Toxic client (dental clinic): Refuses to provide content, micro-manages stupid details, and ignores my expertise. What should I do?

Hey everyone, I'm a junior freelancer (1,5year) , I need some advice from more experienced marketers / graphic designers. I have a client (a local dental clinic in town with 30k citiziens) for whom I do full social media management (content ideas, copywriting, graphics, Reels). Lately, I’ve found myself trapped in an incredibly draining cycle:

- Zero cooperation / reliance on stock photos: The client has been refusing to send me real photos or videos from the clinic for a long time. I have to come up with all the medical topics completely by myself (even though I have zero background in dentistry) and save the feed by creating complex graphics or wasting hours scrolling through stock image banks. He wants to do Reels too, but in 7 months he sent me 2 videos...

- Approval process is a nightmare: When I send them completed posts for approval (even those made using their older photos), it takes them up to one-two weeks to even look at them. In the end, they tear me apart over absolute trivialities (e.g., that someone’s watch is visible in the background), which cannot be fixed retroactively, yet they refuse to shoot new photos for me.

- The illusion that it’s a "5-minute job": They live in a fantasy world where they think I just "slap a caption on a stock photo" and generate a post in four seconds(yes, I'm helping with AI for Professional texts, but I still need to work on it and edit it) . They completely fail to see the actual grunt work behind it (researching medical topics, typography, keeping the visual identity consistent), even though I regularly spend 1 to 1.5 hours of solid work on a dental post as NO person with dental education (if i do graphic its really 1,5h.. With only photo I look for some professional text what is obviously quicker)

- Ignoring my expertise (The cookie banner incident for example): I spent weeks warning them about legislation and the need for a legally compliant cookie banner on their website. They stubbornly ignored me, arguing it would block the whole screen (and that he DOENST LIKE COOKIES BANNER). Then, a random guy from the outside wrote them an email with the exact same thing--and suddenly it was done immediately. And guess what? The banner doesn't even take up the whole screen. They completely ignore the people they actually pay, but an external scare tactic works instantly

- The most frustrating part is that even without paid ads (he doesnt wanna pay anything), we have great organic reach-some (instagram 200 followers facebook 420) of our authentic posts have reached between 300-3k or rare 8k views (95% are photos, because they are not sending me videos so i dont care to look for stock videos or making special videos only with photo and random text telling people - go read description) . Yet, the client still claims that "nobody is watching it anyway." I feel completely demotivated and like an imposter, even though I'm doing my absolute best.

How do you handle clients who want results but completely paralyze your workflow and drain your mental health? Should I give them a strict ultimatum, or just drop them and walk away?

Thanks for any advice! ✨✨

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wesdacar•about 1 month ago•1

That sounds less like a creative problem and more like a process/scope problem. I wouldn’t jump straight to firing them until you’ve tried one very clear reset.

What I’d send is something like:

“To make the clinic look credible, I need X pieces of raw material per month: 10 phone photos, 2 short patient-safe office clips, and answers to 3 topic prompts.”
“Revisions include one content/accuracy pass and one polish pass. Full direction changes after approval become a new task.”
“If you want Reels, we need a 30-minute monthly content capture slot or we should remove Reels from scope.”
“If no source material is provided by [date], I’ll use the approved fallback plan and the calendar may be lighter.”

For a dental clinic, I’d also be careful not to invent medical content from scratch. Ask for the dentist’s bullet points first, then turn them into posts. If they won’t provide expertise, won’t approve efficiently, and won’t accept limits on revisions, that’s when I’d either raise the price a lot or end it cleanly.

OfficeHounds•about 1 month ago•1

Every time you get frustrated try to see it from their point of view. In the immortal words from the movie Wayne’s World, “Work is hard.”

Evening_Hawk_7470•about 1 month ago•1

You cannot build a portfolio out of stock photos and a client’s stubbornness.

Vast-Cardiologist808•about 1 month ago•1

If they won't provide content or trust your recommendations, it's probably a client fit issue rather than a skill issue

ishamalhotra09•about 1 month ago•1

Set boundaries, reset expectations, and define responsibilities. If they still block the process, move on.

kingplay70•about 1 month ago•1

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