Stop acting like you are on Fiverr. You are not here to take orders. You are not a pixel monkey with a menu of deliverables. You are not a smiling server carrying a tray of “minimal logos, sans serif brand kits, and social templates” to a table full of nervous executives. If that is how you walk into a meeting, you have already lost.

You are a diagnostician. A surgeon. The client’s brand is sick, sometimes terminal, and you are here with the scalpel. Surgeons do not ask the patient how to hold the knife. They do not present three options and ask which tumour removal looks more “aligned with stakeholder goals.” They walk in, gloves on, eyes sharp, and say, “Here’s the problem. Here’s how we fix it. Trust me, or bleed out.”

And here is the paradox. The clients who flinch, who scream, who resist — they actually respect you more when you do not fold. Because deep down, they do not want another order-taker. They want someone who knows more than they do. They want clarity, confidence, and conviction. That is why they called you.

Every time you act like a service provider, you devalue yourself. Every time you smile and say yes to a bad idea, you trade your authority for approval. And when you do that, you teach the client to ignore you. They will keep dictating because you trained them to.

You are not here to be liked. You are here to save them from themselves. That means being willing to look difficult. That means being willing to say no. That means telling them what they need, even if it is not what they want.

Those who cannot handle it will leave. Let them. They were never going to change anyway. The ones who stay? Those are the clients worth bleeding for.

You are not a service provider. You are the scalpel. Act like it.