Boundaries That Protect Your Time and Strengthen Client Relationships

Being “always on” for your clients might feel like great customer service, but it’s one of the fastest paths to burnout, and it can actually weaken the relationship over time.

In this episode, we share how to set boundaries that protect your time, energy, and team while keeping your clients happy. These aren’t rigid walls. They’re clear agreements that allow you to serve at your best without running yourself into the ground.

We cover:

• Why boundaries are a sign of professionalism, not a lack of care
• How to set expectations from day one so there are no surprises later
• The role of contracts, service levels, and defining what’s “urgent”
• Using automation and systems to handle after-hours requests
• How to respond when a client pushes past your limits
• Why boundaries improve trust, delivery quality, and client retention

Whether you’re just starting your business or running a mature company, learning to set (and keep) healthy boundaries is one of the most valuable leadership skills you can develop.

If you’re ready to set boundaries that protect your time and elevate your leadership, explore our Empower360 Leadership Coaching. We’ll help you build the habits, systems, and confidence to lead your business without burning out.

“Professional boundaries protect not just your time, but your quality of service.” – Jores Minasvand

Transcript for “How to Set Boundaries With Clients So They Respect Your Time”

The transcript below was automatically generated. Please ignore any errors or inconsistencies in the text.

Anna Angelova   0:04
Happy Friday. It’s the end of another amazing August week, and this is more than just task management, your favorite daily podcast where we help you build a thriving business with me, Ann Angelova, business coach and consultant and my favorite.
Co-host Joris Mina Svant, a business consultant. Hey, Joris.

Jores Minasvand   0:28
Diana, happy Friday.

Anna Angelova   0:32
It is Friday, yes. I know you lose track of the days. It’s Friday.

Jores Minasvand   0:34
It is.
I know I have. I sometimes I have 5 Fridays in a week, but that’s a different story. All right, so in our favorite podcast today, the subject matter is.

Anna Angelova   0:50
The topic for today is how to set boundaries with your clients so they respect your time, especially as you are starting your business. Even if you have an established business, this is probably a topic that you might need to listen to. So yeah, today we’re talking about boundaries and how do you do this? How do you do this?
With your clients and uh, you have probably seen those uh.
Sayings like you, you might see it somewhere. I know I’ve seen these at restaurants and other places where it says the customer is always right and all these kind of things. So depending on your own experience, you might have grown with grown up with some of these ideas.
The mindset that the customer is always right and you end up being constantly available for your customers. And the thing is that the worst thing is that with today’s technology, with today’s advancement and some of the things that we all expect.
We expect immediate resolutions. We all expect people to to respond to us immediately. So how do you do this in today’s world? How do you set boundaries with clients so they respect your time and?
I would say that this is really important before we dive into the how, why it matters is for your your own sanity. Because the thing is that we as small businesses, we can’t do what Amazon is doing and deliver same day delivery.
Like an hour later, a drone delivers things. Not, not right now. Like at least not with where we are right now. We can’t do this and I don’t think we should like because again, like there’s so much more that we do at small mid-sized businesses that the big businesses don’t do.
So whereas they they can deliver quickly at scale, we provide different kind of value. So we shouldn’t even try to be available non-stop. And again, as I said, for your own well-being, for your own sanity, you want to set boundaries. You want to make sure that your clients, your customers respect.
Your time, because ultimately you didn’t start your business. If you’re not starting a business to to work 24/7, 7, days a week, you actually want to have a business that allows you to live a life you you love.
Yes, you might work 10 hour days and you might enjoy it. Absolutely. A lot of business owners that we work with and we know it’s it’s in a way the business is their passion. They love it. They wake up, they do work, they stay late.
And to an extent, that’s OK. But ultimately you want to take vacations as well. You want to take time off. You want to be able to spend time with your family and friends, to enjoy your hobbies and all these kind of things. You don’t want to create an exhausting job for yourself that’s burning you out.
And that’s why you definitely need to have boundaries with your clients. And I was thinking, Joris, like you can take over and share the first thing we we chatted about before, before we started the recording. The first thing, it all starts with expectations, setting the expectations from the beginning.

