You still get clients who push off invoices (or at least he does; I make them pay up front almost always so I don't have that issue). You still get clients who think their business is bigger or more important than yours. You can still build personal relationships either way. And you can still get rate pushback (which seems to have more to do with the type of work than the type of business — I get it more with blogging than copywriting for example, and I think hubs gets it more with things like phone consulting than developing custom software solutions). If clients perceive something as more difficult or more valuable, they're happy to pay more.

As for the sexist nonsense, I haven't come up against it in a long time. So I'm sorry that you've had to deal with it. I tend to take a firm handle on things with new clients with a very no-nonsense approach. And I suspect that helps. It's clear I don't go into the relationship to make a friend, though "firm" is still handled politely. And I have no qualms about saying "no." I put my foot down once about things like rates, and if they keep pushing, I offer to refer them elsewhere rather than entertaining lower rates. That's generally when it stops, and quickly. Either they go away and find someone cheaper (maybe 10-20% of the time), or they agree to the rates we were discussing. I think that's a part of the issue we can have as women. Sometimes we care more about making people like us than men do. Once I got over that and truly separated myself from my business on a personal / self-worth front, I haven't felt any sexist pushback from clients or prospects.

All of my clients treat me well. If they didn't, I wouldn't be working with them, as Sharon has said. I hope your daughter learned from that awful experience. It's a damn shame how some people in charge behave.

Dava, that's a good approach! You're right — it's a business name, but not an overbearing one.

Nice seeing you here, as well. 🙂

Even though I have and use a business name, it's very clear that it's just me.

I think how you're treated has more to do with the client than you. If you're presenting yourself as a professional, then the problem is theirs.

In my opinion, the same people who treat solo professionals poorly are probably also lousy clients when they deal with corporations. (Of course, when it's just you it seems more personal.)

My daughter came home from her job at a mid-size corporation the other day really upset at the very ugly way a client had treated her. She's not a writer, but the point is that some people are just hard to deal with. It's not you, it's them.

I think most of my clients realize my business is very small. I make a serious effort to deal with people who view me and treat me as a professional.

Sharon, so true. It's the reason I've not gone with my business name — because it doesn't feel personal.

Great idea, Eileen! Your ideas usually are. 🙂 I have some clients — and ironically, they are the smaller companies — that seem to respond better to bigger names. Maybe they don't know that working with freelancers can be a good experience?

Cathy, exactly my fear. It's a balance between being taken seriously and looking seriously pretentious. And you make an excellent point about the experience that's being hired. Can't always convey that with a business name.

Paula, there's my issue. The bigger clients never balk at working with me. It's the smaller guys that have troubles understanding how to work with a freelancer. Not in every case, but in those few cases where I've had insults or argument thrown at me, they've been a mid-size company or smaller.

I understand it. And I feel there's nothing wrong with it. It's a personal choice. It just doesn't work for me.

You know what I always say. There is no right or wrong. Just different. 😉

I'm selling my prospects on my 30+ years of experience and who I am as a business person so that's why I don't do it, although I could see a business name as long as it's clear, I'm the person they are hiring – like Miller Communications.