products that include the right to enforce them. That includes sending your client a takedown request so she never uses it again, and making sure she can’t buy any of your other products just to duplicate and sell them. You can then file an IP infringement claim with Etsy itself. And don’t just share your template with Etsy for proof; also share your terms and conditions with Etsy. That makes your case much stronger because you’re not just saying the template is yours; you’re showing that this person agreed to your terms and conditions knowing they were infringing on your IP rights.
There are so many witchy behaviors I didn’t even cover, like chargebacks, refusing to sign contracts, disparagement within coaching groups, etc.
I’ll cover those in more detail in my upcoming blog post dedicated to Witches 🧙♀️.
But this will help you get started on your path to combating all these types of difficult clients.
This post was all about the 3 dangerous types of difficult clients & the lawyer-approved ways to handle them.
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