From the author: Sometimes I hear people who use the services of a psychologist for free called “clients”. And at the same time, such “clients” allow themselves to be capricious and make various demands on the specialist. Those starting their practice especially suffer from this, because they want to work so much that it doesn’t matter to them who or where, just to consult. 1. A person becomes a client only in one single case - when he pays money for the work of a psychologist. In other cases, such a person can be called anything, but not a client. You can say: What difference does it make what you call those with whom the psychologist works. I’ll answer: colossal! You may not like the word “client,” but that doesn’t change the essence. If you define everyone you work with as a client, you treat them accordingly. You spend as much effort on the free guy as you do on the one who gave you the money. You treat it with the same attention and investment of your resources as you would a paying client. You're getting scattered. You are unable to redistribute forces. But you need to invest more effort in real clients, and allocate limited resources to the rest (i.e. time, effort, thoughts, negotiations, etc.). Otherwise, you will burn out in your profession and be terribly disappointed.2. Even if you are consulting someone for free for some purpose, it is somewhat strange to allow the client to be capricious. Your goal is to get excellent results using the example of a specific person. And you see how and what to do so that the result pleases everyone. And the client in this case follows your instructions. If the client “pushes” you with his leftist demands, then don’t be surprised that something goes wrong and you don’t like the result.3. In the process of negotiations or conversation (call it what you want) about a free consultation, try to convey to the client the idea that this is your joint work, that it is more useful for him to cooperate with you rather than be capricious, that you set the rules on the site, not him. It is advisable to use this approach in conversations with real clients. They come to you as a professional, and not to their godfather for tea and bagels. You need to build your authority in the eyes of the client. If you “go” for the client’s tricks, then be prepared for the unexpected. Only those you allow to sit on your neck sit on your neck.4. If you are tired of the influx of freeloaders, make an internal decision to work only for money. And absolutely calmly refuse all offers to work for free. If it is difficult for you to do this once and for all, do it for a while. Select a month (week, year) to refuse all free or unprofitable consultations. Take it as a game. Work for a month, two, three only for money. If you don’t want it so radically, take 1 free subscription per month. Monitor your feelings: what has changed in your perception of yourself as a professional