Attracting the Wrong Clients: A Case Study
Plus, application period for the certificate program ends today!
How to Stop Getting the Wrong Clients
“I’m not teaching the whiners anymore.” A friend of mine who also runs an online education company said this to me a while back when we were talking about the direction we wanted to take our respective businesses.
Personally, I don’t get the kind of students you’d call whiners—that is, people who complain about the learning management system or the content or the feedback. Sure, people sometimes have suggestions for how I could do things better or at least differently but nothing that would cause me to categorize them as whiners.
Don’t give away too much for free
But how exactly do we stop attracting the wrong clients and start attracting those we really want to work with?
I dug into this with my friend a little more and it turns out she offers tons of free content, including many free classes. And I gotta say, this struck me as Problem #1. People don’t value what they don’t pay for.
Most people who pay for something are invested in helping to solve whatever problems might arise in the delivery of that something. They want the product or service to work as intended. So if they can’t seem to get from one lesson to the next, they look for the solution in the FAQ or elsewhere on the website, or they email me and politely ask for my help.
People who pay for educational services like mine also experience themselves as serious/professional. People just soaking up free stuff aren’t serious. But they are demanding. Every freelancer I know will tell you that the very worst clients ever are the ones who pay terrible fees, want it all done yesterday, and expect you to work nights and weekends while they complain about everything you do.
So, step 1 in not working with whiners is to expect people to pay professional fees for your services.
Don’t solve all their problems
The next thing that cropped up was that a lot of her learners are older and don’t understand technology and she spends a lot of her time trying to solve their tech problems.
I don’t. Some months ago someone signed up for one of my classes then complained that the next time she went to the website, the website wanted her to pay for the class. She was furious and demanded her money back and said some mean things to me.
Well, you have to log in! Just like with your online banking. The email you get when you sign up for a class explains this very clearly. To solve this “problem” I could have written her an email, patiently explaining how to log in, but I didn’t. I refunded her money and sent her on her way. She had already shown what kind of student she was going to be and I would rather she go harass someone else.
So, to stop attracting the wrong clients, my friend needs to set limits, especially around her free classes. Why is she wasting time solving tech problems for people who aren’t even paying her to teach the class?
Don’t set out a net that will catch the wrong clients
Next, we looked at what drives people to her website. She uses YouTube a lot and gets a lot of views of her how-to videos and that leads to people seeking out her website. But these are almost all people who just want more free content.
No one’s audience is everyone. So, the better your marketing matches your audience, the fewer whiners you’ll have.
Sometimes I see “Read books for a living!” ads for proofreading courses and while I’m sure they’re effective at generating leads, I doubt very much that they find good matches. I’m sure they find students but probably not matches. Proofreading is not reading books for a living. Neither is copyediting or developmental editing. Books are, or can be, involved, but . . . . It’s like saying a plumber plays in the water all day.
Editing is hard. Freelancing is hard. It takes time and effort to get good at it. I try to take some of the pressure off at Club Ed but I don’t pretend it’s easy. People who wind up in my classes know they’re at the start of a journey. So, I don’t get complaints from people who think two months into it they’d be killing it by now.
If you want serious students/clients, you have to make it clear that’s what you do. I like to think my classes can be entertaining but I have absolutely no desire for anyone to think of them as entertainment.
I’m not trying to reach everyone with my marketing. I’m trying to reach the right people.
I don’t think 30K views of a LI post is better than 3K views. The right people have to see it and frankly that is more common at 3K views than at 30K views.
I’m not the right teacher for everyone, not even everyone who wants to be a DE. I want us to figure that out before anyone gets disappointed.
Sometimes the marketing isn’t the (only) reason for client mismatches
The final thing we looked at when trying to figure out how to stop attracting the wrong clients was how people experienced the student-teacher relationship with my friend. It turned out that all of her long-term online students were students she had taught in person. None of them were people she’d taught online only.
That was a little shocking to me, actually. Online teaching is hard both for students and teachers and it’s not uncommon for students to decide the material isn’t for them after all, but to not convert any online student to long-term learning means some kind of disconnect is happening.
Since the content of the my friend’s classes is the same/similar whether in person or online, the cause for this isn’t obvious. One reason could be that camaraderie among students makes those in-person students stick with the teacher; the same kind of camaraderie is difficult to duplicate online.
Another reason could be that the in-person teaching allowed them to create a relationship that isn’t happening with the online-only students. Student-teacher relationships can be difficult to nurture online.
It’s also possible that the feedback mechanism is a problem. This is what I suspect is happening.
If my friend is delivering feedback online the same way she did in person, it could be that some element is not being communicated—that is, perhaps she is being experienced as rude or abrupt whereas in person she might be experienced as warmer and more supportive.
It may also be that she is delivering too much feedback and isn’t aware of this because the interaction isn’t as immediate; a more advanced student can assimilate a lot of feedback much better than a beginning student can. And it’s much easier to tell when you’re about to give someone too much information when you’re teaching in person.
Consulting with colleagues who are doing similar work could help her adjust her delivery.
And that’s what I would recommend for freelance editors who are struggling to get returning clients or who get “whining” about their feedback: talk with colleagues about how they work and decide whether you should adjust your approach.
A final note
While I totally get “I don’t want to teach the whiners” as a goal (I mean, “I don’t want to work with assholes” is my personal motto), there is always the possibility that my friend is feeling burned out.
If you can’t honestly say, “I really like and respect the vast majority of the people I work with” maybe the problem is you: you have the wrong mindset or attitude or you’re just charred around the edges. No amount of tweaks to your marketing will fix this. If this is the case, I recommend taking a break, disconnecting from everything, and checking in with yourself.
