[damoncali]

I hadn't really thought about it, but yes, I generally know right away. I sometimes need a little time to assess the project's scope or technical detail, but personality wise, I know almost instantly if the client is going to be a problem.

Clues:

Does the client respect your time? Texting me at 11:00 PM to talk about your project isn't going to work. Bad. Do not let the client intrude like this. It will drive you mad.

Does the client want to defer payment because they're talking to a big customer who needs to sign on? That's utterly unrealistic. Bad. Clients who are about to sign big customers are well past the dev hiring stage. This speaks to poor business management skills.

Does the client have leave a wake of unreliable developers in his path? If so, tread carefully. One is ok- there are a lot of flakey devs out there. Two is not. I once had a guy ask me if I could asses his previous dev's work as support for a small claims case. Um. no.

Does the client want to offer equity instead of cash? This is almost always bad. People who know what they're doing generally have some cash to get started, and generally prefer to use it. You might find a good client doing this, but it's very rare in my experience.

Does the client want to talk about entrepreneurship or does he have something to build? I get a lot of talkers. See the part above about respecting my time.

Has the client actually thought about what it is he wants?

Does the client have wildly misplaced sense of the technical scope of his project? Just say no.

Does the client come off as lacking in confidence? This isn't horrible, but they tend to be short lived, one off projects.

Can the client communicate clearly? This can be a real problem if they can't.

Does the client want you for crunch time because he planned poorly? <- Reread the last 4 words of this sentence.

Does the client want you to work with some cheap overseas code because they blew half their budget on what they thought would be a good deal and don't realize they have to start over now?

The theme is people in over their heads. Sometimes it's just not going to work, and if you pay attention, you can tell pretty easily.

[chris_hawk]

Right! Those are all perfect examples of the mental process that goes on when evaluating a client. I often manage to go through that process myself on the spot, but there are many other times when I don't or can't.

And more importantly, new freelancers rarely have the ability to make those evaluations on the fly.

I sense that this is not your first rodeo! :)

[damoncali]

I've been at this a while ;)

But I think even new freelancers need to just trust their gut. If it sounds flakey, it generally is.