My First "Client" was a Scam - Here's What I Learned

Picture it: I'm sitting at my computer, working tirelessly to get my website where I want it to be, creating my first few Instagram posts, and setting up backend systems for content creation, strategy, client work, and more. Starting a freelance site feels like such an intimidating and scary step, but with tons of prep, I'm feeling (sort of) confident and excited to get the ball rolling...

Fast forward a few weeks and I feel ready to launch everything. I hit publish on my site, create my Instagram account, and hope for the best. Just two days later, I receive an email inquiry from a construction company looking for brand design and an overall pretty comprehensive project! I am beyond excited and feel so accomplished, ready to share my skills and take on my first client. The first few steps of my onboarding process go smoothly: they fill out my form, we discuss some things back and forth over email, I write up the invoice, proposal, and contract... but then things start to get suspicious.

🚩 Red Flag #1

They refuse to use Venmo for payment and say they must use another platform I'd never even heard of. I dig a little and find out it's sometimes used legitimately, but often used by scammers.

🚩 Red Flag #2

They mentioned their business was based in the U.S., but then explained to me that they were on a business trip in Haiti... (for a local construction business? Yeah, I don't think so.)

🚩 Red Flag #3

Once I pressed a bit, they were super cagey about where they were located. As soon as I got that weird gut feeling, I asked them to provide more information about their business, and the address they provided led me to a building on NYU's campus... uhh, what?

After this, I politely pulled out of the project.

As you can imagine, this was so disappointing for me. I wanted so badly for this client to be legit. I spent a lot of time and effort on their onboarding documents (the first ones I'd ever worked through) and had such hope that someone saw my page and my work and felt like I was the person who could bring their brand to life! It really sucked.

But honestly, it was a learning experience. I'm proud of myself for following my gut and going with my instincts, no matter how badly I wanted the situation to be something it wasn’t. And I got to practice working through my onboarding process in real time. Silver linings!

All this to say: setbacks suck, but they'll happen, and all we can do is listen to ourselves, learn from our experiences, and keep showing up. I'm still in the very beginning stages of this journey, and I've already learned so much, connected with so many people, and - ahhh! - landed a REAL, non-scammer client! Growth isn't always instantaneous or linear, and that's okay. The important thing is to just keep moving forward and trusting the process. This experience is also why I believe that strong contracts and onboarding aren’t just boring pieces of admin; they’re how I make sure clients feel safe and taken care of! Want to know how I bring that structure to your project? Reach out!