Jores Minasvand   4:20
Absolutely. And and it’s very interesting where we never consider how powerful expectations are and not just in a business with clients everywhere in our lives, with our children, with even if you’re an employee, with your employer, what you said.
In the beginning as setting the right expectations will carry forward. If the customer calls you at 8:00 PM and you answer at 8:00 PM work until 11:00 PM to solve something that is very silly and something that could have waited until the next morning.
Then imagine what will happen if something that’s that couldn’t wait to wake you up at 2:00 AM and it’s set the right expectation. We’re not saying neglect your customer. No, we’re not saying that show your customer that you’re careless and you don’t really care.
You don’t call me so, but set right expectation. The other end of it is also the customer side. Some customers, they actually don’t want to be working at 2:00 AM or 8:00 PM, so they’ll never call you. But there are customers, there are individuals that will.
Add your customer or add your supplier that they don’t really have a life. They want to work anytime they want and they will contact you. So set the right expectation and you can do this very professionally in a very professional manner.
And again, you if it’s something not urgent, you can reply, but the reply would be since this is outside of working hours, if this is outside of the availability hours, I.
Recognize your request. We will get to it as soon as the business hours open tomorrow and you are our first priority. So you know how to articulate that, right? So don’t be abrasive, don’t be aggressive, don’t be neglective, but set the right expectation and actually the.
Client will respect you for that because then you’re also in a in a putting them in a position where they don’t have to work extra hours. I think it’s very, very important expectation, setting right expectation.

Anna Angelova   6:48
And it’s also helps us change the overall culture because like that culture that that we have, especially in North America and the Western world where it’s like go, go, go, go, go, go. And there’s no differentiation between what’s really urgent and and important versus what’s like you said, a minor thing and one thing that we have.
You know that we come from a background of consulting with corporations, especially in IT and one of the things we have with the service agreements, right, we we have the that matrix of or or definition of what’s an urgent problem, what’s like the.
Depending on how how important, how urgent it is, like low urgency, medium, high urgency and then the service level agreement of how quickly you need to respond, how quickly these things need to be resolved. So setting up depending on what kind of business you have.
You you can and should set these these expectations from the beginning like this part. This is part of the contract they sign where what consists of an urgent matter where you’d respond in the in that.
And it’s also not minutes, like it’s usually a few hours. It’s not minutes, even for urgent ones. And I wanted to mention, Joris, when you said about responding, this is where some automation can come in. After hours you can have an automated message that goes out.
And response that yes, the e-mail was received. Thank you for contacting us. We’ll get back to you tomorrow, right? Like this can be an automated. You don’t have to do this personally in the beginning. Yes, like if you want to respond personally to people, but you don’t even talk about setting expectations even.
This can be done in a way that you don’t even respond personally. It’s an automated message that they know that, oh, I contacted this person after hours and this is what happens. So they won’t even contact you after hours. Or even if they contact you, they know that you take care of this tomorrow or the next business day, like if it’s Friday, like the next business day.
So there are ways to teach your clients and the thing is that if someone is not happy with this, if they want you to be available 24/7, they’re probably not your client and the the I I would highly recommend that they did this.
Type of people become your no client. They go into the no your no client definition because your business should serve you, not the other way around.

Jores Minasvand   9:28
There’s one other way to deter those clients who want to to pay you for your service between business hours, but expect the after hour support is for you to.
Respond back to them and say yes, we do have a platinum level 24/7 365 business model, SLA model and the cost is 10X. Once you show them the cost, they’ll be like, oh OK, I think I can wait until the next morning. Think about this.
People want free stuff, especially if they’re paying you for a service. They want to get as much free service out of it as they can. If you set the wrong expectation, think you’re desperate for this customer, and set the wrong expectation, they’ll milk you forever.
And once you do it, you can never go back. But the moment they ask for it, you go back and say 24/7 SLA is at $300.00 an hour, minimum 3 hours. The moment you call, we will pick up the phone. You will have somebody talking to you within 15 minutes at $300.00 an hour at that’s 9.
$100 per call, they’ll be very careful not to make that $900 call. And again, if they even push back on that one, like you said, Anna, they’re not your customer. You don’t want this person as a customer because it’s not just about the money that will.
You will not make or make. It’s also about the stress that you get and it’s not worth it.