But usually, the mismatch is about how potential clients perceive you. Solving the problem is a process of being very clear about what you want your work life to look like and making sure that your clients are a good match for that.
The Money Question(s)
New self-paced class!
$100 (Members: $90) | How to Set Fees and More | 4 lessons | Self-paced | Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced
One of the most common questions newer freelancer editors ask is, “How much should I charge?”
But this is not the question you should be asking. Where you really need to begin is “How much do I want/need to earn?”
This class covers how to calculate that number. It also tackles:
Understanding billable hours
Tracking time
Calculating the cost of benefits
Figuring tax burden
Defining deliverables
Creating project quotes
Plus, the class digs into how to raise your rates once you’ve been in business for a while, including ways to increase your billable hours, reduce your business expenses, find higher-paying clients, and offer higher-paying services.
It also dives into questions of how to:
manage deposits and bookings
invoice and collect your fees (including a discussion of payment processing apps)
track your income and expenses
use financial record-keeping to understand the financial health of your business
make estimated tax payments
But questions about money aren’t just about adding and subtracting numbers. They’re also about the emotional component: what messages you’ve absorbed about money and why you’re freelancing in the first place. The final lesson explores the emotional side of setting fees to help you make the best financial decisions for your business.
Note that the information in this class is US-based, but the main principles apply wherever you're working from.
The class is entirely online and asynchronous (you don’t have to be in any particular place at any particular time to participate).
Congratulations, Zainab Mirza!
Please join me in congratulating Zainab Mirza, who completed the Club Ed Certificate in the Developmental Editing of Fiction on June 29!
It takes time, dedication, and effort to tackle all of the coursework required. Congratulations, Zainab!
Club Ed Certificate Program Application Period Ends Today
Application period ends June 30, 2026.
Today is the last day to apply to the Club Ed Certificate Program in the Developmental Editing of Fiction. It’s also the last day to purchase the certificate class bundle (including customized bundles for current students). Midnight Pacific time is the deadline.
If you’re thinking about becoming a freelance editor, particularly in developmental editing, this certificate program is for you! The Club Ed certificate program in the developmental editing of fiction provides all the basics you need to learn to edit fiction effectively and to start your editing business.
More information about the program can be found here.
If you’re interested in the nonfiction certificate program, that information can be found here.
How to Apply
To apply, just send an email to ClubEdResortDirector@gmail.com, outlining your background and noting any editing classes you’ve taken (especially Club Ed classes). There’s no fee to apply. Remember, the deadline to apply is midnight Pacific time on June 30, 2026.
You can purchase classes towards the certificate one at a time or you can purchase the course bundle for $1800. That’s a savings of about $500 (25%) over purchasing the classes individually.
People who purchase the bundle are more likely to complete the certificate program, but it’s not required.
For more information about the course bundle and to purchase it, click here.
If you’ve already purchased some classes, get in touch to see how the money you spent can be applied towards the bundle and reduce the cost: ClubEdResortDirector@gmail.com
For Members
The next quarterly marketing challenge started last Monday (June 22 - July 17) but it’s not too late to join in! These are held every quarter and are a fun way to meet other editors and be accountable for doing those often-dreaded marketing tasks.
We’re doing something new this time: everyone who participates (posts about their marketing tasks every weekday) gets a $25 Club Ed gift card! Usually this goes to someone I randomly pick, but this time everyone who joins in gets to win! I like to call this the hardest $25 you’ll ever earn.
To join the fun, just chime in on the marketing challenge forum (in your dashboard when you log in to Club Ed) sometime on Monday, June 22 and let us know your overall goals for the month. Then, every weekday, add your comment to the thread for that day, telling us what you did. You can also ask questions, share challenges, comment on what other people are doing, and otherwise make marketing a little less lonely.
Questions? Reach me at ClubEdResortDirector@gmail.com
Check out the Cabana, a catalog of members’-only self-paced classes offered at a deep discount (half off!) from the usual price of self-paced classes. Information on how to find the Cabana is on the course information page in the Membership Program “class.”
Membership information (such as coupon codes for the discount on PerfectIt software and dates of the marketing challenge) can be found on the course information page in the Membership Program “class.”
Please check there first to see if the information answers your question. Thank you!
Upcoming Classes
Instructor-led classes starting soon:
Editing for Plot and Story Structure, starts Sep 9, 2026
Editorial Toolkit: Coaching Writers, starts Sep 21, 2026
Editing for Character Development, starts Oct 7, 2026
Editorial Toolkit: Beta Reading, starts Oct 19, 2026
Editing for World-Building and Setting, starts Nov 4, 2026
About Jennifer Lawler
I help editors figure out what the hell they're doing.
If you're an aspiring, new, or established book editor or story coach, I can probably help you learn how to do the work better and more profitably.
Through Club Ed, I offer developmental editing classes, a freelance editor membership program/support group, and a slightly bony shoulder to cry on.
I've worked as an editor for more than twenty years. I learned how to edit in the trenches of traditional publishing with its insane deadlines, pitiless competition, and crushing bureaucracy. To that I added a Ph.D in English literature with a specialization in medieval literature because of a long story.
Editorial clients have included Simon & Schuster, Girl Friday Productions, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, Barnes and Noble Custom Publishing, and others, along with many independent authors.
For fiction self-paced classes, click here.
For fiction instructor-led classes, click here
For nonfiction self-paced classes, click here
For nonfiction instructor-led classes, click here