Over the years of working as a designer I had every type of client there is. Budget renovators, ultra high net worth clients, first home buyers, developers, the lot!! Some were great but some were the pits and after lots of trial and error I worked out that my best clients all had one thing in common (and it had nothing to do with their budget, taste or type of project).
My best clients were always people who worked as a professional service provider e.g. doctors, lawyers, accountants, consultants and other busy professionals who run their own practices.
I'm going to explain why these were my best clients below, but the first question I know lots of you will be thinking is, "but don't the ultra wealthy clients pay better??"
I know the instinct can be to chase the ultra high net worth clients. They have bigger build budgets which pay bigger fees and probably better projects which mean better photos for your portfolio. But the ultra high net worth client is often the most high maintenance client you'll take on. Most of them expect you on call at all times and can be very hard to manage.
The budget client sits at the other end and is just as draining. They question every line on your invoices and don't respect boundaries and time (because they don't place enough value on their own time).
My best clients weren't the ultra high net worth and they weren't budget clients either. Plenty of them were very well off (doctors and lawyers usually are) but it wasn't the money that made them good to work with, it was how they treated my time. Let me explain why I always found them the best...
✅ They understand what they're paying for
A lawyer, accountant or doctor charges for their time and their judgement. They've spent their whole career putting a price on their expertise, which means they understand when you do the same. You won't have to justify your fee because they already understand that good advice and service costs money. They treat you as a professional peer not as a "design dogsbody".
✅ They're too busy to micromanage you
A professional running their own practice does not have time to micromanage you. What they want is to hand the project to someone they trust and get back to their own work. If you lead well and keep them informed, they'll step back and let you do your job.
✅ They respect your boundaries (because that's how they work too)
You won't get "design emergency" text messages at 10pm on a Thursday or from a sofa shop on a Sunday afternoon. A professional knows what it looks like to run a business with set hours and a clear scope, because that's how they run theirs. Because many of them work with actual emergencies (e.g. doctors on call) they understand that paint colour questions are NOT emergencies and can wait for office hours.
✅ They make decisions quickly
Professional clients are comfortable making decisions and moving on. They're financially literate, so you're not explaining market conditions or over explaining why things cost what they do. They see design as an investment that pays off.
✅ They want to be led
The professional client has no interest in directing the project. They've hired you so they don't have to think about it. They want to know they've picked the right person, then be told what happens next. Lead with confidence and they'll follow you the whole way through.
✅ Their networks are full of more people like them
A doctor knows other doctors. A lawyer's friends are other professionals on the same income with the same mindset. When you do good work for one, the referral goes to someone who can pay the same fee and will also be easy to work with. If you do a great job for one professional client the door opens into an entire network of them (which means a steady stream of prospects for you). That's how I eventually barely had to find clients, most of them were coming to me from past client referrals.
So stop building your marketing around a project type or an aesthetic and start building it around the professional client. To find them look at where they spend their time, what they read and who they already trust. Speak to them like the busy, decisive professional they are and price and lead like the expert they're looking for.
Trust me on this one. I've done the trial and error so you don't have to!!
If you need help positioning yourself for this sort of client, we unpack all of this in detail in my business program for designers.