Anna Angelova   11:06
And that’s why you also want to be really careful. Like I have seen those ads recently and you might have seen this as well where now with our favorite A I they are showing now you can automate.
And respond instantly, like within a second, respond to people and AI responds in a way that it’s not like, oh, we’ve received your message, we’ll get back to you in one business day or whatever it is, it actually responds.
With a real response. Now imagine what what kind of precedence you set when you have this kind of automation where a second after someone sends you an e-mail, you respond back. And by you I mean like that AI thing.
Response back. Imagine that the kind of precedence you are setting, the kind of expectations you you put out there that your company is available 24/7. And again, if you are available 24/7, if you can afford this and if this is your model, yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely you you of course you would respond. But again as the business owner you are not actually like your company should be, but not you as the business owner. And this is the other thing to talking about boundaries and one of the things that is probably for a completely different topic and conversation and for another time.
Really thinking about as you’re building your business, in the beginning you’re doing everything. So yes, people expect you, but build your brand and the business in a way that your clients don’t associate you with the service or the product. It’s not you, it’s the service.
Or the product that you have. That’s why we have we have names for all these things we do for the coaching we have Empower 360 leadership coaching. It doesn’t matter if I’m delivering it or someone else is delivering it. The service itself is the valuable part, not that much that the.
I am the one coaching the same thing with the consulting we have with Drive 360 so.
Another aspect of this that as I’m saying like it’s more a different conversation we probably have in the future is that when it comes to the expectations and the clients respecting your time, you don’t want to to for your clients to expect always for you to to chime in and for you to be there so.
Even in this aspect, if if you already have a team, don’t, don’t and and you are on an e-mail. Let’s say let your team deal with this. Don’t jump in and and try to solve things for them. Like don’t put yourself out there without if it’s not necessary and again.
Everything starts from the beginning, from the expectations and you can have it very clearly defined how you when you are available, how you are available for urgency. This is how you are available and another thing that.
Like, because it’s really hard for us to say no, right? It’s it’s really hard. Like, it’s something that even biologically, the way things are wired in our brains, saying no, it is kind of dangerous. Like it takes us out of the tribe.
Like suddenly we are contrarian and one way you can have that boundaries as well is especially if you have a team, you can put your team between yourself and the client in a way where.
Again, especially if you’re taking vacation or or you are taking time off like it’s the time of the year when you are outside of the company on the strategic two or three day planning for the next year like your.
Assistant can be the one that is kind of the boundary where everything is funneled to your assistant and your assistant deals with this and lets your employees, clients know, lets your clients know that.
You’re not available right now. This is what’s going on. Like you’re not available. And if it’s something really urgent, the your assistant knows how to contact you and will contact you. But if it’s not urgent, like this is, this is when, this is when it is.
Like you’ll be available by next week. So this is another way to help you set boundaries, especially as you start building your business. And let’s say you get a VA. It might be like a virtual assistant or an assistant that you have in your office.
The assistant can serve as this.
Place to the this know the person who says no to to to your clients and builds that process, builds that that system where your time is valuable, it’s respected and like Joris like you said.
Your clients will respect you for this. They will actually see you in a completely different light when from the beginning you set the expectations and again you also set example for them. You lead by example and a lot of your clients and customers, they might actually need this.
Kind of example in their life as well to see that you don’t have to be available 24/7 to see that it’s OK to say no. It’s OK to deal with something tomorrow and not today. Not everything is urgent. So highly, highly recommend for your own sanity for.
Yourself, for your family, for your business, for the well-being of your business. Think about it and set the processes in place where your clients respect your time.

Jores Minasvand   17:19
And you’ll also be doing a favour to your to your own people that you hire because at some point if you there are so many clients that you cannot manage all of them, then you have to get someone or some of your people to have that that extra work at PM or whatever.
So you’re you’re you may lose people for that. Not everybody wants to work those extra hours. Not everybody works just for the money and and you know so you you you said it very well. I know you’re doing everybody a favour including your client.
Set the right expectation from day one and stick to that.

