Women vs Men clients

[ehab0111]

serious question , is i am the only one here that think the work with women is more harder working with men , i mean women is very details oriented and so picky more than men , they notice evey single thing , i mean if theres an extra dot in the end of sentence they ask about it

[creativedigit]

It depends on your mindset. Whatever you think towards a specific gender is often in your mind only.

I can easily name you a bunch of hard male clients I have worked with, and another bunch of female clients that were extremely easy to work with. And vice versa.

Only because you had a bad experience with one (two, ten, or even hundred) female client, doesn't give a scientific evidence that one gender is harder to deal with than the other.

Putting all that aside, yes, women tend to be more cautious about the little things. They often want everything to be perfect, but if I was given a job to complete I also need to make sure everything is perfectly done. After all, that's what the client hired me for, so I work hard to make sure everything is completed right and up to my standards before having my client check the work. If for any reason the client came back to me and needed a revision, I wouldn't call them "picky" as long as it's righteous, and take that as an opportunity to improve my consciousness before handing off work the next time.

[prestonhunter]

Ehab:

I do not doubt that it is harder for you to work with women than with men.

[shohel121]

I actually don't find any difference.  A man or a woman can equally be picky. A man or a woman can equally be professional. 

[wendy_writes]

Shohel, just a personal observation but the only clients impossible to work with are the ones with next to zero understanding of what they need - but who then decide they know a lot more than the professional they hired. 

IMO, this type of behavior is usually due to an utter lack of understanding coupled with overly fragile egos.  Both males and females suffer from it.  And I avoid them like the plague.

[shohel121]

Hi Wendy,

Yes, agreed with your views.

Thank you!

[bobafett999]

Gender no.  But I do find it hard to work with people with type A personality.

And cheapos.  I jacked up my rate so now I don't deal with them anymore.

OP with your $7/hr rate, you will only find cheapos.

Look at Wassim, Wendy or Preston's rates.  They must have long term or repeat clients and those who come to them require perfection from work, but clients will not be bother them with little petty things.

[millermelanie]

I have never noticed a difference. I've had "picky" male and female clients. I've had tremendously delightful male and female clients, as well.  I have observed that the pickiest clients are usually the ones who pay the least, though.

[e_luneborg]

I have to say that I prefer to work with men. Don't know why, but it's just easier.

For some reason the male clients I have give me way more freedom to do what I want, and just trusts that I know what I'm doing. Female clients tend to change their minds about what they want a bit too often. Then again I have also had female bosses before that were great.

I think the bigger issue is where a client is from, no matter what gender they are. I communicate and work really well with clients from Scandinavia, but not as well with clients from other countries. Scandinavians are very honest about what they want and will just come out and say it. We don't care so much about being polite and nica and all of that. Makes miscommunication a rare thing, and also builds trust. 

[jr-translation]

---

@Eve L wrote:

I have to say that I prefer to work with men. Don't know why, but it's just easier.

For some reason the male clients I have give me way more freedom to do what I want, and just trusts that I know what I'm doing. Female clients tend to change their minds about what they want a bit too often. Then again I have also had female bosses before that were great.

I think the bigger issue is where a client is from, no matter what gender they are. I communicate and work really well with clients from Scandinavia, but not as well with clients from other countries. Scandinavians are very honest about what they want and will just come out and say it. We don't care so much about being polite and nica and all of that. Makes miscommunication a rare thing, and also builds trust. 

---

My experience is that if Norwegians try to avoid an answer they just don't want to disappoint you and say no. Once you have figured that out you are doing fine.

But yes, most of the time men are easier to deal with (and sometimes very easy to impress), but there are also great women. The pickiest person I know is my husband and I would never want to have him as a client or freelancer.

[datasciencewonk]

Nope.

I've had excellent female and male clients as well as persnickety clients equally distributed between both categories. 

[kfarnell]

Really? It's prohibited to discuss issues that might arise due to cultural differences because that involves mentioning geographical locations (such posts usually get deleted), but it's fine to say all women are hard work because they're fusspots?

And since when was being detail oriented a bad thing?

[boshoffirene]

In my previous work experience, goal-driven men holding my position were termed 'strong' and 'leaders'. I, on the other hand, who was equally goal-driven, was termed a 'b&^Ch'. By both men and women (not all, though). I suppose it depends on your perspective.

[iacob_irina]

I believe many of my clients were men - sometimes it was obvious, but sometimes it was not, so i assumed. Of course i also worked for women, but it seemed their number was lower. 

I found it equally difficult or easy with both genders. 

However, i think some people have a harder time working or connecting with certain genders. Im not sure why. If you think it's aharder to work for women or for men, then it's probably true.

I'd say to try and ignore the gender of the client and do the job as best as you can.

[ravi_iitian]

I have seen the best and the worst in both genders. Generalization is absurd.

[prestonhunter]

re: "Generalization is absurd."

Maybe.

But it can be fun. And it is easier than doing math.