Left a client last month who wanted 10x results with 0.5x the budget and i'm still thinking about that conversation

Wasn't the first time but it was the most brazen. onboarding call, they show me last year's numbers. decent baseline, some room to grow, nothing unrealistic. we talk about what's possible, i give conservative projections, they nod along.

Two weeks in they send a revised brief. same targets but the budget we'd agreed on had been cut by half. when i flagged it the response was that they'd been talking to other agencies who thought it was doable.

Asked them to send me those projections. they never did.

Kept working because i'd already done the setup and switching costs felt high. spent two months trying to make math work that didn't work. results were predictably mediocre because you can only do so much with half the resources you planned around.

They churned and left a review saying results didn't meet expectations.

The lesson i keep relearning is that clients who negotiate budget after the scope is agreed are telling you something important about how the whole relationship is going to go. it never gets better from that point.

Scope changes before work starts are normal. scope changes after you've already committed are a different thing entirely.should have walked away at the revised brief. didn't. won't make that one again.