Anna Angelova   18:01
Very important.

Jores Minasvand   18:01
It’s very, very important.

Anna Angelova   18:04
Yeah, very important to stick to them because this is the other thing that it’s not that much about what we say, it’s more about what we do. If in the contract you sign, if you say, oh, I’m not available after hours, like after 5:00 PM, let’s say, but every time someone calls you, you answer.
Over the phone, every time they send an e-mail, you respond back and you engage with them. Then it’s like, what kind of what are you doing really? So it’s important and this is the thing we learn when we when we have someone sets boundaries, we we adapt.
And don’t worry about your clients not adapting. They will adapt. Like if you haven’t done this yet, like if you are working with clients without setting boundaries, even if you start setting boundaries right now and stick to them like a very important. Thank you for bringing it up.
Stick to them. Your clients will adapt. They will change their own behaviour. They will know that oh Fridays you know that it is not time for to to to have meetings with with them or or you know like weekends the I I don’t need to contact them.
It’s the weekend. And again, you set the example for your clients where even they can relax and disconnect and be like, oh, it’s the weekend. So essential, essential part if you’re just starting your business, spend some time to set this up.
As a process, as a system and stick to it. If you do have an established business and you don’t have this in place, again, the weekend is coming. Maybe it’s a good time to think about it, ponder and and figure out how can you.
Build that system and as usual you can start with something small like you can start with not not picking up phone or creating that automated message after let’s say it’s 6:00 PM or 5:00 PM.
Having that automated message both for your phone and on your e-mail that goes out and says thank you for for your message. It’s after hours. I’ll get back to you the next day, the next business day.
So highly, highly recommend you do it and if you are struggling with this, if you have second thought about this.
Reach out, reach out. And this is something that with the coaching, with the Empower 360 leadership coaching, this is something that we do with our clients like we help business owners.
Get over some of those limiting beliefs and limiting ideas that oh, if I’m not there 24/7 for my clients, I’ll lose them. And sometimes you need that additional help, like sometimes you need that guidance from a business and leadership coach to get.
Over some of these limitations so you can really build a thriving business. So I’ll put the link for the Empower 360 leadership coaching service so you can check it out and see if this is something that you want to explore so we can help you really get over this and.
Create a business that you love and not not a 24/7 job for yourself.

Jores Minasvand   21:37
Very nice session, Anna. Oh, again. Beautifully done.
And again, well, that’s one of the things I think a while back, maybe it was the first couple of weeks we were talking about how you lead at work is how you lead at at life, I think.
This is also applies when you learn to set expectations at work. As a leader, you set those expectations at home with your family and loved ones, with your neighbors, with your community.
And that becomes very important. And again, if they have a there are certain expectations that come to you and then you set them the right way, you live by them for the rest of your life. It’s important to be aware of those.

Anna Angelova   22:32
So this is it for today.
Go ahead and do this. So many benefits. It will help you not only with your business, like Joris said, it will help you not only with your business, it it amplifies your whole life. It’s when you work on yourself, when you elevate yourself as a leader. And yes, we’re talking about a process.
Where you set boundaries in your company, but for you to do this, you elevate yourself as a leader. And when you do this, it shows in every area of your life and the benefits and the ROI of every small investment you make in yourself. It’s incalculable. Like it’s it’s just.
The I it’s always.
10X20X50X of of what you invest, what you get out of it. So go do it and then also go enjoy your your weekend. By the way, it’s the weekend. It’s still somewhere here in the northern hemisphere. Go enjoy it.
And we will be back tomorrow with a recap of what we talked about this week. So if you missed any of the episode, come back and listen to tomorrow so you can see what the other episodes were all about and if there is anything you want to revisit.
And on Sunday, of course, we will kick off new week, so remember to tune in and go enjoy your Friday.
Thank you, Anna. You as well. Thanks, Eris. Bye, bye.

Jores Minasvand   24:00
Thank you, Anna. You as well.
Oh.